Daniel Gendelman founded his first startup, the invite-only dating app Raya, on the premise that an aspirational class of singles would pay to access a vetted community of like-minded daters who had been personally recommended by other members of the app. In today’s saturated online dating landscape, this touch of exclusivity has been its USP.
Now, Gendelman is extending this ethos of trusted recommendation to his second venture, Places, a new travel app. Places began as a test feature for travel reviews and restaurant reservations within Raya that members loved so much it warranted a separate product, Gendelman says. “In a world driven by mass content, personal taste has become a form of luxury. While there are so many remarkable tech tools to help us solve so many things in our life, when it comes to needing a great recommendation, feeling a sense of trust from a person whose opinion you really value, we believe, will always be better than something crowdsourced or algorithmically served,” he says.
Unlike Raya — whose membership application process requires a referral from an existing member and a review of the applicant’s social media presence, profession, and personal and professional connections — Places has just become available to all members of the public who are willing to pay the annual subscription fee of $39.99. So far, the core Places user falls within the millennial demographic, and many of the app’s early adopters converted from Raya. But the app’s fastest-growing user segment is Gen Z, Gendelman says.
Gendelman’s vision is to make Places the “Spotify of travel”, where users can search, discover, save and build collections of restaurants, hotels and shops anywhere in the world within two main categories — ”Been here” or “Want to go”, alongside writing small personal reviews. They can also book last-minute restaurant reservations through the app’s “Table Tonight” aggregator feature. Users can follow their real-life connections, as well as a group of 75 handpicked tastemakers from the fashion, art, film and hospitality industries. These so-called “curators” include fashion designer Margherita Missoni, chef and model Laszlo Badet, designer Rachel Antonoff, Oscar de la Renta creative director Laura Kim, and New York-based food writer Gabe Ulla.
This focus on personal recommendation over sponsored content reflects a broader shift among consumers onto more niche social platforms, as they crave real human input on buying decisions — the recent rise of Reddit as a fashion discovery platform is a case in point. For luxury brands, member-only communities like Places and fellow travel app AmiGo offer an even more captive audience to tap into, as they directly align with a key demographic of affluent Gen Z and millennial travellers.
It’s a ripe opportunity. The luxury travel industry has long been dependent on emotional intelligence and tailor-made itineraries, which Ed Farrelly, director of travel at luxury concierge company Ellidore, points out are lost on “Best of” lists, social platforms, and AI-generated travel planning. Instead, he says “unparalleled access” has become the new social currency, and something time-poor luxury consumers are increasingly willing to pay for.
“Today’s most valued decisions are therefore shaped by trusted partners and communities who offer context, endorsement and curation, which is only achievable through human expertise and experience,” says Farrelly.
The “age of taste”
Places is built upon its own algorithm that collects user data — in this case, their location, connections and taste profile based on the tastemakers and places they follow — to give app users what Gendelman is pitching as a much more curated travel discovery option that they will trust better than their social feeds. While Places is yet to collaborate with any brands, it offers fashion store owners the opportunity to share the story of their brand with a “From the Source” feature. The company says it may explore brand partnerships in future — if they “feel aligned, not promotional”.
“The part of the trip that’s often the most important — what you find and experience “on the ground” — is often influenced by an inauthentic environment of promotion and popularity,” Gendelman says. “There’s a lot of scepticism around “Best Ever” content — people are tired of chasing viral spots and want recommendations they can actually trust,” he adds.
It’s an observation that reflects a growing desire to engage with content more organically, as consumers gravitate towards in-person micro-communities and leaders in a particular field, rather than your traditional influencer. It’s what some marketers are dubbing the “era of the expert creator” — an acquisition channel that holds huge potential for brands.
“People are smart and realise when the algorithm is essential trying to game them — we’ve reached this uncanny point where people are sick of an algorithm dictating what they’re seeing, and they’re hyper-aware of what are paid-for posts,” says Minda Smiley, senior social media and influencer marketing analyst at market research firm Emarketer. “At the same time, people are trying to spend less time on social platforms and seeking out in-person community events. So there’s a bigger cultural shift here towards people with an online and offline presence who have a more niche but really engaged audience, and brands are dying to tap into these kinds of figures.”
It’s a market opportunity that inspired Alexia Tamer, who founded member and invite-only travel app AmiGo in 2021, to recently introduce a premium paid annual subscription to the app. The subscription costs $129 a year and gives users access to curated lists of shops, restaurants, bars and attractions around the world from AmiGo’s 150+ tastemakers — mainly fashion editors, stylists, photographers and creative directors, including author and blogger Leandra Medine Cohen, creative director Alex Eagle, and photographer Sam Youkilis. AmiGo has users in 73 countries and has grown its user base by over 60 per cent in the past year, in tandem with the launch of its Premium paid subscription, Tamer says.
“Part of the problem with the saturation of recommendations on social media is that everyone knows about the same places, and no matter how special a place is, when there’s a line out front with people filming TikToks, it’s just not as special as it was before. The joy of discovery is gone,” she says. “People want to go to the special spots that others don’t know about, places only the most plugged-in locals frequent. People are looking for recommendations that feel more soulful and human and a little less sponsored.”
AmiGo has, however, tapped into brands’ desire to reach its hyper-engaged user community and has worked with brands including Max Mara, Loewe, J Crew and Christopher John Rogers on custom partnerships that tap into tastemaker-selected locations for catalogue photo shoots, written themed travel guides, curated affiliated tastemaker programs, and put together campaigns to drive buzz around store openings in collaboration with the curators in its app.
“Taste has become the ultimate luxury, and this extends to fashion brands, too,” Tamer says. “When people choose to wear a specific brand, it’s about more than the clothing. It’s about what the brand stands for, who wears it, who you can be when you wear it.”
Tamer points to how brands can successfully attract more customers in this “age of taste” by building out a strong brand personality that speaks to their client base — and she believes one of the most similar luxury industries to fashion is travel.
“Part of our value for brands is that we are a new medium by which they can brand-build and show the destinations and individual places (hotels, restaurants, etc) that they love. A great brand has a great brand universe,” Tamer says.
Maintaining the “insider” feel
The challenge for apps like Places and AmiGo will be maintaining the air of exclusivity while scaling large enough to become a profitable business. And like with any subscription-based app within the saturated lifestyle services sector, the fundamental challenge for both companies will be building strong enough customer loyalty to hold onto the members they attract.
While both Gendelman and Tamer are tight-lipped about their product roadmaps, both say they’re keen to explore hosting in-person events as a way to grow their communities. It’s a trend we’ve seen play out successfully for fashion brands post-pandemic, with online-only stores branching into seasonal pop-ups and events to enhance engagement and build a sense of community among their customer base.
Analysts say Places’s and AmiGo’s business models could be best described as online members clubs, digitising peoples’ desire for community with their desire to feel like an “insider” on what’s worth knowing. It’s this concept of paying for trusted recommendations that travel experts say has become the true luxury marker at the top end of the market, especially with the increase in AI-generated travel recommendations and AI search.
“Real influence comes from credible spaces, where discovery is driven by reputation, not algorithms. As AI and automation become mainstream, privacy needs are paramount, and dealing with a human being will become profoundly luxurious — and expensive,” Farrelly says.
Sign up to receive the Vogue Business newsletter for the latest luxury news and insights, plus exclusive membership discounts.
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
