Hire a Hungarian: great service for foreigners

Isn’t it so much nicer when a local acquaintance shows you around a foreign city rather than having endlessly to browse several websites, maps and whatnot? Enikő Csaba, one of the founders of Hire a Hungarian, experienced this phenomenon on a trip to New York, and after coming home, she established a company to do just that – to provide a Hungarian friend to help with everything.

“This is a help agency, we provide a helping service not only to foreign tourists but also to those who relocate to Hungary for a shorter or longer period of time. We have package deals for everything, from administrative help to sidecar tours and help with apartment buying. Our strength is in paying attention to unique requests and needs,” explained Enikő to Forbes.

They have helped with buying flats and furnishing them, with cat-adoption, family tree research, organising a Tokay wine tour for wine merchants, a cooking course for cannery workers, and the list is nearly endless.

According to Enikő, tourism has changed drastically in the past years, and Hire a Hungarian fits the picture perfectly. People hardly travel through travel agencies anymore but instead tend to buy a cheap ticket and reserve their accommodation through Airbnb.

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“The most exciting thing on these trips is when you meet a local who shows you something you wouldn’t find in any guidebook. On top of everything, many of our clients come from overseas, with little knowledge about Eastern Europe, and that can be frightening. Hire a Hungarian says: here, take my hand, I’ll be your friend, you can ask anything and I will show you anything,” she adds.

Hire a Hungarian started with a small investment. Virtually only its website cost any money at all. They have no office, only laptops and cafés to have meetings at, but they like that kind of freedom. From April to September, tourism is dominant, but then requests for help with finding or buying flats start coming in. While they have a lot of ideas for developing the small company, Enikő Csaba wants to keep in focus the local friend aspect and feeling of Hire a Hungarian.