Like Airbnb, but for exercise

Traveling can disrupt your fitness routine. There may be a gym in your hotel, but chances are it will be tiny and crowded. And although you could go for a run, setting off alone in an unfamiliar city might not be so appealing.

Enter Tramaze (www.tramaze.com), a website that connects travelers with yoga classes, boot camps, bike tours, hiking, kayaking and other fitness-focused excursions.

“It's not just going to a studio or gym but experiences where you can meet local people and have this active, fitness-related experience that doesn't have to take away from your travel,” said Sheetal Patel, the founder of Tramaze (as in “travel” and “amaze”).

Tramaze operates like room-sharing service Airbnb in that users can scroll through listings from local providers who are vetted by the company, Patel said. Activities are organized by type, price and distance.

Tramaze, which launched last week, does not control activities or pricing — it just serves as a marketplace. So far, Patel has agreements with about 15 people in the Washington area who host bike tours, teach yoga classes or run boot camps. Tramaze takes a percentage of each sale, with a majority of the proceeds going directly to the people hosting the events.

Users can book one-on-one sessions or reserve a spot in a class. There is also an option for travelers to request that service providers work around their schedule.

“When you travel, especially as a business traveler, you have limited time. You have all of these meetings, client dinners, so it's really hard to carve out time, especially to try to match it up with what's going on in the city,” Patel said.

But Tramaze isn't just for travelers. Anyone living in a big city is bound to miss out on all sorts of activities in and around town, giving them plenty of reason to check out the site, Patel said. For now, all the events are located in the Washington area, but Patel said she plans to branch out to San Diego and Miami by the end of the year.

She encourages customers to rate and review their excursions to help her maintain the integrity of the website. If a provider consistently has poor ratings, he or she will be cut from the site.

“We want to make sure that travelers have amazing experiences,” Patel said. “The last thing we want is people who have only five days in D.C. (to) go on one of our tours and hate it.”

A while back, Patel and her husband had the misfortune of booking a tour guide in Rio who abandoned them for five hours as they waited to see the Christ the Redeemer statue.

“We made the most of it because we met a bunch of friendly people in line, but we don't want that to happen to people who come on Tramaze,” she said. “We want to make sure the providers are good, and reviews are another way of providing a quality experience.”

Starting Tramaze was a total career departure for Patel. Up until a few months ago, she worked full-time as a patent lawyer for a firm in the Washington area. Now the Houston native is keeping part-time hours to build her company, housed at startup incubator 1776 in the District. She enjoyed being a lawyer, but not nearly as much as the experiences she had traveling.

Patel recalls one bike tour in Barcelona that left a lasting impression. The local guide running the tour took Patel and her husband to shops and restaurants around the city based on their interests.

“We saw neighborhoods that we wouldn't normally see in the guidebooks or that wouldn't have been on our list,” Patel said. “That's the kind of experience I'm hoping we will provide, not just a typical yoga class. It's more about connecting locals with authentic experiences that everyone craves these days.”