LM225

Something I've been wondering about lately....

When you book a luxury hotel, do you "default" to using the hotel's own airport transfer service? If so, why?

The FS Florence quoted me 195Eur for a daytime (S Class) transfer from FLR, which, to me, seems a bit nutty for a 20-minute ride. For comparison, Blacklane offers the same transfer in an S Class for 82 Eur (or a lowly E Class for 50Eur, which is what I'd probably opt for).

I understand the argument that it could make the check-in process smoother, but are there other benefits? Are you more likely to get an upgrade? Early check-in?

How do you make your decision when booking a transfer?

For the purposes of this thread, I'm not really referring to remote resorts where the hotel transfer is the only option, or where local options might be harder to research.

For the record, I'll typically opt for trains and public transportation where it's faster and traffic can be awful (e.g., Tokyo or London), and then about a 60/40 split of Uber/Blacklane (or other prebooked car service) for the rest.

Pierre&Cédric

You said it, for us the main benefit is that the hotel knows precisely when you arrive and most often early check-in is made available.

2 weeks ago we stayed at Swissotel The Stamford in Singapore (not a luxury property but it offered the best views over the Padang for the Independence anniversary celebrations). With more than 1.000 rooms check-in is supposed to be a disaster, but as we had booked the transfer through their concierge service, check-in was performed in-room and we saved at least 30 minutes queuing.

Quite often top luxury hotels are also the only ones to offer VIP assistance at the airport. With Amankila, Amanjiwo, MO Bangkok, Peninsula HK, we were taken in charge right at the exit of the plane and even with economy tickets we were rushed to premium passengers lines for immigration.

It's part of the experience, even if the price is crazy I would not consider taking a regular taxi and queue for hours.

Often1

It all depends what you get for what you pay.

The question is what is the premium? A little or a lot and what is too much?

If the service includes in-room check-in, luggage which is spirited away and unpacked in your room and so on, the premium may be worth it to you. If, on the other hand, the service is nothing other than the same car service you could have booked or a taxi with a bottle of water and you are paying 400-600% of market, why bother.

A good example is NYC. Mid-town Manhattan high-end hotels routinely charge $250-400 for the hop to JFK which can be had for $60 in a taxi, $90 in a typical town car and somewhere thereabouts in an Uber Black. The latter also has the benefit of appearing when you want to go, not when you booked it with the concierge.

DavidO

Las Vegas is a city where a hotel-booked limo will cost in excess of $100.

I just paid $59 — all in, including parking and gratuity — for a limo directly with the limo company. Driver was waiting for me at the luggage carousel and it was a nice black sedan.

LAXJetter

I had a wonderful hotel transfer from the Upper House earlier this year. Seamless from the time we met the sign holder. The driver called ahead when we were a handful of minutes out. We were greeted by name by the several staff members waiting for us and taken straight to our upgraded room ($1K USD upgrade/ night upgrade) for check-in. VIP service and worth the price.

On the other hand, I have had several experiences where I am literally paying a lot more for a slightly better car and a bottle of water. Not really worth the price.

I think it depends on the price differential and what you are getting for the higher price.

nrunning24

I think it really depends on what service the transfer provides. For some hotels the transfer is just a booking with an outside limo company and provides you nothing more than a ride. For hotels that actually have their own cars (i.e. not just booking a limo through a different company and charging a markup) I think the service is definitely worth it, espessualy when you consider how much you are spending per night for exceptional service.

As an example, last year my wife and I stayed at FS Florence and FS Paris and booked the airport transfer through the hotel. In Florence, we were greeted at the car by the GM of the hotel as well as the Director of Rooms instantly whisked away by a staff member who gave us a quick tour of the grounds and shown to our room, where we did a private check in.

In Paris we received a call from the GM on the way to the hotel asking if we needed anything on arrival. Once there our upgraded room wasn't yet available so we were taken directly from the car to the courtyard and provided a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne for free. Once our room was available we were fetched by the staff and taken to our room where our bags were waiting for us.

In both cases while the price was much more than a taxi or town-car but the service we received more than made up for the price. (FYI we were booked by a FSPP so that could have played a role as well)

LM225

Interesting to hear your example, as that's the hotel we'll be staying at that has me thinking about this. Thanks for sharing!

