Being introduced to the Local Guide program about 5 years back, i understood the value of it about 3 years back. After getting married , my wife and me started travelling a tad more than we used to , as we both had the bug for wanderlust.
In the span of 3 years, we visited a number of coutries and being from the Muslim Indian Subcontinent, we always had to have Halal food wherever we travelled. We started using the Google Local Guides as one of our main tools to search and identify hidden treasures that server amazing food. We used Local Guides to success from the Islands of Thailand to the streets of Florida.
We understood that this community is such a benefit to the people out there. Not just for reataurants but picking out family friendly hotels and places to see , is so important that Local Guide community is invaluable.
There are so many stories you can find in Local Guides Connect, that can replicate your situations and help you out in places where you have no friends and relatives to rely on. The feedback from the Local Guide community is like that advice from an invisible well wisher that you can accept. I cannot tell you how many times i have booked and rebooked hotels , just on the basis of the reviews the Local Guide community had provided.
I, myself had started to contribute as much as possible to the community in terms of reviews of any place which i found good or bad, inorder to make or save someone’s day.I have consistently tried to be in Top 5% of contributors in my area, so as to be an active member of this community.
I believe this community has just started and there is a long road of improvements and benefits, that we can give back to the society.