On a cool December night in Ho Chi Minh City, 25 year old My Kim climbed onto the back of a powerful motorcycle, holding a man she had just met as they glided through neon lit streets. Two other bikes followed close behind, carrying a director and cameraman. Instructions flowed through her helmet radio. Relax your hands. Look ahead. Smile.
This was not a movie shoot. It was a paid motorbike date, one of Vietnam’s fastest growing viral trends where romance, content creation, and urban nightlife merge into a highly curated experience.
For VND 2 million, about US$76, Kim chose both her rider and his motorcycle from an online catalogue. The result was a professionally edited video that made her feel, as she put it, like the heroine of a romantic drama.
From East Asia to Vietnam’s streets
Motorbike date rentals first gained popularity in cities across China, Japan, and South Korea, where companionship based services have long thrived. In Vietnam, the concept has been localized and scaled for social media, with cinematic production quality at a fraction of the international cost.
A recent VnExpress survey found nearly 10 motorbike groups offering these services in Ho Chi Minh City and five more in Hanoi, with most fully booked for the next two months. On TikTok and Instagram, videos tagged with “Motor Vietnam” routinely attract millions of views.
How the business works
Clients choose from packages ranging from a few hundred thousand dong to several million, depending on video length, bike type, and occasion. Options include night city cruises, birthday parades, and slow cinematic rides across iconic bridges.
One of the most visible players is Dream Moto, whose videos filmed near Ba Son Bridge helped push the trend into the mainstream. Founder Nguyen Ngoc Phuoc says demand exploded in early December, driven mainly by women aged 20 to 40.
For VND 700,000 to 950,000 per video, clients get a ride on a high capacity motorcycle and a polished clip ready for social media. To maintain quality, the team limits itself to three clients per night. Each shoot involves four to five staff, including riders, camera operators, and lighting technicians.
They meet after 8 p.m. to avoid traffic, follow traffic laws, and rely on camera angles and lighting rather than risky stunts to create visual appeal.
Not just for the young
The appeal goes beyond Gen Z. Nguyen Hanh, 43, turned to a rented date after years of prioritizing work over personal life. She describes the experience of having a polite, attentive rider help with her helmet and check in on her comfort as unexpectedly moving. A short clip from her ride later drew tens of thousands of views online.
The rise of the “emotion economy”
Cultural analysts see the trend as part of a broader post pandemic shift. Pham Ngoc Trung, former dean of cultural development at the Academy of Journalism and Communication, describes it as the growth of the emotion economy, where people pay for carefully designed emotional experiences.
He argues the popularity of motorbike dates reflects changing social norms in Vietnam, especially for women. Romance is no longer confined to traditional relationships. Many women are willing to pay for fleeting moments of connection that offer stress relief without obligation.
Hoang Ha, a lecturer at the Vietnam Women’s Academy, views the trend positively. She sees it as an expression of autonomy and self care, noting that seeking companionship for happiness can build confidence and emotional resilience. She adds that service providers should equip staff with basic psychological training to ensure the experience remains respectful and meaningful.
For international readers, the phenomenon offers a sharp snapshot of modern urban Vietnam. A country where tradition, social media, entrepreneurship, and changing gender norms increasingly collide, sometimes on the back of a motorbike, under city lights, with a camera rolling.
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Source: Vietnam Insider