Hotel chauffeur service for concierges, hotel groups and travel agencies

How a hotel chauffeur service works with BlaakLane.com

A concierge rarely books a car for themselves. They book for a guest who is standing at the desk, on the phone from an aircraft, or three weeks away from arrival, and the guest will judge the hotel by the car. That changes what a chauffeur service has to do: it has to be quick to book, clear to explain, and dependable enough that the concierge never has to apologise for it.

The process is the same for a five-star hotel, a boutique property or a serviced residence:

1. Enter the trip. Pickup address or flight, destination, date, time, passengers, bags and vehicle class, in the reservation engine on any page or at the booking page.
2. See the fare. The engine shows a fixed fare before you confirm. No meter, no surge, nothing added on the day unless the guest keeps the car waiting beyond the included time.
3. Confirm for the guest. Add the guest's name and mobile number, or keep the hotel as the contact. The confirmation goes to both if you wish.
4. Details before pickup. The chauffeur's name, the vehicle and the plate are sent before the pickup, so the doorman or the guest knows exactly which car to look for.

Larger requirements, such as a wedding weekend, a conference in the ballroom or a group arriving on several flights, are planned by a coordinator and confirmed in writing.

What concierges book most

Most hotel requests fall into a few repeating types:

• Arrival transfers from the airport to the hotel, timed to the actual landing with flight tracking. See airport transfers.
• Departure transfers from the hotel to the airport, cruise terminal or rail station, timed to the check-in window.
• Evening cars to restaurants, theatres and events, often booked by the hour so the car waits and brings the guest back.
• Business days for guests with a series of meetings, where one chauffeur stays with the guest all day.
• Day trips and tours to wine country, the coast or the mountains, planned as city tours and day trips.
• Occasion cars for proposals, anniversaries and birthdays, from a Luxury Executive Sedan to a Rolls-Royce, Maybach or Bentley from a partner operator.
• Intercity moves when a guest travels on to another city by road, booked as intercity transfers.

Airport arrivals: telling the guest where to find the car

The most common complaint about airport cars is a guest who cannot find the chauffeur. The fix is to tell the guest exactly what to expect before they fly.

Curbside pickup is standard. The chauffeur meets the guest at the airport's designated commercial or pre-arranged pickup area, not inside the terminal. The confirmation explains where that area is and how the guest contacts the chauffeur after collecting bags. At some airports it is a short walk from arrivals; at others it is on a separate level or in a parking structure, and the guest should know that.

Meet and greet is an add-on. If the guest prefers to be met in the arrivals hall with a name board, add it at booking. Add-ons are only available in selected locations, and the engine shows whether it can be added for that airport. For first-time visitors, older guests and families with children, it is usually worth it.

Waiting is included. 60 minutes from actual landing on international arrivals, 30 minutes on domestic flights and 15 minutes on other pickups, then 15-minute blocks. Flight tracking means a delayed flight does not cost the guest anything until they are actually on the ground.

Child seats are free on request in most cities; add the child's age at booking so the right seat is fitted.

Overflow for house cars and hotel fleets

Many luxury hotels keep one or two house cars for complimentary drops in the neighbourhood or for suite guests. They are rarely enough on a busy Friday, during a major event, or when a house car is in service. BlaakLane.com works as the overflow: when the house car is committed, the concierge books the next request with us in the same way as any other car.

Hotels that use us this way usually agree a standard vehicle class and a standard note for the chauffeur, for example a dress code or an instruction to wait at the side entrance, so the guest experience matches the house car as closely as possible. The note is saved in the hotel's account and applied to every booking.

Which vehicle for which guest

The vehicle classes are the same in every city; availability of partner vehicles varies. Every vehicle is 4 model years old or younger, and only Rolls-Royce, Maybach and Bentley are accepted up to 7. Details are on the fleet page.

The fare for each vehicle is shown in the engine; the rates page explains what every fare includes and gives planning ranges.

Billing: guest pays, room charge or hotel account

Hotels handle car payments in three ways, and all three work:

• Guest pays directly. The guest's card is entered at booking, and the hotel simply makes the reservation. This suits guests booking weeks ahead.
• Hotel pays and charges the room. The hotel books on its own account and posts the fare to the guest's folio. The fixed fare makes the posting simple, because it does not change after the ride.
• Hotel account. Hotels and hotel groups that book often can hold an account on the same terms as a corporate account: monthly invoicing, cost centres per property or department, booker profiles for each concierge, and a named coordinator.

Whichever method you use, the confirmation the guest receives does not show hotel account terms. It shows the pickup, the vehicle and the chauffeur.

Travel agencies, TMCs and destination management companies

Travel advisors, travel management companies and DMCs book the same cars for their clients, often as part of a larger itinerary. The travel desk works with BookingWorldwide.net to handle agency bookings across flights, hotels and ground transport, and it is the place to set up an agency profile.

What agencies usually need from a ground supplier:

• A fixed price in advance to include in the client's itinerary, with no surprises after travel.
• Client-ready confirmations that can be forwarded without editing.
• One supplier in many cities, so a client travelling from London to Paris and on to Monaco has the same standard at every stop.
• Changes handled by a desk, not by the client calling a local operator in another language.
• Clear cancellation terms to pass on to the client.

