New year, new website! We’re super happy to bring you the new YapaTree site. It’s now so much easier to find YapaTree deals, local events, expat information & forum posts. We’ve added a bunch of new features too, but the best is yet to come…
3 ways to get a free YapaTree Discount Card
To celebrate our launch, we’re giving you 3 ways you can receive your own YapaTree Discount Card without spending a cent:
- Receive a free YapaTree Discount Card with your complimentary Dental Implant consultation
- Sign up to our email newsletter
- Join Cuenca Yapas & Friends Facebook Group
More on these shortly. Let’s dig into the shiny new stuff first.
YapaTree Website Features
Find Cuenca Deals
Key feedback from our current discount cardholders was they wanted the ability to have:
- All deals in one place
- Easy access to business details for redeeming the deal
- Information about our deal partners
We addressed this feedback by building the following features:
Cuenca Deals (with map) for all deals in one place
The Cuenca Deals page shows every deal location in Cuenca. Clicking on the map icons reveals key details about each deal partner (see Novaqua above).
The section below the map shows each deal partner with a small description of the business.
More details for each business can be found by clicking on them in either the map or the listing section below it.
Deal offer pages to easily find all business details & redeem your deal
Find all the key information for each deal on each partners’ offer page such as:
- Offers available
- Information about the business
- How to redeem the deal
- Any upcoming events at this location
Get directions to the shop location
One of the handiest features is the ability to receive directions to the shop based on your current location. Super convenient if you’re walking around Cuenca with your phone and want to deals close to you.
Filter by business type
Let’s say you’re feeling peckish and want to quickly find a good cafe deal. Clicking on this business category will return your cafe options (including a map), making it easy for you to choose one that suits today’s taste buds.
Upcoming events
If the deal partner has any upcoming events, they’ll also be shown at the bottom of their deal page.
Find Cuenca Events
We built a centralized platform to allow the public and our partners to upload events at no cost. We built it because:
- There was no central repository of events in Cuenca
- We partner with most of the venues that host events for expats in Cuenca and this helps promote these businesses
- We recognize the importance of a bubbling arts and creative scene and want to support it
These events are automatically sorted by date, but you can also sort by category if you’re looking for something in particular (ie music vs art event).
View upcoming Cuenca events.
Given the success of the platform in Cuenca, we also opened up a separate calendar for Manta events.
So, how to get a free YapaTree Card?
Glad you asked! Here are 3 different ways to score yourself a YapaTree Card.
1. Complimentary Dental Implant consultation at Find Health in Ecuador
Find Health in Ecuador are running a sweet promotion for January 2022:
Any expat that visits the Find Health in Ecuador Dental Clinic for a complimentary Dental Implant consultation will also receive a free YapaTree Discount Card.
No purchase is necessary.
With your card, you’ll then be eligible to take up Find Health in Ecuador’s other deals:
- 15% off Dental Implants
- 10% off other Dental Work &
- One free Dental Cleaning
This offer is only available until January 31st, 2022, or whilst their limited supply of YapaTree Discount Cards last. Given the value included in this promo, we don’t expect this deal to last long.
Make your appointment by emailing [email protected] and take up this one-of-a-kind offer today.
2. Join our email newsletter
This one is pretty simple. Sign up to our newsletter by submitting the form below. We pick a random winner from all new subscribers every month.
Already a subscriber? No problem, we have another way for you to win a YapaTree card below.
3. Join Cuenca Yapas & Friends Facebook Group
We’ve created the Cuenca Yapas & Friends Facebook Group to support businesses & expats in Cuenca. We struggled to find any genuine ‘business friendly’ Facebook groups available for business owners in Cuenca, so we created one.
But, perhaps the best reason to join is to get your questions answered by professionals rather than just well meaning, but potentially wrong, fellow group members. We see damaging advice dished out all the time in various Facebook groups. We want to change this.
We pick a random winner from all new group members each month.
Of course, if you don’t fancy your chances, then you can just buy a YapaTree Card.
Future Updates – Our Roadmap
We have big plans for 2022 with lots of building, playing and learning. Some items we’ll be working on during the 1st half of 2022:
- Forums: We’ve given the forum section a makeover and will be adding some more functionality to improve interaction between group members and usability in general.
- Real estate: We receive a lot of inquiries from members wanting to sell or rent out their homes & from renters/buyers. We’ll build a proper real estate section to better service these community members.
- Physical meets digital: Not going to give too much away here. But, think Pokemon Go meets Cuenca walking tours. This is going to be a fun project we can’t wait to show you.
YapaTree Website FAQs
Why build a new website for YapaTree?
We acquired GringoTree in August 2021. We immediately decided to rebrand (for these reasons) and part of this rebrand required a fresh website more in line with our vision for the community.
What does the YapaTree brand mean?
“Yapa” is a Kichwa word that means something extra or a bonus. It’s used a lot in Cuenca.
“Tree” represents the structure of our community and honors our brand’s past.
See this article for a full breakdown of our brand.
Who built the YapaTree website
We built it in-house. Jason has built many websites during his career as a digital marketer. We don’t advertise this service, but we do also occasionally help build websites for other businesses. These are mostly under joint-venture type arrangements. Feel free to pitch us an idea.
Final words
We’ve worked super hard to build YapaTree since we’ve acquired it. There’s a lot of work still to come and we’re counting on your continued support to help us build a buoyant, caring community of expats & locals.
