CuddleComfort

CuddleComfort Review:

If you’re naturally affectionate and don’t mind sharing some of that platonic affection with strangers for pay, you can become a professional cuddler on CuddleComfort. The site connects lonely clients in need of a hug with people who provide “touch therapy.”

Touch therapy

CuddleComfort launched in 2011 with a goal of providing physical affection to more people, without the obligation of a relationship. The site emphasizes that this is about touch — hugging and hand-holding — not romantic touch. If any member ties to touch private areas or solicit sex through the site, they’ll be permanently banned.

The social media era has cut the amount of time people spend face-to-face, the site laments. That creates a variety of physical and emotional problems because cuddling is a “natural antidepressant, relieves anxiety, and strengthens our immune system.”

Thus, this site connects people who want a hug with people who are willing to hug — both professionally and for free.

How it works

Participants can sign up for free and search for other people who want to exchange affection without paying. Or they can seek out professional cuddlers. If you want to be a professional cuddler, you can sign up and offer your services through the site.

Professional cuddlers

Professional cuddlers set their own rates; determine their own availability; and accept or reject cuddle requests based on their own standards or gut feeling. The average rate for an hour of cuddling is $80. However, cuddlers on the site can charge whatever rates they want.

You can require first (or all) meetings to be done in public places. Or you can suggest other places to meet — your home; a restaurant; movie theater, etc. Cuddlers, in fact, set their profile to say whether they’re willing to host — have clients at their own homes; travel to the client’s location or a hotel; or whether they want to only meet in public.

You collect payment

You collect payment from the client in person and remit the site’s 15% fee by automatic debit. This system has its drawbacks as you can see in some of the user experiences. (See “what their cuddler’s say” below) The main complaint, if a client no-shows, there’s no good way to get a cancelation fee when you collect payment in person.

What do cuddlers do?

Since the average job involves talking, holding hands and, perhaps, sitting on a couch or spooning in bed, this is good money for light work. All of the sites that provide cuddling services emphasize that the job is not about sex. Disrobing, touching private areas, or negotiation for more are prohibited.

If the cuddler feels uncomfortable or if the client breaks the rules, cuddlers have the right to leave and still get paid. The site’s terms demand a minimum level of hygiene. Cuddlers also can charge for travel time.

Recommendations

That said, the nature of the job is that you put yourself in an intimate situation, usually in a private area, with a stranger. That is risky.

Invest in pepper spray and make sure your friends know where you are, if you do this. We’d also suggest that you turn down more intimate cuddling requests as these are the ones most likely to result in misunderstanding and put you at risk.

Similar sites where you can find work as a professional snuggler include RentAFriend and Cuddlist.

What their cuddlers say ( from TrustSpot):

Love, love, loveeee working as a professional cuddler for this site. The functionality is simple, the layout is easy to follow along. And its surprisingly a very active site for a lot of areas!

The website is the best zero-entry site for cuddlers, but they have a lot still to do in regards to functionality to be a top tier site.

Why there is no way to collect money from people who don’t show up for appointments or cancel at the last minute? Cuddler rules state we’re supposed to collect this money but how are we supposed to if we’ve never even seen the person? They’re not going to pay us half in advance. I had someone constantly contacting me on the website and texting, basically bombarding me with messages but wasting my time trying to make calls, video chats or meets and they always fell through. He kept creating profile after profile. I had 5 of his profiles banned. If CuddleComfort had the client’s PayPal or bank account information that would stop him from being able to register multiple profiles.