Taxi Service-from airport to centre point hotel,

[stevepslab]

Can taxi drivers understand English? They converse well in English or not.

[KhunBENQ]

I see five(!) "Centre Point" hotels in Bangkok.

I am afraid here the trouble starts

 

Which Centre Point Hotel do you refer to?

 

The website shows printable maps with Thai labels to show to the driver.

And you can ask the driver to call the hotel phone no. as shown.

(99.99 will have a mobile phone and burden the 1 Baht cost )

The English conversation is between close to zero and poor.

 

Edited April 18, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[LongTimeLurker]

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

The website shows printable maps with Thai labels to show to the driver.

IF you have a taxi driver that can read Thai.!!!

 

I've had many that don't.

[KhunBENQ]

5 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

IF you have a taxi driver that can read Thai.!!!

 

I've had many that don't.

Well possible and not to speak of reading a map.

So back to telephone and having target/route explained.

 

It's a pitty that they abolished the dispatcher and turned to self-service.

Or is there still someone you can refer to at Suvarnabhumi?

Edited April 18, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[Bchef82]

I think that you may have trouble in being able to properly communicate which Centre Point Hotel that you are referring to. As KhunBENQ stated above, there are quite a number of different Centre Point Locations throughout Bangkok, this may further confuse an conversation regarding the hotel. My best bit of advice is to download the Grab Taxi app on your smart phone, its a bit like using Uber if you are at all familiar. I like using "Grab" because you input the location your going to into the app and the driver gets the GPS directions there on their smartphone. Also, Grab is nice as it will let you know before you book the trip how much the end fare will be. I use Grab all the time and find often the prices are better than that of the Meter Taxis or at least comparable. I have not however ever used Grab from the Airport and i'm not sure if Grab Drivers are allowed to pick up there. If not you could always take the airport rail link to Lat Krabang station and then use the app to get a Grab taxi from there. Good luck, hope this helped.

[FluffySun]

Hello!

As for me, I've never met such drivers. We've been to Bangkok three times, and two of them we couldn't explain the driver where we needed to go Last time, we decided not to deal with local drivers at all and pre-booked a private transfer with an international transfer service - https://kiwitaxi.com/en/thailand/suvarnabhumi+airport. Yeah, that was more expensive, but at least we didn't have any language problems.

[SantiSuk]

The expensive limos at the airport counters are your best bet if you want to be absolutely sure of getting your best shot at safe arrival without stress. Suvarnabhumi to central BKK - 35km ish (off the top of my head) we are talking 400-700 baht ish US$20-25, including tolls, for a regular taxi and double to treble that for a limo (includes better quality regular saloons and anything up to minibuses, depending on your requirements but you'll often get something much more spacious than you need)

 

Don't take someone who is swanning around in arrivals as being a proper limo unless they take you back to a counter to discuss the journey. The 'official ones usually have pretty girls in uniforms who speak English at the incoming hoards. Even if she is limited , they will speak decent English at a limo desk and they will sort out which hotel is the right one. The limo driver is likely to speak passable English too.

 

Horses for courses - expats here would not bother due to higher price and half the readers here will have already reached for their keyboard to tell me not to be so wasteful and promotional of rip-off services, but the limos are still cheaper than anything you would get kerb-side at a first world airport!

 

Cheapies (like me) will still go up to the arriving taxis and negotiate or insist on 'meter', but we speak enough Thai to pull that off with no drama.

 

On the subject of taxis TO Suvarnabhumi from central BKK, anyone got a good recommendation for a van or SUV to take 4 of us plus 4 big bags from OnNut to Swampy at 8am tomorrow? Reliability of showing up and common sense is the key criteria. Thai wife will discuss with driver by phone. Your own favourite guy or a reliable company phone number. Expiry of request is 6pm tonight - I'll have asked the condo people by 7pm and will take 2 ordinary yellow cabs off the street outside if Plan B transpires!

