Welcome Pickups

I have used Welcome Pickups twice. Both in Athens.

They were taxi drivers that also drove for Welcome Pickups. Both were on time, spoke excellent English, had nice cars, one offered me a bottle of water and the use of wifi, and it was a fixed price paid online. (And since it's a fixed price, you're not going to get an expensive "detour".)

I would not hesitate to book through them again anywhere I needed a ride from the airport and they offered the service.

If I was arriving late at night, I would definitely book a car service over a taxi. Especially in country where you don't know the taxi regulations.

Unfortunately we booked Welcome Pickups and paid in advance. A requirement. We were flying into Paris from NY. Our flight was delayed one hour, we texted the driver from the airport in NY, no problem. The company then texted us that they were canceling the pickup cause of the delay and didn’t have another driver. We texted the driver, no answer. And no refund, only a credit. We ended up using the credit for a ride from our hotel to the train station and ate the remaining credit.
We always book a pickup and have never prepaid. This was the first and last with Welcome Pickups. We just felt that if one hour throws them off they aren’t the company for us. This was April 2023,
We previously used booking.com for pickups and will go back to using them in the future.

I have used Welcome Pickups at least a half dozen times in various countries. Fortunately, I have not had any issues like Barbara and my experiences have been more in line with Frank. All were on time, courteous and spoke excellent English. Some were more outgoing and friendly than others, but that does not bother me either way. I like having a pre-arranged transfer to my hotel when arriving in a new city, especially from my initial flight from the US.

I find their prices are in line or slightly higher than taxis, but you do need to research this. In Copenhagen they were significantly more, so we ended up using public transportation which was very easy.

With so many random locations Welcome Pickups must be more like a "platform" than an organized "company". For such a late arrival I would ask the hotel for best suggestion. If there is a flight like that regularly, the hotel will likely know the best plan. Transfers arranged by a hotel can be more expensive than what you might arrange yourself but for peace of mind it seems like a worthwhile cost. You could at least ask and then compare and decide.

I used Welcome Pickups in Turkey for Istanbul airport arrival and Izmir airport departure. Same experience as Frank - I had a great driver in Istanbul (very communicative) and a perfectly adequate driver to Izmir. When I had a similar arrival time in Quito, Ecuador, I took a taxi from the airport to my centrally located hotel because they had a fixed rate taxi stand. It was very dark and the cab driver was a bit concerned about me getting dropped off in that area and time of night, but it all worked out ok once I found the doorbell for the guest house. You might check TripAdvisor forums for Bogotá to see if anyone has commented on them as well as checking with hotel.

@Barbara, do you have a company you've used that doesn't require prepayment? I was getting ready to book Welcome Pickups for Lisbon in a few weeks.

As with Frank I used Welcome Pickups in Athens and actually had a delightful driver -- was well worth the money.

When we’re coming into a European location after an international flight, we ask our hotel in advance about pick up and transfer service. They generally have someone they recommend with a fixed price. It’s always worked out great even with delayed flights. The only city so far where we’ve been told that the taxi stand is the best option has been Dublin which is right outside the airport arrival doors and very efficient. If you’re thinking about using a company that has problems with delayed flights but wants payment up front, that’s a red flag to go elsewhere. We've been on way too many international flights where our arrival time is not what it was suppose to be especially over the last couple of years.

Correction - I went back to check my travel notes and the transfer companies we used with no prepayment was pre-Covid. Specifically Rome and Amsterdam.
Since then we have used booking.com for airport transfers and zonetransfers.com from Cordoba to Toledo, both in Spain. We had to pre-pay those.

For us, with regard to Welcome Pickups, we were ticked off that something like an hour delay and they cancelled. The driver was willing to change the time. It’s not like they were at the airport already waiting. We texted them from the airport before we even left. We felt they had plenty of time to have a driver for us. And of course, the credit was annoying too. our flight was not early in the morning, it was midday. So we had to take a taxi which was fine.

We have decided that unless we are arriving very, very early, or very, very late, we’ll just take taxis from now on.

Don't waste your money. I booked and paid online. My flight was delayed and I sent messages to let the driver know, and even received an email to say 'don't worry, the driver will monitor flight arrival time'. When I did arrive, I received a message to say driver had cancelled the booking and left. No refund. No nothing. Appalling service.

