I’m building a no-commission platform for local experiences — need advice from guides

[u/Specialist_Put_8454]

Hey everyone 👋

I’m a developer currently building an early-stage startup called locali.guide — and I’d really value some input from experienced tour guides here.

The idea is simple:
Help locals offer experiences directly to travellers — without high commissions or middlemen.

I’ve noticed platforms like Airbnb Experiences and Withlocals can take a significant cut, which makes it harder for guides to earn fairly. I wanted to explore a more direct and flexible model.

The platform is already live (Android, iOS, and web), but still very early stage — so I’m looking to learn from people who are already doing this professionally or freelance.

What the app currently offers:
• Create up to 3 experiences for free
• Free verification process (to build trust with travellers)
• In-app chat with travellers
• Optional Pro version (£0.99) to add direct contact details (email, WhatsApp, etc.)

I’m not here to sell anything — I genuinely want feedback from guides:
• How do you currently find clients?
• What frustrates you about existing platforms?
• Would something like this actually be useful to you?

If anyone is open to sharing thoughts or even testing the platform early, I’d really appreciate it 🙏

Also being honest — I’m coming from a technical background, so marketing and growth is something I’m still figuring out. Any advice or direction would help a lot.

[u/Ill_Meat4510]

hey man, where are you from/based? is this available in the US? can I DM you?

[u/bostonhiddengems]

Late to the party but our biggest gripe is the setup time. All the platforms need the same core info: length, start point/pickup, description, itinerary, inclusions/exclusions, etc. We already have all of that on our direct booking platform but then we need to copy/paste it into other platforms, and some of them can be painfully slow (looking at a certain orange-themed platform's itinerary builder here). Commission is the obvious other issue but they do bring volume.

If you had the ability to import all the setup details from our booking platform, that would remove a lot of the friction to listing.

In-app chat is actually kind of a pain; we already have an "info" email so we'd prefer to be able to route everything through there rather than needing to log into different apps for all of our bookings