Booking.com Airport Transfers Review – Is It Worth It?

Hi there, traveler! So you’ve stumbled upon this Booking.com airport transfers service and wonder if it’s any good? You’ve come to the right spot! As a frequent traveler myself, I used tons of airport transfer services, including the one offered by Booking.com, and I’m here to tell you all about it!

In short, all 3 of my bookings with the platform were successful, and I’d gladly book it again. Below, you’ll find all the details you need to help you understand how this service works and whether it’s worth the money.

Just a quick reminder to book all your transfers and hotels in advance to secure the best deals!

Overview of Booking.com airport transfer service

So we all know Booking.com as this giant accommodation booking platform. If you’ve made a few trips yourself, you’ve likely used it already.

But recently, Booking.com has expanded its offer to make it a one-time-stop for all your travel needs. On top of hotels, you can now book a private taxi ride from the airport to your hotel, rent a car, book flights, and find fun activities.

Whether you’ve made a hotel booking via the platform or not, you can access the taxi service independently on this link (it’s officially called “Airport Taxis”).

But how does Booking.com Taxi work? Should you expect a Booking.com service representative at your destination airport?

Not at all!

Think of Booking.com Airport Taxi as a bridge between you and the local transfer service provider. Booking.com just pairs you with a local taxi or private transfer company and arranges the service on your behalf. You basically do everything related to booking (scheduling, paying) on the platform, and then Booking.com transfers a part of the sum to the actual service provider.

The coolest thing about Booking.com is that they sometimes offer free taxi promotions. You can get free transport to your hotel when you book a room using the website! It actually happened to me in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (I’ll tell you more about this later!). Really nice!

How to use the Booking.com airport transfer service

Booking a taxi with Booking.com is actually really simple! I found it to be the simplest of all the platforms for private transfer that I’ve used so far.

Here’s a quick step-by-step overview:

1. Open Booking.com and click the “Airport Taxi” button at the top. 
2. Fill in the required fields (pickup location, destination, date, time, number of travelers). 
3. Pick an appropriate car from the offer. 
4. Add any comments for the driver if needed. 
5. Add your flight details. 

I love how you can just enter the departure airport for Step 5, and the Booking.com system will automatically provide you with all flights scheduled to arrive from the selected destination on a selected day. Just compare the arrival times and flight numbers and select your flight from the list.

That’s it!

If you’re not logged into the platform, enter your contact details and payment option, and you’ll receive all your booking details in your email. I do recommend making an account on Booking.com so you can have easy access to all your bookings from inside the app! Plus, they have this Genius program where you get rewarded for booking stuff on their platform – the more bookings you make, the higher your Genius Level gets. And the higher your Genius Level, the bigger the discounts.

Your transfer confirmation with Booking.com is immediate, and most reservations have a free cancellation up to 24 hours before pickup time. I actually did have to cancel a booking one time and got my refund promptly, but more on this later.

Now here’s a quick table with the pros and cons of Booking.com for your convenience:

Pros of Booking.com Taxi Service	Cons of Booking.com Taxi Service
Quick and simple booking process	Drivers may not always speak English
More affordable compared to competitors	You may not get free drinks
Possibility of free ride when booking hotels with Booking.com	You don’t book directly with the transfer service provider
Free cancellation	Customer service may not always be easily reachable
Ability to choose vehicles	Issues can arise if the flight gets delayed/canceled
Toll road charges are included in the price

My experience with Booking.com airport transfer service

So far, I have used Booking.com Airport Taxi service 3 times. I’ll quickly fill you in on how each time went. HINT: It was smooth!

Tashkent airport to hotel free ride

The first time, I got a free ride when booking a hotel in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

It’s important to know that the free rides, if offered by Booking, are only valid for a one-way trip from the airport to the hotel. For eligible hotels, you’ll see a small “Free taxi ride” highlight next to the hotel name when booking.

I got to fill in the flight details after making the hotel reservation which literally took less than 2 minutes. When we landed, the driver waited for us at the airport and we had a smooth ride to the hotel. The driver was a local Yandex (a local equivalent of Uber) driver and we had no complaints whatsoever.

