Guide Me

Guide Me allow travelers to search for local guides through specialized interests and a review rating system. Travelers are also rated by other tour guides to create transparency among travelers and guides. Anyone can become a guide. Make money by showing travelers what you love about your local town.

The Problem

The problem I suspect is not knowing where to find a local tour guide.

Travelers’ Unmet Needs

Travelers are disappointed with tour guides' lack of authenticity. Tour guides will take travelers to places where tourists go.

“I would like to see the real image of the place...which tour guides can’t show you.”

–Traveler

What travelers are using to satisfy their needs.

Competitive Analysis

The Research

Personas

Revised Problem Statement

How might we make going to see a tour guide like going to a trustworthy local who can provide an authentic local experience?

Problem Statement: Michael needs a way to learn more of the local culture because tour guides lack authenticity and will not direct him to the everyday life of a local.

Hypothesis: I believe that by providing a trustworthy and authentic tour guide for Michael, he will provide a good positive feedback on the quality of service.

Pivot

Initially I thought people needed a way to find what I imagined was an authentic tour guide. But, through research, I found that travelers often thought they could get a more authentic experience from talking directly to locals than from a guide. They didn’t want a guy in a brown collared shirt and matching hat with a badge showing them the typical sites, they wanted to experience places as the locals do.

Instead of trying to connect travelers with a guide that they had little faith in, why not connect them directly with someone they do? I decided to connect them to locals.

Ideas

First Iteration Drawing

Testing Feedback

• Have guides customize their tours based on their interests.

• Removed the map and send the users directly to focus more on the search.

• Removed listings tab. It was redundant with the map.

• It’s good to have a reviews rating system.

Minimum Viable Product

• Create a search tool to look up local guides based on location.

• Include a review rating system. This will help travelers trust the authenticity of the guide based on travelers’ reviews.

• Enable guides to customize their tours based on their specialized interests.

• Build an interchangeable page for users to switch between a “traveler” or “guide.”

Second Iteration Drawing

Site Map

High-Fi Wires

Moving Forward

I would like to further expand on monetization, where I can establish a win win situation for guides to profit without tapping into their funds.

I’d also like to focus on the on-boarding for when locals are trying to become a guide.There needs to be extensive screening on making sure that each individual is multilingual and has a broad knowledge of their town.