The last time I was in Berlin, I decided not to stay in a hotel and give Airbnb a go. I stayed at Claudia’s apartment in Kreuzberg. I had my own room, a free bike and the chance to get to know Claudia and her flatmate Linn, who were nice enough to give me plenty of tips on the neighbourhood. My experience at Claudia’s was extremely good and, up to that point, I thought that was the farthest you could go in ‘living like a local’.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, I came across Plus One Berlin, a website not only offering accommodation in the hip neighbourhood of Kreuzkölln, but adding coolness to the service by giving you the chance to book, together with a studio, a local from a list of ‘creative’ people living in the area and willing to spend time with you, for 120 Euros per night.
Plus One Berlin unveils a new tendency in the travel industry that could threaten the traditional guided tours offered by equally traditional travel companies. Why join a standard, pre-organized and oftenly packed-with-people tour if you can have your personal guide that skips the touristy places and restaurants and, if you’re lucky enough, becomes a friend?
At Vayable.com they believe so much in this philosophy that they launched a website where people can offer themselves as guides. Are you a happy hour expert in Milan,Italy? You can create your own all-you-can-eat tour. Are you a passionate bookworm in Portland? You can show people around your favourite bookstores. And – here’s the business idea – be paid for it.
Vayable founder and CEO Jamie Wong recalls how it all started:
It was on a trip to Morocco during my semester abroad in Madrid. I met a man in a carpet shop who offered to take me and my three travel companions into the Sahara to do a 5 day camel trek with his cousin, the chief of a caravan tribe. We had been looking for a more affordable and authentic way of visiting the desert, so we took him up on it. [...] I decided after that I would no longer travel the beaten path but rather seek out unique experiences provided by locals in the community.
Does it work?
We have about 1500 active guides on our platform offering experiences and the people purchasing experiences have already grown to ten times that in 2011. Vayable absolutely represents a new trend toward customization, social buying, and individual empowerment. The old ways of cookie-cutter travel are over. It’s no longer up to the industry to decide what’s good travel, it’s the traveler himself/herself defining this and watching the market follow.
Vayable is, indeed, just the tip of the iceberg. Many are the websites launched to offer tailor made travel experiences, such as mycreativetours.com, toursbylocals.com, bealocal.com and the Berlin based gidsy.com, all promoting tours organized by ‘real people’.
As cool as it sounds, the big question remains: Would you do it? Would you join such tours and/or create your tailor-made travel experience to sell? I’m not sure about my answer, but I’d definitely give Plus One Berlin a go.
On a citytrip I prefer to walk around myself, and not be “guided”. That’s one of the reasons we started Spotted by Locals – a guide with tips by locals in 41 cities . But I can imagine many people do like to be guided around by a local – nice idea!
At the end of the day you can find people willing to give you a tour and show you the city on Couchsurfing… for free. I understand the idea of the websites mentioned on the article, but why pay when you can experience something similar on CS? Don’t know, I’d give Plus One Berlin a go as well.
After reading this blog post, I’ve decided on offering my services to showcase my famous township Soweto…awaiting a skype interview confirmation with vayable so my experiences can be published.
It’s interesting that there is this trending tendency to do things the way they were once done. How did people find their way around before large tour companies? They probably just had a local do it…
I am the founder of Plus One Berlin and it’s interesting to hear your comments! The difference to other sites such as couchsurfing is that it offers travellers inspring and design-focused accommodation and the opportunity to be the ‘plus one’ of a well-connected and knowledgeable local of your choice (there are currently 31 to choose from, and it’s all done through the site). The accommodation and experience is also included in one simple, fixed nightly rate, so it’s both easy and affordable. Hope you can come and try it out sometime!
I always love the idea of hanging out with a local, but as I travel on a budget this just isn’t an option. Which is where I would stick to counchsurfing. However, if you are into more luxury travel then this would be an awesome way to meet someone who can show you around for the same price as staying in luxury accomodation – alsmost like an added extra.
Sounds like a cool option. I love CouchSurfing for the same reason — usually your host ends up playing a bit of a local tour guide, in addition to being your roomie!
Why does this link to the Italian version of AirBNB?
Yes, this concept has great potential. During my many years in the hospitality industry most guests said their best experiences were when relating with locals.
Read about the Athens, Greece version of travel local at http://parosparadise.blogspot.ie/2012/08/travel-with-locals.html
Cheers,