If you read our blog, you know that our session tributes used to be complicated, really, really complicated.  Back in 2019, we made our first pass at simplifying session tributes by taking three (originally four) separate session tribute tiers and eliminating the highest tier and the lowest tier (see Simplified Tributes And Why).  The result was that all staffers had the same session tributes, and the average session tribute remained unchanged.  Go us!

Then, effective October 2023, we had our first session tribute increase *ever* (and we’ve been around since December 2007, so that is 16 years with no tribute increase) (see Tribute Increase for First Session Hour Only).  And that first session tribute increase was limited to $50 on the first session hour only!  At the time, we gave everyone incredible advance notice that we would be, eventually, further simplifying our session tributes by moving from the following mathematical mess (so described by our staff and members alike):

• $300 for the first hour, $200 for the second hour, $190 for the third hour, $180 for the fourth hour, $170 for the fifth hour, $160 for the sixth hour, $150 for the seventh and all additional daytime hours with a maximum of sixteen hours.

To a highly simplified:

• $300 for the first hour and $200 for all additional hours

Effective January 1, 2025, we’ll be updating the session tributes to the highly simplified option immediately above, plus making non-session tributes consistent and logical.  The change will accomplish two critical goals:

• Most importantly, increase the compensation to the staff.  Since our rebranding to Studio Sanctuary in March 2019, we’ve increased the compensation structure for the staff multiple times without being prompted by any staffer.  We are doing so again on January 1, 2025.
• Keep us around!  Due to a lack of increase in tributes, all past increases in the compensation structure came out of the studio’s margin (which is reasonably small).  Due to the insane increase in supply costs since the pandemic, two significant increases in our rent in the past ten years, one significant increase in our CAM (common area maintenance), and our increases in staff compensation, the studio no longer has a reasonable margin for sessions longer than 3-hours.  Since our average session length is 5 hours, most sessions result in no reasonable studio margin – and we need that to stay around, especially since we recently signed a 30-year lease extension.

In addition to simplifying the session tributes (which is an increase per session hour for hours three and beyond only), we will make all of our non-session tributes consistent and logical, which was not the case previously.

If you requested a session, social, or both before this post on December 1, 2024, to occur in 2025 or beyond, then the current, complicated tributes will be honored.  If you request a session, social, or both after this post on December 1, 2024, to occur in 2025, then the new, simplified tributes will apply.

As we always have had, we continue to have some of the lowest session and social tributes compared to other world-class BDSM/Fetish professionals and studios.  And we’ll make sure it stays that way!