Learn How to Book Local Experiences With Local Italians

Luca Sini of Travel Massive Milan shows us how to discover and book authentic local experiences all around Italy with a local friend. Are you in?

Luca is the CEO & Co-Founder of GuideMeRight and helps travellers to enjoy their trios by engaging with locals. We asked Luca a few questions about how they built GuideMeRight and the successes of their startup business in Italy. 

Who is your startup for?

Guide Me Right (GMR) is a community marketplace where you can discover and book authentic local experiences all around Italy with a local friend. Guests (both travellers and locals) can enjoy experiences with local friends, local experts who can earn by sharing their local knowledge and lifestyle.

Thanks to Guide Me Right you can access to places, activities and/or environment otherwise inaccessible.

What inspired you to create this startup? 

Travelers are often looking for a truly authentic experience. Nowadays, 28% of travellers are not satisfied with the current travel offer. This need is what led to the astonishing success of Airbnb. Our Target Market is in the tour & activities (T&A) market, the third biggest market in the Travel Industry: $110 B. (+11% annually) with more then $30 billion booked online. There is also incredible growth in the Sharing Economy ecosystem ($25B in 2015), which will reach a total value of $335 Billions by 2025.

By combining these two segments, we aim at satisfying the needs of travellers 3.0 by enabling them to easily engage with locals through authentic experiences.

How did you build your startup?

We started by winning the Startup Weekend in Milan in 2014. We were three passionate guys: Luca (CEO), Andrea (CTO) and Pietro (Art Director). We have been able to raise up to €250K by winning Italian and European prizes and grants. Today, we are a team of 10! 

How is your startup disrupting the travel scene today? 

WIDE OFFER: A wide spread offer of local experiences in order to increase the number of recurring customer by targeting not just travellers but also locals.

GAMIFICATION: A smart Gamification System that enables users to validate each other and that rewards the most active users.

RECOMMENDATION: A sophisticated Recommendation System that facilitates the meeting between users who share the same interests and passions.

How did you get your startup off the ground and gaining traction?

Enthusiasm, execution, some grants, great idea and a lot of word of mouth!

Today on Guide Me Right you can chooze amongst more then 1700 experiences offered by 700+ Local Friends in 523 Italian cities! 2000+ have already lived an experience with our Local Friends.

Do you have any tips for new entrepreneurs who want to create a successful startup?

• Choose the right people who to start your adventure: it will be a long journey.
• Validate your assumptions everywhere you can.
• Learn how to sell your dream being consistent.

As a startup, what benefits have you seen from being a part of Travel Massive meetups?

Be part of a network pf professional and passionate people that you can meet in different city and that can help you in spreading the verb of your own startup and mission!

For more information, check out their company vision, their team, their timeline and all their media resources. 

Travel Start-Up is a monthly series that profiles unique online travel start-ups in the Travel Massive community around the world. Connect with Luca Sini and GuideMeRight on Travel Massive, Facebook and Twitter.