Another PEK to hotel $$ question/advice? Moondog?
 

I land at PEK May 21st at 9:30PM The hotel "Novotel Xin Qiao Beijing" has offered to send a taxi to pick me up for RMB 250.

It sounds more reasonable than some other threads I read but would like an expert opinion and any other bus/subway or airport taxi options.

Thanks :confused:

There are three types of taxis in Beijing, and the most common type, the type with the number "1.80" in a circle on the window, will cost about Y100+Y10 toll (or less) to get to most anywhere in Beijing from the airport. To get one of these taxis, the key (as always in China) is to avoid ALL the touts inside the airport and go outside to the very obvious taxi queue. You will also need your hotel name written in Chinese characters. Even better would be that plus an indication on a map.

However, the Y250 charge is less outrageous than many other hotels charge (the Grand Hyatt, for example, charges Y750 for this service) and if this is your first time in China, you may want to use this service for peace of mind -- you will be met by someone holding a placard with the name of the hotel, even if your flight is very late.

Yeh, I just paid 70 from Haidian, which is closer than where youre going but not 180 closer. 250 is a lot for transport from the airport unless you have a lot of bags or people and you need special accomodations.

I will say, though, that the peace of mind might be an issue. I avoided taxis when I could, and they always turned out to be a real pain in the ... for a non-english speaker. Many will refuse to take you far places, many will pretend to be taking you on the "direct" route and yet rack up high bills, and so on. It's a real problem there. I had one try to take me on the airport expressway to get to Haidian. If you look at a map, they are in other directions. He only stopped when I screamed at him after the bill hit 50 when it was a 15 rmb fare or 20 max. It ended at 70-something.

I dealt with many people in Beijing because of why I was there and even the Chinese speakers said how crooked most of them were.

when you hear it 3 times....

go with the pre-paid taxi. you will be so glad you did! once at the hotel, you'll get very comfortable hailing cabs on the street, so long as you have something written down with where you are going to. bring your hotel's business card in order to get back. mandarin is complex, so relying on how you think it sounded will surely only get you in trouble. it took me several weeks in beijing before i could communicate with cab drivers without writing it down.

That hotel is very close the the CY Marriott that I just came back from - just off of Chong Wen Men Nei Da Jie in central Beijing.

Taxis come in three types: the RMB 1.20, 1.60 and 2.00 types. Basically, go to the taxi queue at the airport and get in one that is at least 1.60... it cost my wife and I less than 80 RMB to get to our hotel.

Stay away from the dik-wads in the terminal tugging at you to get in their cars. Inevitably, they will claim that they don't have a working meter at which point you'll find yourself in an "uncomfortable" situation.

I personally found no problems with using the official taxi queue at the airport - as long as you have the name of your hotel and address in Chinese.

Sorry, I meant "1.60" not "1.80." Note that the "2.00" cabs in the queue, while more comfortable, often refuse to use the meter and you have to bargain with them before getting in. However, knowing no Chinese at all, we did so successfully to a reasonable level.

sorry not to reply sooner; i just arrived in oregon a few hours ago and am trying to get caught up on all the work i left unfinished this morning (i essentially woke up today and decided i needed a breather --literally-- from beijing and acted upon my desire).

anyway, believe it or not, i think that beijing cabbies are pretty well behaved group, as a whole these days. sure, some will try to avoid using the meter and what not, but noone i'm close to has been taken for a ride in the past 3 or 4 years.

so, my advice to you is to take a normal taxi. i suggest you print out the chinese address for the hotel to hand to the driver and also make a note of the hotel's phone number in case you get lost.

and make sure that they have a meter and turn it on as soon as you go...

Thanks
 

Thank you everyone who replied to my question. Like any big city, Beijing will have it share of taxi drivers who are good and some bad eggs. I will think about both options. At least I learned that the hotel rate was not too outrageous.
Now I just have to determine what kind of gift to bring my hosts from the states. They will not tell me what they favor.