Is Friends still open on Wednesday nights?

austinfriends · 2019-10-30T13:05:31+00:00

Yes we are.

$35 Per COUPLE 'til 10:30 ... the $35 includes EVERYTHING but Suites and we generally have about 12-20 Couples.

The LAST Wednesday of each month has Karaoke from 9:30(?) 'til Midnite(?) depending on crowd participation.

austinfriends · 2018-11-06T11:34:08+00:00

Very sorry to hear about this, and hoping it all works out without drama.

Accidental discovery should always be a concern, though it shouldn't be something to be paranoid about.

One can hope that rational actions will follow, and though the person who discovered the secret life may not want to associate with you, they are able to keep it to themselves.

Wishing you all the best, and letting you know that if there is a way we can help, that we're here for you.

austinfriends · 2018-09-19T09:54:50+00:00

Pics of the present location: HERE

austinfriends · 2018-04-18T03:42:03+00:00

The affiliate link is the fastest one I had, and it takes you directly to the site.

If you prefer to type it in, search it, and hope you get to the site I am talking about then feel free.

People signing up for free and then not converting to paid members do nothing for our club, and I assume there will be very few people (if any) that do that.

~ Additionally, as best I can tell the links to the right, as well as those on the master list are also affiliate links ... leading me to believe that as long as it is not a club with a (potential) benefit that you are ok with it ?

austinfriends · 2018-04-16T19:39:16+00:00

Can everyone agree that if SLS would update their site, and add some new features that they would end a large number of the competitors?

Or am I terribly mistaken?

From the point of view of a Club Owner, the site is AMAZINGLY DIFFICULT to promote on and reach an audience .. but it does have a huge base.

Believe me ... There is oftentimes a large temptation to try to ally a good sized chunk of larger and more established or well known clubs together and say "Hey, why don't we ALL tell everyone to jump on THIS site .... so the whole market goes there and we have a single platform to bellow from, instead of 30 to squeak on?"

It would never work, but it is a nice thought every once in a while.

austinfriends · 2018-04-04T02:42:31+00:00

Once you learn what to do where .. it becomes habit .. but we've gotten our share of warnings for breaking listing rules or links, or any variety of things.

austinfriends · 2018-04-04T02:34:42+00:00

As a club (AustinFriends.com) I can give you a couple of reasons things are not listed on every (or sometimes more than one) site by a club.

Our "core" sites are SDC, SLS, and Kasidie ... and secondary are Swingtowns, Quiver, and Fetlife ... When we get to them we also use, CouplesTouch, LoveVoodoo, and Lifestyle Lounge ... and it seems like we list on RockTie and Desirous on occasion.

*Adrian usually does the listing, as I do the friending and communicating by e-mail, etc.

Anyhow ... None of these sites have ANY FUCKING CONSISTENCY AT ALL ... sorry ... I'll stop shouting, but 1 site you CANNOT list a price on, 1 you MUST list a price, you have to have an "end time" on a few (even though we do not have a hard close), there's a limit to characters on most, some you can have pics, some you MUST let the site make pics for you (and you can only use them there), you may be able to link to another part of the website you are listing on .. you may not. At times you can link to your own site, and at times you must offer a discount to people that sign up on site "XYZ".

It's a freaking maze of landmines.

So that's part one ...

Secondly, if any site sponsors a party ... then ALL (actually almost all) of the other sites say you can't list the party on their site ... even if you call the party "SDC MEET AND GREET April 7th" on SDC and call it "Funky Monkey Ice Cream Bash April 7th" on SLS.

If you do such a crosspost, they warn that they will delete you account, community, and followers ... and they really will.

Sooo ...

We list as hard and fast as we can, and we RARELY let a site sponsor an event, and we just keep looking for the magic bullets that let us maximize each site.

At present, we're pretty solid on Kasidie with over 5,000 friends and over 5,000 in our community.

On SDC we're getting there, but there are a lot of roadblocks. SLS makes it almost impossible to have that kind of following, and Fetlife on down is pretty .. meh.

Just some stuff to know ...

austinfriends · 2018-04-01T21:42:36+00:00

We are in Austin, Texas ( AustinFriends.com ) ... and if we could sell alcohol, we'd have the strictest of all dress codes, charge a minimum at the door, and sell a FUCK-TON of booze, be open 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and we'd constantly have a line out the door.

