WHILE on holiday in Barcelona with her mum last month, Laura Caddick had seen Torre Agbar plenty of folks tooling around on red-and-white bikes. But the bikes that she saw everywhere - part of the city’s bicycle-sharing program - were to be used by local residents only. Torre Agbar
luckily , Ms. Caddick’s hotel, ME Barcelona, had many bikes for guests. ‘We rode down to the beach, then to the port and up to the Ramblas, stopping for drinks and lunch along the way,’ expounded Ms. Caddick, a sportswear merchandiser from Liverpool, England. She and her mother each paid twenty EU Bucks, or $26.40 at $1.32 to the EU Dollar, to hire the bikes for four hours and felt they saw more of Barcelona than they might had they taken the Metro from their hotel. ‘We felt we were experiencing the city from a more local point of view.’
in recent times, from Paris to Rome, new urban cycling lanes and public bike-sharing programs have been gaining in popularity. And while some travelers aren’t able to link into all the cycling opportunities - in Paris, for example, the check-out meters for the Vlib’, a public bicycle-rental program, will not accept most Yank credit cards ( they lack a critical microchip ) - there are many hotels that offer guests use of bikes for asmall fee or no cost at all .
‘It’s become a new way for hotels to show their greenness,’ asserted Jonathan Barsky, VP for research at Market Metrix, which gauges customer satisfaction in hospitality firms.
The bikes, which are usually upright models, have proved to be popular, particularly among holidaying guests, though business travelers have been seen to cycle to an appointment, according to many hostels
The Hotel Gates in Berlin, which introduced 12 red cycles last May, making them available to guests without charge, has just ordered four more bikes for the high season
‘Sometimes the guests ask for a bike, and theyare all gone,’ asserted Kirsten Kurbjuhn, the general chief, adding that more than 60 p.c of the guests who fill out the hotel’s customer-feedback questionnaire say the bikes are’a highly valuable service,’ and twenty % say they are one of the reasons they chose the hotel.
Astrid Boh, a management consultant from Frankfurt who prepared a room at the Hotel Gates for a business journey at the end of March, did not know about the bikes before her arrival. But after hearing about them at the reception desk, she was happy she had taken a taxi from the airport instead of hiring an auto.Torre Agbar.
‘Parking is a challenge in Berlin,’ said Ms. Boh, who pedaled to a business meeting, shops and even out to dinner at night. ‘I liked being able to get somewhere fast and get some exercise at the same time.’
Some hotels organize with nearby cycle shops to have bikes on hand for guests. A day’s use of a bike is included in the Green, Greener, Berlin package at the Mvenpick Hotel Berlin, which rents the bikes from a local company. The package also includes bath salts, possibly for relaxing sore muscles after astrenuous outing.
But increasingly hostels are investing in their own fleets - and picking models that brace the identity of the hotel.
In August, Le Meurice, a Parisian hotel that occupies an 1835 palace across from the Tuileries, unveiled 5 retro-style bikes in the blue-green shade of the oxidized copper rooftops of the city, with matching helmets and front baskets emblazoned with the hotel’s gold trademark. Yankee and Brit guests in their 30s have a tendency to be the most avid customers, according to the hotel ; Le Meurice’s sister hotel, the plaza Athne, opted for zippy red bikes with panniers.
At the Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa in Interlaken in the Swiss Alps, guests can check out Scott mountain bikes - the same model that the Liverpool football Club, which made use of the hotel as its coaching base for the last two summers, rode to get to and from football practice, pedaling in their red-and-black coaching shorts and jerseys while fans lined their trail.
Staff members at the ME Barcelona, part of the Sol Meli hotel chain, visited many cycle shops before settling on the silvery fold-up bikes that were introduced in September at the hotel, housed in a modernist tower clad in anodized aluminum.
‘We always like to be on the edge of technology,’ expounded Pete Zudyk, vice president for brand creativity and communication for Sol Meli.
of course, some hostels have provided bikes for many years. The Hotel Hassler in Rome has had them for 20 years, according to Vivian Barsanti, the media and marketing coordinator.
In bike-happy Copenhagen, that has special small traffic lights for bike riders and clearly marked cycling lanes, bikes have for a while been the standard hotel offering.
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