Your personal guide for the best city experience
Normally, when we go somewhere new in our home towns or wherever we’re comfortable, we have an arsenal of places we’ll go to look up where to go for even the simplest of things like coffee, where to go out for dinner, or even where to pick up groceries. But what if your common go to’s aren’t available or nowhere to be found? Or are you in a totally new place and don’t even know where to start to find the good local spots? Well, it’s a good thing that smartphones have become the norm because there’s, as always, an app for that.
And it seems so fancy or proper in name-it’s called CityButler, available on most every smartphone app store and built by ButlerTech. Unfortunately, it’s only available in a handful of international cities like London, Manchester, Bangkok, Sydney and Singapore. But in those cities, CityButler has a decently comprehensive list of the best spas, restaurants, and more. I think my favourite part of the app, though, is that it seems so much more than what we’ve seen in other rating or guide sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and the like. CityButler is taking a ground level approach to not only the must-see tourist traps in the listed destinations but also secret spots that used to only be available to or known by the locals. And plus, who hasn’t wanted a butler like in Batman to help them out with questions of where to eat or where to go for a dry martini at night? It just seems so elegant when you talk about it.
I’m all about discovering new ways to get in touch with a new city because to be honest, exploring someplace different can only be done authentically if you get lost a bit and try as you might to blend in with the locals. And CityButler is toying the line between tourist outcast and the blended explorer.
I love the amount of things similar to this app that are coming out and in beta right now. It places a higher priority on travelling and learning about other places in real time and with real experiences. I can’t wait to see how CityButler tests amongst more and more users as well as how it stacks up against the heavy weights that have been in the industry for years or even decades.
Keep an eye on this app as well as its parent company. We have a feeling we’ll be hearing more from and about these guys in the coming months. And check out the app for yourself! It may come in handy the next time you go overseas and need a place for great oysters or a treat yourself spa day in Bangkok. You never know where you’ll end up these days and it soon will be a necessity to have an app like this literally in your back pocket to reference or utilize when you’re some place new.
CityButler is now free to download in the App Store and is available to use on desktop via www.citybutler.co. The Android and tablet versions will be available by the end 2016.
