HomerJ

Stayed for 4 nights last week.
Call the front desk and ask, how long to the airport, get a response of 40-90 minutes depending on traffic.
OK I say I will have them book me a taxi to the a/p 3+ hours before departure just to be safe.
So arranged taxi comes, I see the driver get out and speak to bellman for 2-3 minutes and I can see hand gestures which to me indicates directions.
Well as you can imagine the brain dead taxi-driver has NO IDEA how to get to the airport and stops 5 different times to ask directions. Almost 3 hours later we arrive (a whole 10 miles away - we could have walked faster) and of course we've missed the boarding window. So $400/each later we have a flight booked for much later in the afternoon. So I asked the hotel the time to the a/p and more importantly asked them to book a taxi for us. Is it unreasonable for me to expect a C/P to use a taxi service where it's drivers know how get to the a/p??
So I wrote an email to the desk manager (he who sent me the welcome email) and have so far been met with nothing but silence. So does anyone know the GM's or regional managers email, or do you think I'm over-reacting?
I spent 3 hours in a cab and had to fork out $800 for new tickets.

Susiew237

well it's unfortunate but I don't think you can blame the CP.

SteamyUncle

If you want a property to be accountable for your transportation, you should use the hotel car.
In the future, in SE Asia, when a taxi ride is going awry, don't hesitate to use Google Maps and instruct the driver accordingly.
For the price they charge, you can't really expect Manila taxi drivers to have taken the London Black Cab examination

demue

Agree that for the hotel taking "some" responsibility the hotel car likely would have been the only option. However, it is a big bunch of bad luck that a driver would not know how to go to the airport of all places. I mean specific locations in or outside of town fine, but the airport is usually the one place they know.

HomerJ

...fair enough, I guess a response from the day manager I sent the complaint to wouldn't be too much to ask.
I still don't think it's too much to ask that the taxi company they use has a minimum requirement that the drivers know how to get to the airport.

whimike

The only company you should be complaining to is the taxi company. The CP has no responsibility here, all they did was either hail a cab off the street or call a cab company for you. They didn't collect any funds or act as middle-men in the transaction.

Points Scrounger

Presumably, the hotel guy was satisfied that the directions he gave to the driver were understood. That ended any "liability" on their part.

nicolas75

I am afraid it happened once to me with a cab... in Barcelona!

The worst part of the story was that the driver took a one way avenue into the wrong direction : I realized that when hearing at the other cars horning nervously.

I of course asked the taxi driver to stop the car and took another taxi.

nicolas75

Indeed.
The reason why I book limousine from hotel to/from the airport in places where I am not so confident with taxi drivers and/or late night flights.

htb

I would still write the hotel and complain. They should know that the taxi they picked took their guest for a ride and may be able to avoid this in the future by giving the right instructions. For example, sending away taxi drivers that ask for instructions to the airport and hailing another cab.

I wouldn't be surprised if the hotel did offer the OP some gooddie for a future stay simply out of compassion.

HTB.

HomerJ

...and so far have got a zero response. I'd be happy with "we will instruct our bellman in the future to insure the driver know's where they are going, and we have told our front desk/CSM people to warn guests that when they call it could be 120 minutes + to the a/p.

camsean

Um...why didn't you get out of the taxi and flag down another?

HomerJ

...not having any idea how far we were from the airport and added to the drivers complete lack of English, we had no idea if we were 5 minutes or one hour away from arriving. We just kept assuming we would arrive on time, until it was too late.

fireworksboy

100% of the blame lies with the taxi company. 0% with the hotel. Sorry.

htb

That view is too simplistic. I would put considerable blame on the hotel staff for not realizing and acting on the fact that the taxi driver did not know the airport, of all places. That's not taking care well of their customers.

Legally, on the other side, the hotel is probably off the hook.

HTB.