Bike hire websites get built in March. Whatever is not finished by Easter tends to stay unfinished until October, so it is worth knowing which parts actually change your season and which can wait.
This is the shortlist, in the order the money arrives.
Sizes and specifications, because fit is the first question
Every bike hire enquiry that is not about price is about fit. Will it suit somebody 180cm tall, is it geared for hills, is the battery good for forty miles. If your listings do not answer those, your inbox does.
Publish the specifications that decide whether somebody can ride away:
- Frame size, listed plainly as XS to XL rather than in centimetres only.
- Gears, because a three-speed and a twenty-seven-speed are different products on a hilly coast.
- Electric or not, which changes the price, the deposit and the customer.
- Wheel size, which matters to anyone bringing their own expectations.
These belong on the listing itself rather than in a PDF. A specification a visitor has to download is a specification they will instead ask you about by email.
Live availability, or you are running a diary by phone
The second question is always whether the bike is free. A website that shows a rack of lovely photographs and then asks people to ring for availability has converted a website visitor into a phone call, which is a downgrade at eleven at night in a different time zone.
Showing a real number free on a real date is the single change that moves bike hire online. It also removes the follow-up call, which is where most of the day goes in July.
Say the deposit before checkout
Bike hire deposits surprise people. They are often a large fraction of the day rate, and a customer who discovers one at the final step abandons the booking and remembers the shop that did not do that.
Put the deposit on the listing, next to the rate, and say when it comes back. If you take it at booking rather than at the counter, say that too. Confidence about money is a trust signal, and in a market where visitors are choosing between three shops they have never heard of, trust decides it.
Opening hours that are actually true
A bike shop's hours change with the weather and the season, and a website showing winter hours in June costs bookings from people who assume you are shut. Publish real hours, keep closed dates current, and set a cutoff for same-day bookings so nobody books a bike for twenty minutes before you lock up.
The same information feeds your Google listing, which is where most tourists will find you before they ever see the website. Local SEO for a one-location business covers how those two fit together.
Photographs of the actual bikes
Stock photography is obvious and it undermines everything else on the page. Photograph your own bikes, outside, against something recognisably local. Visitors are trying to work out whether you are a real shop in the place they are visiting, and a picture of your own street answers that faster than any amount of copy.
One clear photograph per listing beats five angles of the same bike. Keep the files small so the page loads on hotel wifi.
Get found before they arrive
Most bike hire demand is searched from somewhere else, days before arrival. That means the searches you need are the ones tying the bike to the place: hire in the town, hire near the trail, hire near the campsite.
Say where you are in plain words on the page rather than relying on a map embed, list the routes and trailheads you are near, and make sure your opening hours and location are consistent everywhere they appear. Getting more customer reviews does more for a seasonal shop than almost anything else, because a visitor with no local knowledge is choosing on reviews alone.
What can wait until winter
Blog posts, a newsletter, a loyalty scheme and a redesign can all wait. None of them will change your Easter. Sizes, availability, deposits, hours, photographs and location are the six that will.
If you are starting from nothing, a bike rental website with availability and deposits built in gets you those six without assembling three separate tools before the season starts.
FAQ
Do I need online payment, or is a deposit at the counter enough? Taking something at booking dramatically reduces no-shows, which are the main cost of online bike hire. It does not have to be the full amount; a holding deposit is usually enough to make people turn up.
How far ahead should I let people book? Far enough to catch holiday planning, which for most seasonal shops means several months. Limit it only where your fleet genuinely changes between seasons.
Should I list every bike or just the types? List the types, with sizes as separate listings where fit differs. Customers choose a size and a style, not a serial number.
Is a booking widget from a marketplace good enough? It works, but the booking belongs to the marketplace along with the customer and the commission. Taking direct bookings keeps both.
Read next
- How to take bike rental bookings online - the mechanics.
- Bike rental pricing - hourly, daily and weekly rates.