---
title: Bobby's Bike Hike Chicago Doubles Meta ROAS and Drives 51% More Efficient Google Ads in 2025
description: After implementing TOMIS Agency's digital marketing services, OARS achieved a 78% year-over-year increase in online revenue. Their Google Ads campaigns delivered a 13x return on ad spend, while Meta Ads produced a 10x ROAS. Conversion rates improved by 46%, and the adoption of AI-driven sessions increased by an astounding 926%, underscoring the impact of enhanced automation and guest engagement. These results demonstrate OARS's success in driving measurable online growth and capturing greater market share within the adventure travel industry.
image: https://case-studies.tomis.tech/hubfs/GC-homepage26-1-1680x900-1.jpg
---

![BBH_logo_horizontal-200x134-1](https://case-studies.tomis.tech/hs-fs/hubfs/BBH_logo_horizontal-200x134-1.png?width=200&height=134&name=BBH_logo_horizontal-200x134-1.png)

# Bobby's Bike Hike Chicago Doubles Meta ROAS and Drives 51% More Efficient Google Ads in 2025

![Urban Tour Operator Digital Marketing Bobbys Bike Hike](https://case-studies.tomis.tech/hs-fs/hubfs/Urban%20Tour%20Operator%20Digital%20Marketing%20Bobbys%20Bike%20Hike.jpg?width=1799&height=1348&name=Urban%20Tour%20Operator%20Digital%20Marketing%20Bobbys%20Bike%20Hike.jpg)

Industry

City Bike, Walking & Food Tours

Challenge

Bobby's Bike Hike, one of Chicago's most established city tour operators, partnered with TOMIS to grow direct booking revenue without simply adding more dollars to a market with rising paid media costs. The goal was to scale efficiency -- making every ad dollar work harder -- while continuing to capture the city's seasonal demand for bike, food, and walking tours, plus growing their family-focused youth summer camp program.

Results

TOMIS used 2024 conversion data to rebuild the paid media program around the highest-value markets -- shifting Google Ads budget from local to out-of-market campaigns, and rebuilding Meta around Chicago-area families. The result: Google Ads ROAS improved 51% while spend was reduced 19%, and Meta Ads revenue grew 119% on flat spend.

Marketing Services

SEO, Google Ads, Meta Ads, GTTD, AI ChatBot, Email Marketing

[ bobbysbikehike.com/chicago ](https://bobbysbikehike.com/chicago)

+51%

Google Ads ROAS

-19%

Google Ads Spend

+119%

Meta Ads Revenue

+118%

Meta Ads ROAS

![Bobbys Bike Hike TOMIS Digital Marketing for Tour Operators](https://case-studies.tomis.tech/hs-fs/hubfs/Bobbys%20Bike%20Hike%20TOMIS%20Digital%20Marketing%20for%20Tour%20Operators.jpg?width=2040&height=1530&name=Bobbys%20Bike%20Hike%20TOMIS%20Digital%20Marketing%20for%20Tour%20Operators.jpg)

## Client Background

Bobby's Bike Hike is one of Chicago's most loved city tour operators, offering guided bike tours, walking tours, and award-winning food tours along the Chicago lakefront and through the city's most iconic neighborhoods. Their food tour program has been recognized as a **Top 10 Culinary Experience in America by USA Today** and a **Top 20 Food Tour in the World by Tripadvisor**. Beyond their adult tour offerings, Bobby's also runs a popular youth summer camp program for Chicago-area families — teaching kids to ride safely while exploring the city outdoors. With more than two decades of operating history and consistent five-star traveler reviews, Bobby's has built one of the strongest direct-booking brands in the urban tour category.

## Overview

Heading into 2025, Bobby's Bike Hike was facing the same challenge confronting nearly every urban tour operator: rising paid media costs, a saturated Chicago tourism advertising landscape, and growing competition from OTAs bidding aggressively on tour-related keywords. Continuing to scale spend the same way would have meant accepting steadily declining returns. The smarter play was to use the previous year's performance data to identify exactly where every ad dollar should be deployed.

On Google Ads, the most significant change was a complete rebuild of the geo-targeting strategy. Analyzing 2024 data revealed that **booking lead times were lengthening** and **out-of-market travelers were converting at a higher rate than local Chicago searchers** -- a clear signal that the audience was planning trips earlier and that budget allocated to broader U.S. targeting would outperform hyper-local spend.

TOMIS launched a new **Bike Tours – US campaign in March 2025** and shifted significant budget from local campaigns into out-of-market targeting. International advertising efforts were discontinued during the same period to concentrate spend on the highest-value U.S. travelers. The Branded search campaign was left structurally untouched -- but Meta-driven brand awareness fed it materially more demand, and the campaign began utilizing more of its existing budget cap as a result.

On Meta, the team rebuilt audiences and creative around two distinct traveler segments: **out-of-market visitors planning Chicago trips**, and **local Chicago families looking for kids' summer programs**. The youth summer camp targeting in particular became a major growth lever -- Meta turned out to be the ideal channel for reaching Chicago parents who wanted their kids outside, learning new skills, and exploring the city. Spend stayed flat year-over-year, but every dollar was deployed against sharper audiences and stronger creative than the year before.

## Results

The data-driven geo-targeting strategy delivered a textbook "do more with less" outcome across both major paid channels.

On Google Ads, **total spend was reduced by 19% year-over-year** — yet conversion value grew 22% and **ROAS saw a 51% efficiency improvement**. The newly-launched **Bike Tours – US campaign generated a 6.5x ROAS**, essentially adding net-new revenue that didn't exist in 2024. The **Food Tours – US campaign grew conversion value 106% year-over-year** on the same out-of-market thesis. Branded search continued to defend the brand's most valuable demand at a 24x ROAS.

On Meta Ads, the results were even more striking. **Spend stayed essentially flat year-over-year**, but **Meta-attributed revenue grew 119%**, and **Meta ROAS more than doubled, climbing from -- a 118.84% improvement**. Cost per online purchase held steady, confirming the gain came from higher-value purchases rather than cheaper clicks. The youth summer camp targeting in particular drove meaningful incremental bookings from the local Chicago family audience.

The combined effect on the business was clear: with bookings up across the season -- even as total paid media spend dropped. Bobby's Bike Hike entered 2026 with a leaner, more profitable paid media engine and a foundation built for sustainable scale, not budget-driven growth.

For urban tour operators facing rising ad costs and increasingly competitive auctions, Bobby's Bike Hike Chicago is a benchmark example of how to use performance data to double down on highest-value markets -- and grow profitably without growing the budget.

## Ready to learn more?

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