Gentlemen's Clubs in Bangkok and Pattaya

Ask for the price list when you sit down and confirm the rates for your drinks, hostess drinks and any VIP room, including its minimum spend and how long it covers. Check whether a service charge and VAT are added on top. In attentive clubs hostess drinks arrive quickly, so keep count, and agree a budget with your group before the bottles start flowing. Read the bill line by line before you pay.

At most clubs, yes. You pay the club a fee, similar to a bar fine but usually higher, and agree her own fee with her directly. Some hostesses are choosy about who they leave with, which is part of the appeal. Ask the manager how it works at that club rather than assuming.

Yes, if the service was good, but tip the right person. A service charge on the bill usually goes to the house, not to your hostess. A cash tip handed to her directly is normal for good company, and a smaller one for the waiter who kept your glass full is appreciated. There's no fixed amount: tip more for great service, less for average, and never feel pushed into it.

They are the natural choice. Private rooms keep the group together, the service is attentive, and the setting is discreet enough for clients or colleagues. Agree the budget and who pays before you arrive, and ask about room minimums. It is an easier, more controlled night than a crawl round the gogo strips.

Both give you hostesses, private rooms and a bill built from drinks, hostess drinks and time or a minimum spend. Hostess karaoke is built around singing, and the Japanese-style clubs of Thaniya Road are the best-known. A gentlemen's club is a lounge first, where you can sit, drink and talk. Choose karaoke for a group that wants to sing, and a gentlemen's club for conversation in a more polished room.

They're worth it if you value comfort, conversation and discretion over choice. You get a quieter room, a hostess with better English and a polished setting, which suits a business night, a special occasion or anyone who dislikes the gogo strips. They're poor value if you want to take someone back cheaply, because a beer bar or gogo bar does that for a fraction of the price. Decide which kind of night you want before you walk in.

A VIP room is a private room rented by the hour or against a minimum spend, used for drinks, conversation and often karaoke away from the main lounge. What else is allowed inside varies by club and by hostess, so ask the manager what the price covers before you go in, not halfway through. Hostesses can say no to anything, whatever the room cost. Agree the time limit too, because extra hours are often added automatically.

Tell the manager or mamasan what you're looking for, whether that's conversation, someone lively for a group or someone you might take out later, and she'll introduce hostesses to your table. If the first one isn't a match, politely ask for someone else after a drink; it's normal and nobody takes offense. Buying her a hostess drink keeps her with you. Choosing well at the start saves money, because hostess drinks add up quickly.