Airport collection in Hong Kong & Vietnam

[atalost]

I wish to organise an airport collection for when I fly into Hong Kong and then into Hanoi and then Da Nang.
I noticed you can booked a taxi via Agoda, but wondered how reliable it is. What have others done in this situation please? Thanks

Hong Kong- there are various individual drivers with 7 seaters who do airport runs but easiest thing as a tourist for pre-book is either to just ask your hotel to arrange it or book an Uber but I lived there for 15 years and I always used to just go to the rank and get a taxi- they come in by the hundreds and you hardly ever have to wait more than 10 mins. The drivers dont speak much English but the taxi rank organiser will and will tell them where you want to go.

Where are you staying?

Vietnam - download Grab and book via the app. It is ubiquitous in Vietnam and you'll get a car easily.

Don't go direct to a taxi rank as you won't get a good price. The app is the same that all the locals use so you'll get normal rates.

Sorry- to add, if I needed a pre-booked 7 seater with driver to meet me in arrivals (if I was with the kids and a million bags) I used these guys but it's a lot more expensive than just getting a taxi

www.carrentalhk.com

All joyAndNoFun - thanks. I’m staying in Austin Road

3 adults with 3 suitcases to Kowloon Hong Kong

Ok- they will know the main hotels in that area. If you're in an air bnb/ private address it might be worth printing out the building name in cantonese just to be on the safe side.

Tip: when getting a taxi say the area first- its Tsim Sha Tsui but literally everyone just says the initials "TST" - and then say the road and the building.

You'll get in a taxi but try to get one of the new ones as 3 suitcases in the back of a saloon might be tight- however, they will do their best and employ a bungee cord if the boot doesnt shut.

Thank you AllJoy you’ve been helpful

If you have a hotel in VN, they will organise a vehicle for you, too, if you want to have less thinking to do. I got hang of GRAB after 2 wks in VN but wasn't quite ready on day 1.

I’ve heard everyone uses Grab but if I have issues with my phone as I arrive, I’m thinking it might just be best to get the hotel to organise something. It’s double the cost but still cheap

You’re right re phone - you will definitely want an e-sim in Vietnam but it is difficult to get it working before you arrive. Airport wifi may or may not work. So Grab is better for once you have phone up and running.

I agree with asking your hotel to sort your lift. That way you can rely on the hotel sorting out any glitches eg if flight is delayed or taxi doesn’t show for some reason.

I agree with this. Although GRAB is your answer, ridiculously cheap in Vietnam, and reliable, the airports have ride hailing areas, I have been in both Da Nang and Hanoi. BUT @minipie is right. If you can download GRAB before you go, add a payment card, then you are off and running, and worry no further, just use GRAB, I can't remember if they had UBER (i think not, but you can easily check using Uber quote). Some taxi hailing apps, however, only work if you have a local SIM, so that when you set up your account, you tell it your local SIM number and it sends you a verification code to your (local) SIM. You cannot rely on airport wifi (and often it still wants to send you a verification code to a SMS) or e-SIMs will help you here (unless you particularly choose an e-SIM that allows texts and calls - and most are only data) so you end up in a bit of a catch-22 situation. (yandex is like this) You can buy a proper country SIM in the Airport in most places (at double the price of anywhere outside airport) but you need to explain to them that the reason is to download the grab app and that you need to be able to receive a text (otherwise they will sell you a data only one). Most of the shops that sell a local SIM are really good and will really help you. The hotel cars are twice the price of a GRAB, but they will get you there, and it is better than being at the mercy of airport taxi drivers, then you can do the SIM thing at your leisure.

For Hanoi and Danang airports in Vietnam, you can use taxi (Mai Linh or Vinasun brand) or Grab like Uber (Cheaper than taxi) or even ask your accommodation in each place for a private transfer.

The website Viator always has good options for Airport pickup to hotel. To be honest, in HK, the Airport Express train is better and more efficient to Kowloon. You can pay for the train tickets on Apple Pay at the station. The express train station is in the airport before the taxis, air-conditioned with ample room for luggage. Grab is good in Vietnam but for initial ease look at Viator.

I used to live in HK. Taxis are cheap, plentiful and honest. There are separate queues at the airport for Kowloon/HK island/New territories. There’s absolutely no need to pre book - HK drivers will easily fit three passengers and three suitcases even in the traditional (smallish) Toyotas. There will be someone manning the queue, so you can ask for a seven seater if you think you need one

Hong Kong has a very good airport train service.

Thanks for the Hong Kong taxi tips. We are headed there in July and was wondering about travel from the airport.
Can anyone tell me what the best way to pay in taxis is? Do they accept HK dollars in cash/credit cards?

HK taxis are the last bastion of "cash preferred" in the world so have cash available if possible although most of them do take credit cards if forced to and also accept a thing called "octopus" which is like a transport card but you can use it in shops as well- you just add value as needed. Can buy the Octopus card at the airport.

Taxi drivers do not like $500 notes so when you take cash out at ATMs always ask for $900 so you get 4 x $100 notes and then try to break the bigger notes in supermarkets etc. If its like a $300 fare than $500 is ok but if you try to give them $500 for a fare <$100 there will be a LOT of sighing and some may try the "no change" thing to get a big tip. All taxis are metered and I've only ever once in 15 years had a driver do the "broken meter" thing so that's not a big problem in HK.

Depending on how many of you and where you're going you can also get the AirPort Express referenced by pp from the airport to Central or Kowloon but its >$100 pp to central so if 3 of you it's not really worth it, especially if you still need to travel on at the other end.

We're just back from Vietnam and used Grab everywhere and found it very reliable. In HK I've always used the airport express which gets you into Central far quicker than by road.