Lian Lodge

Some technology companies attract employees with catered lunches, on-site massages and stock options. But Buuteeq — a Seattle startup that just landed $3.5 million — has a secret recruiting weapon in its back pocket. It’s called Trotamundo.

Join the upstart, and you’ll be encouraged to travel to beautiful hotels and lodges in China, Mexico and Chile … on the company’s dime.

The program — which translated to English means “globe trotter” — offers each employee an annual travel stipend of between $2,500 to $5,000 per year.

The concept makes even more sense when you realize that Buuteeq is in the business of operating Web sites for luxury hotels, lodges and B&Bs throughout the world.

Forest Key

“Part of working at Buuteeq is traveling a lot, with the company paying for your travel,” explains co-founder Forest Key.

The money is designed to cover food, airfare and lodging.

And there is one caveat to the travel perk. You must stay at one of the hotels in the Buuteeq network and then write a blog post about it upon your return.

Based on some of the photos of Buuteeq’s partner hotels, that doesn’t seem too rough.

Key, a world traveler himself who has lived in Asia and speaks Spanish, said that the program has proven successful in wooing a couple of talented engineers.

“It has helped. It has been a good perk,” said Key. “It is something obviously that is germane to our particular business model.”

Introduced in the past month, Key said that three employees have already taking advantage of the program with traveling in South America and one choosing a location in North America.

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