profile

Cycle Cities

🐝 Cycle Cities Buzz - A new Cycle Cities chapter has just started! 🚲

Published 3 days ago • 2 min read

Hi Reader,

The new membership is officially live, and it’s great to see several of you have already signed up.

This is exactly the kind of momentum we were hoping for.

If you haven’t had a chance to go through all the details, you can find everything here:

Symposium News 🤝

Hamburg 2027 brings the community back together at a key moment for the industry, where new challenges and opportunities are reshaping how operators grow and compete.

This edition is designed to create sharper conversations, stronger connections, and more actionable outcomes than ever before.

With the new membership structure in place, a few important updates:

  • Pro members → your Symposium ticket is already included and secured
  • Basic members → you can still purchase your ticket at the current rate
  • Early bird tickets remain at €349, before the next price increase

If you’re planning to join, it’s worth securing your spot sooner rather than later.

Membership — What You Should Know 💡

For those who haven’t received or had time to read the previous update, here’s a quick reminder of what’s now in place:

  • A more structured platform
  • Two membership tiers (Basic & Pro)
  • A clearer focus on business growth and direct impact

And importantly:

We are opening the Symposium to a small number of carefully selected non-members, to bring in fresh perspectives, new connections, and more collaboration opportunities.

A quick note on emails:

We noticed some of you didn’t receive the previous update. In most cases, these emails bounced back, which likely caused the issue.

If that’s your case, please check your spam or promotions folder, and add our email address to your contacts so future updates land correctly.

We’ve now cleaned and updated the database going forward.

Groupwork Gold Nuggets 💛

Gold Nuggets remain a core part of the membership across both tiers.

This week we go back to Morning Group B: Growth Hackers — Sales & OTAs (Rob Dijkhuis, Ari Apteker, Tiago Monteiro, Rob Graham, Aitor Guadilla Olozaga, Emmanuel Darley).

How are operators incentivizing guests to book direct rather than through third parties?

  • Immediate review capture​
    Encourage Google reviews right after the tour to strengthen SEO before guests go to OTAs.
  • Product quality investment​
    Better bikes, guides, and experience → drives word of mouth and repeat direct bookings.
  • Google Ads (intent capture)​
    Capture high-intent users early in the funnel. Some operators invest around 20% of ticket value.
  • AI-driven SEO​
    Structure content and data so AI and search engines can better understand and surface your business.

In short: the most effective operators are combining product, visibility, and timing to capture demand before it reaches OTAs.

This is exactly the kind of practical, experience-based insight that will continue to be part of the membership across both tiers.

Whatsapp Discussion 💬

Following the last Gold Nuggets and a question Emmanuel raised in the WhatsApp group about Google Ads, I revisited the archives to pull together relevant material.

The result is a Practical Guide: Boost Direct Bookings with Google Ads, Social Ads & AI Visibility, including:

  • How to structure campaigns as a bike tour operator
  • Where to focus budget and intent
  • Common pitfalls to avoid
  • Best practices for AI-driven search visibility

Community — What’s next ➡️

If you haven’t explored the new membership structure yet, this is a good moment to do it.

We’re working with a deadline of May 1st to transition into the new model.

No pressure, but the earlier you get involved, the more you’ll get out of it as everything starts to take shape.

Isabella

Managing Director (Interim)
Cycle Cities 🚲

Cycle Cities on Social

1720/43B Knuckey St, Darwin, NT 0800
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Cycle Cities

Subscribe if you are an owner or operator of Bike Tours interested in the Cycle Cities network or Symposium. You can also join if you're a bike tour enthusiast, looking for great tours to try out.

Read more from Cycle Cities
Choose your Membership Plan 2026

Hi Reader, After a lot of work behind the scenes, we’re finally ready to share what’s next. Cycle Cities is evolving: from a community into something more structured, more focused, and more directly linked to business growth. And with that comes a new membership program. From Community to Growth Platform For years, Cycle Cities has been built on something very strong: Trust Open knowledge sharing Real connections between operators But one thing has been clear: 👉 There’s a lot of value in this...

8 days ago • 1 min read

Hi Reader, My first week stepping into this role has been challenging, in the best way. There’s a lot happening behind the scenes, a lot to connect, and a lot of potential to unlock, which makes it a very interesting place to be right now. Social Media — Let’s get things moving 📲 One of my first priorities is to reactivate Cycle Cities’ social media, mainly Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. If you’re not following Cycle Cities yet, now is a good moment to do it: 👉 Instagram👉 Facebook👉...

15 days ago • 2 min read
Cycle Cities Whatsapp Community Logo

Hi Reader, Introducing myself Hi Reader, Some of you already saw me pop into the WhatsApp group this week, but for those who don’t know me yet, I wanted to properly introduce myself. My name is Isabella, and I’ll be stepping in as Managing Director for the next 6 months, working closely with Steve while he takes a well-deserved step back. I come from a project management background across different industries, from film production, to events, and now in a creative marketing agency. Different...

22 days ago • 3 min read