Zodio: Know before you go

MANILA, Philippines - With the daily expenses piling up, it’s wise to spend every hard-earned peso on necessities and luxuries that won’t have you feeling like you have been ripped off. It’s a good thing that technology has now allowed making informed decisions a lot easier.

Blogs and websites have made it possible to dine in a restaurant or subscribe to a spa treatment with the knowledge of what to expect and the consideration of real-life experiences from people who have availed themselves of such items and services before.

Access to all these reviews allows you to value and make the most out of your money by knowing where to place your bets on. And now, decision-making has been made even more convenient as platforms like Zodio give you all the information you can possibly need not just on restaurants and hotels, but even on shopping malls, spas and nightclubs.

Think of Zodio as your trusty advisor on anything and everything under the sun. As the first of its kind in the Philippines and Asia, it does a whole lot more than just let you write rants and raves, post photos, and share opinions on your food discovery or fashion purchase.

“How many times have we been lost in our own city, struggling to find the closest bank or gas station?” asks Nina Comsti, marketing manager of Zodio Philippines. “That’s Zodio’s raison d’être — so that our users never have to feel lost again.”

For one, Zodio’s scope is far wider than what most lifestyle blogs cover. It goes on to review categories like pets and vets, outdoor recreation, transportation and even medical services. And what’s good is that it has two sets of ratings — one from the entire community and one from just your friends. This is a quick way to find out which places your friends like (and assuming you have similar tastes, that you will like as well).

Also, it allows users to accurately locate places of personal interest, including ATMs and convenience stores and also their favorite places, from restaurants to hotels, shopping malls, spas, and nightclubs. And given that it has a database of over 600,000 locations, it sure has your area covered, be it in Cebu, Davao, Tagaytay, Iloilo or Baguio.

Led by the app’s 27-year-old founder Jai Govindani, the team of talented developers at Zodio built this application as a tool to practically make life easier.

“We designed Zodio to appeal to a wide audience, whether they are looking to see where their friends are hanging out, what’s hot in a new city, or even if they just need the closest ATM.  When it comes to finding places, I think one of the strongest features is the ability to see your friends’ rating of places, and not just the overall rating. Results are conveniently displayed on a map or list, and users can easily bookmark, get directions, as well as call these places — essentially bringing the user and the business together,” says Govindani.

To date, Zodio has gained more than 150,000 active users, 40,000 reviews, 65,000 app downloads, and 200,000 monthly site visitors. And the numbers continue to grow as it continues to add more services to its already full plate.

Apart from being a reliable and accurate map locator and a trove of reviews, users also get a dose of deals from establishments daily, and for entertainment, can play with the gaming feature. They even get a chance to win prizes like iPads and digital cameras simply for accumulating points, which they can easily earn by checking in and reviewing a place or by referring a friend.

Even business accounts benefit from joining Zodio as they get to offer discounts to people who view their page as well as get their hand on statistical analysis of the demographics of their visitors.

A simple tap on your mobile phone and Zodio opens up to a lot of possibilities that will surely help you get going — from pinpointing your destination to discovering if the place is even worth driving to. Zodio lets you know before you go. And such virtual assistance greatly helps as it lets you spend your time and money wisely.

You can download the Zodio application for free at www.zodio.com/app.