I think many social network apps have built in feature to find friends nearby, it goes through your phone contacts. I disabled this function early on, don’t know the details. Some started to suggest total strangers nearby which is annoying, I got messages from strangers want to connect with me, I declined all and disable it if I can find it.

My business travels are generally 6 days each trip to trade shows and conventions, organizers and companies usually have 1-2 big parties, 2-3 nights are group dinners with associates and sales team, 1-2 nights dinner with potential new hires or business counterparts. Lucky if we have 1 night for ourselves for private dinner or with local friends. All nights are booked. Get up 7AM, working all day on show floor, rush to dinner, it is 14-16 hours when I get back into hotels.

Once you are in same business for a long time, you get to know a lot of same people you see 10 times a year every year for decades, they became friends. Newbies search for new friends or networking, old foxes just want to rest, tomorrow is another day.