Find out how Ticket to Ride has used visitor feedback to provide a quality visitor experience.
Ticket to Ride began as a bike hire company in Inverness before realising they could diversify their business further to meet a growing customer demand. By carefully studying market trends, listening to visitor feedback and networking with members of the not-for-profit organisation Destination Loch Ness, who work to strengthen tourism links in the area, Ticket to Ride established a series of new business streams and services they could offer to customers.
The feedback they received was invaluable in shaping the different services they now offer to cycle enthusiasts visiting the highlands. This included:
- Recognising that some customers are prepared to pay a premium for high quality service and in turn offering higher quality bikes to hire as an option.
- Realising that there were time or logistic problems for some people in travelling to the centre of Inverness to collect their hire bikes and in turn they introduced a bike delivery service.
- Noting customer concerns about getting lost when out cycling in the area, so they designed easy to follow route cards. Following technology growth, their route plans are also now available as downloadable files for bike mounted sat navs.
- Customers fed back that there would be an interest in set planned itineraries of different stages for their entire stay. Ticket to Ride responded by creating a variety of different cycle holiday itineraries to offer customers using their vast knowledge of the area.
- Many customers expressed an interest in one way cycle hire when planning a journey along the Great Glen Way. Ticket to Ride responded by forging a partnership with Nevis Cycles in Fort William at the other end of the journey, meaning customers could drop off their hired cycles there instead of having to return them. Customers are also offered a taxi service if they wish to cycle the route one way and return to Inverness by road.
- Ticket to Ride also produced a video of some of the highlights of the Great Glen Way and uploaded this to their website.
- Ticket to Ride forged networking links with various businesses in the area to provide customers with cycle friendly accommodation and other services including campervan or canoe hire.
Scotland has a fantastic reputation for mountain biking – in fact has been classed as Global Superstars by the International Mountain Biking Association. Check out the Tourism Intelligence Scotland Mountain Biking Guide for information on the vast potential of mountain biking tourism to help grow your business.