Bicycle Roma

Bicycle Roma is a Green and immersive way of exploring Rome on electric bikes. They offer curated and safe experiences that allow tourists to immerse themselves into the local culture, history and heritage. Since they started working with Bókun, the tour company has successfully centralised operations across three strategic rental locations while offering both electric bike rentals and guided tours through Italy’s capital and the surrounding countryside. 

Key Results

• $570,000 in sales for the past 12 months with 155% year-over-year growth
• Tripling turnover each year since joining Bókun
• Balanced channel distribution with 40.54% OTA bookings
• Dual business model mastery, managing rentals and guided tours

Prior to partnering with Bókun, Bicycle Roma faced significant operational challenges that weren’t allowing them to fulfil their growth ambitions in Rome’s competitive tourism market. The company needed to manage two distinct business models simultaneously: traditional bike rentals requiring real-time inventory tracking across three locations, and guided tours demanding complex coordination of guides, meeting points, and customer communications.

“Before we discovered Bókun, it was quite difficult to consolidate all the bookings we received from different channels into one platform. We also had difficulties keeping our entire bike fleet under control and preventing overbooking because it was divided across three different locations. It was really challenging.” – Alessio Galluzzi, founder of Bicycle Roma

Bicycle Roma had also tried other booking software solutions in the past, but none of them fulfilled their operational requirements. Most of these platforms were built for single-location businesses or focused only on rentals or tours, which meant Bicycle Roma had to either give up important features or manage several separate systems.

“The other software companies we tried really lacked many of the benefits we needed to grow our business. We manage both bike rentals and guided tours, which require different approaches, and Bókun was much more versatile—it allowed us to combine both sides of our business on one platform. That was the main benefit we were looking for,” shares Alessio.

Building on these hard-won lessons from previous experience, Bicycle Roma’s move to the Bókun booking platform marked a turning point for the tour company.

The integration with the Bókun booking software was remarkably smooth. Bicycle Roma was able to set up all three of its locations easily and without any technical difficulties. This allowed the tour company to connect its entire product catalogue to Bókun straight away, gaining immediate access to unified inventory management and multi-channel distribution.

“It was really easy and intuitive to connect all our products to the Bókun platform, and the whole integration process was smooth. Whenever we did encounter a challenge during the integration, we reached out to the Bókun support team and they immediately helped us resolve it. Even tasks like managing different pricing for weekends or weekdays were easy to handle with their assistance.” – Alessio Galluzzi, founder of Bicycle Roma

The platform’s flexibility proved crucial in accommodating Bicycle Roma’s unique requirements for managing both rental inventory and tour scheduling within a single system. This versatility eliminated the need for multiple software solutions and created operational efficiencies that directly contributed to the company’s rapid growth trajectory.

The results achieved through Bicycle Roma’s partnership with Bókun demonstrate the power of integrated platform management for complex tourism operations. The company’s annual sales have reached $570,000 in the past 12 months alone, with a stunning 155% increase compared to the previous year, whilst maintaining consistent revenue tripling since joining Bókun in 2019.

“We’ve grown a lot, and our numbers have increased. I think part of this is thanks to the management of the business through the Bókun system,” explains Allesio. This growth has enabled significant team expansion, with Bicycle Roma now employing multiple staff members across their rental locations and tour operations.

Bicycle Roma’s success goes beyond financial growth. By centralising their management system with Bókun, they have made their booking processes more efficient and reduced administrative work. Their booking channels are well balanced, with 40.54% of bookings coming from OTAs and the rest split between direct online, marketplace, and agent sales.

Other Key Operational Improvements:

• Centralised management across three rental locations significantly reducing the risk of overbookings.
• Bike rentals and guided tours are integrated into one platform, which reduces operational complexity.
• Gift card functionality and booking widgets contributed to higher sales by making it easier for customers to book and purchase services.

The Bókun platform versatility emerged as the critical factor enabling Bicycle Roma’s success across their complex operational requirements. The system’s ability to handle both bike rental inventory management and guided tour coordination within one platform solved the tour company’s fundamental challenge of managing two distinct business models.

“We work in two different ways because bike rentals and guided tours need to be managed differently. Bókun was versatile enough to combine both types of business we offer our customers. We could integrate everything into one platform.” – Alessio Galluzzi, founder of Bicycle Roma

Bókun’s comprehensive feature set, including booking widgets, marketplace distribution, offline bookings, gift cards, and the mobile app functionality, provided Bicycle Roma with capabilities that allowed them to rapidly scale their business.

Bókun’s widgets

The embedded booking widgets enabled Bicycle Roma to accept direct online reservations 24/7, with real-time availability syncing across all sales channels to prevent overbookings. 

Marketplace distribution

Bókun’s marketplace integration connected Bicycle Roma to major OTAs and resellers, accounting for 40.54% of their total bookings. This allowed the company to reach a wider audience and manage all distribution channels from a single platform.

Offline bookings

Bókun’s centralised system made it easy for staff to handle phone, email, and walk-in reservations, reducing the need for manual tracking and administrative work across all three rental locations.

Gift cards

The gift card feature enabled online sales and redemption across all products, giving customers more flexibility and generating additional revenue for Bicycle Roma.

Bókun mobile app

The Bókun mobile app gave staff access to key operational tools, such as guest check-in and booking management, directly from their smartphones.

Bicycle Roma’s six-year journey with Bókun demonstrates the importance of choosing technology partners capable of supporting long-term growth ambitions. The tour company’s experience highlights how platform flexibility and responsive support can enable operators to scale complex business models without compromising operational efficiency.

One of the most valuable aspects of the partnership has been Bókun’s responsiveness to feature requests and system enhancements. 

“Whenever we needed a specific feature to improve our system or business, Bókun’s support team was ready to listen. Over time, many features we requested have been implemented,” – Alessio Galluzzi, founder of Bicycle Roma

This collaborative approach to platform development has ensured that Bicycle Roma’s technological capabilities have evolved alongside their business growth, maintaining competitive advantages in Rome’s dynamic tourism market. The company’s success also demonstrates the value of diversified booking channels and the importance of maintaining direct customer relationships alongside OTA partnerships.

Bicycle Roma’s partnership with Bókun has enabled the tour company’s remarkable transformation and growth. Through unified platform management across three locations and dual business models, Bicycle Roma has achieved consistent growth while maintaining operational excellence. Their success demonstrates how the right technology partner can enable sustainable scaling for complex tourism operations.

Bókun’s mission is to help your tour and activity business generate more bookings with less work. Start your free 14-day trial today to explore how our software can help you save time and grow your business.