Six Reasons Why Your Bicycle Rental Business Needs to Offer Self Guided Bike Tours

Are you in the bicycle rental business? You've probably noticed the uptick in demand for cycling and the growing popularity of bike tours.

Whether you are a bike rental shop or tour operator, it is important to keep up with these changes. One of the most popular ways to do so is by offering self guided bike tours at your establishment.

Here are six reasons why your bicycle rental business needs to offer self guided bike tours now.

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Why invest in self guided bike tours?

Self guided bike tours are an excellent way to get your business in front of more people. You can advertise these tours in your store and on your website, and visitors will be provided with bikes and a map to explore the area.

These tours can be a great option for those who don't have time to schedule a tour, or who just want to explore the area on their own. Tour operators might also offer different levels of difficulty so that riders can choose between shorter or longer rides.

How does it benefit your business?

Self guided bike tours are a great way to expose your business to more people. You can continue to focus on the rentals or bike sales, and let the self guided tours handle the marketing of your business through positive reviews on sites such as Google, Yelp and Tripadvisor.

It is an inexpensive and enjoyable way for customers to explore your destination, so you can be confident that it will bring in additional customers who may not have otherwise come in contact with your business.

What are the advantages of offering self guided bike tours?

Offering self guided bike tours has many advantages. It is a great way for people to explore the city and get a feel for the place. It is also a good way for tourists to see the city and learn about the culture of the place.

Self guided bike tours are a good way for people to become more comfortable with bike riding and build confidence.

It is also a good way to introduce people to the idea of cycling. Offering self guided bike tours is a great way to give people the opportunity to enjoy the city in a way that is unique to them, without having to schedule and pay for an actual guide.

1) Self guided bike tours are a great way to make more money

Self guided bike tours are a great way to make more money than regular bicycle rentals. This is because people will pay more if you to offer them an experience instead of just renting a bike for a few hours.

You can easily up-sell from a bicycle rental to a self guided tour, simply by including easy to follow navigation on enjoyable cycling routes. by sharing your local knowledge of your destination, you'll be adding massive value to your customer's experience.

You can also consider partnering with local businesses on a commission and referral basis, to enrich your self guided bike tours with offers such as, food tours, art tours and wine tours.

The best thing about self guided tours is that your customers can have a great guided bike tour experience without a human guide. You can schedule self guided bike tours any day of the week, all year round without having to schedule and hire a human guide!

2) Self guided bike tours will help attract new customers

A self guided bike tour is a great way to get new people in your door. It is a unique experience that encourages customers to visit your establishment and bike tours are a great way to introduce new customers to your business.

A bike tour can involve biking through your company’s city, stopping at various locations to learn about your company and give your customers a chance to interact with you. This is a great way to get people excited about your business, and it can also help to convert people into customers.

As a bonus, you can generate a lot of free media content, like customer photos and videos, that you can share on your social networks! Bike tours are also a great way to get people excited about your company and to show them the best of what you have to offer.

You can offer bike tours as a free service or as a paid service. 

3) Self guided bike tours can improve customer satisfaction

A self-guided bike tour is a way to provide customers with a more personal level of service. This type of service feels more personal and tailored to the needs of the customer.

This gives the customer a more satisfying experience and they are more likely to return to your business in the future.

4) Self guided bike tours can lead to increased repeat business

Self guided bike tours are a great way to increase your repeat business. There are many people who are interested in a guided bike tour but don't want to spend a lot of money on a bike tour. Inexpensive self guided tours are also a great way to retain customers who may vacation seasonally in your destination.

Customers who are new to cycling are often attracted to the idea of self guided bike tours. Therefore, many people are likely to go on a bike tour with their friends who are already interested in cycling. This will help to increase the size of your customer base.

5) Self guided bike tours can reduce seasonality at low additional cost

Another advantage of offering self guided bike tours is that they are relatively inexpensive to set up. More than likely all you will need are a few bikes and maps (if you're providing them).

Additionally, if people want to take your self guided tour, they can do so anytime which means it's an excellent way to get around seasonal surges and other busy times for your business when people might not come into your shop simply for rentals.

6) Self guided bike tours can help promote your business

A significant benefit of offering self guided bike tours is that they can help generate positive reviews for your bicycle business, since most people will express stronger emotions about an experience than about a product. You can also take advantage of the user generated content that your self guide tour customers will create, such as photos or videos that you can share or tag on social media (more on that below).

How can you implement a self guided bike tour program?

Create and publish your self guided bike tour routes

To implement a successful self guided bike tour program at your business, you'll need a system to create and publish your bicycle tour routes. This will be the main hub for all of your bike tours and you'll want it to include information about the services you offer, descriptions for each of the routes, and some sample photos from those routes. Once this tool is put into place, marketing it becomes a cinch.

Encourage customer feedback

People are more likely to return if they enjoyed their first experience with your establishment. One way to increase customer loyalty is through effective customer engagement on social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or TikTok. You could also promote reviews on Yelp or Tripadvisor, or other review sites where people can leave feedback after finishing their bike tour with you.

Promote your self guided bike tours using social media and ads

The best way to promote your self guided bike tours is to advertise them on social media. This is a great way to get the word out at a low cost. You can also use Google Adwords to promote your tours. This is a great way to target specific keywords and garner more customers.

You should also use Google Adwords to determine the keyword density of your tours. This will tell you how competitive your tours are in the search engines. You can also use this tool to see how competitive a keyword is and if you have a budget for it, consider creating an ads campaign to promote your bike tours.

The Best Strategy for Self Guided Bike Tours

It is worth noting that bike rental shops and bicycle tour operators need to do different things to prepare for self guided bike tours.

You will need to have GPS or smartphone navigation enabled bicycles for rent. This can be as simple as attaching an inexpensive phone holder the the handlebars.

Bicycles should be equipped with a pannier or basket for luggage and water bottle holders. Additionally, you will need to supply a map of the area so customers can navigate on their own.

There are a number of ways to facilitate bike tour navigation using inexpensive yet accurate digital maps of your routes (such as Google Maps). The tour operator will then upload this map onto their website or app where customers can access it after purchasing a tour.

Make sure you have sufficient photos or video to launch your new self guided bike tour service, and take full advantage of social media networks to push your new offer. If you have some marketing budget available, strongly consider promoting using pay per click ads on Facebook or google.

Conclusion

If you operate a bike shop or bicycle rental business, you should consider taking the next step and offering self guided tours. By offering self guided bike tours you can increase your revenue and profit margin, without significantly increasing your overhead costs.

You can gain and retain new customers and easily capture user generated content for your social media marketing. If you haven't already, I recommend reading our article on How To Start A Successful Self-Guided Bike Rentals and Tours Business.

If you are interested in learning how to start offering self guided bike tours through your business, leave a comment below, or get in touch!