Foreigners (Mainly Gringos) Worth Gold in San José Nightclubs
By Don Mariano/ ICR

The battle to attract more foreigners, mainly Gringos, to their establishments is seeing some nightclubs (strip joints) paying handsome commissions to taxi drivers to bring them customers.

Typically, San José nightclubs pay taxi drivers a commission equal to or less than the cover charge, which is also different for foreigners than for nationals.

One nightclub on the south side of San José is so desperate for the "gringo" dollar that they are willing to lose on each customer that walks in the door brought to them by taxi drivers.

The nightclub has a ¢3.000 colones cover charge for nationals and paying ¢10.000 for each foreigner in a recent advertisement in the Spanish daily Diario Extra.

No mention is made of what the cover charge is for foreigners or if the typical number of drinks is included, however, we can assume that the foreigner is expected to spend more than what is being paid in commissions, cover charge or not.

On their website, the nightclub claims "many night clubs in San José charge outrageous prices. They assume the tourists will visit only once. They are probably right. This club wants you to return many times.

Many clubs have two sets of prices. They have very high prices for tourists and much lower prices for Costa Ricans, we has the same prices for all customers."

One can only assume that those in charge have not read their own website. Or, perhaps, they just don't care and really are not interested in the "return" customer.