Agencies accredited by bodies such as IATA or members of associations such as ASTA often have their own supplier onboarding forms; the travel desk will complete them.

Groups, weddings and events at the hotel

When the hotel is hosting a wedding, a product launch or a board retreat, transport becomes part of the event. The coordinator works with the hotel's events or catering team on:

• Guest arrivals over one or several days, grouped by flight into vans, Sprinters or coaches.
• Shuttle loops between the hotel and an off-site venue, with departure times printed in the event programme.
• Cars for the principals: the couple, the host or the keynote speaker.
• Late-night returns when the event ends at different times for different guests.

The plan, vehicle list and prices are confirmed in writing before the event. Our event transportation, group transportation and wedding limousine pages cover each case in more detail.

Guest privacy, VIP arrivals and name boards

Hotels protect their guests' privacy, and the car should too. Standard practice on every hotel booking:

• The chauffeur gets only what the ride needs: the guest's name, pickup, destination and a contact number.
• Name boards can use a code or the hotel's name instead of the guest's name when the guest prefers.
• Chauffeurs do not discuss guests, photograph them or share where they were driven.
• Named chauffeur, named car. The confirmation gives the vehicle and plate so the guest never has to ask a stranger if a car is theirs.

For celebrities and principals with security staff, the concierge can pass the protection team's instructions to the coordinator, and the plan follows them. The VIP chauffeur service and our page for family offices and VIPs describe how standing preferences are kept.

Hotels in cities outside Toronto

The reservations and dispatch desk sits in Toronto and is staffed 24/7, so a concierge in any time zone reaches a person at any hour. In Toronto and the surrounding area we dispatch directly; in other cities, the ride is driven by a vetted local affiliate operator from the LimousineWorldwide.Directory network, working to the BlaakLane.com written standard. The confirmation names the operator and the chauffeur.

For a hotel group, this is the practical benefit: properties in New York, Dubai and Singapore can use the same desk, the same booking flow and the same monthly invoice format, while each guest is driven by a chauffeur who knows the local airports and roads. Guests who arrive by rail are covered too, for example at London St Pancras or Toronto Union Station.

Day trips and hourly hire from the hotel

A day trip is one of the most valuable things a concierge can arrange, and one of the easiest to get wrong. The questions to settle at booking:

• How many hours the guest wants the car, including meal stops.
• Whether the itinerary is fixed or the guest wants to decide on the way.
• Whether the trip crosses a border or enters a low-emission or restricted zone.
• Whether the guest needs a guide, which is arranged separately from the chauffeur.

Hourly bookings have a fixed fare for the hours booked. If the guest extends, the extra time is added at the hourly rate for that vehicle, and the chauffeur confirms the extension with the guest before continuing.

Cruise, rail and onward departures from the hotel

Not every departure is a flight. Guests leave hotels for cruise terminals, rail stations and other cities, and each has its own timing logic that the concierge should pass on.

• Cruise embarkation. Cruise lines assign boarding windows, and terminals get congested around them. Book the car for the start of the guest's window rather than the sailing time, and allow for luggage drop at the terminal. Port pages such as Port Miami and the Port of Southampton give typical drive times from the main hotel districts.
• High-speed rail. International and high-speed services often close boarding well before departure, and some stations have security or passport checks. For a Eurostar departure from London, for example, the operator asks passengers to arrive well ahead of the train, so the car should leave the hotel with that margin plus traffic.
• Onward by road. A guest heading to another city, a country house or a ski resort can be driven door to door, which is often simpler than a short flight once airport time is counted.
• Early starts. For a 05:00 pickup, confirm the evening before that the guest has the chauffeur's details, and let the night team know which entrance the car will use.

The same fixed fare and cancellation terms apply to every one of these departures.

Changes, no-shows and cancellations

Plans change at hotels all the time: a guest extends a stay, a flight moves, a dinner is cancelled. Changes to time, address or vehicle are made through the engine or the desk and re-confirmed.

The cancellation rule is the same for every booking and worth sharing with guests at the time of reservation: more than 72 hours before pickup, no charge; 72 hours or less, 10% of the fare; 48 hours or less, 50%; 24 hours or less, or a no-show, 100%. Because flight tracking re-times airport pickups automatically, a delayed flight is not a no-show.

Setting up a hotel or agency account

Setting up takes a short call or an email to the desk. You tell us:

1. The properties or offices that will book, and the concierges or advisors who need logins.
2. The billing method for each property: guest card, room charge or monthly invoice.
3. Standard notes for chauffeurs, such as the entrance to use or the hotel's dress expectations.
4. Default vehicle classes for standard, suite and VIP guests.

From then on, every concierge on the team books in the same way, and the invoice arrives once a month. Hotels that also want to support our network can direct local owner-operators to drive with us. For industry context, Les Clefs d'Or, the international association of hotel concierges, publishes the professional standards many hotel concierges train to.

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