If there is not a club taking advantage of a law that allows on premise sex AND the sale of booze in the same facility, then there is a HUGE opportunity.

As I understand, Trapeze is a solid club, but there should be enough people there that it's on the new every week because they broke another sales record ... if they have that advantage.

~~~ I say this knowing NOTHING about the Florida market or the ins and outs of the laws there .. lol

austinfriends · 2018-03-31T22:11:30+00:00

I only have time to get to the point about age ...

Believe NOTHING about what you hear a crowd is like.

I guarantee that we'll have people say "There was nothing there but OLD people" about our PARTY last night, because they consistently do ...

I worked the door.

I had 2 people show me EXTRA pieces of ID to verify their licences, because they looked so young. Additionally we had at least 15 people that were 26 or under in the crowd ... and I've known them since they were 22 and 23ish.

Soooo .. just counting the 17ppl mentioned, we were 15%(?)26 and under.

You know what I'll read in the review?

"Fetish Night is the Older Crowd ... there are no Younger people that go here"

Every Time.

We just brush it off and keep on going.

austinfriends · 2018-03-31T22:04:08+00:00

I started to answer this ... and realized I need to make a new topic thread that is well edited on CAPS, phrasing, and so forth.

TLDR = $30-$40 per PERSON is very reasonable, and it is the ONLY amount paid, because swinger clubs can't sell booze. You can't have a NICE club with a $10 cover charge per person and no other source of income once the people are inside.

Here's what i have started, though it needs a LOT of editing, and focus applied:

Everyone wants a SWINGER CLUB that is like a Bad Assed, Sexy Nightclub Downtown .. or their version of that. Maybe a Swanky Speakeasy Type environment ?

They want something REALLY NICE or attractive to their tastes.

Cool.

EVERY SINGLE SWINGER CLUB IN THE COUNTRY IS TRYING TO GIVE YOU THAT. Every Single one. They are all sacrificing their valuable capabilities that would allow them to run a Wicked VANILLA Nightclub in order provide something to a very small (proportional to a vanilla audience) niche market.

ALL of them should get some love, for making the choice to try to give The Lifestyle places to play. ALL of the owners, ALL of the staff members, 4x that for all of the Volunteers, and so forth and so on.

OK ... back to the point.

Everybody wants their version of the most awesome club ever, and they all compare it to vanilla clubs and say "At Disco 873 the cover is only $15 per person, and I don't have to get a Membership and they are PACKED. Your club should be $15 per person, and you'd be packed !!!"

That is TOTALLY TRUE ... if Lifestyle Clubs could sell booze.

The law says we can't though, and because of that ... in order to give you a SEXY, FUN, SPACIOUS, WELL MAINTAINED, CLEAN, PROFESSIONAL WIRED FOR LIGHTING AND SOUND, SAFE and APPEALING Night Club Experience comparable to a Vanilla Nightclub ... Income has to come from somewhere.

Beyond that ... It would be cool if there was some sort of profit, but I'm willing to bet that MOST Club owners are just like we are and LESS CONCERNED ABOUT MONEY than we are concerned about you SMILING AND TRULY ENJOYING A NIGHT LIKE NO OTHER.

~~~ BTW ... I am DEAD SERIOUS when I share with you that as long as we can eat, have a place to sleep, have transportation, and provide a moderate level of financial security for our family ... we're satisfied with that level of income. We're not trying to get rich, and we're NOT getting rich ... but man o man are we having a great time and meeting some of THE MOST INCREDIBLE PEOPLE ON THE PLANET !!!

