A few words about the specifics of work in airport transfers. Here I will tell you how to do transfers from the airport well, how to work as a hotel taxi and, above all, how to work to earn money.
I have been working in this profession for several years, and as a professional driver it is almost half of my life. Unfortunately for me, I was entering the profession of a taxi driver at the time when he was going through and still going through very dynamic changes. As a matter of fact, over the last few years there has been a total revolution in commercial passenger transport, compared to what we saw a few years ago.
Is it good or bad? It is difficult to assess unequivocally. Like anywhere, it depends on who you ask. Nevertheless, today it is a customer market.
Here I would like to tell you how to do your job so well that the client wants to come back to us.
Taxi from the Airport - How to perform airport transfers?
Airport customers are always one of the most tasty morsels for every taxi driver. This is for at least several reasons.
Airports in Poland are usually located quite far from the center, so once you catch this client, you know that you will at least take him to the city or to the nearest train station.
In some cities, additionally, airports are located in the second zone. And it is known that it is better to do one good course than two short ones, additionally with access to the address.
Taxi airport transfers have their own specifics. Here it is not enough to drive to the address.
So what should a well-executed airport transfer look like?
You should have a flight number that will allow you to keep track of the arrival time of a specific flight.
Arrange in advance where you will meet the passenger. When you have good contact with him, you can arrange that he will let you know when he leaves, and you will drive directly to the door.
Tourists and women are best picked up from the arrivals hall. Wait there with a welcome card. Anyone who rarely visits your airport or has a lot of luggage will appreciate that you will meet them in the arrivals hall.
Help with the luggage. If there is a lot, offer to bring a luggage cart. It costs you nothing and often results in a tip.
When the weather is bad, it is worth suggesting the passenger to wait under the roof until you arrive. She will appreciate it. It is worth having one or two folding umbrellas in the car.
One of the most important: the passenger is not allowed to carry their luggage in your luggage compartment. You are the driver and you are responsible for safe loading. It's disrespectful if the driver doesn't even bother to get out to open the tailgate.
If you are making a transfer from the airport, follow these few rules above. Treat every passenger as a VIP, no matter who they really are. After several hours of travel, with several transfers, everyone will appreciate a few gestures.
Make sure that your passenger is sure from the very beginning that he will be driving with a professional and now he can relax. Try to sense whether your client wants to talk or not. Maybe you are rested, but your client could get out of bed several hours ago, on the other side of the Atlantic, and spend half of that time on the plane.
Not always the passenger will want to listen to even the most interesting stories in your opinion.
Taxi from the hotel - how to be a good hotel taxi?
If someone stays at the Hilton, Radisson or Sheraton, it is certainly a wealthy client or a corporate client.
Hotels almost always produce good customers, moreover, they are always the jewel in the crown for any corporation. Having exclusivity for the service of the best hotel in the city is the greatest prestige. But having a contract or waiting for that hotel client is one thing, and doing your job well is another.
When accepting an order, try to obtain a room number or name. This will make your work easier and reduce the likelihood of making a mistake. Passengers often check out in "waves". It's not hard to take someone else's passenger. In addition, when you accept a request for a pickup at dawn, you will sometimes have to wake up your passenger. The phone can be silenced, and the reception without data will not help you.
You are at the hotel, get out of the car and let the reception know that you are ready to travel or contact the passenger.
Just like with airport transfers, treat everyone like a VIP. Help with luggage, guide the customer to the car, drive up as close to the hotel entrance as possible.
Transfer from the airport to the hotel or return transport to the airport are very good rates, but hotel customers often have other needs as well. They often need to be taken to a good local restaurant, they need to be advised on tourist attractions available in bad weather, taken to a spa or for a Thai massage. A good taxi driver will always throw out a few examples of local services for tourists.
Intercity taxi - what to do to make passengers choose long-distance taxis?
I don't know about you, but personally, instead of hanging around the city all day, I prefer to shoot kilometers on long distances. Of course, this is not everyday life, these are not the times when apart from the bus station there were only taxis or the option of walking for several hours. Today, to get anywhere, the transport offer is very rich. The taxi driver competes not only with the bus, but also with Uber, BlaBlacar or FlexiBus.
So what can you do to make a customer want to book a transfer with you instead of buying a bus ticket? First of all, you need to consider what makes a taxi transfer better or more attractive? Once you know what your advantage is, try to make it even more attractive in the eyes of the customer.
