Want to Travel for Free? Become an Escort

MissTravel, a controversial new dating site that launched this week, arranges free travel for good-looking people. The site connects “attractive members” seeking free vacations with “generous members” willing to foot the bill. Generous members can gift frequent flyer miles to attractive members through the site, as well as set up all-expenses-paid trips for the physically appealing.

According to a press release issued by MissTravel, more than 10,000 people have joined the site. The sign-up process relies on the honor system. There are no prerequisites to register as an attractive member—only the willingness to set back the feminist movement several hundred years.

I know what you’re thinking. So I asked Brandon Wade, founder of the site, to explain how MissTravel differs from the oldest profession. Wade said in an email that “MissTravel is a dating website for people to find love and romance. While generous members pay for travel expenses, no money is exchanged between the members, and the word ‘sex’ is never mentioned on the website.”

A note at the bottom of the site cautions, “Escorts are not welcome.” A good rule of thumb: If a dating site has “Escorts are not welcome” posted prominently, prepare to see a whole bunch of escorts.

The site is an incongruous mess of self-denial. It promises, “With MissTravel.com, you will never have to travel … alone again!” Then on the travel advice and safety tips page, it cautions, “Never travel out of the country or to a different city to meet someone you do not know well.” That’s good advice. But now I’m confused.

Despite all the obfuscation, Wade, who also founded SeekingArrangements.com, clearly just wants to make the world a better place. Wade told the Village Voice that MissTravel is “an outlet” for businessmen who pick up prostitutes while traveling, and that his site could have prevented the recent Secret Service sex scandal. That makes total sense. Absolutely nothing could go wrong if a Secret Service member traveled to Colombia with an anonymous woman he picked up on the Internet.

What’s your take? Do you think MissTravel is a thinly veiled escort service?

(Photo: Shutterstock/Darren Baker)