Bike Kingdom - Jeremy Tai Abbett

Lenzerheide had established itself as one of Europe’s leading mountain biking destinations, attracting riders through world-class trails, infrastructure, and international competitions including World Cups and World Championships.

The strategic challenge was no longer about attracting mountain bikers to the destination. It was about creating deeper engagement before, during, and after the visit.

Mountain biking is inherently social and competitive. Riders track their progress, compare achievements, discover new routes, and build identity through the sport. However, the traditional destination experience was primarily focused on the physical environment rather than creating a connected digital layer around the community.

The question was:

How can a mountain destination extend the experience beyond the trail and create a digital ecosystem that encourages engagement, competition, and repeat visits?

Inside Labs had already developed digital experiences for winter destinations, but the summer bike experience required a different approach. The challenge was to design a platform that respected the culture of mountain biking while introducing new ways for riders to connect, compete, and explore.

As Design Director and Advisor, Jeremy Tai Abbett worked with Inside Labs to define the user experience and interface strategy for Bike Kingdom, a mobile platform designed to transform Lenzerheide into a more interactive mountain biking destination.

The focus was not simply creating a destination app. The goal was to design an experience layer that increased engagement through community, progression, and competition.

The product concept introduced gamification mechanics designed around how riders naturally interact with the sport:

• Discovering trails and challenges
• Tracking progress
• Competing with other riders
• Building achievements
• Exploring the destination through digital interaction

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The design process focused first on user experience before interface design. High-fidelity prototypes were created to test flows, interactions, and engagement mechanics before moving into visual execution.

Working closely with Inside Labs, Jeremy facilitated an iterative design process that combined strategic exploration, prototyping, and stakeholder alignment. Shared Figma environments enabled continuous collaboration, allowing the team to evaluate concepts, refine interactions, and align around the final experience.

The resulting experience integrated seamlessly into Inside Labs’ Omni platform, extending its destination technology capabilities into the mountain biking ecosystem.

Destinations are increasingly competing on more than physical infrastructure. As travelers become accustomed to connected digital experiences in other areas of their lives, tourism organizations are exploring how technology can extend and personalize the visitor journey.

For mountain destinations, this creates a new opportunity. The relationship with visitors no longer needs to end when they leave the mountain. Digital platforms can support discovery, engagement, community building, and future visits.

Inside Labs recognized that the success of digital destination experiences depends on understanding the behavior and motivations of visitors. A winter sports experience cannot simply be replicated for summer activities. Mountain biking has its own culture, community dynamics, and competitive behaviors.

Lenzerheide had already achieved recognition as a leading bike destination. The opportunity was to create a digital experience that strengthened this position by adding a new layer of interaction around the sport.

The project required combining destination strategy, product design, and behavioral understanding to create an experience that felt native to riders while supporting broader tourism goals.

Bike Kingdom launched successfully during its first season, demonstrating strong user adoption and engagement.

The platform achieved:

• Over 40,000 downloads during its first season
• More than 400,000 user interactions
• A 4+ app rating from users
• Recognition through the Milestone Innovation Award 2020
• Recognition through the Best of Swiss Apps Award 2020

Beyond the metrics, the project demonstrated that digital experiences can strengthen physical destinations by creating new ways for visitors to interact with places, communities, and activities.

The app provided evidence that gamification, when designed around authentic user motivations, can increase engagement without distracting from the core experience.

Bike Kingdom expanded Lenzerheide’s mountain biking experience from a physical destination into a connected digital ecosystem.

The project demonstrated how experience design can create new relationships between visitors and destinations by combining community, competition, and exploration. Rather than treating technology as a separate layer, the platform integrated digital interactions into the natural behavior of riders.

For Inside Labs, the project extended the Omni platform into a new seasonal context and demonstrated the adaptability of its destination technology approach.

For Lenzerheide, Bike Kingdom created a new mechanism for increasing engagement, encouraging exploration, and strengthening the relationship between riders and the destination.

The project reinforced a broader principle: successful digital experiences do not replace physical experiences. They enhance them by creating additional opportunities for connection and participation.

Design around existing behavior

The strongest digital experiences build upon what people already enjoy doing rather than forcing new behaviors.

Community creates engagement

Shared experiences, competition, and connection can transform individual activities into collective experiences.

Gamification requires purpose

Game mechanics are effective when they reinforce meaningful goals rather than adding unnecessary complexity.

Physical and digital experiences should complement each other

Technology is most valuable when it strengthens real-world experiences.

Prototype before scaling

Exploring interactions early allows teams to align around experience before investing in execution.

Digital Transformation in Tourism

Tourism organizations are increasingly using digital platforms to extend customer relationships beyond traditional physical touchpoints. Mobile experiences, personalization, and connected services are becoming important components of modern destination strategy.

Experience Economy

Research into the experience economy demonstrates that people increasingly value memorable, participatory experiences over transactional interactions. Digital layers can enhance these experiences by enabling personalization, storytelling, and community participation.

Gamification and Engagement

Effective gamification uses principles such as progression, achievement, competition, and social connection to encourage meaningful engagement. The strongest implementations align game mechanics with existing user motivations.

Destination Technology

Modern tourism platforms increasingly connect multiple aspects of the visitor journey, including discovery, activity, communication, and loyalty. This creates opportunities for destinations to develop stronger relationships with visitors before, during, and after their physical experience.

Company References

• https://arosalenzerheide.swiss/de/Lenzerheide/Aktuell/News/Bike-Kingdom-App-erneut-ausgezeichnet_n_5710712
• https://www.bikekingdom.ch/en/Bike-Kingdom-App
• https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bike-kingdom/id1517761351

• Daniel Medina
• Michael Eberle
• Jeremy Tai Abbett