We're also booked via FSPP.

mike_la_jolla

Some hotels provide this as part of the package. My last stay at the Pen Shanghai is an example. I remember that transfer being the slickest I have ever seen. The guy immediately identified me as I left customs, whisked me into the limo with my baggage. At arrival I was taken directly to the room. The baggage was in the room before I got there. In room check-in took the better part of 30 seconds. Completely seamless. After you have stayed in 100+, 5* places it is a little hard to be shocked. The ease at which I got from the airport to my room shocked me.

At some hotels you don't have a choice. Amanyara is an example. I guess you could hire a cab to take you from the airport to the resort, but that seems dicey as much of the road is dirt and the resort is very isolated. Our transfer was handled by the resort and was thoroughly botched. After we exited customs, the driver was nowhere to be found. A driver from another resort helped us track him down. I forgot whether he was drunk, napping, trying to score, or all three. But he was irritated that we weren’t the first people off the plane. I didn’t press the issue with the GM, as it became immediately clear he had other, much larger problems. This is delicate to state, but during our stay there were two sides to Amanyara. One side, operated by the employees imported from 'Pulo ran Aman-level: fine, efficient, and friendly. The other side, operated by locals, didn't run at all. Service from this second side, if we got it at all, was provided with a sneer.

Some hotels are clearly getting kickbacks from the transportation company or just don’t care. Thurnhers Alpenhof Zurs is a possible example. The hotel provides a list of transportation options and the cheapest option started at >500 euro. ‘Bentley or helicopter’ seemed to be the only choices. I was coming from a trade show in Nuremberg and had to pick up my SO in Munich. The train was about the only reasonable method. I had to figure it out on my own, as the hotel was less than forthcoming (read: mean, hostile, and pissy) about options not on the LIST. We arrived at the St. Anton train station Friday evening and wandered into chaos. There were multiple fistfights as the drunks fought over infrequent taxis. We called the hotel as asked for help. We interrupted the GM at her Friday party with the owner – THAT was a mistake. She refused to help us get to the hotel via hotel car. To put an exclamation point on it, she refused to even help call us a taxi.

I let the hotel handle the transfer airport->hotel in China and India. In China I find that even with a taxi card depicting the exact location of the destination, I get pushback or blank stares. I find it puzzling that a taxi driver in Shanghai needs to ask for directions to the original FS Puxi, but that has happened twice. In China I find the taxi drivers often just don’t want to go where you want them to go and act dumb. Also, in Beijing without explicit maps, directions, GPS, et al, you have no chance of getting to Aman Summer Palace.

In India, I’ve gotten scammed by an airport taxi so I let the hotel handle the transfer. Even that is dicey. The hotels in India charge exorbitant rates for the transfers, so I do my own going hotel->airport. It is also easier to get an honest taxi in that direction.

Generally I prefer getting to/from the hotel on my own.

Pierre&Cédric

We had a staycation at FSGV so we took the metro from our place to George V
For the FS Florence we had transportation arranged by the hotel concierge. If I remember correctly it was a Bentley. The room was not available when we arrived and we chose to go and see the city directly, when we came back we received one of the nicest upgrade ever from a junior suite to the Presidential suite in the Conventino. It was my birthday so it probably helped a lot.

Aventine

I base my decision on how much the price difference is from outside company to the hotel itself. For the FS example you gave, I'd probably also go with the outside 50 EUR E-class. Seems it's only a short ride and well I'm sure you're booking through FSPP, Virtuoso or some other luxury travel program to get your "VIPness" and upgrades handled.

Let's break this down by city:
BKK
One time in Bangkok to the PEN, I decided to use the AOT limo service at BKK instead of the Pen car. It was a normal E-class that saw better days and well the driver wasn't the best either (smelled a bit). The price difference wasn't too vast and my partner told me off for trying to save whatever baht. Never used AOT again.

I've used the car services for the MO and GH there and they were superb S-class long wheelbases. We already had very nice rooms so I don't believe the car influenced upgrades there. The senior duty staff for both hotels were there to greet us and take us to our rooms.

HKG

I always recommend hotel car service in HKG because private limos have that sweet spot just outside of arrivals. There's no waiting for them to pull the car around because it's usually already there.

PEN: no room upgrade. Just what we paid for. The Rolls was a special treat but I'm sure their 7 series are just as good.

