Because of the transient nature of hot spring resort guests - who, unlike the patrons of geisha elsewhere, were unlikely to patronise the same geisha over a long period of time - the term " geisha", and the entertainment offered by geisha, came to be regarded negatively, as geisha were not bound by contracts, were unlikely to build a steady clientele of repeat customers, were not bound by the geisha "lineages" seen elsewhere and were regarded as the least-artistically educated, the implication being that guests of geisha sought them out not for their skills in the traditional arts, but for their availability as sex workers. geisha were also able to move from town to town easily, a factor aided by their lack of a contract tying them down to any one .