Roavi · Punta Cana
Become a Local Friend in Punta Cana
Go out, explore your city and meet travellers from everywhere. Your days, your rate.
Go out
A sunset, music, a rooftop
Explore
Your city, the way only you know it
Meet people
A coffee with someone from abroad
Your terms
Your days, your rate
In public places · Respectful · Platonic only · Earnings vary by city and demand
How it works
Get started in
3 simple steps
- 1
Create your free profile
Tell travellers about yourself, your interests and your city. Stop and come back any time; your words are saved.
- 2
Show what makes you special
Your favourite places, three real photos, and how you'd like to spend time. A person on our team reads every profile.
- 3
Connect with travellers
When you're ready, reply to travellers and agree on a plan that works for you: the day, the hours, your rate.
Example profileMarta$22/hr
Lisbon, Portugal
Usually replies within 1 hour
I'm great for
Speaks
Portuguese · English · Spanish
Send a messageExample profile · this is how yours will look
Real people. Real places.
See what Local Friends share
From hidden beaches to local food spots, Local Friends show travellers the side of their city that isn't in the guidebooks.
Explore more profilesWhat a local can show a guest who never leaves the resort
Punta Cana is a coastline of all-inclusive resorts, and the honest thing to say is that most of the people staying in them will fly home without having seen the Dominican Republic at all. They will have seen a buffet, a pool and a stretch of beach that could be anywhere. A lot of them know it and want a way out of the bubble for one day. Almost nobody is offering them a good one.
What you can show
- 1
One real day outside the resort: a town, a colmado, a comedor at lunch, a beach without a wristband. This is the whole proposition and it does not need to be elaborate.
- 2
What the excursion desk is selling versus what the same thing costs arranged directly. The gap is large and visitors have no way to see it from inside the hotel.
- 3
Food that is actually Dominican — mangú with los tres golpes, sancocho, fresh fish at a beach shack — instead of a buffet's idea of local night.
- 4
Higüey, Macao, the sugar-cane country inland, or a day toward Bávaro's quieter end. The east is not only the strip and visitors have no idea what is fifteen minutes away.
Be explicit about transport on your profile. In Punta Cana whether you drive, and whether you can collect someone from their resort, determines almost everything about what you can offer — and it is the first question a guest inside a hotel will ask.
Travelers are looking for locals in Punta Cana
Be one of the first Local Friends they meet. Build your profile today and get discovered by travelers heading to Punta Cana.
See the Punta Cana pageWorth reading first
- Punta Cana Side Hustle: How to Make Money Showing Travelers the Real DR
- Jobs in Punta Cana: Who Actually Hires, and When to Look
- How to Make Money as a Local Friend in the Dominican Republic (2026)
- How to Earn US Dollars in the Dominican Republic Without Leaving Home
- How Much Can You Earn as a Tour Guide in the Dominican Republic? (2026)
Other cities in the Dominican Republic
Questions?
Everything you need to know
The questions people ask before they join, answered plainly.
Ask Roa or the teamRoavi is not formal tourism: you are not selling an excursion with a set itinerary, you are being paid for your time as someone who lives here and accompanies a visitor. Registered tour operators and excursions do fall under Ministry of Tourism rules. If you want to run excursions as a business, that is a different thing and it has its own registration.
A good number want to and do not know how. They have paid for the food, so a half-day works better than a full one, and a morning or an afternoon out is an easy yes where a whole day is not. Offering something that fits around the package rather than competing with it is what makes this work here.
Yes. Creating and publishing your Local Friend profile is completely free — there’s no cost to appear in the directory or receive messages.
No — and that is the point. A Local Friend is not a tour guide: you spend time with someone as yourself, you do not run a tour. Professional guiding is a licensed profession in a number of countries; spending an afternoon with someone is not. And if you do hold a guiding licence, put it on your profile — travellers look for it.
Yes. You set your own hourly rate, and you can change it anytime from your profile.
Yes. You choose your days and times on your profile, reply only when it suits you, and can pause your profile whenever you like.
No. You need to be 18 or over, live in the city, and add three real photos of yourself. If you know where you’d take a friend, you have what it takes.
No. Roavi doesn’t process payments or take a commission on what you arrange with a traveler.
No. You decide who you respond to, and you can say no to anyone, for any reason.
No. Verification is optional. It’s completed through Stripe Identity and adds a verified status to your profile, but your profile, visibility, and messaging stay free either way.
Travelers message you directly through Roavi once they find your profile in the directory. You choose whether and how to reply.
Yes. You can pause your visibility or delete your profile at any time from your account settings.
Ready to share your world?
Become a Local Friend today
It's free. It could be the start of something amazing.
18+ · Every profile is read by a person before it goes live