Mega Zipline Iceland

Mega Zipline is one of the fastest-growing activities in Iceland. Its visitors get the unique experience of flying through a full kilometre over the Svartagljúfur Canyon (or Black Canyon) in Hveragerði–a town nicknamed ‘flower village’ because of its abundance of greenhouses as well as boasting hot springs, mountainous area, and waterfalls. 

The zipline’s infrastructure is quite unique for Iceland, and it quickly attracted the attention of many visitors eager to experience the thrill. 

The creator of Mega Zipline, Hallgrimur Kristinsson, had previously worked with Bokun for his Lava Tunnel tour business, so partnering with Bókun again was the obvious choice. The company founder had initially been attracted to Bókun’s Marketplace feature but appreciated that Bókun was an Icelandic company where he could get one-to-one attention from a real person who also understands the local culture.  

Key results:

• Over 100+ reseller contracts in the Bókun Marketplace 
• Direct offline sales at 50.7% and direct online sales at 49.3%, with the ability to input direct offline sales into Bókun to keep on top of all bookings in one place
• 8.8% of GBV from Gift Cards
• 9 Supplier contracts to resell partner tours for an extra revenue stream

The operator had a challenge that many companies would envy: becoming too popular, too fast.

“The infrastructure is just completely different from any simple ziplines. Safety, infrastructure and engineering are something that hasn’t really been done in Iceland. So it took a while to get it up and running, but thankfully, we opened in July, and we had a queue for 12 weeks after we opened,” shares Hallgrimur Kristinsson, the founder of Mega Zipline.

Mega Zipline received so much traffic that the company struggled to keep up with all the bookings, spending more time on admin, managing the queues, and ticketing than on the business. 

Fortunately, Bokún was able to help the team manage their bookings more smoothly. In this case study, we dive deep into Mega Zipline’s experience and growth following their partnership with us.

Although Kristinsson had worked with Bókun when he was running his previous company, the Lava Tunnel, he had looked into several other software companies to help manage his booking needs for his companies. Bókun being an Icelandic company was certainly a plus, along with the personal touch–being able to meet people in person–was a huge advantage for the business owner. 

Of course, there were other benefits that would help them manage their business at Mega Zipline, and after their experience with Bókun and Lava Tunnel, Bókun was once again the obvious choice. 

“The marketplace, the opportunity for me to connect to others to make direct bookings through the system helped a lot. Bókun had also created a lot of Q&As and Helpdesk resources which made it quite easy to look up how to do things. If I still ran into a problem during the implementation, I was always able to access somebody, a human being.” – Hallgrimur Kristinsson, founder of Mega Zipline.

The zipline operator also took advantage of our combo tool. They combined complementary experiences to expand their product offerings instantly. The team used several tools to make daily operations easier to manage. What’s more, the founder was impressed with our website builder when preparing to launch his company this spring. 

Bókun is designed to grow alongside our tour operators, so we support business operations and open the door to more bookings. 

“Having a flawless booking engine and not having customers contacting you asking about having a problem during the booking process helps. It just seems to work smoothly. That’s part of the review I’m getting from customers: If they had a hard time booking, I would not get five-star reviews, which I do get. So generally that is a very smooth booking process.” – Hallgrimur Kristinsson, founder of Mega Zipline.

With a smooth platform in place, Hallgrimur Kristinsson is giving his staff more administrative rights to the system, which frees up his time while being assured everything will go through with the booking as it should.

The staff is now very comfortable with the day-to-day operations, which helps the business and the founder focus on other strategic tasks that help grow the business.

A standout achievement for Mega Zipline has been the establishment of over 100 reseller contracts through the Bókun Marketplace, significantly expanding their distribution network and allowing their thrilling zipline experience to reach a broader, more diverse audience across multiple sales channels.

The tour operator also achieved a balance of 50.7% direct offline sales and 49.3% direct online sales. The ability to input direct offline sales into Bókun allows for comprehensive tracking of all bookings in one place, which also contributes to better financial management.

Other Key Operational Improvements: 

• Automatic card abandonment and triggered emails for booking reminders and reviews. 
• Departure management allows mass booking changes or cancellations, as well as mass communication. 
• Customer portal to give travellers greater control over their booking and save the team time. 
• Secure payment links for in-destination or offline bookings, so all bookings can be viewed in one place. 
• Bókun helped the tour operator achieve their 5* Tripadvisor review score.

To help the zipline operator make the most of our features, we were also open to listening to their feedback and implementing it to help us improve our platform.

Founder Hallgrimur Kristinsson shared how his tour company has made significant improvements to their gift card system thanks to Bókun’s responsiveness to customer feedback. The company was also able to create new experiences by merging tours.

As a result, 8.8% of Mega Zipline’s Gross Booking Value (GBV) has come from Gift Cards alone. This is a direct financial benefit, representing a new revenue stream that was optimised through Bókun’s platform.

Additionally, Bókun implemented a group cancellation feature, which Kristinsson found extremely beneficial. These changes demonstrated Bokun’s commitment to listening to our customers and continuously enhancing our product to meet user needs.

Bókun Mobile App
The Bókun App allows the team to check in customers, scan tickets on the go, view pick-up lists, and manage customer notes easily, all within the app, helping with remote management. 

Gift Cards and Upsell
After optimising and improving the gift card feature, 8.8% of Mega Zipline’s GBV has come from Gift Cards alone.

Combo Products and Extras
Mega Zipline was able to create new experiences by merging two or more different tours and adding additional options that customers could purchase, which led to a higher average order value.

Promo Codes
The tour operator is now able to use and apply a variety of different promotional codes available.

Partnering with Bókun proved to be a game-changer for Mega Zipline. The operator quickly realised the immense value of having a responsive and knowledgeable support network. 

Bókun’s Account Management Team wasn’t just there to troubleshoot; they proactively guided Mega Zipline in leveraging new features and tools as the business grew. This partnership enabled the operator to continuously expand their offerings, from implementing gift cards to creating combo products and setting up reseller networks. 

With Bókun’s support, Mega Zipline was able to navigate their rapid growth while simultaneously diversifying their business model, setting a strong foundation for sustained success. “Sometimes you just need to speak to a person. The support has been really impressive, so I feel like I matter!” shares Kristinsson.

The partnership between Mega Zipline and Bókun shows the importance of having a company with a human touch and a place where the client can go to a real person to get help and support whenever they have an issue. With the support from the team at Bókun, Mega Zipline can focus on making their business a success.

Bókun’s mission is to help your tour and activity business generate more bookings with less work. Start your free 14-day trial today to explore our software can help you save time and grow your business.