Baku airport to hotel taxi ride

The second time I booked a ride on top of my hotel reservation in Baku, Azerbaijan. For this one, I did have a small bump on the road. The platform marked my flight number incorrectly, and instead of 15:30 in the afternoon, the driver was waiting for us at the airport at 3:30 in the morning on the same day!

Let me just say that sometimes, waking up in the middle of the night to a message saying, “I’m waiting for you at the airport,” makes you want to jump off the bed and run to the airport in panic!

We explained to the driver that the pickup time was wrong, and he told us to cancel the reservation and make a new one, which we did. Even though this cancellation arrived less than 24 hours before the scheduled pickup time, the customer support at Booking.com realized the mistake was made on behalf of the system and gave me a full refund.

After this small hiccup, we ended up getting picked up at the right time and having a smooth ride with our 2nd reservation on Booking.com!

Dubai Airport to hotel ride

Just recently, for my trip to Dubai, I booked a last-minute taxi with Booking.com and again had a very smooth ride.

Booking.com hooked us up with a local transfer service provider in Dubai called Rimo Tours (map). Their company representative waited for us at the airport, took our luggage on a trolley, and led us to the driver.

Although we had no free drinks in the car, the ride was very comfortable, there was plenty of legroom, and the AC was on the whole time (crucial in Dubai for most of the year).

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Booking.com airport transfers vs. Welcome Pickups: Comparison

So we’ve already established that Booking.com is a reliable airport transfer service aggregator. But how does it compare to other big names in the industry, like Welcome Pickups?

Well, I knew you’d be interested in this type of comparison, so I’ve prepared a practical table for you below!

TLDR: Booking.com is cheaper, simpler, and best for those on a budget. Welcome Pickups is better for mid-range to luxury travelers and has cooler perks on board.

	Coverage	Pricing	Customer Support	Vehicle Offer	Ease of booking	Cancellation policy	Service quality
Booking.com	Excellent	More affordable	Yes, good	Extensive	10/10	Free up to 24 hours before departure	8/10
Welcome Pickups	Good	More expensive	Yes, good	Extensive	8/10	20% fee for cancellations	9/10

Overall experience

Overall, Welcome Pickups offers a more high-end ride (but not luxury) by promising English-speaking drivers, local insights and tips, free drinks and AC on board, and more cool perks. Booking.com doesn’t promise any of that.

Welcome Pickups is better for families with babies and kids and big groups, while Booking.com Taxi is ideal if you’re traveling on a budget and don’t care too much about comfort.

Winner: Welcome Pickups

Ease of booking

So for my last trip to Dubai, I wanted to book myself a fancy ride with Welcome Pickups since I’ve heard so many great things about them. Long story short, I wanted until the last minute to book and found myself scratching my head at one point.

My main issue was with pickup time – the platform wanted me to enter a pickup time, but I didn’t know how much time I’d need to pass all the controls and get my luggage. It said that the driver would wait for 1 hour after the indicated pickup time.

I didn’t want to stress about whether or not the driver will still be there or not and just went back to Booking.com where this part was much simpler to handle. You enter your flight number, and they tell you that the driver will track your flight and wait for you 45 or 60 minutes after they arrive. I didn’t have to choose any pickup time – the driver figured it out, as he should, really, because he knows the local airport routines better.

Winner: Booking.com

Pricing

Booking.com had up to 10% lower pricing compared to Welcome Pickups when I booked my transfer for Dubai, which is another one of the reasons why I chose Booking.com in the end.

Below, I share the prices for major cities from their respective international airports to the main location in the city center on the same day, at the same time (14:00), for 2 travelers and one piece of luggage:

	Welcome Pickups	Booking.com
New York	US$121	US$129
Paris	US$79	US$64
Istanbul	US$42	US$33
Dubai	US$28	US$19
Bangkok	US$26	US$19
Tokyo	US$91	US$77
Cancun	US$60	US$31

Winner: Booking.com

Coverage

I’m pretty happy with the coverage of both Booking.com and Welcome Pickups. They cover all major travel destinations on all continents. However, Booking.com has the upper hand for the smaller places.

