It is no secret that OTA-s (online travel agencies) sometimes take 30% or more of the tour price they sell. Viator, Get Your Guide and Baja Bikes are among the biggest players on the market.
Baja Bikes, like the name refers to, is focused on bicycle tours.
Our good partner company City Bike Tallinn used to sell tours via BajaBikes.eu
Although they did not take money in advance, did not guarantee the bookings they sent nor did they have integrations to any bookings systems at that time, they still provided revenue.
And one day they started to demand 5% more commission. And it was not because they would invest this in technology or marketing, because they just can!
They use this tactic in many cities they operate, claiming it is a Baja Bikes tour (https://www.bajabikes.eu/en/). But it is not their tour! It is some local operator cooperating with them. They just are not showing their name. And very often also mark the google map location as Baja Bikes Tours in that city.
What happens if that operator is not willing to pay more and more commission? They just ditch them and choose next in line. Who is willing to pay more commission.
Of course in their marketing texts they claim they choose the best tours and participate in the development of tours, also that they have tested all the tours they offer.
It is not a new trick in the book, it is just marketing. The aim is to make you believe that they really care and know all the details.
And if you see on their website that some tours are not available, it is probably the case that they have not found any operators in that city. Or operators have not agreed to give them 30% of their tour price. For the SEO reasons they do not want to make the city disappear at their site.
The best option to book your bicycle tour is directly. https://cyclest.cc/ and if you want to see more tours available, directly from providers, visit https://cyclecities.tours/baltics-and-scandinavia/
Cycle Cities is a network promoting and connecting independent bicycle tour operators.