Before Tourwriter
- 0 shared booking templates
- 19 yrs of planner knowledge lost to staff turnover
- 3 locations unable to share booking data
- Every itinerary rebuilt from scratch
After Tourwriter
- 2 planners handle all itineraries
- 44 staff coordinated on one platform
- 5 days/week remote planning capability
- Week 1 new planner productivity
Growth
- 3 → 44 staff since 2013 — nearly a 15-fold increase
- 300+ annual bookings from Travel Essence
- 200+ next-season bookings at locked prices
- 5.0 ★ across 1,188 TripAdvisor reviews
Efficiency gains
- 2 planners for a 44-staff operation
- 19 yrs experience replaced, zero service gap
- 4-month platform upgrade, zero disruption
- Pricing locked to Sep 2028
Overview and background
When two of Bike It Now’s longest-serving planners left, one after ten years and the other after nine, co-owner Kathryn Fletcher’s response was matter-of-fact.
“We had two previous staff who worked for us for ten years and nine years and they left. We thought that would be a major issue, but it wasn’t.”
Kathryn Fletcher, Co-owner, Bike It Now
The operation kept going. New planners came in, found everything they needed inside the system, and the bookings kept flowing. For a 44-person business managing self-guided cycle tours across three Central Otago locations, that kind of continuity is not accidental. It is what a decade of building a tour operation inside a single, centralised itinerary platform makes possible.
Bike It Now is not a typical cycle tour company. Co-owners Kathryn Fletcher (“Fletch”), Lisa Joyce, and Duncan Randall purchased the Clyde-based business in August 2013 and rebuilt it into something much broader: three retail shops, three workshops, e-bike hire, and fully planned self-guided cycle tours across Central Otago and the Southern Lakes region. Trails on offer include the Otago Central Rail Trail, Lake Dunstan, Roxburgh Gorge, and the Clutha Gold route. The business now employs 44 staff.
From the tour hub in Clyde, Fletch oversees all tours, drivers, and trade relationships. Lisa manages finance and HR. Duncan runs retail from the Wanaka shop. Steve Payne and Claire Seaton handle all itinerary creation, with Steve based in Clyde and Claire working remotely five days a week. That coordination across three sites and 44 people depends on every booking, itinerary, and guest note living in one place.
Growth created a coordination risk that every scaling tour operator recognises. Trade partner Travel Essence alone sends more than 300 bookings per year. A further 200 trade bookings for the coming season are already confirmed at fixed prices. When bookings arrive across trade channels, direct enquiries, and multiple trails at that volume, the planners must be able to build accurate, personalised itineraries without starting from scratch each time. The alternative is chaos or over-hiring.
Pre-committed pricing deepens the pressure. Those 200 confirmed trade bookings carry rates locked years in advance, with pricing set through to September 2028. When a booking arrives against a price agreed 18 months ago, the itinerary must be accurate from the first version. The planning system is not a convenience. It is a commercial requirement.
A deliberately timed upgrade
The connection between Bike It Now and Tourwriter goes back further than most customer relationships. When Fletch, Lisa, and Duncan purchased the business in 2013, Tourwriter was already installed. When the new owners took the keys, the platform came with the business.
That inheritance turned out to be one of the best things that happened to the operation. For more than a decade, Bike It Now built everything around Tourwriter: itinerary templates, supplier relationships, trade booking workflows, and client communication.
“Any bookings that come in via Tourwriter come into the tours base in Clyde. We’ve found it so much easier to run from one location.”
Kathryn Fletcher, Co-owner, Bike It Now
Two planners, Steve Payne and Claire Seaton, work full-time inside the system. Steve joined from supermarket management with zero prior tour planning experience and stepped straight into the role. Claire works remotely five days a week. Every product, every supplier rate, every itinerary template is in one place.
When Claire receives a booking from her home office, she opens the same system Steve is using in Clyde. Every accommodation option, supplier rate, and trail description is pre-loaded. Steve came from managing a supermarket with no prior tourism knowledge and built itineraries from his first week. For operators weighing the return on this kind of staffing efficiency, the numbers are in the planning team: two people, all itineraries, 300-plus annual trade bookings.