We used Welcome Pickups in Lisbon several years ago. Our plane was early rather than late. When we arrived at designated meeting space, many drivers were waiting for other passengers-not ours. I messaged our driver to let him know we had arrived. He hadn’t bothered to monitor our flight so we stood with our luggage over 30 minutes waiting for him. Once he arrived, he was pleasant and delivered us to our hotel. We had payed in advance. I would have appreciated a tad better service.

We previously used booking.com for pickups and will go back to using them in the future.

Thank you for mentioning the Booking.com option, @Barbara. I had never noticed they offered this option. I just booked out transfers to/from our hotel in Istanbul using their service and got two bonuses: 10% off as a genius member plus I got to use $27 I had earned in my "wallet". Win-win.

We are just back from Greece and used Welcome Pickups for the first time, coming in and leaving. Last year we used the train and metro and it was very crowded. Doable but this year I decided to splurge. I always use public transport when I travel but this was really a nice exception. Both drivers were prompt and friendly with chilled water bottles waiting for us in very comfortable cars. We both thought it was worth it and I may be looking into a pickup service on other travels in the future.

My take, after a general review of search results, is that the Welcome Pickup service in Greece is well-regarded, and the one in Paris is not. I am trying Welcome Pickups for the first time on an upcoming trip to Thessaloniki. I had less-than-great experiences with taxi drivers in Scotland and Paris. In Scotland, I paid with GBP, including a tip, and the driver gave me old paper Scottish money in change. I was unable to change it, and it was not accepted anywhere. One very kind teller at a bank took a fresh note from her purse and exchanged it for me (she wasn't allowed to, but took pity on my taxi driver experience). In Paris, I paid the fare, plus tip, and the driver spotted a higher value Euro note and tried to talk me into paying with that and he would give me change. I said "non, merci"

I like that Welcome Pickup is pay-in-advance and then I only need to worry about a tip upon arrival. I don't care if I'm paying a little more--I lost a lot of valuable sight-seeing time and shoe leather trying to chase down a solution to my bad Scottish money.

Has anyone used Welcome pick ups in Budapest or is it just as easy to catch a cab outside of the airport? I may be getting in pretty late at night, and staying in an Airbnb that has keyless entry. No one will be meeting me there.

sherrilynnstock
Welcome!

Start a new post with Budapest in the title to attract a poster who is familiar with Budapest.

Hi Sherrilynnstock. Welcome to the forums.

Here’s a recent post regarding Budapest airport. Mr E is the resident expert on Budapest.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/transportaion-to-and-from-bud-airport-to-city-center-budapest

A Surreal Experience - Avoid!

I made the mistake of booking a ride with this service in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. They claim that the driver will wait for you with your name and provide a receipt. However, my experience was quite different.

A random person contacted me on WhatsApp, not the driver or car that was indicated in the app. He told me to meet him in an external parking lot. The car turned out to be a private vehicle driven by a friendly Pakistani man looking to make some extra cash, but he wasn’t authorized to transport passengers. To make things worse, there was another local passenger in the car with luggage in the trunk. The driver tried to pass him off as the "second driver" mentioned in the app, but it was clearly a lie.

I paid $40 for this service, only to find out later that a taxi to the city center would have cost around $20 without negotiation, and an Uber might have been no more than $15.

This is a complete scam. The driver explained that non-Saudi nationals aren't allowed to drive for Uber, Bolt, or similar services, so they resort to these alternative apps to make extra money. This practice is at best borderline, if not outright illegal, under local laws.

My advice: stick to local transportation. It's safe, the people are kind and trustworthy, and you'll avoid the hassle and risk of dealing with unauthorized drivers.

We like Barbara had similiar situation We used them in Prague and though tthey were really good so book them for a recentl Rome trip.Welcome Pickups/Driver left us stranded
We used Welcome Pickups in Prague in March and they were wonderful. We decided to use them for a transfer from Naples to Meta/Sorrento area. We were taking a train from Rome to Naples and they were to pick us up. Unfortunately Italiano was having a issue with their train and we were delayed. We immediately contacted our driver and kept driver informed the whole way through and he ended up cancelling on us. We were stuck in a foreign country without a ride from Naples to our destination and left us scrambling! All documented. The driver tried to say that he couldnt get in touch with us. Lie! I would not recommend this company again. UPDATE Since I wrote this review Welcome Pickups has wrote a reply saying how sorry they were and they would contact us to discuss. They went on to say how they understood about our concern regarding our train delay. NO Welcome Pickups we were left stranded after we had already paid for the transfer. Driver cancelled us. They never contacted us like they say they will in their reply. I dont anticipate they will either. The message was this morning and it is 10:00 pm hours and hours ago since they posted this response. They literally allowed the driver to say that he was unable to contact us when they know that is completely FABRICATION.