Basically, you may get a taxi service organized by Booking.com in any place where there are taxis, they really have a huge driver network. Welcome Pickups has a stricter process for hiring drivers, and this makes it harder for them to operate in small areas.

Winner: Booking.com

Vehicle offer and customization

Both Welcome Pickups and Booking.com have a vast vehicle offer.

However, I noticed that when booking your ride, Booking.com lets you choose from a variety of vehicle types right away, while Welcome Pickups assigns you one automatically. This can be a pro or a con, depending on how you look at it.

Still, both let you add child seats and will provide you with an appropriate vehicle type depending on the number of travelers and pieces of luggage.

Both offer the vehicle types that are most popular among taxi drivers at your destination. However, Welcome Pickup promises better onboard features like free water, the opportunity to get local tips from the driver, and higher comfort.

Winner: Welcome Pickups

Cancellation policy

Booking.com lets you cancel a ride up to 24 hours before the scheduled time for free. You can cancel your ride from the app or contact customer service.

For Welcome Pickups, any cancellation where you request a refund to your bank account will result in a 20% fee. This part is not clearly indicated on the website, but it’s true. Alternatively, you can opt for a coupon matching the sum of the booking that you can use for another reservation on the website.

If you cancel within 24 hours, you’ll get no refunds on either platform.

Winner: Booking.com

Customer support

Booking.com is notorious for their poor customer service. Weirdly enough, the only time I needed to contact them regarding my airport transfer booking, they were quick to respond and solve the issue. So, a big bonus point for that! Their support includes a Help Center, a live chat, messages, and a call center.

Welcome Pickups has a hotline you can call at any time (depending on locations, they may have limited availability) for urgent situations. For general queries, you can contact them through the “Welcomers app” as explained here.

NOTE: Both platforms allow you to get in touch with the driver via a private chat, which is nice.

Winner: Tie

Average reviews

Welcome Pickups has almost flawless reviews across the web. Where Booking.com scores 1.6 out of 5 stars, Welcome Pickups has 4.9/5 (yes, I’m talking about Trustpilot).

Here at Miss Tourist, we used both Booking.com and Welcome Pickups for destinations worldwide, and had a positive experience with both. You can read Yulia’s experience with Welcome Pickups in Bangkok in our dedicated blog post on the topic.

However, when I went to check out the web, the reviews for both platforms were mixed.  People have great and then not-so-great experiences with both. Some people complained the drivers with Welcome Pickups never showed up or that they were unable to reach customer support.

The bottom line is, there are no rules and no guarantees any service out there will be 100% reliable all the time. But as frequent travelers and users of both platforms, the Miss Tourist team wholeheartedly recommends both Booking.com and Welcome Pickups.

Winner: Welcome Pickups (for better internet rating)

Other transfer options

Booking.com and WelcomePickups are 2 of the most popular transfer options, but they’re far from the only ones. Here are some good popular options worth checking out:

• Uber – available in most major cities, convenient and usually similarly priced to taxis
• Viator – similarly to Booking.com, Viator links you to local transfer providers; also lets you book private drivers and general tours
• Klook – competitive pricing, single site for all your travel needs including airport transfer

Tips for maximizing value

Before I let you go, I wanted to give you some useful tips to maximize your value when booking airport transfers online:

• Book your private transfer as soon as you book the hotel to secure the best deals.
• Double-check the flight arrival time on your reservation to make sure the driver gets there on time.
• Double-check the driver information and save any important details on your phone.
• Check cancellation terms to avoid any surprises.

Final verdict: Is Booking.com worth it?

So we’ve made it to the end of the article, and there’s only one question left to answer: is the Booking.com Airport Taxi service worth it?

I say yes, absolutely!

It’s affordable, simple, efficient, has extensive coverage, and sometimes even comes for free, so I say go for it! My past experiences with them were positive, so my recommendations are very personal.

Just secure the best prices and cars by booking early! And if you have any questions about the service, shoot me a comment below! I’ll be glad to help!

Happy travels,

Darija

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