Kansas City, Mo. ? Some visitors to Kansas City may be surprised to find promotions for an escort service in brochures from the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Kansas City.

The escort service operates under several names, including Convention Mates, Plaza Escorts and ZZEscorts. Its owner recently paid the bureau’s $350 midlevel membership fee and will be listed in its promotions and brochures as a member.

The bureau could not legally bar the service from becoming a member, said bureau president Wayne Chappell.

“Because we get tax money, we cannot bar anyone who is legally doing business in the city,” he said.

Juan Perez Banda Jr., who operates Convention Mates, doesn’t care if other bureau members are unhappy that he has joined the group.

“I’m like any other businessman,” he said. “I don’t want to be harassed because of somebody’s perception of morality.”

He said a handful of “narrow-minded” bureau members who opposed his membership wanted to keep Kansas City a “small time” destination.

“To be a big-time convention city, you have to have legal, adult entertainment, whether it be gambling, escort services or gentleman’s clubs,” Banda said.

Convention Mates’ Web site, which the bureau must now promote, says the company has been “serving the metro area since 1971.”

“Our attractive ladies are 15 to 45 minutes from your location,” it says.

Rates average $175 for daytime escorts to $250 for evenings. The company notes that its escorts engage in “nothing illegal.”

A Kansas City, Mo., police spokesman said the department had no comment.

Banda was arrested in Kansas City in 1999 on prostitution and money-laundering charges. His attorney, Kurt Marquart, said Wednesday that those charges later were dropped.

Marcellus Hughes, bureau membership director, said the agency periodically attracts adult entertainment establishments as members, including Banda in the past. Another bureau member is Temptations, a downtown strip joint.

Hughes said Banda’s previous membership lapsed three or four years ago.

Chappell wishes it would have stayed that way.

“We consider ourselves a family tourism generator,” he said. “If they get into any trouble or do anything that brings discredit to the city or tourism, we can revoke their membership.”