Using services like Uber and Blacklane from hotels
 

Assuming you're not using bellhop to pick up luggage from the room, are you ok with having cars from services like Uber or Blacklane pick you up outside the hotel, or would go around the corner?

Does this differ from country to country and from type of hotel?

Using services like Uber and Blacklane from hotels
 

Bellhops accept tips regardless of what car is picking up guest. No worries.

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While they of course prefer to connect you with their preferred car services, they're not going to scoff at you if you arrange your own. Do remember to tip for any service they HAVE provided in places where tipping is the custom.

Hotels often fuss at me for calling Uber when there is a perfectly good car waiting. I just tell them that my company requires that we use Uber (only semi-true, its preferred but not absolute).

I just spent a week in DC at the Mayflower and used Uber 2x daily from the hotel. The bellhops always asked if I need a car but didn't react badly or strangely when I said no thanks.

Really? I honestly think it's none of their damn business, and would cheerfully tell them so. Ridiculous.

I wouldn't hesitate to order Uber or a radio taxi to or from a hotel (and that's mostly in regions where you don't tend to tip hotel staff).

The only exception is in a country (where fares are haggled) where I perceive I'll be charged significantly more if I mention a big-name hotel, rather than a landmark nearby. But this doesn't apply to the likes of Uber, where there's decent metering.

Lot's of good advice here!

I guess I always thought that car services kicked backed to the hotel staff, and that this was consired part of the 'income' for them, much like tipping.

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On a tangent, what's the latest regarding Uber (specifically UberX) and airports like LAX? Last I heard, you can take UberX to LAX, but not get picked up from LAX. I've read some people use the pin drop on a site outside the airport like a parking lot, and just take a free shuttle there to get picked up by Uber. Or drop the pin elsewhere, but call the driver to tell him you're waiting by the curb. Who has experience with this?

The only exception to the following are cities where car services not arranged by the hotel are dangerous.

In all other situations, you should feel free to book with whomever you please. Many hotels book with the same car services as you might call and then add on multiples of the fare. It's not uncommon in NYC, to have hotels charge $250 for a run to LGA which costs $55 in the same car when booked individually.

As to Uber, it's my service of choice and I would under no circumstances worry about summoning one to the front door. The bellman gets the same tip, from me. Perhaps not from the car service. But, that's not my issue.

Some are, but I've never really considered that my problem!

They do, and it does provide a small boost to the frontline staff's income. But as someone else said, that's not the guest's problem. If we can help a guest and ourselves at the same time, great. If the guest has already helped themselves, we're happy to still take care of bags, a bottle of water, whatever...and set the next person up with a ride.

FWIW, the hotels I worked at had lots of return business, and the drivers we had agreements with always charged the standard flat fare to the airports, whether we called them or not, so it was all the same to the guest (this was pre-Uber). The kickbacks came into play because the drivers wanted us to call them instead of a competitor. We had a fair rotation between the drivers that gave us the biggest kickbacks, and would call those with smaller kickbacks when our "A-Team" was already occupied.

And before people jump on me for just hooking people up with the drivers that paid us the most, we frequently turned down drivers and car companies that delivered poor experiences or showed up with beat-up cars. There was enough competition for us to choose on behalf of our guests, and many of our drivers would give us additional kickbacks when guests requested them specifically again on the next day or during their next visit.

I've never tried the remote pin trick, though I've heard it works. Curbside pickup at most airports requires that the driver have an airport livery permit of some sort, which is why only UberBlack is available and not UberX on airport properties (at least where the livery permit applies).