What Glocal is (and what it isn’t)

Glocal is a service that hosts, B&Bs, holiday rentals, bars and restaurants offer their guests through a QR code. Guests scan it with their phone and find, in one place, the places in Bologna’s historic centre a local friend would recommend: where to eat, what to see, where to go at night, with opening hours, map and tips from the people hosting them. No app to download.

That is the short definition. The long one follows.

The problem we start from

Planning even a single evening in a city you don’t know means opening ten tabs: a map, two review sites, a couple of blogs, some Instagram profiles, a video, the Facebook group, the venue’s website to check it is open, a message to your host. The sources contradict each other, half are out of date and none of them knows you only have one afternoon.

In the survey we ran among travellers, 71% said they struggle to work out what is genuinely worth their time. 56% had received no recommendation from their host. And 91% prefer authentic experiences to the usual tourist circuit.

The problem isn’t a lack of information. It is that there is too much of it, scattered and disorganised.

How it works

1. The host displays the QR code. In the room, at the entrance, on the counter. It is a card: nothing to install, no device.
2. The guest scans it. Glocal opens in the phone’s browser, in Italian or English.
3. They choose what they love. Food, art, nightlife. They get a few places in the historic centre, with description, address, opening hours and map, plus the host’s personal tips.
4. They plan the day. Places can be saved into an itinerary and followed on the map.

Glocal is free for guests. We curate the listings: we check addresses and hours and translate everything. Opening hours update automatically.

Why only the historic centre

Glocal started in Bologna, with its first version going live in September 2026, and currently recommends places in the historic centre. It is a deliberate choice: it is where almost every visitor arrives, where tourist pressure is strongest, and where the difference between consuming a city and living it shows most clearly. Choosing well here, giving room to independent businesses, is the first step. More on our page about territory and overtourism.

What Glocal isn’t

Saying what you don’t do is the fastest way to explain what you do.

• It isn’t a travel agency. We don’t sell packages or tours. We point the way; the relationship stays between the guest and the place.
• It isn’t a review platform. No stars, no scores. A place is there because we chose and checked it.
• It isn’t another app. It opens in the browser, that’s it.
• It doesn’t replace the host. Glocal is not a chatbot standing in for a person: it is the tool hosts use to give better guidance.

A local friend, in a QR code

The idea is simple: when you arrive in a new city, the most useful thing is someone telling you where to go. Glocal does exactly that. It recommends a few chosen, verified places, the way a friend who lives there would, in Italian and English. If your host adds their own tips, you find them alongside ours.

If you run an accommodation or venue and want to bring Glocal to your guests, everything is on the For hosts & venues page.