It’s been a decade since travel guide app Spotted by Locals first opened shop. This week, the company launched the latest iteration of its app. Redesigned and completely rebuilt for both Androids and iPhones, this newest version of the app is faster, but it also allows users to add their own locations to the map, including hotels or visitor highlights not found in the app’s guide. Users can also search articles for any keyword as well as find updated recommendations by locals.
Co-founder Bart van Poll says:
“This was a much requested feature by users who frequently use our app in one or more cities. About 30% of our users are people who live in the city for which they’ve downloaded the app.”
The company closed 2017 with 2.5 million unique visitors –most of whom are from the US and Europe—and 300,000 app downloads. Come February, Spotted by Locals will offer a total of 70 offline city guides.
App users skew toward frequent travelers between the ages of 20 and 40 who are often visiting a city for the second or third time and spend at least twice as much as the average traveler and travel solo or as a couple.
With plans to grow its app users and revenue by 40% in the next year, van Poll and his wife and co-founder Sanne are looking to expand East. That is, the Netherlands-based couple is planning to further expand their city guide offerings to include major urban areas in the Middle East and Eastern Europe such as Abu Dhabi, Amman, Baku, Beirut, Cairo, Chisinau, Dubai, Jerusalem, Minsk, Nicosia, Podgorica, Pristina, Riyadh, Tasjkent, Tblisi, Tehran and Yerevan.
The decision to focus on Eastern destinations doesn’t stem from an influx of tourism to these cities, but rather the social consciousness that drives the van Polls’ business model. He explains:
“We’re not expanding to the Middle East, the Balkans and former Soviet Union state because we see a bigger market, but because we feel we can help make a change by encouraging travelers to these destinations where an extra traveler can make a big economic and social impact.”
Socially aware growth continues to take precedent over revenue for the van Polls, who self-funded Spotted by Locals ten years ago and still independently operate the company without the aid of any outside investment. With no prior experience in the travel or tech industries, the van Polls’ goal for 2018 is to grow both app users and revenue by 40%, the couple continues to maintain the minimalist lifestyle that they opted for when they invested all of their savings into the company at its inception.
Revenues are invested back into the company, primarily in expanding the startup’s network of “Spotters,” the locals who write content for the app and for whom Bart and Sane have begun organizing weekend get-togethers. In fact, the couple travels six months a year –renting out their Amsterdam apartment—in order to meet their content providers. The focus on their independent contractors is a reflection of Sanne’s previous experience running a consulting business that specialized in improving employee engagement. Van Poll explains:
“We understand now how important it is to do something meaningful and we strongly believe encouraging more people to experience foreign cultures as locals is good for the world."
The approach has garnered Spotted by Locals attention among third parties interested in licensing Spotted by Locals’ content. Van Poll's prior experience as a management consultant, largely for the publishing experience, helped influence a four-year partnership with Volkswagen, which concluded in 2017. Today, Spotted by Locals is still working with tourism boards such, including those in Ghent, Helsinki and Vilnius.
The plan for the next 10 years is to be present in all of the world’s major cities, to continue investing revenues back into the company and to continue to be the travel guide publisher with the most current city guides written by locals. But the van Polls aren’t adverse to partnering with or even selling the business to a traditional guide book publisher that shares their vision for social impact and believes in local travel content. Van Poll says:
“Our priority is to make enough revenue to keep increase our impact each year, with more guides to more cities, more users and more channels where we publish our content.
“Wherever it is financially possible, we will make decisions that are not interesting in terms of revenue, but where we can help create a social impact.”
Outside investors remain out of the question.
“We would probably attract a 100 times more users if we expanded to Tokyo, Bangkok, Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro."
Related reading:
Spotted by Locals brings neighbourhood flavour to Google Field Trip