Online travel guide service Koudaidipei (pocket guide in Chinese) has received a multi-million USD investment from an overseas venture capital. The startup offers local guide services online and was launched this year by founder Ang Li, who claims to have service covering Japan, Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. At the moment, it only operates with a Wechat account with a service ID.
Unlike similar services Lanrenyou and Zhinanmao that design itineraries for users, Koudaidipei’s operation is extremely lightweight and only offers online solutions for users’ nitty-gritty needs such as recommendations for reliable visa services or hotel locations. They also help users revise their itineraries or offer advice to users during their trip to save them the time on searches for transportation, dining and attractions locations.
All of Koudaidipei’s guides are locals such as local students with active lifestyles. These guides have undergone training that covers information search skills before they are given assignments. Each guide is only assigned to support at most four users simultaneously. The local guides are also in online groups where they can seek assistance from other guides when they can’t answer certain questions from users.
Mr. Li said that has a mutually beneficial arrangement with OTA Ilvxing and several offline tour operator partners to direct traffic to Koudaidipei that and in turn offers its partners’ customers better service experience. Mr. Li admits that the company has yet to establish a critical mass of business and had to quickly expand in order to maintain ad edge in word-of-mouth and brand recognition.
At this stage, Koudaidipei only has a Wechat platform and it has recently launched its Japan service. It charges RMB50 for nine hours of real-time consultation. Mr. Li said some users pre-arrange daily sessions with their guides before setting out. Some uses will even ask their guides to book hotels or even buy attractions tickets for them after consultation.(Translation by David)
