How a Rocky Mountain Tour and Shuttle Company used Zaui's Dynamic Pricing in Transportation to increase Revenue by 20% during Peak Months

How 4 guys from Nova Scotia built a beloved Rocky Mountain transportation company focusing on technology and authentic experiences.

40 years ago, Tom Fry made the long voyage from Nova Scotia to the Alberta Rocky Mountains in search of adventure. He posted up in the quaint mountain hamlet of Lake Louise and got a job working as a bellhop at the famous Chateau Lake Louise. And he never left.

In 2016, Tom started Fairview Limousines and began a local taxi and limousine service. Then broadening to offer shuttle services. At this point, Tom was a long-time local and had built a reputation as a reliable driver and friendly tour guide for locals and tourists alike. He provided an essential service to the community and at first, he was the only game in town.

New Nova Scotians and the Opportunity to Scale

5 years later Tom met a younger generation of previously unconnected Nova Scotians that unknowingly followed his footsteps to Lake Louise. The new east coasters, Ryan, Shayne and Charles joined forces with Tom and began building upon his solid foundation at Fairview. They added technology, resources and fresh ideas to scale Tom’s then manual but fully functioning pencil and paper booking business.

“If you’ve met someone from Nova Scotia, they don’t take long to tell you that they are from there.” Shayne says. “There is a certain pride to it. We’re all hanging out here in the Rockies. The place we want to be but we also have the same stories of where we grew up and how we grew up which makes it even better.”

In 2021, there were just 3 people working at Fairview. One full time and 2 part time. They had a 14 passenger van and a 6 passenger car. On a really good day, they might move 140 people.

Skip to 2024 and they now have 12 people and 12 vehicles which includes two 44 passenger buses going full tilt, a 24 passenger bus, and a suite of limousines, private cars and smaller buses. They now offer frequent shuttle service to the popular tourist hot spots of Lake Louise and Lake Moraine and offer private tours, airport service and customizable charters. There is always a vehicle on the road.

Fairview has quickly grown to transporting 500-1,000 guests every day. That is 50+ people every hour (not including the dogs). Operating from sunrise to sunset (4:00 AM to 10:00 PM) in peak season. The focus on growth and technology over the last 3 years has enabled Fairview’s meteoric rise to move 700% more passengers every day in 2024 compared to 2021.

The Foundation + Technology: Why Fairview Limousine Chose Zaui

When Shayne started he says, “Tom had a website which was good but it was too old to run a widget, so it all had to be scrapped and rebuilt.”

As the company started growing at a rapid pace, they needed a central booking system to manage all the vehicles, staff and customer bookings and keep everyone on the same page. Shayne started with a few different booking platforms, before finding his way to Zaui. One platform just didn’t quite have the functionality they needed and customer service was painfully slow to respond (if they responded at all). The other platform was well suited and had great customer service but Shayne realized they were way overpaying for the system, sending 6% of every booking to a company in another country.

There were a lot of promises from the other booking platforms as he was shopping around. “It’s all sparkles and lights at first, but then you get the test account and you quickly see, this might not be the one for me.” he says.

With the systems he did try out briefly, “There was a lot of talk of…we can do this, we can do that, we are working on this, but I didn’t really see it. So that was another reason we switched over to Zaui.” He said.

“You are always looking for either a better deal or a better system. With Zaui it kind of came full circle” Shayne says.

“We were attracted to Zaui because of the price, the transportation capabilities and that they were a Canadian company. Now we only pay 1.25% of bookings plus a small flat fee every month. We don’t want to make people pay a bunch of extra money to cover our costs, so the lower we can get our costs, the less we have to charge our customers.” He explains.

Shayne says onboarding onto Zaui was relatively easy. “When I started all this, I barely knew how to use Excel. I was not a computer guy at all, so I had to learn and take on a lot of tasks. I quickly learnt how to build a website, how to connect everything, and how to use google analytics. If you’ve already used one booking platform, then you do another one, you are pretty well versed in how to set things up and what affects what. Once I got the hang of it, it was fairly straight forward.”

Shayne says after the first nine months with Zaui, “the amount of issues we have with people trying to book but can’t is miniscule.”

“The customer service at Zaui is great and we talk to a lot of the same agents who know our business very well. Sometimes we need something urgently and Zaui always delivers.”

The Bread and Butter

Fairview offers point to point shuttle services to Lake Moraine and Lake Louise with bus service that runs continuous loops from sunrise to sunset. One lake alone has 14 booking slots each day.

“Point to point became the bread and butter but our main focus as a company is still the private shuttling and longer customized tours. Point to point is all about quantity, quantity, quantity. There are a lot of people that all want to go to one place and we get them there. Even though it is only a 15 minute ride here or 25 minute ride there, we try to make it just as much of an experience as if you were getting us for a full day.” He says.

Last year was the first year of going full tilt with the business. Shayne used the winter to make the switch and get set up with Zaui in January 2024.

