Two separate numbers make up the cost, and they never get mixed together. One is a small, one-time fee to unlock a companion's contact details - paid in coins, bought in packs. The other is the companion's own rate for their time, which they set themselves and which you see on their profile before you spend anything. Neither one is hidden until checkout.
The two things you're paying for
The first cost is the platform's: unlocking a profile's contact details and opening a chat costs coins, and coins come in packs you buy up front. It's a one-time cost per person - once you've unlocked someone, you can message them again next month without paying to unlock them a second time. The second cost is entirely between you and the companion: their hourly or daily rate, agreed in chat before anything is confirmed. The platform doesn't take a cut of that rate or mark it up.
What companions actually charge
Rates vary by city and by what the booking actually involves, the same way a personal trainer in one city charges differently from one in another. A short local-guide session tends to sit at the lower end; a full day, or a booking that requires travel on the companion's part, costs more. The honest way to find out what something costs is to look at a few profiles in the category you need - the rate is right there, before you unlock anything, so there's no guessing and no negotiating in the dark.
Where the coins go
Coin packs are priced in tiers - buy a small pack if you're only planning to unlock one or two profiles, or a larger one if you're comparing several companions before deciding. The per-coin price drops slightly in the bigger packs, which matters if you know you'll be booking more than once. There's no expiry pushing you to spend faster than you'd like.
How to avoid overspending
Read a profile fully - rate, reviews, what they actually offer - before unlocking it. Unlocking is cheap enough that comparing two or three isn't a real expense, but unlocking ten profiles for one booking is spending on options you were never going to use. If you already know the city and category you need, start with browsing providers there and narrow it down (favor the verified badge) before you spend a single coin. And if you've got a rate in mind you know you'd charge for your own time, set up a profile and see what demand looks like.
