A high-performance booking platform and website designed to manage premium guided cycling tours and logistics for a leading endurance sports provider in Gran Canaria.
What we did
- Comprehensive website design and front-end development
- Bespoke ExpressionEngine CMS implementation
- Integrated booking calendar with real-time availability
- Secure Stripe payment gateway integration
- Strategic content publishing workflow for tour updates
- Search engine optimisation for international leisure markets
About the project
GC Cycling is a premier provider of guided cycling experiences in Gran Canaria, an island renowned globally as a "miniature continent" and a sanctuary for winter training. The island’s volcanic terrain, iconic climbs like the Pico de las Nieves, and its "eternal summer" climate attract thousands of cyclists from across Europe and beyond. However, as a boutique operator, GC Cycling needed a digital platform that could compete with larger travel entities while maintaining the personal, high-end feel of their bespoke tours.
Tinderhouse was commissioned to transform their online presence into a conversion-focused booking hub. The project involved more than just a fresh coat of paint; it required a structural overhaul of how the business interacted with its customers. We built a platform that not only showcases the breathtaking scenery of the Canary Islands but also handles the complex logistics of tour booking, payment, and content management.
By focusing on a high-quality web development strategy, we ensured the site was fast, responsive, and intuitive. Given the international nature of their clientele, the site had to perform flawlessly across different devices and connection speeds. We initially adopted a minimum viable product strategy to ensure the core booking engine and payment flows were bulletproof before expanding into more complex features like detailed route archives and community forums. This approach allowed GC Cycling to start taking secure bookings ahead of the busy winter season, providing an immediate return on their investment.
The Challenge
Despite offering world-class on-road experiences, GC Cycling’s digital presence was initially holding them back. The business faced several significant hurdles that limited their growth:
- Fragmented Booking Process: Customers often had to enquire via email or forms, leading to long lead times and lost sales due to friction in the booking journey.
- Language Barriers: Communicating complex tour details and logistics to a diverse, international student and tourist demographic required a clear, visual, and easily translatable layout.
- Manual Schedule Management: Distributing daily ride schedules and meet-up points to visiting groups was a manual, time-consuming task for the operations team.
- Lack of Real-Time Availability: Without a live booking calendar, staff were constantly cross-referencing spreadsheets to avoid overbooking popular winter dates.
- Payment Friction: The absence of a secure, integrated payment system meant that deposits and final balances were often handled via insecure or slow traditional methods.
- Limited Content Control: The team could not easily update their blog or route information, which hindered their ability to react to weather changes or new road closures.
Our Solution
Bespoke Booking and Availability Calendar
The heart of the new site is a custom-built booking engine. We developed a calendar interface that allows users to see exactly which tours are available on their preferred dates. This system manages different group sizes and skill levels—from "Hobby" to "Pro"—ensuring that every cyclist finds the right experience. This level of automation is a cornerstone of modern ecommerce app development, where the goal is to move the user from discovery to purchase with as few clicks as possible. The back-office system allows GC Cycling to set capacity limits, block out private dates, and manage seasonal pricing with ease.
Secure Stripe Payment Integration
To solve the issue of payment friction, we integrated the Stripe API directly into the checkout flow. This allows GC Cycling to take secure deposits or full payments in multiple currencies, providing peace of mind for their international customers. By handling payments within the site environment rather than redirecting to third-party portals, we significantly reduced cart abandonment rates. This secure financial foundation is essential for any modern financial-app-development project, even within the leisure sector, as it builds the trust required for high-value transactions.
Flexible CMS and Publishing Workflow
We utilised ExpressionEngine as the backend framework to give the GC Cycling team total control over their content. As specialist Expression Engine developers, we built custom channels for "Routes," "Tours," and "Insights." This allows the client to upload GPX files, high-resolution hero images, and real-time updates without needing technical support. We also implemented a streamlined publishing workflow that ensures new content is SEO-optimised and formatted correctly for mobile devices automatically. This has turned the website from a static brochure into a living resource for the cycling community.
Performance-First Front-End Architecture
Because Gran Canaria’s mountainous interior can sometimes have variable mobile data coverage, we prioritised speed and performance. We used a modern front-end stack to ensure the site remains lightweight and fast. This "performance-first" mindset is consistent with our app development philosophy, where we treat web platforms with the same technical rigour as native software. The result is a site that loads near-instantly, even for users on 3G or 4G connections, ensuring that cyclists out on the road can still access their schedules and route information without frustration.
The Results
The launch of the new GC Cycling platform in 2019 provided the business with the digital infrastructure needed to scale their operations significantly.
Automated Booking Growth: The introduction of the live calendar led to a 35% increase in direct online bookings within the first six months.
Operational Efficiency: The team saved over 10 hours a week previously spent on manual email coordination and schedule distribution.
International Expansion: The SEO-optimised structure helped the site rank for competitive terms like "Gran Canaria cycling tours," attracting a wider demographic from Northern Europe and North America.
Zero Overbooking Issues: The real-time synchronisation of tour capacity has completely eliminated the risk of overbooking, improving the overall customer experience.
Premium Brand Positioning: The sleek, high-performance design has elevated GC Cycling’s brand, allowing them to compete at a higher price point in the luxury sports travel market.
Technical Highlights
Core Framework: ExpressionEngine CMS for high-flexibility content management.
Backend: PHP and MySQL for robust data handling and booking logic.
Payments: Stripe API integration for secure, multi-currency transactions.
Front End: Custom responsive HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript logic.
SEO: Integrated metadata management and semantic markup for international search visibility.
Logistics: Custom calendar module with real-time capacity and skill-level filtering.
Ready to Transform Your Booking Experience?
Whether you are managing a sports tour or launching a new service, our MVP development approach ensures you get a high-performance solution that delivers results quickly. Based in Kent and London, we help businesses across the UK and Europe build powerful digital tools.