Creating an authentic, one-of-a-kind experience that reflects the essence of New York City.
Gabe Schoenberg has been around the tour industry in New York City since he was young — his uncle was a local tour guide. As a New Yorker, Schoenberg was always drawn to the graffiti he would see around the city. He was curious about the artform and figured other people might share his curiosity.
“I started doing my own research, trying to read about it, meet other people in the art scene who could explain certain pieces of art, and I slowly started to piece together a tour,” he said. Graff Tours started as his college senior project. Thirteen years later, it has evolved into a thriving small business and one of GetYourGuides best selling Originals.
The key to success was creating a one-of-a-kind tour that reflected the essence of the city. Graff’s Brooklyn Graffiti Workshop welcomes 6 guests at a time.
First, the group spends an hour with a working artist in Brooklyn, learning about the art form firsthand from a local. Then, the group is taught spray painting techniques and each guest gets to create a unique piece of art to take home. “The first few tours we invited local artists to come along and give insights. Then we felt we became experts ourselves,” Schoenberg said.
As a small business, Graff Tours relies on partners like GetYourGuide to do the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing. Because the tour is so authentic, it was selected as one of GetYourGuide’s Originals and has seen great success on the platform so far. Here, Gabe Schoenberg tells us more.
How and when did Graff Tours begin?
“It started in college as my senior project 13 years ago. My uncle was a tour guide in New York, so the industry was something that I was involved in. I always loved looking at graffiti and was curious about whether there was a story behind it, so my natural curiosity led me to think if I was curious, maybe other people were curious also. Originally, it was a tour in New York City specializing in street art and graffiti, but it quickly evolved into a business that did tours and workshops on a regular basis.”
Can you briefly describe your marketing strategy? Where do Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) fit in?
“Marketing is the most important thing that I do as an entrepreneur and solo business owner. The way that we began our business is by partnering with a few OTAs — we rely on them to spread the word and we don’t mind giving them a percentage for their services. That's a major part of our marketing strategy. We also go to conferences and trade shows to connect more B2B with travel companies..”
What is it about your tour / experience that you think authentically represents your destination? What makes you proud?
“New York is the birthplace of hip hop, it’s one of the things that makes the city very special and authentic. A lot of visitors want to engage with that facet of the city, and graffiti is a great way to do that. Street art has connections to the history, culture, and communities here in New York.
That is what our Brooklyn Graffiti Tour is all about. Guests meet with a local artist living and working in Brooklyn and spend an hour hearing about their approach to art and city life — that in and of itself is an authentic, cool experience. During the second part of the tour, guests get a tutorial about how to work with spray paint. During the last hour, everyone is spray painting together and making individual pieces of art they get to take home with them. We’re the only spray painting class on the platform in New York. ”
You joined GetYourGuide in 2020 — what made you decide to sign up?
“I was part of the Guides Association of New York. When GetYourGuide first started they did a presentation with the Guides Association. That’s how I first heard about it. The great thing about the platform is it doesn't cost you anything to get started, you just need to follow the guidelines and specs to get your business set up and you can start selling your tours from there.
I didn’t expect it to really work, but there was no harm in trying. GetYourGuide has been great for us. It’s one of our largest OTA partners, which I wouldn’t have expected all those years ago. It’s been cool to see the entrepreneurial journey of GetYourGuide, from a small skeleton team to a big, thriving business.”
Do you work with other OTAs? What are some differences you’ve observed between them and GetYourGuide?
“GetYourGuide does a good job of working with the partners, whereas some of the other OTAs take a more hands-off approach. Because our tour was selected as an Original, GetYourGuide sent an influencer to make a video for us. They also sent a photographer and helped up with copywriting.
GetYourGuide invested in us, which helped our business perform on the platform because we had beautiful photos and engaging copy. Their investment had a positive impact on our numbers.”
What is the single most important thing to think about if you want to be successful on online platforms?
“Having a standout product is the key. There are so many tours that are identical; there are 50 different ghost tours, architecture tours, etc. You have to figure out what you can do that’s different. And once you have your product established, you have to keep making it better. Always strive for excellence and look for the wow factor.
People want to have a cool experience and they want to talk about the cool experience they had with their friends. If you have a unique product, you can get it up and running on OTA platforms quickly, and you continually make improvements, you’ll be well-positioned for success.”
What’s the hardest thing about being in the Experiences industry from your point of view?
“Marketing. Acquiring customers is still the hardest thing.”
How do you ensure that you receive amazing reviews, day in, day out?
“We send guests an email after they come on our tour. GetYourGuide also has an automatic prompt in the app to encourage guests to write reviews, which works very well. The customers we get from GetYourGuide seem to be excited and engaged.
I read 15 reviews is the number; if you don’t have 15 reviews on a product, it will seem risky. There’s something to be said for the first reviews. As a business in general, it will help you touch base with your clients, see what they say, and get feedback. I have a relatively mature product, so we have 3k five-star reviews. As a small business, you can’t really afford a bad review. The reviews affect the algorithm, so the more you get, the more you’re seen, and the higher you’re placed.“
What’s the weirdest question you’ve ever been asked by a customer?
“I get pretty weird ones. Somebody wanted to spray paint their refrigerator, they wanted to know if they could bring it in. We admired the gall of it, we did discuss the feasibility.“
Key facts
- Graff Tours Brooklyn Graffiti Workshop is one of GetYourGuide’s best selling Originals.
- About 10% of Graff Tours’ business comes from GetYourGuide, making it the company's largest OTA partner.
- Revenue on GetYourGuide went up 102% from 2022 to 2023.
- Graff Tours started 13 years ago as a senior project in college and has since evolved into a thriving tour business.
- In 2023, Graff Tours had over 7,000 customers.
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