WHY ADD E-BIKES TO YOUR SHORT TERM RENTAL PROPERTY

With the popularity of E-bikes on the rise many people ask us how we can use them to raise our prices on our short-term rentals.

As one of the leading professionals in the E-bike industry, I wanted to create this complete guide to help you get started with this great and lucrative opportunity.

In this Guide we discuss some key opportunity decisions to think about before moving ahead with your own E-Bike opportunity. There are many things to consider:

All of these questions and more will be answered in this Guide. However, if you want to get started right away just call Mark (575) 415-0276 or Dan (970) 970-7441.

THEBWBCLUB.COM offers this Guide free of charge, and we will do everything we can to help you start your E-Bike opportunity.

I often get calls from people who own short term rentals and would like to be able to charge more money for their property per week or per month.

I'm here to help you do just that. If you choose to buy your rolling stock from us, that would be great. We can help you do this for all your properties you have.

We have a well-established relationship with each and every short-term property owner in our stable. All the brands of E-Bikes we carry and provide you and your renters come with the highest level of support and satisfaction.

• By adding just 2 E-Bikes per bedroom you can ask for more money. 
• How much does it cost to start an E-Bike opportunity?
• What kind of opportunity structure should I set up?
• What licenses and permits do I need to get before      opening?
• Do I need a website with a booking engine?
• What kind of marketing will I need to do?

All of these questions and more will be answered in this Guide. However, if you want to get started right away just call Mark (575) 415-0276 or Dan (970) 970-7441.

THEBWBCLUB.COM offers this Guide free of charge, and we will do everything we can to help you start your E-Bike opportunity.

I often get calls from people who own short term rentals and would like to be able to charge more money for their property per week or per month.

I'm here to help you do just that. If you choose to buy your rolling stock from us, that would be great. We can help you do this for all your properties you have.

We have a well-established relationship with each and every short-term property owner in our stable. All the brands of E-Bikes we carry and provide you and your renters come with the highest level of support and satisfaction.

These will be your own E-Bikes, for you to List as amenities that you offer on your websites to your renters to be able to charge more money for your rental to succeed.

Sample Cost Analysis

There will be some up-front costs for your opportunity that we will go over in detail, but to understand your profit potential long-term, here are some numbers to consider.

Your revenue potential will essentially be a function of how many E-Bikes you have in your inventory to start off with some conservative numbers you can use the following:

You have 6 E-Bikes (2 per bedroom in your rental 3 men’s 3 women’s) you rent your house every other week you add $500.00 a week that is $1,000.00 Each commercial E-Bike will cost about $1,499, which means it would take you roughly 3 weeks to pay off each E-Bike rental unit. Of course, every local market can be different - and there are parts of the country where you can command as much as $100 per rental (for a full day, or a guided tour with snacks included), which would change your numbers significantly. 

The beauty about E-Bike rental opportunity’s is that they are easy to run, and easily scalable. If you start off slowly with just two, four or six E-Bikes 

[pro tip: E-Bikes are rented and sold in pairs], your investment will be minimal, and the scale potential will be great. 

When things start to work and you can see what your customers really want, then you can expand and grow - the only limit with be where to store all your E-Bikes. There are major E-Bike rental companies that have over 40 units in their inventory, which you can imagine builds up the profit potential.

Getting the Right Equipment for Your Electric Bike Rental Business

In order to make sure you can service your customers properly, and not incur any unforeseen costs, it is best to make sure you have the right tools and equipment. Here are a couple of important concepts to understand.

Commercial vs. Residential Electric Bikes

Some owner-operators might be tempted to buy E-Bikes on Amazon or eBay because they are far less expensive, or maybe they will get E-Bikes that appeal to their personal needs, without considering commercial aspects - ease and frequency of regular maintenance; high-quality components; resale potential.

There are hundreds of E-Bike brands in the US today,so picking the right brands, and the right E-Bike models for your rental startup opportunity will be important.

Typically, our most popular personal models sell for $1,000 - $2,000, while the commercial-use E-Bikes start at around $1,500 and top out around $2,500. Trying to save the extra $500 can be a big mistake! 