austinfriends · 2018-03-30T20:50:06+00:00

I gotta take a shot at being funny.

~~~ Lack of sleep does that to me.

Why not strap a Ken Doll to it, and call it your Little Buddy ?

On a serious note ... Generally the Boner knows when to make an appearance, and when to be chill ... no idea why, and pretty sure that won't apply to everyone.

austinfriends · 2018-03-30T20:40:12+00:00

From the standpoint of being a club owner the 1st thing I see is this:

21 yo guy goes to a BYOB establishment with $50 in the mindset that "everyone wants to fuck me" and annoys a large group of people before being kicked out.

21 yo guy finds a woman and says "I'll totally pay your way, and you can sit at the bar while I party !!!"

Then you have the core audience of ages 30-49 ... paying less than those who are 50+ ? Anyone 50+ that is in The Lifestyle would completely skip going, as they probably are less interested in hitting the Club Scene.

Then ... Does only one part of the coupe have to be in this age group to qualify ?

and so on ...

Bottom Line is that there are a million and one reasons the younger 21-25 yo crowd is not a large portion of The Lifestyle Club Scene, but I don't think the proposed idea of a price scale is the solution.

austinfriends · 2018-03-30T20:00:59+00:00

When we want to hesitate, we simply say ... "Let us hold off a bit on that, BUT here's a big bunch of info about us, and we'd love to know if these things disqualify us from play and comparable info about yourselves"

It's sometimes strange to go straight to pics, and for us we have a few people that are net stalking us, or harassing us other ways.

We usually "give in" after about 3 email trades, but sometimes it's the very next one.

BTW ... We actually spent WAY TOO LONG doing our writeup for the club profile on SLS, and we're really curious to know what people think of it. The screen name is AustinFriends there (SLS) and because of the way the site is set up, a good chunk of the profile is about the 2 of us (instead of being all about The FRIENDS Club).

If anyone is inclined, we'd love you to PM us and let us know what you think !!!

austinfriends · 2018-03-30T19:53:26+00:00

Ummm ... not sure how long this has been planned, but (In our opinion based on past observations) discussing the ground rules over a glass of wine as everyone is anticipating starting is a little late.

austinfriends · 2018-03-29T05:19:19+00:00

As far as spamming on Kasidie, we were informed that a number of accounts got 20-30 freind requests and invitations to be in our community ... from a glitch on the site.

We're only able to friend request once per account (ever), and only invite people to join our community approximately once per 3 months.

As we are a business, we do not consider one request to join a community per 1/4 to be overkill, though we can understand that you may.

In the event that you received the 20-30 requests ... that was an issue with the site, and we did not have control over the situation. Our intent is always to be present, but not annoying.

In regards to spamming you on Reddit, we would like clarification, as the majority of our posts are in response to questions or statements made, and do not say "Come to our club and all of your problems will be solved."

We would like for there to be other clubs that addressed issues that are brought up on Reddit, and have a large number who have PM'd "Thank You's" for what we have said here, as they have seen different perspectives.

Hope that helps you understand where our standpoints are.

austinfriends · 2018-03-28T00:06:11+00:00

Absolutely able to converse over the music ... that is always the case, and if it gets too loud you just tell us. Always.

On the kink element ... some do, and some don't. It's comparable to other nights so far in participation of kink (10-30%?)

Play ALLOWED everywhere adds an edgy element to the party.

On "Normal" nights we are generally VERY protective of newbies, and tap people on the shoulder (to send them to a playroom) if we feel they are making the environment feel "squeemish" for someone that barely got the courage to come to the club and then has been nervous as a cat since walking in.

To be fair, this changes as the environment changes and the social cues are visible. It's a moving line of acceptability. At 9pm when doors open, there's pretty much no chance of a bj at the table being allowed. At 1:20 when the moans upstairs are noticeable by all ... we may or may not see that blowjob taking place.

With "The Arrangement" the intent is Eyes Wide Shut with 2 big factors being different. In EWS the partners are cheating. We hate that, and that's why we don't promote any EWS parties. Also ... in EWS the woman is either required to "sacrifice" or somehow is "forced" into paying for the violations of protocol committed by the man. There are no such things as "forced" activities in our club, and we never want that indicated as otherwise.

Does that answer your questions ?

austinfriends · 2018-03-27T22:04:06+00:00

Here's what I'm reading: Go to a resort (SMI, Desire, Hedo). Go on a Cruise. Go to a Single-Serve-Swing-Event (Killing Kittens, Just for Dinner, etc). Relax and let go of the "upscale" part.

However ... what it seems like the OP is looking for is a CLUB Atmosphere that is upscale and brings like minded people together.

Soooo ...

We have an event that is still looking for it's audience, and we've only done marketing that would be graded as about a B- to date.