“We aren’t a travel agency, we’re not a trip planner, but when a guest comes with a request of their own, we end up tailoring it quite a bit for them, because people don’t know. And we live here. So we can break it down a lot easier for them. That is something in the future I want to become more involved in, because that is the fun stuff.” Shayne says.

“One of the best weeks of my career was spent driving a private week-long tour where I took a group all around Alberta and BC that I designed 100% custom for them. They absolutely loved it. You become a bit like a family on these longer, more intimate private tours. That is where the heart comes into the company and the shuttles are more of the bread and butter that provide the stability so we can expand and be more creative.”

“The goal is about expanding it in both directions for the future.” He says. Zaui is well positioned to help with that.

The Lake Louise Gold Rush

Peak shuttle season starts June 1st and runs to Thanksgiving weekend in October. Fairview is one of the only year round operators proving their local status and meaningful contribution to the community. The last day of peak season is “locals day” where locals ride for free and check out the lake.

Then it’s back to limousine service, airport charters, weekend sightseeing tours, or moving people from hotel to hotel. Shayne says they kind of do it all when it comes to the winter. “We try to help all the hotels in the area because we are the only ones right here in town that can provide a 15 minute response time. Most things come up at the last minute in the winter.”

“The competition is fierce right now. It’s the gold rush because it’s the first couple years of only shuttles going up to Moraine Lake.” And with that, came the storm.

“Competition is heavy, it comes from all directions, but we are in a really good place because we are the only guys that are actually in the village. When you put Lake Louise in google maps, we are only a 1 minute drive away from where that point brings you, where the other companies are another 10 minutes up the road. We are right down by all the hotels, so we get the locals' side of things and we are really well covered.”

“Everybody else (competition) gets contracts to work at a certain place for the summer, they come up, make their money during the shuttle season for 4.5 months and then they are gone all winter. But Tom, when he started this, his thing was, he’s the guy to call. So we’ve tried to maintain that reputation as much as possible and grow on it as well. Now we have a lot more availability and drivers so we can say yes.”

Fairview used to be one of the only shuttle companies going to Moraine Lake, now there are 201 companies competing with permits.

“There used to be a shortage of parking for private cars visiting Moraine Lake so it was closed down for private car access. Now there is a lack of parking for shuttle buses.” Shayne says.

How Dynamic Pricing Grew Transportation Revenues 20% in Peak Months and Evened Out the Load

In the 3 years Shayne has been with Fairview, he can only recall ever turning away 1 guest booking simply because they didn’t have the space to get that family of 12 on any vehicle. Tom has instilled a “Never say No” approach in the business and while this is a great founder’s mentality, it caused some operational challenges with satisfying the overwhelming customer demand. That was until Shayne strategically set up the dynamic pricing features in Zaui.

“We primarily use dynamic pricing during the season peak which is June/July and then ramp it down through the tail end of the season.” Shayne explains. “Dynamic pricing is not just about increasing the price. It’s more about spreading out the load so you aren’t jam packed in the mornings and then have 4 people on a 24 seat bus in the afternoons. That really sucks. It hurts your heart.”

Dynamic pricing also lowers the price to attract more customers in the slower times too. Fairview puts a cap on the price so it doesn’t go too high or too low.

Shayne says Fairview increased revenues about 20% during the peak season months this year just by adding a couple lines of parameters into the Zaui booking system. He says the increase in revenue wasn’t just about charging more but filling more seats in the slower midday compared to the morning. He says that a lot of the revenue boost comes just from filling these previously open spaces.

“A dynamic pricing model evens the playing field with competitors and the prices they charge and brings our numbers down at certain time slots to spread out our day. If you charge 33% more for 8:00 AM, then people are going to decide to go at 10:00 AM instead. Then we are filling those seats in the middle of our day rather than just in the morning. It wasn’t so much about just making more money for us as it was about spreading that load out throughout the day and throughout the weeks. It persuades people to choose different times where they can get a deal. And every customer feels good about getting a deal,” He says.

Shayne says it was amazing to see the difference between this year and last year.

“For the first 3 hours of the day last year, it was jam packed full, full full, and we are adding extra vehicles because we never say no. But the next thing you know, we are using more man power, more fuel, more costs just to be able to say yes to everybody when everyone's all getting the same deal. Well, if you add that little extra cost on it, then it filters out 50% of your people that wanted that time slot. They are now totally fine with going on the next shuttle. That hour and 15 minutes they have to wait is worth the extra $10/person in their group. So dynamic pricing works awesome.”

Shayne says the dynamic pricing strategy is based more on capacity than charging customers more for popular times. It’s not surge pricing but more of a way to balance customer demand to operate efficiently throughout the busiest days. He started his dynamic pricing model simply by going over last year's records and putting a star beside the busy weekends, the busiest times of day and deciding which time slots or days to increase. It balances out the driving schedule and allows customers to choose the cheapest available ride.

Fairview's Dynamic Pricing Strategy: Incentivizing Early Bookings for Better Scheduling and Customer Savings

Indestination transportation has a reputation for last minute bookings which can be difficult to manage during peak times. Shayne plans on setting up dynamic pricing for next year that will incentivize customers to book early.

