# Places: Curated Travel Guide — Restaurants, Shops & Hotels

> Expert-curated global travel recommendations for unique destinations. (iPhone/iPad app by Raya App Inc.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/places-curated-travel-guide/id6446208302 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Raya App Inc](https://appshunter.io/developer/957215307)
- Category: Travel, Lifestyle
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.20/5 from 174 App Store ratings · 44 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16.0 · 252 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2023-08-24
- Data updated: 2026-08-26
- Monetization: subscription
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/places-curated-travel-guide/id6446208302/reviews.md

## What is Places?

Places helps you discover restaurants, hotels, shops, experiences, neighborhoods, and the corners in between. Every place is curated by obsessives and local experts whose discernment is earned. From intimate bistros to emerging galleries to exceptional stays, if it's on Places, it's worth going.

Not sure where to start? Ask Places to plan anything, from a single evening to a full itinerary. New openings surface the moment they're worth knowing.

When you're ready, book directly. Reservations from multiple platforms, in real time, so you can move from discovery to experience in a few taps.

Save and share the places you love. Follow friends and Curators to see where they're going. Build your own record of what holds up.

–––––––––––

Membership is obtained by purchasing a 12-month auto-renewing subscription. Full functionality of Places is granted to members while their subscription is active. Current Raya members are eligible for a complimentary membership.

## Key features

- Expert-curated global destinations
- Personalized suggestions
- Unique stays and bistros
- Emerging galleries
- Global curator network

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Annual Membership | $39.99 | per year |
| Seasonal Membership | $39.99 | per 3 months |
| Annual Membership | $39.99 | per year |
| Monthly Membership | $39.99 | per month |


## Chart rankings

- #64 in Top Grossing · Travel (US App Store)

## What do users think of Places?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- ✨ Beautifully curated suggestions
- 👍 Essential for travel and local discovery
- 🌟 Best among travel apps
- 💯 Human curation is a highlight
- 🗺️ Useful for navigating new cities
- ✅ Great filtered suggestions
- 👍 No spam
- 💡 Finds great places
- 💯 Amazing recommendations
- ✨ Finds unique places
- 👍 Saves places and creates archives
- 👍 Excellent for finding restaurants
- 👍 Filters out noise for decision paralysis
- 👍 Well-curated places
- 👍 Good recommendations for travelers
- 👍 Finds perfect suggestions for restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, museums
- ✨ Incredible photos and user experience
- 👍 Simplifies finding cool new spots
- 👍 Lists saved places by location and shareable
- 👍 Better recommendations than other apps
- 👍 Helps plan weekends and trips
- 👍 Can see friends' profiles for recommendations
- 👍 Discovers fabulous new restaurants
- 👍 Perfect and needed app
- 👍 Sexy places for sexy people
- 👍 Useful for work travel and meeting clients
- 👍 Changed travel perception and city experiences
- 👍 Great for finding restaurants and making reservations
- 👍 Finds amazing new spots and shares favorites

**Cons**

- ❌ Outdated information (closed businesses)
- ❌ No way to report outdated information
- ❌ Dark-pattern onboarding flow
- ❌ Forces annual membership purchase
- ❌ Cannot see service without paying
- ❌ Extracts personal details before revealing paywall
- ❌ Misleading onboarding
- ❌ Awkward interface
- ❌ Too long setup
- ❌ No option to delete profile
- ❌ Requires invite code
- ❌ Waitlist for access
- ❌ Misleading advertisements
- ❌ Poor user experience
- ❌ App is trash
- ❌ Not useful
- ❌ Pretentious app
- ❌ Data collection galore
- ❌ Unbelievable business practice
- ❌ Waste of money
- ❌ No real connections
- ❌ Racist and discriminatory (unsubstantiated)
- ❌ No real curation
- ❌ App not functional
- ❌ Scam
- ❌ Useless
- ❌ Cannot login to lifetime free account
- ❌ Impossible to use on new phone
- ❌ No way to contact support
- ❌ Appalling photographs for curated places
- ❌ Requires phone number before invite code
- ❌ Don't understand its purpose
- ❌ Doesn't help choose destinations
- ❌ Not needed, lacks features
- ❌ Requires membership fee after complimentary email
- ❌ Needs more special features to retain users
- ❌ No social dating aspect
- ❌ No exclusive access/discounts for influencers

