RandomBeat
Changui
It's from a WhatsApp group that all the cool people used that Ivan posted to....wait you aren't a member of it???Just wondering - why would you have saved those stories though?
Festival and Travel Planner 2025
- Thread starter azana
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RandomBeat
Changui
You could pay with cash for the tokens at the front desk with no service fee.
That’s insanely high transaction fees. That’s between 6% and 12% of the transaction! Not sure who all are getting a cut of that transaction fee and if it includes any govt taxes/surcharges.Since we all like to be a pit pedantic (that's why we write on a salsa forum rather than spending this precious time practicing our Suzy-Qs, right?), there was a fee on top of that, at least for those who didn't have a Dutch means of payment. For me only Apple pay worked with Partypay and it slapped 1.50€ on top of the locker payment and something like 0.45€ for each bottle of water (3.50€). Which, again, I don't find outrageous.
My guess is whole of 6% to 12% transactions fee goes to Partypay app. If they do not have high transaction volume, that’s the only way to make money. Unless the event organizers are getting some cut in those fees collected by the Partypay app. Honestly that’s insane amount charged to pay money
The credit card at most top out at around 3% per transaction fees but most merchants pay lower. In the USA average is 2.25% for credit card, in Europe it is 0.3% for credit card and 0.2% for debit card. That 6% and 12% is highway robbery!WhatsApp group is replacing FB groups?It's from a WhatsApp group that all the cool people used that Ivan posted to....wait you aren't a member of it???
That’s insanely high transaction fees. That’s between 6% and 12% of the transaction! Not sure who all are getting a cut of that transaction fee and if it includes any govt taxes/surcharges.
My guess is whole of 6% to 12% transactions fee goes to Partypay app. If they do not have high transaction volume, that’s the only way to make money. Unless the event organizers are getting some cut in those fees collected by the Partypay app. Honestly that’s insane amount charged to pay money
I know you are mocking me but these smaller transaction fees add up. And if I see one hidden fee, there’s bound to be another.
Shem’s negative post last year reminded me of why I didn’t like the now defunct Vienna Salsa Congress, which wasn’t as bad as Amsterdam in terms of hidden fees. It was just expensive for what it was. So maybe I just don’t like dancing in expensive cities, for which other people may find such things “normal”, but I have specific criteria for choosing where go I dance and a lot of what I read about AISF was a no-go for me.
Yes some things are overblown but I’ve never heard such negative things before about a festival so it raised red flags.
Sorry to hear about Berlin. I know a lot of dancers like the event and also Berlin and choose it over the Congress there. Other small events are popping up like Perfectly Mambo and DJ Morena had a new event last year. Would love to see them bring back Bled this summer but haven't heard anything.
I saw that Anichi Perez is hosting a musicality dance festival in Freiburg in August https://aya-dance.de/produkt/musicality-summer-dance-week-2025/. Has anyone been to one of their events? I saw some videos from their winter festival (around New Year) which looked pretty good, though this one seems like it's more focused on classes compared to parties.
I'd love to go, but last time I put numbers together I didn't like the total cost for me. Might be alright price for Germans though. If I'd live in neighbourhood I'd go.
My feeling is there is and will be some churn in Slovenian salsa. Several organizer teams will compete and what will become, I don't know. But my bet is they will deteriorate further into direction of romantica.
Maybe if they can find a venue that isn't outside or in a tent. I heard noise was an issue.
Anyway, they replaced it with BPM in Ljubljana so not all is lost, except the magic that is Bled.
But calling it Mambo is a stretch so long as Morena is in charge.
I think she is a very nice person. Not throwing shade on her or anyone else, but I think sometimes DJs got consumed with getting another version of a popular song and often the remake isn't as good as the original or the most popular version. Someone mentioned this before with Chan Chan. Another song like Idilio comes to mind. Other than maybe sound quality, a lot of remakes or more obscure versions aren't as good.
Why would I mock you? I detest surcharges, surprise add ons, hidden fees, charging for water, etc. I know some venues have policies against external drinks, but salsa dancing is a different activity than most of these venues host. I am in the camp let people bring in whatever drinks they want. Okay you can ban the alcoholic drinks because that can cause public nuisance and lot of spills on the dance floor. I have seen people being very creative in smuggling in alcohol when it is not permitted. However it is a very small percentage that feels they really need to smuggle in alcohol to the dance floor.
I don’t recall hidden charges at VSC. The water policy was inconsistent. Sometimes you could take water with you and sometimes they would have those security guard make you take it out. The price of water was €3? I can’t remember.
San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities to organize a festival. There never has been any hidden fees that I can recall.
It is not about how expensive the city is. It is about the mindset of organizers. Are they thinking about it from the point of view of an average dancer visiting the festival or an event. Does organizer understand who their primary customer is.
desconocida
Son
Hm... I am in that group, but obviously very uncoolIt's from a WhatsApp group that all the cool people used that Ivan posted to....wait you aren't a member of it???
desconocida
Son
Yes, they are (and also, I'm an economist... :-D ) And yet, I couldn't care less at that point - I prefer to just not be upset about minor nuisances that I don't have control over. The bottomline was still perfectly ok for me.That’s insanely high transaction fees. That’s between 6% and 12% of the transaction! Not sure who all are getting a cut of that transaction fee and if it includes any govt taxes/surcharges.
