Becoming a Local Buddy: How to Get Paid Showing People Your City

If you already know your city better than any guidebook and don’t mind meeting new people, becoming a Local Buddy turns that into paid time.

It’s a good fit for people who already do this informally, showing visiting friends around, giving restaurant recommendations to anyone who asks, knowing exactly which neighborhood to send someone based on what they’re into. Becoming a Local Buddy is mostly just getting paid for something you already do for free. If part of the hesitation is that paid companionship still sounds unusual, it’s worth understanding why that reaction is fading as more people try it from both sides.

What the role actually is

It’s not a scripted tour-guide job. It’s showing travelers or new arrivals around, being good company for an afternoon or evening, and sharing your actual local knowledge instead of a rehearsed script.

That distinction matters for what kind of person does well at it. You don’t need formal tour-guide training or a memorized list of historical facts. You need to actually enjoy showing people around and be comfortable spending a few hours with someone you just met, since that’s the entire job. It helps to know what travelers actually expect from a booking before you set up your own profile.

Getting verified

You start with a Google sign-in like everyone else, plus phone verification over WhatsApp — required specifically for anyone accepting paid bookings, since that’s what lets people trust booking you in the first place. It’s a real concern given that confidence and romance fraud cost Americans over $929 million in 2025 alone.

The verification step exists to protect both sides, not just the traveler booking you. A Local Buddy with a verified, consistent profile has an easier time getting booked than one whose account looks thin or incomplete, so it’s worth treating verification as something that works in your favor rather than a hoop to jump through. The same verification and meetup habits that keep travelers safe apply to you too — see our full guide to staying safe meeting anyone from an app.

What makes a profile actually get booked

A profile that says "I know all the best spots" tells a traveler nothing. A profile that mentions specific interests, food, live music, hiking, art, and says what you’d actually do with someone for a few hours gives them something concrete to book against.

It helps to be specific about your availability too, rather than leaving it vague. Travelers are often booking on short notice, a day or two out, so a profile that’s clear about which evenings or weekends you’re usually free tends to get messaged first.

Photos matter more than people expect. A profile with a couple of real, recent photos of you out in the city, not posed studio shots, reads as more trustworthy than a single profile picture, and it gives a potential booker a better sense of who they’d actually be spending time with.

Setting your rate

You set your own hourly rate — there’s no platform-mandated pricing, the same way most of the 64 million Americans who freelanced in 2023 set their own. It’s worth thinking honestly about what your time and local knowledge is actually worth, and adjusting as Vibe Check confirmations build your track record.

Most Local Buddies start on the lower end while they build up their first few Vibe Checks, then adjust upward once their profile has a track record behind it. There’s no penalty for changing your rate over time as you get a better sense of demand in your city.

How bookings and payment work

Everything runs through the platform, not cash. The cancellation policy protects both sides: a full refund if the traveler cancels more than 24 hours out, and a 50% cancellation fee if it’s inside 24 hours, to compensate you for the time you’d held open — see our Trust & Safety guide for the complete policy.

It’s also worth agreeing on the specific plan by message before confirming a booking, the same way a traveler should. If someone’s looking for something you’re not comfortable with, say a full-day commitment when you only have a few hours free, it’s easier to sort that out before accepting than to renegotiate once you’ve already agreed to meet.

Building a track record

Every completed Vibe Check adds to your trust signal. The more consistent, safe meetups you have, the more future bookings tend to trust you sight-unseen.

It compounds the way any reputation-based system does: the first few bookings are the hardest to land because you don’t have a track record yet, and every one after that gets a little easier because you do. Showing up reliably and being upfront about what you offer in those first few bookings matters more than trying to optimize the profile itself.

It’s worth being patient with the slow part at the beginning rather than reading it as a sign the platform isn’t working for you. Every Local Buddy with a strong track record now started with zero Vibe Checks and one unfamiliar first booking, exactly like anyone starting out.