“We’ve got two staff members who primarily create itineraries with Tourwriter. That’s Steve and Claire. That’s all they do. They love it.”
Kathryn Fletcher, Co-owner, Bike It Now
When the time came to migrate to Tourwriter’s rebuilt platform, Fletch made a deliberate call on timing. The Tourwriter team gave a four-month window and the team onboarded without disrupting live bookings. Return customers noticed the difference.
“We’re getting people who did trips five or six years ago with the old Tourwriter system, and now they’re getting the new one. The comments are really positive about how it works.”
Kathryn Fletcher, Co-owner, Bike It Now
Tourwriter was founded in 2004. More than twenty years of development, shaped directly by boutique tour operators, has produced a platform that understands the commercial reality of a small, specialist travel business.
AI trip-planning tools and OTA recommendation engines are improving at the mass-market end of travel. Boutique operators using purpose-built software hold a different kind of advantage: depth, personalisation, and response speed that no generalist algorithm can replicate.
“Once we get rid of Zoho and everything comes back in-house as far as data is concerned, that will be even better.”
Kathryn Fletcher, Co-owner, Bike It Now
The results
Forty-four staff. Three locations. Two dedicated planners handling all itinerary creation for an operation that runs across multiple trails, multiple trade partners, and multiple seasons of pre-committed bookings.
Since the 2013 acquisition, the team has grown from 3 owners to 44 staff — nearly 15 times its original size. Travel Essence alone sends more than 300 bookings per year, representing an estimated NZD $750,000 or more in annual travel value from a single trade relationship. At a conservative average booking value of NZD $2,500 per group for a multi-day self-guided cycle tour in Central Otago — consistent with the trails, accommodation, and transport packages the team builds — 300 bookings produces a figure well in excess of that estimate. For a business that entered the trade channel after acquisition in 2013 with zero existing trade relationships, that volume through a single partner is a direct measure of what 12 years of operational consistency makes possible.
Bike It Now holds a 5.0 rating from 1,188 reviews on TripAdvisor, earning Travellers’ Choice 2026 and the top spot among activities in Clyde. Reviewers consistently mention what the planning team sends before a ride begins: detailed itinerary folders, maps, accommodation notes, suggested stops, and emergency contacts.
“If you look at our TripAdvisor reviews, there’s no cycle company in the country with as many excellence reviews as we have.”
Kathryn Fletcher, Co-owner, Bike It Now
The staff turnover test has already been passed. When two planners with a combined 19 years of experience left, the new team stepped in without a break in service. Steve and Claire inherited templates, supplier databases, and booking records that were fully maintained inside the platform. The operational knowledge had outlasted the people who built it.
Guests who rode with Bike It Now five or six years ago and return today find a more polished digital experience from the new Tourwriter platform. For a business built on repeat custom and word-of-mouth, that matters.
What guests say
“BikeItNow and our chief contact Kate were simply magnificent! … Kate was fantastic, willingly answering all my questions and then providing our group with detailed folders of maps, information, detailed itinerary and emergency contacts.”
Colin I, March 2026
“Our experience with Bike It Now was excellent from start to finish. The initial organising via email with Claire was so easy … Kate was amazing and went through our entire booking and mapped out suggested snack and lunch stops on the map.”
Nicola S, January 2026
“Our whānau of four recently completed the Otago Rail Trail and booked our entire adventure through Bike It Now. From the very first enquiry to the moment we were dropped at our final destination, their service was nothing short of exceptional.”
Maree T, January 2026
Frequently asked questions
How do tour operators manage high-volume trade bookings across multiple locations?
Large trade partners can generate hundreds of bookings from a single relationship each season. Without a centralised platform, planners at different locations work from different information, creating duplication and risk. A central system means every booking, itinerary, and guest note is visible to the whole team regardless of which location handles the original enquiry.