I can't count how many times from the course to the main station I made a course for over a hundred kilometers.
What is the advantage of a taxi in intercity transport?
The taxi carries out the transport of people "door to door". Sometimes a good argument is that the price of a direct journey - even over a distance of several dozen kilometers - will be similar to an identical train journey, which involves taking a taxi to the station and buying a train ticket. After reaching the destination, it is once again associated with ordering a taxi to the address. As you can see, the comfort and speed of such a journey is incomparable.
A direct taxi ride means no waiting at the station, sometimes several hours. It is safety and certainty that you will arrive at your destination on time.
When choosing a long-distance taxi, the passenger does not have to adapt to the timetable. The transfer will be done exactly to the minute, when he needs it.
As you can see, you have a lot of arguments, and sometimes you can adapt to the situation and find something else. First of all, it is worth talking to passengers, if they are talkative, but not conducting a monologue on, for example, current politics, but listening to what they have to say.
Remember, you don't want to earn money from them, you want to help them and solve their problem with access, so that this road becomes faster and more pleasant.
Taxi Sightseeing - how to make money on tourists?
How many jokes and anecdotes have you heard about driving drunk passengers around the city? There are also many "urban legends" about how taxi drivers can make an hour-long detour around the neighborhood from the course to the other side of the street.
More or less, these are the first associations of the average passenger when talking about "sightseeing by taxi".
Meanwhile, sightseeing is not mindless spinning around the center with a passenger, just to fill up the taximeter as much as possible.
This is a service that will bring you much better money, and sometimes it will provide you with a regular customer who will call you every move when he is in your city. As you can see, with all this, you don't have to cheat the client, and you just need to do your job well.
This type of work is good for you for several reasons. The most important thing is that you will often earn a whole day's wages with one course, while you do not waste time or fuel on commuting to clients. When you convert such a course into a rate per kilometer, it will often turn out that it even exceeds the maximum prices in force in your city.
Ok, so what do you have to do to earn money in such an attractive way?
First of all, taxi tours are a higher driving school. During transfers, the client gets in, you go and sometimes you arrive at your destination without even saying a word.
During the tours, you become a guide for a few hours. Now you play the role of a concierge - you are an expert in events and you always know what is currently happening in the city. You must be like a resident in a hotel. The customer needs something, that's his first thought: call the taxi driver who drove us last time.
What do you need to become a taxi-guide?
Perfect knowledge of the city - but not on the principle of the 5 most important attractions, which probably everyone knows very well. You need to know every corner and preferably some interesting anecdote about it. It's good to know places that are not in public guides. And most importantly, a good review is one that you tell because you were there yourself.
Knowledge of a foreign language - a simple thing that is useful not only when sightseeing, but here it must be at a higher level. What about your knowledge of the area if your passenger doesn't understand what you're saying to them.
Be interested in your city - read local news, remember new investments. Tourists do not want to hear about politics, they went on vacation to rest from the prose of everyday life. But they will certainly be happy to find out something that is currently happening in the city where they spend these few days.
Stay up to date with parties and events - even immigrants working on taxi apps know how important it is to keep track of events. You need to be even better - know by heart the schedule of the next interesting events, know where what music they play, where is a concert, and where is a cool temporary exhibition.
At first glance, it seems like a lot, especially when you work in a larger city.
In fact, as with everything in life, it's all about organization.
Set a daily/weekly schedule that includes time for morning coffee with your local online newspaper.
Find a place where the most important events are grouped and browse them on a regular basis.
Set up a calendar in which you will note the most important events. Some online calendars allow you to automatically add holidays from different countries, sports events. It is a very useful tool.
Explore on your own and read the guides. Make up some interesting anecdotes to sell to your passengers later. Treat it as an investment in your business, and believe me, that in this way you will perfectly combine business with pleasure.
To sum up
I have shared with you here literally a few tips that will help you become a better specialist in your work. As a matter of fact, when you try to do your job as well as possible, you will be focused on meeting the client's needs, they will teach you how to work.
Be empathetic and listen to your passengers.
Try to make even small gestures to make their journey more pleasant, through small gestures, such as: taking out a suitcase and spreading its handle in it, a free bottle of water in the summer, sweets for children or a mascot for the road.
It costs almost nothing, and sometimes it will result in a super nice tip.
Remember you serve the customer, not the customer you.
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