Last year, I went to San Francisco and stayed at a small, out-of-the-way, boutique hotel and I took an airport shuttle to and from this location. The airport shuttle curbside guy was so nice to me, and got me onto a van immediately, but the driver, nice as he was, ended up dropping me off last out of everyone and that was like 40 minutes of driving around the city in circles. Picking me up to go to back to the airport went very smoothly—no complaints.
I got to thinking about this year, I would be staying at very centrally located hotel right off the Powell stop. So I took the BART. This also took about 40 minutes. It was much cheaper and I enjoyed the solitutde/anonymity, but I was cold. I was still dressed for Los Angeles' heat wave and not San Francisco's "summers." A lot of us were improperly dressed as we expected to arrive hours earlier and still underestimate the Bay Area cold. Forty minutes from SFO to downtown SF... There has to be a better way. Maybe I've reached that point in my life that I need to start going with a private towncar. I seriously need to look into this. Even if it took 40+ minutes, it may be worth the comfort and ease.
I booked online for a shuttle pickup to take me back to the airport on Monday. I thought this went as it always did. I checked out of my hotel and waited in the lobby. This is where my mistake was made. The hotel I stayed at was a major stop in the shuttle's pickup. Instead of a personalized ride time with a front entrance pickup, I was supposed to go to a side exit on the other side of the hotel and wait for it like it was a bus; they come every 15 minutes and I only prepaid for my ride. Nowhere in my booking info did it state this. At least, I don't remember. It was 3 a.m. and cranemelon and Liam and I had been drinking Irish whiskey for hours at that point. But I will say that I looked through my confirmation email and it didn't mention this information there either. I missed my original ride time and the shuttle that followed. I was finally put on a shuttle, but it had to make two more scheduled stops at other major hotels before it would head to the airport. I was falling behind. I was only saved because I enrolled in auto-check in for the airline. I had a mobile boarding pass on my smartphone and only had to check my bag with the curbside fellow and make my way through security checks. The shuttle people, when I called to sort everything out, not very helpful or friendly. My shuttle driver? Nice enough, but used profanity with me in conversation like we were old friends. I think I've had enough of that. Towncar or taxi and keeping your head down may be where it's at.
When you travel, what is your preferred method of getting to your hotel?
Since 2006
2 comments:
In my younger days, I almost always exclusively used Super Shuttle. I dreaded rides alone with drivers because they would talk about how they didn't make enough money and the service is charging them more per month and felt forced to give a bigger tip. Traveling in Vegas we would always use cabs or walk but one Summer it was so hot and we all voted to take a bus, that was interesting.
I really hated taking cabs to my apartment from the Amtrak in San Diego when I used to live there. A couple times I contemplated using a private car.
I think Super Shuttle lets their quality suffer because they've spent so much time as the industry leader. I haven't had a nice ride with them in awhile (3 years or so). I feel like I've suffered through too much of their shit customer service, both in person and phone, that I don't even care if they improve their game at this point.
My mom tells me that she's had excellent service through an indie company she discovered through word of mouth. I think that's the next wave. Entrepreneurs that see Super Shuttle's failings as an opportunity.
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