If you are serious about your opportunity you should not take any chances buying products that are not suited for your use. It will likely cost you more money in the long run than you saved initially.

Aside from purchasing your first commercial E-Bike units, starting your business will require some upfront costs that you should be aware of. Here is a list of things you should consider researching beforehand:

• Insurance: You want      to make sure you are protected against any liability in the event of an      injury. This will depend heavily on the kind of policy     you purchase and what state your E-Bike rental business will operate in. 
• Business      Incorporation:      It makes sense to set up your E-Bike business as an LLC or an S      Corporation both nationally and in your state of operation. LegalZoom is one of      the best resources. Count on costs ranging from $149 - $349. 
• License to      Operate:      Most states and municipalities require a business license in order to      operate an E-Bike rental business. You can check out this guide for more information. 
• Website:  You will      definitely want to set up a website. There will be a small fee to register      your domain, keep a monthly hosting plan, and to design your site. You can      do it all yourself using sites like Wix, and this should not exceed more      than $150 - $250. Another essential resource for your business is Bike Rental Manager software, which helps you      run your entire business. 
• Advertising: You will      want to set aside a budget to advertise locally in order to get your first      customers. This could be as little as a few hundred dollars, or much more,      depending on how much money you are willing to invest to get your business      up and running. Of course, if you simply add your website address and      phone number to a plate that you put on each E-Bike, they will find an      incredible (and free) source of advertising. 
• Legal      Material:  In order to protect yourself and your business      from any kind of litigation, it makes sense to have a standard contract      and liability waiver that you will have customers sign before renting an E-Bike.      Forms for this are readily available online for free. 
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Starting an E-Bike rental business could be an incredible opportunity if your local market is underserved. Conversely, it might be a tall order to wiggle your way into an already crowded market. There are a few ways to approach this.

Your first order of business is to find out how many businesses are actually offering E-Bike tours and rentals in the geographic area that you want to service. Luckily, that is quite easy to find out these days by doing a local search on Google or Yelp. Some key things that you want to take notice of:

• How many      businesses are offering bicycle or E-Bike rentals?
• What prices      are they charging? Find out what the going rate is, and what additional      services they might be providing. For example, are they offering guided      tours? Are they offering snacks or meals as part of longer tours? This      will give you an idea of your profit potential, as well as how competitive      the market may be.
• How well      is the competition presenting itself? Are their websites professional      looking, or do they look very out of date and confusing? That may be an      opportunity to differentiate yourself.

Once you have taken stock of what the market looks like then you can start determining whether a real opportunity exists. Pro tip: Even in a what appears to be a crowded tour rental market, you can open a business and be very successful by having a “unique selling proposition.” Think about it - how many restaurants are in your town? How many hotels? Competition is a good thing - it’s a strong indication of market demand.

In order to get your first customers, you need to let them you know you exist! Local marketing has completely changed, largely because of the Internet. It used to make sense to take out a few ads in the Yellow pages and other local magazines, but that simply isn't the case anymore.

If you aren't connecting with your customers online, then you are missing the boat. Your first order of business will be to get your online affairs in order. Here are a few key places to get you going. 

• Trip      Advisor
• Viator
• Yelp
• Peek      (app)
• Yahoo Local
• Google My Business
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube

A website has turned into the modern business card. When people are searching for E-Bike rental businesses online, you want to make sure that you show up. More importantly, you want to make a good first impression. There is nothing worse than seeing a poorly designed website. It gives the impression that you are not serious about your business, and it is likely that potential customers will turn to your competition who has done a better job.

That being said, it is much easier to have a clean, fast, and professional looking website than ever. We recommend setting up your site on  WordPress. More than 25% of websites are now powered by this publishing platform. You can also try Squarespace, but there is much less flexibility with designs and add-ons to your site. WordPress has a thriving developer community that has endless design templates and plugins to make your site even more powerful.

Some WordPress themes you should take a look at are  Enfold,  Avata, and the  X Theme. There are also plenty of other options at  Theme Forest.

Overall, you want to make sure you are putting your best foot forward with your website design. Use quality photography and make sure it is easy to navigate. Most of all, explain why customers should trust your service and make it easy to get in touch with you to schedule a booking.