MO: this was a time where using their car service didn't give any room upgrade and when we actually could have used more prep space getting ready for an anniversary photoshoot. The departure was lousy too when I paid our bill and the duty manager just said goodbye then stayed inside. Not MO HK's finest hour in my eyes.

FS: We already had a nice room and Ms. Birdie Ho, front office manager saw us off until the car pulled out. This was a fabulous Mercedes S-class pickup and drop off.

PVG (Shanghai):

Been scammed by a taxi late night before who wanted an absurd amount of money with his rigged meter. Not the best welcome after a redeye flight and China is probably the last place I want to direct a taxi (day or night).
MO: We did the Smartelite gate service and car pickup. The gate service isn't worth it, IMO. There's no J or F lanes and all she can do is let you cut the other foreigners in line upon arrival. They get you your boarding pass and take you to an empty security line but this I could have done through flying in C.

The car from MO was a nice S-class long wheelbase. Driver did his best to get us there quickly for our spa appointments and bypassing whatever traffic he could. Continuing the trend, we had a nice Mandarin room and stayed in the same Mandarin room. The only thing was the senior staff were on hand to greet, take luggage, make small talk, etc. I recommend the car service from MO PVG.

NRT (Tokyo):
SL: Just a superb mint condition obsidian grey Audi A8L with an iPad connected to LTE. Was great for tethering to our devices (I love when cars have a wi-fi egg or the like). It was more than double Uber's rate (50000 or 60000 yen vs. 25 or 28000 yen for Uber) but got us there in 40-45 mins. Like a brilliant whirlwind. Pricey but worth it to avoid escalators and dragging bags.

We had our favorite room type there. I don't really care for the suites at SL TYO and well the service is always pristine, even, if we don't take their car. The guest relations manager is ALWAYS on hand to greet us.

Andaz: Even more expensive than SL and not even an in-house service or driver.

KIX (Osaka, destination Kyoto):
HR Kyoto: this was the worst airport transfer in my life. For whatever we paid, 28000 yen, I expected a decent car and driver. HR Kyoto subcontracts it out to MK taxi and well we got an smelly MK Taxi Crown and my name spelled up-sided down and wrong. He drove Japanese speed (read: slow) when we had an urgent appointment to keep. We barely made it. MK Taxi wouldn't really accept responsibility and didn't discount or refund me the one-way airport transfer. I paid and bared it just to keep our good relations with HR Kyoto.

As for check-in and coordination, well, you or your agent can give the hotel your flight details and expected check-in time and they should be ready for you. They shouldn't be more ready or less ready depending if you use their car or not.

KatW

If I'm staying at a luxury property and flying in, I usually opt for the hotel pick up for reasons stated above having to do with smoother check-in and, often, earlier check-in. However, I rarely use the hotel service when departing, one exception being security issues.

Aventine

I'm different. If I arrive in style, I want to leave in style too! 😄

Pierre&Cédric

Yeah! ^

pricesquire

I must be one of the few who isn't convinced that the hotel-arranged transport doesn't necessarily mean a smoother check-in.

I usually pay extra for the hotel transport when:

1. I'm in an unfamiliar city
2. I'm coming off a longhaul flight and I'm prone to be very tired (and making stupid decisions)
3. I'm not landing with enough local currency to deal with a regular taxi
4. The city has a reputation for taxi scams (Bogota comes to mind)
5. I'm with my wife

Otherwise, I'm willing to rough it.

I'll also say that, even when i've had an extremely favorable pick-up experience, I almost always opt for a regular taxi on the ride back.

Airport transfers that I'd take again in a heartbeat:

1. Siam BKK (of course) - their fast track from plane side thru customs was insanely quick - most flawless I've ever had maybe. 7 Series BMW was awesome.

2. While I'd NEVER (ever) stay there again, the InterContinental Hong Kong had an amazing transfer....S Class w/ fast WiFi connectivity and snacks.

3. Amanpuri (because no other cabbie knows what it is, let alone where it is)

HKTraveler

Almost never take car transfer unless very special situations like stepping off a long over-night flight, unsure if I will get a taxi, unable to communicate in the language or concern about personal safety. I just prefer to find my own way even if paid for by company expense. Much more flexible and easier to get around. Never been to FS Florence though so can't speak for that hotel but I probably prefer renting a car and exploring the area.