Owner-operator Ann Vandermeeren has grown her business City Tours Belgium 200% year-on-year by focusing on immersive small-group tours that earn her outstanding customer reviews.
Ann describes Bruges as the “unofficial capital of romance” and on her city tours, she certainly makes a great case for this. The UNESCO World Heritage Site features “picturesque streets and beautiful canals. It's romantic. It's authentic. It's magical,” she gushes.
Ann was born and raised in Bruges, as were the two generations who went before her. It was her passion for sharing her home city that got her into the tour business in the first place.
Her advice for independent tour operators wanting to set themselves apart? Harness your passion for your destination. “I love what I do, and I do what I love, with love.”
Engage all the senses
While Bruges is gorgeous enough all on its own, the owner-operator has put plenty of effort into creating an engaging experience for her guests.
“I want these people to experience Bruges with all their senses,” Ann explains. She uses the slippery cobblestones and dark narrow passageways to help her guests feel their way back to the Middle Ages. But that’s not all.
“They smell the fish near the old fish market, they taste the chocolate. I can tell them about chocolate, but when you don't smell it, and when you don't taste it, you don't know how it is.”
Tip: Consider how to engage all of your visitors’ senses. Delicious or repulsive, smells are the sense most closely linked to memory, so don’t miss your chance to make your tour a memorable one. What is the smell of your city?
Seek out partnerships to elevate customer satisfaction
As a local, Ann knows that no visit to Bruges is complete without a trip on the canals. So she teamed up with a small canal boat operator to offer a ticket that combines her walking tour with the boat ride, something that can’t be purchased online anywhere else. The combi ticket is now a major point of difference for City Tours Belgium.
Tip: Offering visitors the experience they really want before they even know they want it is a surefire way to elevate customer ratings and your brand. Connect with fellow operators, or check GetYourGuide to see who else is operating in the area — or what isn’t being offered, yet.
Scale your business by adding freelance guides
But the biggest driver of growth for Ann business? A badly-timed broken leg.
“It wasn't supposed to be that way! I really didn't mean it.,” she insists. But when Ann broke her leg while running a tour in Italy, she realised she would need some help to keep her business afloat.
“I broke my leg on a Friday evening, and then on the Monday I had two tour groups waiting for me in Bruges,” she explains. “I was in the hospital and so I called some people to take over my tour. And that’s how it all started.”
“I used to run all the tours by myself in five languages”, says Ann, with different language tours scheduled throughout the day. “But then I couldn't walk for three months. So I had to give it to other people. And I saw that this can work quite well.”
Today, Ann works with 60 freelance guides who offer tours in a number of languages and she believes if it wasn’t for her broken leg, her company would never have experienced the 200% year-on-year growth that came as a result.
Tip: Test your growth potential by hiring 1-2 freelance guides, then add more as you need them. No broken bones required!
Allow GetYourGuide to be your guide
Ann is lucky enough to have been visited twice by GetYourGuide’s Regional Manager for Benelux Malou Versloot, and says she sees Malou as her business coach.
“Malou showed me how to select the best pictures of my tours, how to promote my products on GetYourGuide and how to manage multiple tours.” She says Malou’s guidance has been critical to growing and professionalising her business.
Tip: Make the most of all the services GetYourGuide has to offer, but especially the personal connection with your sales manager. They’re the ones with the expertise to take your business to the next level.
Prioritise your reviews
“I remind all my guides that they need to ask for reviews,” says Ann. Positive reviews keep up their overall rating on GetYourGuide, which is crucial to being seen by more potential customers and growing her business. About 65% of City Tours Belgium’s bookings come via GetYourGuide.
Customer reviews also serve as a personal motivation for guides to maintain the quality of their tours. “When you get a good review, it’s such a great feeling because you realise that you really made a difference and improved these people’s holiday,” she says.
Ann says reviews are her favourite feature on GetYourGuide, because they help her channel her energy. “When people leave a review to tell you what you could improve, that’s really helpful.” She’s been able to use feedback to keep improving customer experience.
Tip: Encourage all your guides to ask guests for reviews, then make sure to celebrate your team when ratings improve or someone gets a particularly sparkly review.
Keep it cosy
“I offer small group tours because I want to keep it personal,” she says. Ann’s ideal group size is a maximum of 12, but with costs going up, she has had to adjust her group sizes slightly and now caps it at 15. Thankfully, she still gets a chance to interact with everyone.
“I know that people nowadays look for value-added travel,” Ann explains, “and they want to be relaxed while walking through the streets of Bruges.” So on her tours, “whenever they want to stop and take a picture, they can. When they want to look at something I don't say, ‘no, no, no, hurry, hurry, hurry’. It's their holiday!”
Ann says keeping her tour groups small enables her guides to adapt their tours to the whims of their guests, something she does with lots of enthusiasm.
So what’s the weirdest question Ann has ever been asked by a visitor? “I once had a man from America who wanted to know if he could actually drink alcohol in the streets. And yes, in Belgium, you can eat and you can drink in the street, wherever you want. You can even have a picnic if you like.”
Turns out, something that is totally normal for Europeans is a delightful surprise for people from farther afield. Ann knows that’s what keeps people coming to Bruges. “Our lifestyle is to eat well and drink well.”
With her stellar reviews and growing team, even more delighted guests will be tasting, feeling and smelling Bruges with Ann and her team this high season.
Key takeaways
- What’s the sound of your destination? What about the taste, or the smell? Engage all your guests’ senses for an unforgettable experience
- Seek out smart partnerships that elevate your offer. What else are your guests booking on GetYourGuide? Call that operator and build an irresistible combo product together
- You don’t have to do it alone – start scaling your business by hiring a couple of extra guides
- Let GetYourGuide be your guide. Our team can coach you through turning your business up a notch
- Set aside 10 mins each week to read your reviews, both to find ways to improve, and to highlight good reviews to motivate staff
- Keep your tour groups small to enable connection and conversation. This keeps engagement high, and enables you to personalise on the fly
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