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Businesses listed as open are actually closed
- Cannot report outdated information
- App crashes or is not functional
- Cannot log in to previous accounts (lifetime free)
- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices
- Phone number box fails to work
- Issues with invite codes and waitlists
- App asks for personal info then paywall

**Most requested features**

- Ability to report outdated business information
- Option to delete profile
- Dark mode
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Incentives for trying businesses (like Neon Coat or Beauty Pass)
- Social dating aspect or meetups
- Exclusive access/discounts for influencers

## Recent user reviews (10 of 44)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/places-curated-travel-guide/id6446208302/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Contact please

*2026-07-28*

I was always unsure how to give sufficient feedback for the app, I loved it. However, now, from 5 stars to one. 

Ending my Raya account disabled access to this and asking to subscribe. How might I get the account back i had before?

### 3/5 — Major Drawback

*2026-06-11*

Very useful app when navigating a new city with great filtered suggestions and non of the spam. Unfortunately some of the bara on here have been closed months or years ago and there is no way to report this to the developer.

### 5/5 — Essential travel app

*2026-05-18*

Absolutely beautiful. Love the human curation. I find myself depending on it with travel as well as locally. In a sea of sameness among travel apps, this has to be the best one.

### 1/5 — Dark-Pattern App That Should Never Have Passed App Store Review

*2026-03-07*

Yet another app on the App Store that should never have been approved.

You cannot use it unless you purchase an annual membership. You cannot even see a glimpse of what the service actually is.

And you only discover this after the app has already extracted most of your personal details.

This is a textbook example of a dark-pattern onboarding flow: force the user to surrender personal data first, reveal the paywall later.

Relevant rule (App Store Review Guidelines)

The practice conflicts with the spirit of:
	•	App Store Review Guideline 5.1.1 – Data Collection and Storage
Apps should only request user data that is necessary for the app’s functionality and should do so transparently.
	•	Guideline 3.1.2 – Subscriptions
The value of a subscription must be clearly explained before asking the user to subscribe.

Requiring personal information before showing the core service or its value proposition is generally considered misleading onboarding and a form of dark pattern design.

### 1/5 — Gets sensitive info > hard paywall

*2026-01-17*

They paid for the app to get built, now they want the money back from you.

### 1/5 — Hmmm

*2025-12-24*

Some really terrible selections, very awkward interface, way too long set up and no option to delete your profile.

### 5/5 — Real good app

*2025-12-07*

What’re we talking about. This is obviously the best app to find great places.

### 2/5 — Membership is mandatory

*2025-10-17*

You can’t use anything in this app unless you pay for the yearly subscription. I don’t see the point of that.

### 1/5 — Sandra

*2025-09-20, version 1.52.0*

Someone should please send me an invite code. Thank you

### 1/5 — Not useful

*2025-08-31, version 1.51.0*

What a pretentious app!

## Frequently asked questions about Places

### What does Places: Curated Discovery do?

This app helps users find the perfect travel destinations anywhere in the world. It offers hand-selected recommendations from a global team of experts, as well as personalized suggestions based on user preferences and community input.

### How does the membership work?

Membership is obtained through a 12-month auto-renewing subscription. This grants full functionality of the app, including access to all curated recommendations and personalized suggestions, for the duration of the active subscription.

### What kind of places can I discover?

You can discover a wide range of exceptional destinations, including unique stays, intimate bistros, and emerging galleries. The app's curators travel the globe to find and catalog these special places.

### Is there a free trial or alternative to subscription?

The description mentions that current Raya members are eligible for a complimentary membership. Otherwise, full functionality is granted through a paid 12-month auto-renewing subscription.

### What makes the recommendations special?

Recommendations are special because they are hand-selected by a global team of culture-defining voices, referred to as Curators. These experts travel the globe to find and catalog exceptional destinations, ensuring reliable and inspiring suggestions.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.74.0 — 2026-08-20

More curated Places. Getting you there faster.

### 1.73.0 — 2026-08-08

More curated Places. Getting you there faster.

### 1.72.1 — 2026-07-27

Bug fixes and improvements

### 1.72.0 — 2026-07-22

bug fixes and improvements

### 1.71.2 — 2026-07-14

Bug fixes and improvements

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## More apps by Raya App Inc

- [Raya](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/raya/id957215308)

All apps by Raya App Inc: https://appshunter.io/developer/957215307

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-26.*