Freund With Benefits - NYTimes.com For the impatient, socially awkward, unilingual traveler - in other words, for many of us - meeting locals can sometimes seem like a daunting proposition. But what if they came bundled in your hotel price, like Wi-Fi or a fruit basket? In March, Clare Freeman, a British expat and a veteran of Design Hotels, opened Plus One Berlin, a one-room concept hotel that operates a bit like a platonic escort service. Freeman gut-renovated a studio apartment in the city's rapidly gentrifying Kreuzkölln district and turned the space into an airy urban refuge. She has since enlisted 35 locals, many of whom are her friends, to show guests Berlin from a Berliner's point of view. "It's a curated network," she says of her associates. You know you're not getting just anyone. You might get a German portrait photographer, a Serbian astrophysicist or a Roman coffee aficionado for, say, a quick afternoon drink to get restaurant suggestions or a half day spent as a guide's plus-one. Past outings include record-release parties, lessons on flea-market haggling and pop-up film screenings at Yaam, a Jamaican beach club on the Spree. Each booking includes a jaunt with a local, and guests can pick whom they'd like to meet and schedule an appointment online. From about $150 per night; plusoneberlin.com.