Localspot: the app to find the great deals of locals!

LocalSpot is a mobile application for iPhone or iPad enabling to find around you the favorite bars and restaurants of the neighborhood’s inhabitants.

I have been using for a long time websites like AirBnb to travel or host tourists.

In every situation, the same question that comes up is “what are some bars and restaurants of the neighborhood that you would recommend?”

It seemed to me useful to create an app in which we can look to the recommendations of locals for going out.

Going even further, I think that this phobia of tourist traps was transmitted to me by my father, who always made us walk fifteen minutes more in the hot sand of the Atlantic beaches in order to avoid tourists, enjoy the quietness, the space, and cherish these precious moments spent together as a family.

Contrary to TripAdvisor where the touristic sites are evaluated by tourists, only the inhabitants of a neighborhood are allowed to comment on the bars and restaurants around where they live.

And to guarantee the quality and authenticity of the recommended places in LocalSpot, every user can only pick one bar and one restaurant in his neighborhood.

So there are many “advantages” for tourists and tourism professionals:

- The users of LocalSpot have the guarantee of avoiding tourist-traps.
- The bars and restaurants that have been terrorized by negative review on the Internet will appear on LocalSpot only if they are the favorite spot of someone, there is thus a guarantee of only having positive reviews.

Even though I created the application myself, I am still a very regular user.

The target audience and myself share a few very specific character traits:
- Even though we love traveling, we don’t like being perceived like tourists.
- We don’t like frozen meals, or poorly seasoned foods, or dining solely amongst other tourists. There is nothing we hate more than misleading or fake advises on touristic websites, because despite ourselves, we trust these advices.
- On the contrary, we love walking, for the time of a stay or dinner, in the shoes of locals.
- We love discoveries, encounters, we like to ask questions, attempt to speak a few words in a foreign language, and lose ourselves to be better directed by the neighborhood’s inhabitants.

In summary, I would say that the target audience is people who want to make every trip, every outing, an authentic moment.

We’re fighting against the giants: TripAdvisor, Yelp, Foursquare… These companies map almost the entire world.

Our differentiating factor comes from the authenticity of the recommended places, since they are appreciated by locals and not tourists.

In LocalSpot, one doesn’t give their opinion on just any place, we share our absolute favorite place, a landmark, a local spot, and that makes all the difference.

It’s the heart speaking, not the head.

There are millions of us who want to travel differently, and millions of us who know little gems in our neighborhoods that we want to share.

This is why LocalSpot is first launching itself in France.

It is possible to add spots abroad but the communication concentrates in France.

Once Paris will be filled of authentic spots, we’ll look to have the application be known to tourists wishing to visit Paris differently.

The use of LocalSpot is free in the entire world.

Only the packs enabling to navigate in a city “offline” are at a fee, since they can be used without using cell phone data.

For example, you could but LocalSpot Offline New York or Barcelona for €1.79, and enjoy all of the referenced spots while staying in airplane mode.

Once the database will be sufficiently filled, it’ll be time to think of another way of charging more.

No, not yet, but on another project I was helped by “l’Accélérateur” in Paris and I learned a few things: humility, frugality, and commitment.

LocalSpot was launched on February 10, 2014.

The iPhone and iPad application is available here: http://bit.ly/localspot.

The website also enabled to consult all of the spots but not to create them: www.localspot.fr.

Evolutions, in Android version and a more complete website will see the light of day in the upcoming months.

More than funding, I’m looking to establish contacts with tourism professionals, to increase my knowledge of the sector, and give LocalSpot all of its chances.

Funding opportunities will come up on their own if professionals deem the project worth investing in.

I co-founded a start-up that works well (www.monsieurtshirt.com).

Meaning that I have no financial pressure on LocalSpot, and I can take the time to do things well.

The launch of course! Download LocalSpot and add your Spots.

Enter without knocking in this great community of curious people, food lovers, and traveling fanatics.

Founder: Vincent Péré

Graduated from Audencia Nate Management School, and Tec de Monterrey in Mexico (MBA program.)

Previous employment:
Consultant at Atos Consulting
Project Leader at BforBank

Entrepreneurship:
Co-founder of the application Flipmylook
Co-founder and Executive Director of Monsieur TSHIRT

I am creative and passionate in computer science and street food culture. My qualities range from managing computer projects, to marketing, and graphic design.

i-tourisme : What made you want to become an entrepreneur?
Vincent Péré: “I always had this desire, but the MBA in brand creation that I took in Mexico was the spark.

i-tourisme: What qualities should an entrepreneur have?
VP: Patience, courage, frugality, performance.

i-tourisme: What ambitions do you have?
VP: Be a competitor to the “big ones” (TripAdviser, Yep…) and expose the lack of quality and objectivity in the advices we can find on these websites.”