I am looking at making a booking at a Basel hotel and have a question about the BaselCard:
If I book through a booking site (eg booking.com or hotels.com) rather than directly with the hotel, will I still receive the BaselCard?
Comparing prices for the hotel I am considering, yes I will pay about CHF 5 per night via a booker (presumably to cover the commission) in exchange for the convenience of having all of my bookings in one spot, rather than dealing with multiple hotel websites.
It may depend on the individual hotel. I compared the two hotels we considered for our visit to Basel, Hotel Gaia and Hotel Euler.
Hotel Gaia mentioned the free transport card as a benefit of a direct booking, and the booking.com listing did not mention the transport card among the hotel's free amenities.
Hotel Euler, on the other hand, only mentioned "best price" as the benefit of direct booking, and the booking.com listing for this hotel included the Mobility Card among the amenities.
I always booking directly with the hotel, and keep all my reservations in one place by taking a screenshot of the reservation confirmation and placing the photo in a folder on my iPad or iPhone. I also keep the emailed confirmations in a Travel Folder in my email.
Thank you. The Mobility Card is just the transport portion of the Basel card?
I am looking at the Hotel Rochat on booking.com. I now see that under “important information” it says that guests receive the BaselCard upon check-in. It also says transfer from the airport to the hotel is free upon showing my hotel booking confirmation, so I assume a booking.com screenshot will suffice, rather than a printed confirmation?
It doesn't matter how you booked your stay, as long as you have a hotel reservation, you are entitled to free public transportation in the city. Our hotel receptionist explained this to us very clearly. You're likely not even asked to show a Basel card or hotel reservation when you board a bus or tram. We never got asked during our entire stay. But if you do get asked on your trip from the airport to the city, hotel reservation printout from booking.com is fine.
Yes, you will get a BaselCard when you check in, no matter how you book. It is the law, they have to give it to you.
info here: https://www.basel.com/en/BaselCard
It is valid on all Public Transport within greater Basel (trams+buses+trains), including the bus to the airport, until the end of the day you check out.