What is the first thing that you do when you are looking for a local business?

You most likely answered typing your query into Google, which is what the majority of people are doing when they research local businesses to hire. Therefore, you want to make sure that when someone types in X E-Bike Rentals, you are going to show up.

This means setting up business profiles for Google,  Yelp, and other local resources. This is a  great article from SEMrush to help you understand how you can optimize your results in search engines and other local online resources. Overall, you want to make it easy for potential customers to find your website when they are doing research for their next party.

Online advertising technology has gotten extremely advanced, and local businesses can pinpoint their potential audience with greater accuracy than ever before. When you are first starting out in your E-Bike rental business it will make sense to set aside a budget for advertising in the beginning. Your goal is to book new business, impress your clients, and have them spread the word online and in their local community.

Right now, the best bang for your buck will likely be Google and Facebook. They are the two most-used websites out there, and they offer the best advertising products for local businesses.

You can read up about Google's Adwords local program  here. The key reason why Google is so effective is because you are capturing a potential customer at the moment of intent. If you are able to serve up a relevant advertisement to a family who are looking to find a local E-Bike rental business for their visiting family, you can make sure that you show up.

The only downside is that pay-per-click advertising has gotten very competitive, and you could be competing against other E-Bike rental businesses for those spots. The best thing to do is to set aside a test budget and track very closely how much you are paying for new leads.

Facebook offers a different local advertising product, which you can read more about  here. They allow you to target various demographics and geographic locations with impressive precision. You can offer deals, drive people to your site, and various other methods. Facebook is constantly making their technology more effective, which is why it has become a preferred choice for local marketers.

Additionally, you could experiment with local deal sites like  Groupon in order to book your first set of clients.

Another effective tool in promoting your business is good old-fashioned networking. Get a bunch of professional-looking business cards printed from a service like  Vistaprint, and get prepared to pound the pavement!

There are plenty of ways to get creative with this approach. One way is to make sure you are connected with local companies that are associated with your E-Bike rental business. For example, there could be local tour companies that don't offer E-Bike rentals, and you could make sure they know you are available to supply them if the need arises.

Additionally, you could get involved with local organizations like  The Rotary Club. Anything you can do to make yourself visible to members of your community will help keep your E-Bike business in their minds if they eventually will need your services, or a friend of theirs asks.

We've covered a lot! By now you have a general overview of steps you should consider before starting your E-Bike business. Here is a brief recap:

• Size up      the opportunity     - evaluate your competition and the going rate for E-Bike rentals in your      area. This will determine your profit potential. 
• Get the right      equipment     - Commercial E-Bikes are a must for your venture. You can see our      selection of appropriate inventory here. 
• Don't      forget about miscellaneous costs - There could be a few things to      consider outside of just purchasing your fleet of E-Bikes. 
• Have a      local marketing plan - people in the local market need to know      your E-Bike business exists so they can hire you! 

If you are planning on taking the plunge, we wish you the best of luck.  Keep us in mind for your E-Bike rental business needs!

As promised, we wanted to save the best for last. When you run an E-Bike rental company, for most of your customers this will be their first experience riding an E-Bike. And if you know anything about E-Bikes, you know that the first ride is simply awesome and amazing. More than 50% of first time E-Bike rental customers ask about buying an E-Bike. And you are the company who they have come to know, like and trust - so they will want to buy their new E-Bike from you. 

After their rental, you will make it incredibly easy for them to buy their new E-Bike online, so in 5-7 days, they will have a brand new E-Bike delivered to their home, and you will reap the benefits. If you’re worried about the cost and complexity of setting up a sales channel, don’t give it another thought. That’s where Really Good E-Bikes comes in. 

We have spent the last 3+ years developing relationships with over 50 E-Bike brands, and we have an ecommerce site that’s built to sell. All you have to do it open a browser, show your customers what their options are, and close the sale. We will take care of all the fulfillment, so you can focus rentals and tours. For each bike you sell, you’ll get 50% of the profits- which is amazing, since the E-Bikes really sell themselves. All you have to do is open the browser and point your customers to the BUY NOW button.