“Maybe from January to May for example, customers can book for 80% of the ticket price. Which is super easy to set up. No problem at all. Then as of June 1st, it goes up to regular price plus dynamic pricing on certain days. If they are booking early for a busy day like July 1st, they are still paying the dynamic price increase of 33% but will also get a 20% early booking discount. So you can stack stuff which is really nice.” He says.

Shayne’s goal is to encourage customers to book in advance so Fairview has a more reliable schedule they can plan for rather than scrambling to accommodate day of and day before bookings. “I don’t think customers should pay the same full price if they are booking in advance compared to booking on the day, when we are already jam packed.” He says.

“I also could set dynamic pricing based more on capacity limits and market conditions than dates and times. So when our bus does get 30 people on it, now it becomes more expensive for the last 14 seats because those seats are more in demand.” He ponders and then scoffs a bit comparing it to an airline pricing model which he kind of despises.

We will have to follow up next year and see how Fairview tweaks their dynamic pricing strategy.

How Fairview Limousine Leverages Zaui's Affiliate Program and Local Connections to Boost Business

The bulk of marketing and awareness of Fairview Limousine is still primarily word of mouth and built on the back of Tom’s reputation around town over the last 40 years.

It also comes from being friendly with the businesses around town. Shayne says he loves the affiliate programs he uses in Zaui. Fairview has an anchor hotel partner that has many staff concierges with different Zaui logins. Each agent receives a 10% commission on bookings they send to Fairview.

“I really like the affiliate links and having resellers and hotel agents be able to sell our tickets for us. Paying out commissions is easy. We can quickly reallocate commissions if people were accidentally logged in as the wrong user too. To fix it, I log in. Press 2 buttons, change it, done. All that stuff is phenomenal. It works really, really well.” Shayne says.

“We also put up QR code booking stickers and transportation timetables on businesses we are friendly with around town. The customer walks by and scans the QR code and books. We can then easily track and send that 10% commission back to the business where the customer scanned the QR code.” He says.

Shayne explains that word of mouth marketing is great, but these types of bookings usually come in about a week before. He would like to see it where they are getting more bookings six months in advance.

With Zaui, everything that Fairview offers can now be easily booked online. This cuts down on a lot of phone calls and emails except for the time when someone posted Shayne’s business card on a bustling facebook group and he was bombarded with calls at 3:00 am from eager New Yorkers planning next year’s summer vacation.

Fairview has built a pillar in the Lake Louise community that is a favorite with local wedding planners and photographers too. These service companies frequently book Fairview for their wedding day shuttles and photography gigs using the affiliate program receiving a 10% commission. “I pull one simple report and boom I have all the numbers and everything is ready to go.” He says.

How to deal with Service Disruptions in Transportation with Zaui

Shayne explains there are two types of service disruptions in this business.

1. Vehicle Breakdowns (relatively uncommon)
2. Road Closures (somewhat common, always unexpected, and always on your busiest days)

This summer, they had a road closure pop up that lasted 3 hours. Shayne pushed 1 button in Zaui and sent out an email to all customers on that time slot saying “hey guys, here is what is happening, your departure time is being pushed out this much time due to the road closure…And that was super, super simple. It was amazing to use.” He says it doesn’t stop the customer feedback that comes after, but that is a different story.

Can I bring my dog on the bus?

Yes, Fairview will happily bring your dog along too, which gives them a distinct competitive advantage as being the only pet friendly transportation company in town. “Last year, we transported 700 dogs.” Shayne proudly says.

You can book your dog their own seat for a discounted companion fee. They just need to sit beside you (or on your lap if it's a small dog) and they don’t discriminate on the size of the dog.

Fairview has also swapped all their seats out for leather which makes for easy cleaning and not as much of an allergy issue. “It’s been really good. We are really dog focused and the only company that doesn’t make you put your dog in a crate. And what kind of a little dog in a crate is going on a mountain hike?” He asks.

“We are all dog people. We love having dogs on the bus and we get a lot of influencers that travel with their dogs. A lot of the dogs have their own instagram page which provides a lot of free marketing.” he says.

Fairview recently had 7 influencers with 7 dogs on a tour that pulled in ~50k views each on their doggie tour stories. Bow wow!

The Next Generation Team and a Long Standing Legacy

Shayne, Ryan and Charles have allowed Tom to operationally retire (if/when he wants) while working their way further into the business. “We try to keep it as authentic as possible, just like when Tom started, but also keep expanding.” Shayne says.

The goal is to make it so Tom never has to drive again. Unless he wants to.

Tom still gets to focus on what he likes the most and why he started the business; delivering authentic experiences, driving for groups looking to explore the beautiful Rockies. Just like Tom some 40 years ago.

“We could never have done any of this stuff without Tom’s relationships.” Shayne says. “We’re real people and we are trying to do it for real people. We like to have fun. We like to make sure everyone leaves with a smile. That’s life in the Rockies.” Shayne closes.