This week on "The Bachelorette," Andi Dorfman and the three remaining men vying for her heart traveled to the Dominican Republic for the infamous "fantasy suite" dates. It's here that Ms. Dorfman will present her final rose in two weeks and perhaps get engaged.
Along the way, viewers will be exposed to Dominican Republic's sprawling beaches, extravagant resorts and sparkling ocean.
For the Dominican Republic, ABC's reality dating show is nearly free publicity. Unlike traditional product placement, the destinations featured on "The Bachelor" franchise, do not pay for the integration, according to producers, tourism officials and managers at the locations.
For tourism boards, resorts and boutique hotels, which tend to have limited marketing budgets, being featured in an episode provides an opportunity to speak to a national audience they otherwise wouldn't be able to reach.
So how does a travel destination or resort get into the show? And what happens when they do?
Producers are thinking about potential destinations year-round, seeking spots that "embody high-end romance," said Peter Scalettar, co-executive producer on "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette."
Producers take into account their budgets, the logistics of getting the cast and crew to a destination and input from the Bachelor or Bachelorette starring in a given season of the show. But it's also about finding locations where they can be creative.
"Be ready for us to pitch you crazy ideas," Mr. Scalettar said. "The Bellagio fountain in Vegas is iconic and a destination for couples -- but not everyone can have dinner on a platform in the middle of it. We want to find a balance of things that anyone can do, mixed with things that can only be pulled off by the Bachelor."
No locations are necessarily off-limits, but a small town in Kansas would be hard to position effectively, Mr. Scalettar said.
"We get celebrity chef and spa pitches all the time and they are often hard to make work -- a chef becomes a third wheel on a romantic dinner and watching two people get massages can be a bit of a snooze," he said. "Those two are not selling points for us."
And of course, producers are also looking for destinations that have been untapped by the show. The wish list includes Indonesia, where Nicole Woods, another co-executive producer on the series, said she'd love to shoot a finale. South America and Japan are also on their minds.
It can take years to massage relationships with the right people and snag a certain destination due to the financial and on-ground requirements necessary to participate, Ms. Woods said.
While the parties involved say no money changes hands between Warner Bros., which produces the series, and the destinations, there are plenty of requirements. The cast and crew need hotel rooms, meals and buses to get around, for example. Ultimately the locations also have to make their peace with having little control over how it all turns out.
During earlier episodes in the season, the locations featured may need to host 100 or more members of the cast and crew, Ms. Woods said.
Montana was featured in week five in season 17 of "The Bachelor," where Texan Sean Lowe chose from 26 women.
"They came to Montana with 12 girls and Sean, but needed accommodations for 110 people including camera men and other support," said Donnie Sexton, media relations, Montana Office of Tourism. Ms. Sexton said the hotels helped cover room fees, while the tourism board provided other financial support, but did not pay producers directly to appear in the show.
In 2012, Belize hosted a crew of over 100 people and needed more than 50 rooms to accommodate, said Alyssa Carnegie, director of marketing and industry relations, Belize Tourism Board.
Belize used several hotels to host the cast and crew. Hotels occupied by the Bachelor and contestants were featured prominently in the show and typically provided the rooms free of charge, while hotels hosting the film crew that didn't get airtime typically provided a discounted rate, she said.
New Zealand was featured in both season 13 and season 18 of "The Bachelor." In both instances, the production team approached the tourism board's PR agency to ask them to be involved, said Gregg Anderson, general manger-Americas and Europe, Tourism New Zealand.
"We do not pay incentives, production fees, and just work on ways to assist the productions by often organizing logistics on the ground for the producers," he said. "This may include tourist activities, venues, accommodation and transport, but is of course dependent on the value we can see for the production."
Mr. Anderson said that approach is similar to how New Zealand has worked with other reality shows that have passed through, including CBS' "The Amazing Race" and NBC's "The Biggest Loser."
It's less of a commitment to be the location of a one-on-one date. Ms. Dorfman visited Connecticut earlier in the season, where she rode the Essex Steam Train and had dinner at The Griswold Inn. Both locations said it required a day of commitment and some staff, but not much else.
The Griswold Inn provided dinner to Ms. Dorfman and her date, but it was left untouched, said Joan Paul, owner of The Griswold Inn.
Finale locations, which Ms. Woods said are the most sought after, require the biggest commitment from the destinations.