Tourism is not consumption.
Eight ideas we start from. If they ring true, you’re one of us. If not, at least you know who you’re dealing with.
- 01
Too many sources, no answer.
Maps, reviews, blogs, reels, groups, guidebooks. Choosing where to eat means opening ten tabs, each saying something different. Our job is to turn them into one.
- 02
Like a local friend.
When you arrive in a new city, the most useful thing is someone telling you where to go. That is what Glocal does: it recommends a few chosen, verified places, the way a friend who lives there would.
- 03
Rankings flatten everything.
A thousand reviews tell you what everyone likes. They don’t tell you what is worth it for you, or what is happening two porticoes away.
- 04
A few places, well chosen.
An endless list is just another way of not choosing. We prefer ten right, verified addresses to a hundred possible ones.
- 05
We start from the centre.
Glocal starts from Bologna’s historic centre: it is where most visitors arrive, and where the difference between consuming a city and living it shows most clearly.
- 06
The city is not a film set.
Behind every portico someone lives. Those who travel with Glocal step in lightly, and gladly.
- 07
Local doesn’t mean folkloric.
Authenticity isn’t put on display. It lives in the places locals actually go to, even when they aren’t photogenic.
- 08
No app to download.
A QR code, a browser, done. A traveller’s time is worth more than an installation.
What we do
- + A QR code for every accommodation or venue
- Each partner offers its guests a selection of places in the historic centre, opened with a QR code, in Italian and English.
- + Everything in one place
- Descriptions, addresses, opening hours and map together, instead of scattered across ten sites and apps.
- + Curation and checks
- We write the listings, check addresses and hours, and translate. Opening hours update automatically.
- + Room for the host’s own tips
- The host’s personal suggestions appear as theirs, in their voice.
- + Tailored itineraries
- Guests choose their interests and plan the day on a map.
What we don’t do
- × We don’t give you endless lists
- A hundred possible addresses help nobody. We give you the right ones.
- × We are not a travel agency
- We don’t sell packages or tours. We point the way; the relationship stays between the guest and the place.
- × We don’t do rankings
- No stars, no scores. A place is there because we chose and checked it.
- × We don’t sell guest data
- Guest data is not for sale.
- × We don’t replace the host
- Glocal is not a chatbot standing in for a person. It is the tool hosts use to give better guidance.
Arriving in a city with no guidance.
Glocal comes from something that happens to almost everyone: arriving in a new city and getting no guidance on what to see and where to go, apart from a handful of scattered sources to piece together on your own.
The survey we ran among travellers told us it isn’t a one-off: 56% had received no recommendation from their host, and 71% struggle to work out what is genuinely worth their time.
We started in Bologna, in its historic centre, where we work with accommodation, bars and restaurants.