A recently launched dating website promises to link wealthy globetrotters with gorgeous women who want to travel for free.
Having only existed for a couple of weeks, Misstravel.com has already reached 20,000 hot and wealthy users worldwide. Founder Brandon Wade explains that 70 per cent of these users are attractive women looking for a free ride.
Brandon Wade is also the owner behind the dating websites seekingarrangement.com, where sugar babies are matched with sugar daddies, and whatsyourprice.com, which allows men to bid on dates for women. So far, the highest bid on this site has been $3,000, he says.
Critics say Misstravel.com is no more than a front for prostitution. Beautiful women going to foreign exotic places, boats and hotel rooms with wealthy men who are willing to pay for anything. The majority of the women may just feel indebted to these generous men, and how can they repay them with no money?
When browsing the profiles on the website, you quickly find that many of the used pictures are simply from neck down, and with the women in their underwear. So, it’s not really about connecting with ones less fortunate than you in a cultural and worldly manner.
Unfortunately, users of this site are anonymous, and no one responded when asked why they’ve joined, but profile texts such as ‘I am very very rich. However, I have no real friends. All my friends are on the internet,’ paints a pretty vivid picture of the wealthy, lonely part of the travelers.
The best part of MissTravel is that the website provides an incentive system that allows generous members the ability to gift frequent flyer points to attractive members, advertising it as the gift of travel. So, when the pretty women have done enough travelling with the wealthy, and probably quite disturbing men, they get the opportunity to travel solo for free.
Seems like a bit of a detour. You could just, I don’t know, get a regular job?
This is even worse than Beautifulpeople.com, the site that asked over 5,000 members to reapply in 2011 when they posted photos of themselves looking ‘chubbier than normal’ after the holiday season.
Maybe lonely people deserve to be able to buy company, and women deserve the right to make their own (possibly bad) choices. But, there’s just such a giant window for dishonesty and coercion on this site, which provides no screening of the users what so ever.
You can argue that the women are using or objectifying the men just as much as the men are using or objectifying the women—technically that’s absolutely true, it’s almost a win-win. But, as Lindy West writes, tell that to the girl who winds up 5,000 miles away from home with ExecutiveDong4U and realizes she doesn’t want to put out.
Hawaii anyone?
Anne Nielsen is third-year Bachelor of Media Studies student at La Trobe University. She is currently on exchange from Aarhus University, Denmark, and is upstart’s deputy-editor. You can follow her on Twitter @AnneRyvang.
