Online dating makes all of this infinitely easier than ever, but what are the right apps to explore? It depends what you’re looking for. “As soon as I land, I’m on Feeld,” says Jamie, 38, a journalist who works all over the world and generally seeks “casual relationships that veer on the edgy side.” Of course, Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder are the go-to apps, as time-consuming and often disappointing as many find them to be. Not to mention the niche options like LoveJack, a brainy new dating app where people meet, not with selfies, but with five self-authored words and Better in Person, the no-BS dating app that turns more matches into dates by giving users the power to report the “F**boys, catfishers, and the like.”
Alex Green
Beyond online dating, some hotels have become hyper-attuned to the needs of single business travelers looking to meet other singles. “As solo travel continues to rise, thanks in part to the flexibility of remote work and the rise in bleisure travel—business plus leisure—we saw an opportunity to reimagine the hotel stay for today’s traveler,” says Lauren Levin, CMO of Lightstone—owner and operator of five Moxy Hotels in New York, as well Moxy South Beach and Moxy Downtown Los Angeles. “At Moxy, we’ve intentionally designed our public spaces to feel like a social playground. Our lobbies seamlessly shift from co-working hubs by day to lively hangouts at night. Plus, our programming is intentionally social: think watch parties, drag bingo, happy hours, and game nights. These events often draw a mix of neighborhood regulars and out-of-towners, many of them arriving solo but leaving with new friends (or more).”
Why is Levin so committed to helping singles find love? “Throughout my thirties, I traveled for work monthly which made dating challenging. Until one business trip to New York City in 2020 when I matched with a woman on Hinge and invited her to meet me for a drink at Moxy East Village. Ten minutes in… we hit it off. She’s now my wife, we just had a baby, and that was the last time I found myself single in a hotel lobby bar.”
Dalton Freitas, head of programming at Thompson Central Park New York, says his hotel is on the same trajectory: “We’re constantly thinking about programming that encourages mingling, whether it’s art, music, or cocktail-focused. We’ve got a queer designer trunk show later this month, and in general, look forward to creating a larger footprint in the dating scene.”
None of this is to detract from the art of self-love while on a work trip. GetYourGuide recently offered an intimate workshop hosted by Marie Morise, a traveling French sexologist, all about love and desire, which I personally buckled down for in Paris. I write about love and sex, and it’s the core of my career, so it’s important for me to remain curious and ripe, if you will. I attended with the intention of tenderizing my heart and soul—in the name of work—after a relentless year of work and parenting. The sessions were enlightening, not to mention aphrodisiacal. The closeness I felt to the other people in the room had a sense of both innocence and mischief. The wine, cheese, and chocolate didn’t hurt. And yes, I thought to myself: if only.