YourFriendIn gives you the committed attention of a knowledgeable New Yorker (known as your "travel adviser") while you plan your New York trip. Your travel adviser helps you in three ways:

1. Answers your questions and provides personalized recommendations for hotels, attractions, restaurants, and anything else you're interested in.
2. Compiles a comprehensive guide to New York, written exclusively for you, that you can print out and rely upon during your visit.
3. Provides expert feedback on your plans so you can enjoy your time confidently and without unpleasant surprises.

The whole process happens online from the comfort of your own home.

Traditional guidebooks are generic by necessity, so they offer the same advice to everyone regardless of their needs. With YourFriendIn, your guide speaks to your individual circumstances. So you receive uniquely valuable, uniquely relevant advice that's entirely unavailable from other sources.

The examples are limitless. Custom neighborhood maps, fine-tuned budget estimates, personalized restaurant recommendations, up-to-date travel advisories, and specialized shopping destinations are just a few of the features that may appear in your guide. It's all custom-built under your direct supervision.

No. Your travel adviser cannot make reservations for you. Airline tickets, hotel rooms, theater tickets, etc. remain your responsibility.

However, your adviser will gladly share opinions and recommendations on which choices are right for you and provide contact information for relevant reservation desks.

You continue working with your travel adviser until you feel you're ready for your trip. This may take three days or three months. It all depends on how many questions you have, what topics you'd like to see in your guide, and how much time you spend thinking about your plans.

Your account remains active from the moment you sign up until the moment you finish your trip. You may use it as often or as little as you like during this time.

We retain a select group of New Yorkers of varying ages and backgrounds. All members of this group have been carefully screened for their knowledge, reliability, and enthusiasm for helping others.

When you sign up with YourFriendIn, one of these New Yorkers becomes your personal travel adviser. We make this choice in consideration of your background and your adviser's availability.

Your adviser is a living and breathing New Yorker who works, plays, and sleeps in the city every single day. Their advice is authentic, sincere, and drawn from extensive personal experience. Your adviser is fully committed to you and dedicated to preparing you for an excellent time in New York.

You and your travel adviser communicate through the discussion facilities on your own personal area of our web site. This lets you work effectively around your schedule and keep track of your plans in an organized, easy-to-understand manner. Your correspondence is private and not viewable to other internet users.

You can also communicate over email. We do not offer telephone or in-person access.

See A Tour of YourFriendIn for examples.

All of our advisers have years of experience living in and exploring New York. They also have access to a first-class set of references on every facet of the city. So their knowledge is substantial, and what they don't know they can effectively find.

We maintain a high standard of expertise by carefully screening advisers before they join and issuing regular tests to ensure they keep their knowledge current. In practice, our advisers are enthusiastic about New York and cultivate their knowledge out of sincere interest.

Your travel adviser has committed to serving your interests to the best of their ability. We choose advisers that sincerely embrace this commitment. But we also hold them accountable to these standards to ensure sustained reliability.

All of your questions will be answered promptly, thoroughly, and respectfully. Your adviser generally responds to messages within 0 to 24 hours.

This is extremely unlikely to be a problem. But if you're unsatisfied with your travel adviser for any reason, you may always request a change or cancel your account.

Your adviser generally prepares the first draft of your guide within 1 to 3 days. You can then leave suggestions for improvement, which your adviser integrates into new revisions. Your adviser may also make updates in response to ongoing discussions, changes of plans, or anything else that's relevant to you as time goes on.

This process continues until you're satisfied with the results. So you decide when your guide is done. In practice, conditions change all the time. So there's no need to consider your guide "complete" until the day you begin your trip.

Your guide can cover any topic you desire. You may choose to stick to traditional topics like "Eating", "Activities", "Entertainment", and "Shopping", or opt for specialized topics like "Gourmet Hamburger Joints", "Statues of Central Park", "Romantic Walks", or "Independent Record Shops".

You can also request ongoing consideration of special needs, such as child-friendly environments, limited budgets, or health-related restrictions.

You can always request more or less detail on any topic in your guide. But generally speaking, guides range from 6 to 10 chapters and 20 to 30 pages when printed out.

You'll find a level of detail in maps, directions, and seasonal activities that's unusual compared to traditional guidebooks. This is because your guide addresses these topics specifically as you'll encounter them and excludes the parts that don't apply to you.

You can always browse the current version of your guide, chapter by chapter, directly online. Every topic of each chapter includes an area for you to leave comments and feedback. It's easy and intuitive, like scribbling notes into the margins of a page.

Your travel adviser will promptly revise your guide according to your feedback.

Our complete package, including full access to your travel adviser from the time you sign up until the time you complete your trip, is available for $99.95. You can cancel service at any time for a complete refund.

See the Sign Up page for more details.

This keeps our interests aligned with yours.

Our travel advisers dedicate a great deal of time and energy to crafting helpful, thoughtfully composed travel recommendations. We want them to work on your behalf and not that of that of an advertiser or business partner. Our pricing arrangement guarantees you receive advice that's reliable, trustworthy, and free of hidden agendas.

We want your experience to be as satisfying as possible. This includes the right to cancel your account if you're unhappy for any reason.

You always retain the right to cancel service at any time for a complete refund, no explanation necessary. We do not make this difficult and will process your cancellation with the same priority as any other request. We appreciate any feedback you're willing to give to help us improve our service.

Plans change all the time! We understand this and do not expect you to have everything worked out by the time you sign up with us. Part of the value of YourFriendIn is that your travel adviser can help you make important decisions about your trip.

Whenever your plans change, whether it be arriving on a different day, finally deciding what hotel you're staying at, bringing along an additional friend, or anything else, just keep your travel adviser informed and they'll adjust their recommendations accordingly.

Your account remains active from the moment you sign up until the moment you finish your trip. You have full access to all features during this time. After your trip is over, your account becomes "archived". You can still view your guide, discussions, and itinerary, but can no longer modify them or get help from your travel adviser.

Absolutely! While YourFriendIn is focused on preparing you for your trip before it begins, you're free to ask more questions or request new recommendations when you're already in New York. Just remember that your travel adviser may take a few hours to respond to your requests.

We're glad to answer any other questions you may have. Share your thoughts here and we'll get back to you promptly: You can also email us at help@yourfriendin.com