Dating app Hinge is giving users free cocktails to get them to go on dates

Dating app Hinge is participating in “National Day of Unplugging” with a promotion encouraging users turn off the ability to find new dates in order to go out with people they’ve already matched with. The company is partnering with Freehand Hotel Group to offer two free cocktails to Hinge members who participate. The offer extends to Broken Shaker bar locations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami. Anyone who doesn’t live in a city with a Broken Shaker can enter to win a “dream date” worth up to $1,000, which users will be asked to describe when they disconnect. If they’re randomly chosen as the winner, they’ll receive $1,000 for the date.

The app will prompt users to turn off their discover section at 5:30PM local time on February 28th and keep it off until midnight on March 1st — basically, Hinge is asking users to turn off the feature for a full day. If they do, they’ll receive some sort of ticket through the app that entitles them to free drinks between 6PM and 8PM on March 1st.

In New York City, Broken Shaker, a trendy rooftop bar, tends to have a line to get in that sometimes runs the length of the block. A Hinge spokesperson says that additional staff will be on hand to help, but that using Hinge won’t let people cut to the front of the line. Broken Shaker cocktails can cost more than $15 each, and Hinge says users can receive any cocktail for free.

While the bigger goal of the initiative is to encourage people to go out on dates, I’m sure some, if not most, people will take the opportunity to go out with their other single friends for free drinks. Still, it’s an interesting initiative if only because it taps into the trend of dating app fatigue, where users tend to match with many people but never actually meet them in person. Comped $15 drinks could get them out of the house and into a bar.

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