Luxy Dating App for Rich People Offered Money to Rename a City

Luxy, a new dating app for rich people, seems to like provocative gimmicks to attract new users to their service. First, they launched their app in 2014 describing it as “Tinder without the poor people.” Now, they have taken their brand to the next outrageous level by offering $3.4 million to rename the celebrity enclave of Hidden Hills, California after their own app – Luxy, U.S.A.

Hidden Hills is an exclusive suburb of Los Angeles, home to celebrities Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus, and the Kardashians. The app is trying to tie in its own service with the rich celebrity lifestyle.

According to an article in CNN Money, the app so far has 135,000 active users, including its latest member – an actor from Californication. (Luxy is apparently using this bit of celebrity news to help promote the app, too.)

To qualify to use Luxy, members must prove they make at least $200,000 per year – by providing income tax statements.

Luxy is not the first company to try and re-name a town to increase its brand cache. There have been other towns that have renamed themselves, thanks to some clever business marketing. Topeka, Kansas renamed itself Google for a month and Halfway, Oregon renamed itself halfway.com during the 1990s dot.com boom. But Luxy will be the first app to try and achieve this goal – and they want the name to stick for 10 years, rather than just a month or two.

There have been other dating apps catering to the jet set crowd. The League launched recently in New York and San Francisco, gaining a lot of attention in the press for its exclusivity. So far, the company has refused to allow more than 2,500 users in New York to join, but they do provide each of the members two VIP passes to give to friends. These friends are then able to bypass the 16,000 people who are apparently on the waiting list to use the app.

You might be wondering who all of these rich single people are. According to Luxy’s website, their clientele includes “CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors, millionaires, beauty queens, fitness models, Hollywood celebrities, pro athletes, doctors, lawyers and many more.”

So far, City Hall has not responded to the app’s offer to purchase the city name. The company’s spokesperson told CNN: "This is just the beginning. Texas is next. We can't wait too long. There are other cities who might want the publicity and the money more."