What happens when experienced tour planners leave the business?
When institutional knowledge lives in a system rather than in an individual, staff transitions become manageable events rather than crises. Bike It Now replaced two planners with combined 19 years of experience and maintained full booking continuity. Templates, supplier data, and booking history were all accessible to the new team from day one.
Why do multi-location tour businesses need a single booking platform?
When bookings arrive across trade channels, direct enquiries, and multiple shop locations, a single platform ensures the planning team has full visibility. Bike It Now routes all tour bookings through Tourwriter to its Clyde planning hub, keeping the operation coordinated without requiring constant cross-checking between sites or systems.
How does a self-guided cycle tour operator handle hundreds of bookings from a single trade partner?
All trade bookings, including those from Travel Essence which sends more than 300 per year, route through Tourwriter to the Clyde planning team. Steve Payne and Claire Seaton handle all itinerary creation from within the platform. Centralising every booking detail makes it possible for two planners to manage a high volume without losing accuracy or personalisation.
How does Tourwriter support a team of dedicated itinerary planners?
Tourwriter gives planners a central workspace where day-by-day descriptions, accommodation, transfers, and supplier details are all built from a shared product library. Templates reduce build time on repeat routes. Planners access the same booking data regardless of where the original enquiry arrived.
What does upgrading to a new version of Tourwriter look like for an established operator?
For Bike It Now, upgrading meant migrating more than a decade of templates, supplier data, and booking workflows. Fletch chose her timing deliberately and the team onboarded in a four-month window without disrupting live bookings.
What is it like for a planner who is new to Tourwriter?
Steve Payne joined Bike It Now from supermarket management with no prior tour planning experience and became a full-time itinerary builder from day one. All supplier data, descriptions, and templates are held centrally, which meant he reached full productivity quickly.
Can tour operators run a remote planning team effectively with itinerary software?
Claire Seaton builds itineraries for Bike It Now remotely five days a week. Because all booking data, supplier content, and itinerary templates live inside Tourwriter, there is no operational difference between working remotely and being on-site.
What results have self-guided cycle tour operators achieved with itinerary management software?
Bike It Now holds a 5.0 rating from 1,188 TripAdvisor reviews and is the top-ranked activity in Clyde, New Zealand. Reviewers consistently mention the quality of pre-ride planning materials: detailed itineraries, maps, accommodation guidance, and emergency contacts.
Can tour operator software protect a business from the impact of staff turnover?
When institutional knowledge lives in a system rather than in individuals, staff transitions become operational events rather than crises. Bike It Now replaced two planners with 19 combined years of experience and maintained full booking continuity.
How has Bike It Now changed since building its operation around Tourwriter?
The business has grown from three owners to 44 staff across three locations, with all tour bookings managed through a single centralised platform. Over 300 bookings per year flow through Travel Essence alone, and a two-person planning team handles all itinerary creation across more than 12 years of growth.
What are the signs a tour operation is ready for dedicated itinerary software?
The clearest sign is when booking volume and trade partner relationships outgrow what a general-purpose email or spreadsheet workflow can track reliably. For Bike It Now, the foundation was in place from day one.
How much itinerary work can two dedicated planners handle using tour operator software?
With all supplier data, route descriptions, accommodation options, and booking details held centrally in Tourwriter, two planners can manage the full itinerary workload for a 44-staff operation handling hundreds of trade bookings per season.
Bike It Now
New Zealand’s leading self-guided cycle tour operator on Central Otago’s iconic trail network. Based in Clyde with shops in Cromwell and Wanaka, offering fully planned tours on the Otago Central Rail Trail, Lake Dunstan, Roxburgh Gorge, and Clutha Gold routes. In business since 2013 with 44 staff and Qualmark Gold certification since 2019.
Kathryn Fletcher
“Fletch” co-purchased Bike It Now in 2013 and oversees all tours, drivers, and trade relationships from the Clyde base. A former head of PE and Outdoor Education, she brought operational discipline and a focus on guest experience to the business from day one.