Welcome Pickups is The Worst! Use Uber or any other car service.

We booked a trip to the airport in Rome in advance. Three hours before the scheduled pickup, our airline canceled our flight and rebooked us on a much later flight. So we immediately notified Welcome Pickups to move our trip hours later. They said they would, but never confirmed the new time. We called repeatedly to confirm the change but they then refused, saying we must give 12 hours notice to change any trip! Obviously, that much notice is impossible when dealing with flights, which often get cancelled or delayed close to the scheduled departure. Welcome Pickups charged us $85 in Rome for our trip to the airport and refused to pick us up later. So, we got charged $85 and got nothing. We then had to pay $100 for a last minute Uber ride to the airport. We complained to Welcome Pickups and they refused a refund.

Welcome Pickups is the worst.

I had an excellent experience with Welcome Pickups in Greece. It was well organized, pleasant and relaxing. In Madrid, Spain, while I was waiting in Border Control, which was crowded, the driver called and said his wait time was up...he called exactly one hour after my flight landed. I said I needed him to stay so he indicated the price would be more. Anyway, after a night flight I didn't argue, just told him to stay and he did, but he did keep calling me to see where I was. It cost more and I think he was just ripping me off, but I was too tired to argue. I won't use them again either (or ever take an overnight flight again).

Interesting to hear both the good and the bad. Disappointing that they haven't handled things well on several occasions.

My experience was good. Used Welcome Pickups in Cape Town. Was in constant communication with the driver after we landed. The line at immigration was extremely long and took an hour. He eventually messaged me that the official waiting time had expired, and there could be a charge if he continued waiting. We asked him to wait. They never charged me anything extra. It's been two months.

On the return trip to the airport, the driver was early.

The cars were clean and nice.

I'm planning on using them again in Rome next month and at Krabi airport in Thailand in December. If I have a different experience, I'll come back and share.

Honestly, there’s no reason to use a shuttle service in Paris unless you want to pay more and walk a lot longer walk to your car. Paris has flat rates to and from the airport so you just follow the blue foot prints to the taxi stand and go to your hotel or wherever. Shuttle services in Paris are notorious for not showing up, and not giving refunds as an earlier couple found out - just take a taxi

Oh, as you walk to the taxi if anyone offers you a ride just say no. It will be the most expensive ride you’ve ever been on like €150 versus €65

I just returned from Tunis. First time using Welcome Pickups. EXCELLENT experience both to and from the airport. I will need airport transportation in Istanbul in two weeks and in Izmir in 4 weeks. I was going to use them again. I only saw one reference to Istanbul and Izmir in this thread, which sounded like my great experience in Tunis. Any other thoughts?

• kbgsld* I used Welcome Pickups in both Istanbul and Izmir. Great experience in Istanbul, very communicative and friendly driver, nice vehicle, cold water offered. I had a fine experience in Izmir, was a little worried because there was no communication from the driver and they were very close to late for my pickup window, but it all worked out in the end.

Avoid. Awful service. They just left my mother at the airport as her plane was delayed on the runway after landing and she can not walk well. What an an awful experience.
I messaged driver well before cutoff to inform him. No reply. When I called he hung up on me. They will probably take my money.

I booked a transfer to pick up a guest from Berlin airport and provided the flight number at the time of booking. According to the company's policy, the driver should have monitored the flight status. However, when the flight was unexpectedly canceled, I contacted both the company and the driver to inform them, expecting assistance with rescheduling. Instead, I was met with a rude refusal to make any changes or adjustments, despite their clear knowledge of the cancellation. They refused to refund the payment, claiming the driver would still go to the airport—despite having access to real-time flight information. Extremely disappointed. No refund.

I used Welcome Transfers for the first time and had a good experience. I booked them for early morning transfer TO airport in Florence. The rate was reasonable (approx 100 Euros, better than other options I saw), booked for a 5am pickup. I received an email with the driver's name and contact number, and driver arrived 10 minutes early. Based on other reviews I might be hesitant to book them to pickup from airport, as others mentioned drivers not being flexible for schedule change / late pickup.