Exploring a new city is one of the most enjoyable parts of going on vacation. But when you live in a city the size of Chicago, there’s plenty to explore during stay-at-home weekends, too.
Chances are you turn to the internet for recommendations when you’re looking to discover exciting new places. But most of the tools out there build on the premise that establishments and attractions can be neatly fit into categories and ranked in accordance with the wisdom of the crowd.
To Ellen Prinzi (pictured right), the world is a little more nuanced than that. The answer to the question “which bar should I go to” really depends on who’s asking.
“My Netflix is different from your Netflix because you watch different things than I would watch,” she said. “[Likewise], the city that you want to discover is different from the Chicago that I want to discover.”
Her new city exploration app, Olio City, takes these kinds of personal preferences into account.
In setting up the app, users take a short quiz to give the recommendation algorithm an idea of what kinds of places they’ll like. And as they start checking into places and liking (or disliking) their experiences, suggestions become more personalized for them.
Prinzi said Olio’s curation is about 80 percent technology and 20 percent human touch. Starting with a full list of businesses and attractions in a city, the company’s platform eliminates national chain establishments to ensure that the user’s experiences are unique and local. After this initial weeding process is done, Olio’s curators — local celebrities and subject matter experts on food, arts and culture — give the inside scoop on their favorite locations.
Those spots are also tagged extensively to help the recommendation engine hone in on precisely what it is that the user likes about each location. These preferences will also follow users as they travel to new cities.
Launched in St. Louis about three months ago, the app is currently being tested in Chicago and is slated for official release in July. With her team split between St. Louis and Chicago, Prinzi said the former was a natural choice to hit the ground running and refine the product before the Chicago launch.
Dubbing herself a “reluctant entrepreneur,” the Olio CEO said the idea for the app came out of her own frustrations when trying to discover new places while traveling. In her experience, seeking out online reviews was a time-consuming and tedious process that often ended up generating more questions than it answered.
Comparing that experience to that of looking for new TV shows and music, Prinzi wondered why discovering new places couldn’t be more like getting recommendations on Netflix or Pandora. After spending six months researching how other companies are trying to solve this problem, she came up with the concept for Olio City and landed an angel round of funding last fall.
Citing statistics on how Millennials tend to spend their money on experiences rather than stuff (on top of the relative dearth of innovation in the travel vertical since the dawn of online reviews), Prinzi is optimistic about her company’s opportunities for growth. And with app downloads significantly outpacing projections after the initial St. Louis launch, it appears that she just might be right.
This summer, Olio will be focusing on building up its market share in St. Louis and Chicago. The company is also currently working on an Android version of its app.
To Prinzi, one of the most rewarding parts of the process has been using the app for local exploration.
“I created it as a way for travelers to discover cities, but if you live in a city of any kind of size, you end up sticking to your own neighborhood,” she said. “I’ve loved getting out of the box in St. Louis and here in Chicago.”
Images via Olio City.
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