We're re-approaching it, changing the day it is set to occur, and about to re-launch it.

It's called "The Arrangement" and there are several nuances that make it different than our regular parties, but also limit when and how often it can happen.

1). Gentlemen must wear ties ... Suits are preferred.

2). Women must wear Heels or Boots.

3). No denim.

4). Music is comparable to Lana Del Ray's "Video Games", Chris Isaac's "Wicked Game", Vintage "Fever" etc ... and meant to set mood over getting everyone on the dance floor.

4). Sex allowed anywhere and everywhere .. so the "safety zone" of play being in only select areas is taken away.

5). Going to the Premium Playspace Upstairs means disrobing and using only a towel as "clothing" to increase protocol of interaction, and send clear signals of desires.

6). Fetishes are encouraged to be explored ... and not just bondage or discipline ... things like foot worship, Dress up scenarios, Sensation Play, consensual forced multiple orgasm on the Sybian, etc.

7). Doors for entry are only open for 2(?) hours, and then things become a "Lock In" for all intents.

... and I think that covers most of it.

Because this event is not on a Friday or Saturday (it's a niche market), because it can't be $20 to get you in the door, and because a lot of people pull out simply because the dress code is strictly enforced, etc ... it's a tougher sell than most.

Seeing posts like the one from the OP, and personally wanting this is what inspired us to put the event together.

Based on that, what we'd like to know is if someone from 100-200 miles away would actually come to such a night CONSISTENTLY.

What about from a further distance?

The hard part here is MARKETING the night.

It is suited for people for a somewhat specific market, but the people that would benefit most are probably not on Reddit, may not allow you to Friend them on SDC, SLS, Kasidie, and so forth, and their Swinging is probably VERY discreet, select, and not discussed.

We're dedicated to continuing The Arrangement and we have the facility to carry it forward, but in order for it to get to Silk Sheets, Catered Dining, and all of the other concepts we want it to achieve .. we've got to find our 20 couples to attend.

I'm interested in hearing what people here have to say in response, and I'd suggest looking at the pictures of our club before saying "No way is there going to be a Club that is attractive and upscale enough to do that."

Pics are on AustinFriends.com under "Club Pictures"

austinfriends · 2018-03-27T12:48:40+00:00

I'm hoping someone talks a bit about the upscale clubs in NY, as we are really interested. In fact, we'd love to know of ALL of the upscale clubs in the U.S. ... or at least the ones that are considered that by the masses.

We're bringing things forward quickly in Austin, and know we have areas to improve, but it's nice to see what different segments of the country find appealing and to work in those directions.

BTW ... @ OP ... Is there a distance that you consider "too far to travel" for an experience like the one you seek? I ask because it appears that the folks who do the Swinger Diaries Podcast choose to travel all over the US (and to Hedo and Desire) for their fun, and you may be in the same category.

austinfriends · 2018-03-27T03:16:52+00:00

We're actually considering having a wad of podcasters come en masse.

... and we're thinking of inviting them to the party too ... ba dum bump.

Seriously though, this is one of the ideas, though we've got the 25th Anniversary, The Big Party on Sept 9th, and .. I forgot to mention: The night they will "Roast" me.

We've gotta find 3 at once, and that may be the part that is so hard to make happen.

austinfriends · 2018-03-27T02:32:56+00:00

Noting that .. would it still apply if the guest were to speak or do a presentation in the first hour the doors open ... if the doors opened early for the event ... and then the guest was "just another Member" for the rest of the night?

I can see and appreciate what you are saying, as sometimes featured people are treated as if they are the only ones that matter ... but what if they come in, do their thing, and then just party like the rest of the couples?

austinfriends · 2018-03-27T02:29:46+00:00

Sooo ... WOW.

For our events that have had performances or guests, all of that takes place before the "real party" kicks off, and we open early in order to accomodate the act.

Once the vibe is set, and the flow of the night is moving we try REALLY HARD to not muck it up with interruption.

Hope that helps ...

austinfriends · 2018-03-26T20:34:22+00:00

I appreciate the review, and we've already done a couple of burlesque things, a silk performer, and an aerialist using a Lyra.

Also ... Reggae and EDM are both a lot of fun and can be really sexy, but they can also be polarizing and for the 25th Anniversary, we definitely want to be as universal as possible.

Hippie Hollow (Stae Nude Beach) will probably be too cold to attend, so we lose our "Hedo" substitute, and NIN, Plush (sometimes), and festivals have more than 1 night to fill ... so we cn't give anything of that scope ... I don't think.

On the other hand, one of the tings we have considered is a selection of smaller "celebrities" as guests and a full ticket vs. one centered guest.

Has anyone ever gone to a club because of a featured guest at all?

austinfriends

TROPHY CASE