My guess is whole of 6% to 12% transactions fee goes to Partypay app. If they do not have high transaction volume, that’s the only way to make money. Unless the event organizers are getting some cut in those fees collected by the Partypay app. Honestly that’s insane amount charged to pay money
desconocida
Son
I've been to one of the parties (NYE) of that festival last year. The location was really nice and the music enjoyable. For me, personally, it was probably not worth the travel because there just weren't enough leads for me to dance with: it was very on1-heavy and those dancing on2 were stylistically still very far away from what I prefer (which is mambo or ET/NY style on2, whatever you want to call it...) and mostly rather intermediate-level dancers. Maybe NYE was a special case though, because people tend to spend this time skiing or with family, I don't know...
Correct description. I didn't go there this year, although I live nearby, because I know it like that from the year before, and I'm spoiled from other mambo festivals. Yes, the region is very on1, only instructors dance on2 - guess why for practicing on2 I needed to go elsewhere. The festival can be nice if you know some people, but for an on2 lover from outside it may not be worth the travel (some of the german mambo dancers prefer Hamburg festival for NYE). Regarding the classes mind that nearly all of them are about shines, not partnerwork.
Let's introduce the TCD as a new measure - the Total Cost of one Dance.
One song averages 4 minutes, so you have 15 songs per hour, equals 15 potential dances. I dance quiet a lot, about 10 dances per hour.
At Live2Mambo Budapest Festival I spent 14 hours on the dancefloor (I went only to the afternoon socials). That makes about 140 dances.
I paid all together 370 Euros (Flight, Hotel, Ticket), and that was rather cheap for a weekend (both flights and hotel were really affordable). But still I paid actually 2,64 Euros per dance! Imagine each time you start a dance you would have to pay this amount - you would hesitate which person to ask to make sure it's worth it, right? But for Live2Mambo I can really say nearly each dance was worth that money.
Of course the real addict goes also to the night socials, so gets double as much dances, so the TCD lowers to 1,32 Euros per dance. But still it is money.
At home at your local social you pay 10 Euros entrance fee and at best nothing for transport. The 30 dances in three hours cost you 0,33 Euros per dance - much cheaper of course, but the average quality of dance is normally lower.
Locally 0,33 Euros versus 1,32 / 2,64 Euros per dance - that's a difference indeed.
The problem is when you fancy going to a festival you don't know yet and flights and accomodation are not cheap. Then costs get so high that your expectations must rise, otherwise it wouldn't be worth it. And high expectations can easily be disappointed.
One song averages 4 minutes, so you have 15 songs per hour, equals 15 potential dances. I dance quiet a lot, about 10 dances per hour.
At Live2Mambo Budapest Festival I spent 14 hours on the dancefloor (I went only to the afternoon socials). That makes about 140 dances.
I paid all together 370 Euros (Flight, Hotel, Ticket), and that was rather cheap for a weekend (both flights and hotel were really affordable). But still I paid actually 2,64 Euros per dance! Imagine each time you start a dance you would have to pay this amount - you would hesitate which person to ask to make sure it's worth it, right? But for Live2Mambo I can really say nearly each dance was worth that money.
Of course the real addict goes also to the night socials, so gets double as much dances, so the TCD lowers to 1,32 Euros per dance. But still it is money.
At home at your local social you pay 10 Euros entrance fee and at best nothing for transport. The 30 dances in three hours cost you 0,33 Euros per dance - much cheaper of course, but the average quality of dance is normally lower.
Locally 0,33 Euros versus 1,32 / 2,64 Euros per dance - that's a difference indeed.
The problem is when you fancy going to a festival you don't know yet and flights and accomodation are not cheap. Then costs get so high that your expectations must rise, otherwise it wouldn't be worth it. And high expectations can easily be disappointed.
While I appreciate the comparison, the difference is like apples and oranges.
You go to a festival to dance with (usually) higher quality dancers. You’re not just going to dance. There’s also the added value of traveling and gaining valuable experiences. Unless you’re wearing blinders all weekend and never appreciate a single thing outside of the dancing place, it’s not such a fair comparison to make.
Local dancing for me is actually free most of the time, so the cost is only the cost of a bus ticket or taxi ride.
But I can not make a reasonable comparison and say that $0/dance carries infinite more value than $3/dance.
The ability to dance at a high quality event in a foreign place is worth whatever premium I am willing to pay.
With that said, I will always prefer local dancing (if there’s any) more than dancing abroad.
Dancing abroad is an extravagant luxury.
P.S. 370Euros all in for L2M is very cheap for single occupancy. Not sure how you were able to swing it. My estimate was between 400-500euros had I gone.
Last year I paid 200 for apartment, 130 for ticket, 40 for train/carpool, and at least 90 on food and miscellaneous expenses. That’s 460! That’s before the insane ticket increase. I’m also living much closer to Budapest than you. Geez….
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No hidden fees at VSC. It was just expensive AF, especially from 2017 on. It was 3-3.50eur for a small 300ml bottle… not even 500ml. Just wtf. Water should be free.