Yes! Of course you would make a great ambassador of Copenhagen.

Untourist matches travellers with locals to get help with personalised planning, booking and support. An “Uber for Travel Agency” if you will.

Kristoffer Hartwig
Aug 31, 2018 · 5 min read
Our lifestyle and local knowledge makes us perfect travel agents for the right people.

Background

Untourist is slated for beta launch in Copenhagen in the fall of 2018. The big idea is to make the service available other cities in 2019, but hey — baby steps. This post is a bit of background, but first and foremost, it’s an invitation for you to join the beta. If you live in Copenhagen or plan to travel there, this is for you.

The Problem

The Herd. Time and time again, on travels I’ve found myself there. In the herd. In the queue. At the McRestaurant. Making the safe bet. At the mall. On the high-street. Hopped on the Hop on Hop off bus. Listening the guide drone on about how “this castle was built in 1455, burned down in 1634, but then rebuilt in 1712”. [God, I’m getting bored just writing this]. We sit there, taking meaningless pictures, almost out of courtesy. We head to the café by the square, where they have the audacity to charge € 43 for two coffees and waters. Welcome to the production line of the tourism industry. Please, keep moving along.

When we make travel plans, The Herd is never part of those plans. But when we finally get there, we are the herd. Reality and expectations seldom match when we travel. Which sucks.

Let’s not change our expectations when we travel — let’s change the reality

Planning Travel

I’ve also sat in front the computer, after work, in the late hours of the evening. Reading travel forums. Travel blogs from 2012. Scouring for hotels. Finally, I find a place that looks perfect. One five star review after the other. This looks good. And then, I see it; The dreaded 2 star review that shatters all my confidence in booking this place. Someone clearly did not enjoy their stay, or the food, or the service. Maybe the hot shower was too hot. Maybe the soup was cold. Maybe the clerk was a jerk. Who knows? Maybe it was gazpacho.

Planning travel can be stressing, time consuming and filled with a sense of risk. According to the Guardian, we spend 32 hours planning our bigger trips. According to The National Board of Tourism in Denmark, we visit 38 different websites on average, as we make these plans. We get information overload. Fear of making the wrong choices sets in. We begin to make the safe bets. We set course for the herd. This also sucks.

Could travel planning become easier, more fun and even given a sense of personality?

Meet Untourist

What if we could save time, be more delighted when we travel, and replace the herd with the heart? I think we can. And I think it could make travelling cheaper, more interesting and more worthwhile. It just takes people. Imagine if you could search among locals in Copenhagen, find one who’s a bit like you, and have them help you out. Take Dana in the screenshot below. If you are into fashion, and would like shop the up and coming designers off the main streets, you should get in touch with her.

Everyone gets their own ambassador when they travel

With Untourist, you can be that ambassador, for people who are into the same things as you. Share your local knowledge, access and unique perspective with travellers, and get paid for it.

It’s not being a guide, it’s not selling pre-made experiences, there are already great services for those things. It’s helping out before the traveller packs their suitcase, and optionally, while they are at the location too.

You set your services — you set the price.

You set the prices on the services you offer. As you’ll see from the illustration below, you can provide anything from a bit of inspiration via Skype, to planning, booking things or even offering full-on concierge services, to help make travellers more confident, happy and relaxed when they travel.

This is Summer, who doesn’t actually exist mind you, and her Untourist profile.

Making the match between incoming traveller and ambassador is vital. It is key to making you an awesome Ambassador, who with relatively little work can deliver outstanding impact for the travellers. That’s why your interests and perpectives matter a lot on Untourist, and it’s also why there should be a lot of Ambassadors here in Copenhagen. I hope you will consider being one of them.


Sign up for early access and become an Ambassador

To get access to the beta, either as a traveller or as a local or generally just get involved is simple! Fill out this form and I will be in contact.

And no, I can not deny that there will be some seriously nice merch involved, just as I’m in no position to deny that there will or will not be an epic launch party when the site goes live. Would you care to join?

Kindly,

Kristoffer


If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to write (untourist@fastmail.com) , tweet (@stoffr) or connect on LinkedIn.

Kristoffer Hartwig

Written by

Halløj! I'm busy building a new company called UnTourist. My goal is to make travel magical.

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