When Unlimited Biking started in New York’s Central Park 14 years ago, it was simply meeting a local need for bike rentals.
Today, the company manages over 6,000 bikes and hundreds of guides and has become the go-to provider for everything from city tours to major cycling events in seven major US cities.
“We’re not just showing people buildings; we’re helping them fall in love with these cities,” says Annie Zou, Unlimited Biking’s director of sales. Their meticulously crafted experiences, from night tours of DC’s national monuments to private tours in the Big Apple, consistently earn five-star reviews.
The response? Exponential growth, particularly with international guests. Here, Annie shares how Unlimited Biking has become a powerhouse in experiential tourism and gives candid insights about its growth and how the partnership with GetYourGuide is helping more international visitors explore America’s most iconic destinations on two wheels.
How did Unlimited Biking start?
“We started over 14 years ago in New York City with just 50 hybrid bikes. Our founder, Hakan Ugdur, was actually a pedicab driver in Central Park when he spotted a need for bike rentals and opened his first shop near the park’s south side. Now we have around 6,000 bikes nationwide, in NYC, San Francisco, DC, LA, Miami, San Diego, and Virginia.”
That’s quite a journey. How did it play out?
“We’ve always offered both rentals and guided tours in every city we operate in, which has been key to our growth. In New York, from that first location on 56th Street, we expanded to multiple locations, including one by the Brooklyn Bridge so we could have more diverse experiences; our New York Highlights tour lets guests pick up at our Brooklyn Bridge store and finish at Central Park.
Diversifying into different sectors helped us expand nationally too. While sightseeing tours and rentals are our largest sector, we became one of the largest bike rental partners for cycling events across the country — the New York City Triathlon, Chicago Triathlon, Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, and the TD Five Boro Bike Tour, which has about 32,000 riders, are all supplied by us.
We also expanded into the hotel sector, providing micromobility bikes for hotels that want to offer bikes as an amenity for guests, which helped us establish a presence in new markets. And we’re not done growing — Europe is on the cards as well.”
When did you partner with GetYourGuide, and what made you take that step?
“We’ve been working with GetYourGuide for over a decade now, from around the time I started working with Unlimited Biking. It was always part of our strategy to work with OTAs because we put a lot of emphasis on the travel trade.
Their marketing reach is incredible. I see GetYourGuide ads when I travel — on the street, online, even on TV — which gives our experiences amazing exposure to a captive audience that we couldn’t achieve on our own.”
Why do you think it works so well?
“It’s a curated marketplace so it makes it easy for travelers to discover activities — they can simply search, in their own language, what to do in New York or Central Park and find trusted experiences, without being overwhelmed by endless options.”
Has that shaped your growth, reaching a more international audience?
“Definitely! We now offer our Central Park tour in five languages, including German which we added recently. The Dutch market is huge for us too, and they’re such avid cyclists that we even created longer tours.”
From an operational perspective, has GetYourGuide’s platform helped you grow?
“GetYourGuide does a phenomenal job with technology — their API integrations are super smooth and the backend is extremely clear and user-friendly. Their market insights have been invaluable, too.
We can see detailed data about each product’s performance and what could be done to enhance accessibility. The platform shows us year-over-year reporting and helps us understand trends in different international markets.”
Is your account easy to self-manage?
“There are some challenges. When we had a dedicated account manager, they would take our tours and give us ideas for improvement. They’d keep us updated about new features we could leverage and help with specific questions. But the platform itself has evolved to be more self-service friendly.”
What’s your advice for other tour operators considering OTA partnerships?
“Don’t let commission scare you away. The marketing exposure you get through OTAs like GetYourGuide far outweighs the cut. We’ve seen huge growth in international guests, especially from Germany, the Netherlands, France, and the UK.”
How do you maintain a five-star experience and keep the review scores high?
“We exclusively work with Cannondale and Specialized for our bikes, providing everything you need, so it’s a really high-end, well-maintained product. But it’s really down to our guides. We have about 70 guides in New York alone, and they each bring something unique. Many are Broadway actors, musicians, or artists, which makes for incredibly engaging tours. One even performs Shakespeare monologues when we stop at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park!”
Have there been any surprising guest moments?
“We’ve hosted everything from marriage proposals to milestone anniversaries, and our luxury picnic tours in Central Park are often the stage for those. But what really gets me is when guests tell us the bike tour was the highlight of their entire city visit. That’s when you know you’re not just showing them buildings; you’re helping them fall in love with these cities.”
What’s one tour everyone should take?
“Oh, that’s tough! The DC Monuments at Night tour is pretty magical, with all those iconic buildings and memorials lit up. In San Francisco, riding across the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito and taking the ferry back is incredible.
And our OG Central Park tour is a must — the park is about six miles around, and biking is the perfect way to see it all without spending your entire day there.”
Key Takeaways
- Unlimited Biking has grown from 50 bikes in New York City to over 6,000 bikes across seven major US cities, hosting more than 500,000 guests annually.
- Net revenue through GetYourGuide grew more than five-fold to around $105,000 in 2023. Ticket sales increased substantially again in 2024.
- The company’s partnership with GetYourGuide spans over 10 years, significantly expanding international reach, particularly in German, Dutch, French, and UK markets.
- In response to international demand, they’ve expanded their product offer to include English, Spanish, Dutch, French, and German tours.
- Unlimited Biking utilizes GetYourGuide’s market insights and data analytics to optimize their availability and understand booking trends across markets.
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