 

Edit: old bu$$er here (but no techno phobe) has never used Grab as I only visit condo and usually with car - can you get bigger vehicles with them? Give me a first kiddie step if that's a potential flyer 

Edited April 19, 2018 by SantiSuk

[Bchef82]

59 minutes ago, SantiSuk said:

old bu$$er here (but no techno phobe) has never used Grab as I only visit condo and usually with car - can you get bigger vehicles with them?

You absolutely can, I actually just used Grab this past weekend to bring my folks to the airport. You can usually request anything from a standard 4 door to a 6-8 seat van. Heck, you can even request a motorbike with grab if that’s what your looking for. Love grab, they usually arrive right at your doorstep within 5 minutes of summons. Most Grab drivers will even go out of their way to get out and carry your bags for you, they rely on good ratings to stay competitive so they are super attentive and most even stock bottles of water or sometimes even snacks free for their passengers. 

[smutcakes]

Get Centre Point to send a car to collect you, or just stump up for an AOT taxi, or one of the proper car services on arrival.

[Beechboy]

If I am going  to  a hotel which is not so well known, usually from the airport, I request that they send me their name and address in Thai ... print it out and hand it to the driver. It invariably succeeds.

[stevepslab]

I guess this is gonna be a tough call for me. I am afraid and not prepared. :/

[stevepslab]

16 hours ago, FluffySun said:

Hello!

As for me, I've never met such drivers. We've been to Bangkok three times, and two of them we couldn't explain the driver where we needed to go Last time, we decided not to deal with local drivers at all and pre-booked a private transfer with an international transfer service - https://kiwitaxi.com/en/thailand/suvarnabhumi+airport. Yeah, that was more expensive, but at least we didn't have any language problems.

This looks promising. I have money to spend but if it's too costly, I may have to give a second thought. Anyway, if you can find someone who can talk, can be a perfect thing. I hope this https://kiwitaxi.com/en/thailand/suvarnabhumi+airport  might help. Steve.

[Just Weird]

Can you as a voluntary visitor to the country, apparently not knowing where you're going or which hotel you are going to, not speak enough Thai (this is Thailand) to let a Thai taxi driver know?

 

If not, why not establish which hotel you're going to first and, as KhunBENQ pointed out, print out the map that the Centre Point site provides?  Then all you have to do is say to the driver (in English) one of the following:-

Centre Point Hotel Chidlom, Pratunam, Silom or Sukhumvit Soi 10 and show him the map. 

If he doesn't understand (not very likely as those places are very well-known) call the hotel on your phone and ask them to speak to the taxi driver, don't try to explain to the driver that he should use his phone to do that, that would be ridiculous!

 

The other alternative is to go to the airport Limousine desk and book car to take you there, they will speak English. https://www.bangkokairportonline.com/bangkok-airport-limousine/

 

Edited April 19, 2018 by Just Weird

[stevepslab]

On 4/18/2018 at 7:25 PM, FluffySun said:

Hello!

As for me, I've never met such drivers. We've been to Bangkok three times, and two of them we couldn't explain the driver where we needed to go Last time, we decided not to deal with local drivers at all and pre-booked a private transfer with an international transfer service - https://kiwitaxi.com/en/thailand/suvarnabhumi+airport. Yeah, that was more expensive, but at least we didn't have any language problems.

 

On 4/19/2018 at 1:50 PM, Just Weird said:

Can you as a voluntary visitor to the country, apparently not knowing where you're going or which hotel you are going to, not speak enough Thai (this is Thailand) to let a Thai taxi driver know?

 

If not, why not establish which hotel you're going to first and, as KhunBENQ pointed out, print out the map that the Centre Point site provides?  Then all you have to do is say to the driver (in English) one of the following:-

Centre Point Hotel Chidlom, Pratunam, Silom or Sukhumvit Soi 10 and show him the map. 

If he doesn't understand (not very likely as those places are very well-known) call the hotel on your phone and ask them to speak to the taxi driver, don't try to explain to the driver that he should use his phone to do that, that would be ridiculous!

 

The other alternative is to go to the airport Limousine desk and book car to take you there, they will speak English. https://www.bangkokairportonline.com/bangkok-airport-limousine/

 

Thanks everyone helping out. Taxi drivers were very friendly there. I guess.