When starting a bicycle retail store in an area with many tourists, bicycle rentals are also lucrative. Francisco Roman Garcia chose this path when he opened BIKELEON near the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain. Eventually, he transitioned to only renting out bikes, and when the volume became a lot to manage, he chose Booqable to track inventory and bookings.
BIKELEON
Francisco founded BIKELEON in 2005 near the Camino de Santiago, a set of historic pilgrimage routes in the North of Spain. These paths are now popular with cyclists and provide several trails of vast distances for people to visit and explore. Initially, he founded BIKELEON as a retail store selling bicycles and accessories and renting out bicycles to customers visiting the area.
However, as the rental side of the business grew in popularity, the business began to pivot to rentals only. Francisco and his team offer their customers an extensive range of services, providing both bicycle rental and transportation and assistance solutions. In addition, they have introduced a selection of cycling packages customers can select from online.
The most significant unique service they offer is the ability to book bicycles for specific routes across the Camino de Santiago. These range from 200 km routes to 700+ km routes and include assistance throughout any stage of the rental period. This has fuelled their growth over the past few years, and switching exclusively to rentals has allowed them to expand this service.
Keeping track of over 150 bikes
Of course, this growth didn’t come without its challenges; keeping track of over 150 bikes was the most difficult. When they reached that point, it became a lot of work to keep control and know the status of every bicycle at all times. Francisco started looking for a software solution to make managing their inventory easier for him and his team as volume grew.
After trying many rental software solutions, he found that Booqable was the best for achieving his goals for inventory management and bookings. He and his team can now quickly see the status of their bikes. This includes where they are, when they are due back, and when they are available. Previously, this was almost impossible to achieve across the entire fleet.
In addition, they have created an online booking portal with the website builder easily. This has made it easier for customers to browse, see what’s available and make a booking. They have also used the bundling feature to allow customers to create and book bundles with everything they need for the long adventure ahead, allowing them to personalize bookings.
Growing e-bike offering
Now that its bike rental inventory is under control, Francisco wants to expand BIKELEON’s e-bike offering. They are becoming more popular and are the most popular choice among their customers. Additionally, they have begun using the mobile app to take control of addresses and bicycles when they distribute reservations from their delivery van.
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