Vecay Phuket Taxi Service

On this last trip I booked an airport transfer with a new company that we have never gone through before called Vecay Phuket.

In the past when we have booked airport transfers online the process has always been the same; first you browse and select the specific area you are looking to get the airport transfer to/from, you select the amount of people travelling and which type of vehicle is required, you then enter some basic details e.g.: date of arrival/departure with a requested time and enter an email contact to be reached on and submit the inquiry online.

Shortly after this you would receive an email following up the inquiry from someone at the transfer company requesting a confirmation on the dates, times and locations initially submitted in the inquiry and then give instructions on how to pay in full to secure the booking. Depending on the company this can usually be done via an online credit card payment, paypal, or other variations of online payment.

Once done you can usually expect a prompt arrival at the requested time and if you are being picked up from the airport you can usually find someone out the front of the airport holding a sign with your name as you are exiting the airport.
There have been times in the past where we have been picked up from the airport and the driver has not been informed of the exact address of the destination which has led to much confusion, irritation and a waste of our holiday time.

The prices for these services can vary slightly between different transfer company’s but are all roughly the same price as booking a private transfer from the taxi desk at the airport or booking through your hotel.
As an example, for these prices, for 1 to 2 people you can usually book the smallest (and cheapest) available vehicle for your transfer. To and from Phuket International airport and Patong Beach in the past has usually cost us between 750 Baht and 850 Baht, and one time 950 Baht when we thought we would cheat the system by getting a metered taxi instead of private.

Often, when you book a hotel or apartment through an online source they will offer to arrange booking your airport transfer to and from the room at a similar price and may consistently use disclaimers to discourage you from booking your own transfer or getting a taxi straight from the airport, such as the following email notice that I received multiple times this past trip by the owner of the apartment that I was staying at:

“if you decide to choose the taxi option, please do take in account the following:

– time waste and sometimes money waste as the taxi driver will look for the location and rarely find it straight away (we’ve had, for example, a case where the driver took 2 hours to find and asked some supplement to the client)

– the taxi driver’s English level is usually very low or they sometimes only speak thai so it may cause some difficulties to communicate with him.

Important note:
Due to several unpleasant situations occurred in the past (taxi driver not finding the address, delays, traffic jams, accidents, guests stopping for shopping) and in order to avoid unnecessary waiting time for our check in staff, please note that if you choose any transportation methods that is not one of ours, we will depart from our office once we receive the call confirming your arrival at the residence / villa / meeting point as we cannot control, therefore know, the exact arrival time at the property.”

The reason that the hotels/owners are so insistent on getting you to book through them is that they receive a commission on all bookings that they are able to make. In truth, the drivers themselves only receive around 400 Baht for each trip this distance, maybe just slightly more if they own the car themselves.

With these bookings already pre-paid it is still customary to tip your driver. Of course, this is not an obligation and you can choose not to if you so wish. We usually tip the driver 100 Baht per trip.

With all of that being said, booking my return airport transfer through Vecay Phuket, from start to finish, has been the most painless, cheapest and punctual service that we have ever used.

The online booking process has been the easiest we have used thus far. As with the other website online booking/inquiry system you still go through and enter some basic information. I.e.: browse and select the specific area you are looking to get to/from, select amount of people travelling and type of vehicle required, date of arrival/departure with requested time of pickup and enter an email contact with the added difference of also entering a flight number for your journey.

Once you enter all of this information and click through to the next page this is usually where your work is done until you receive an email, however, through their website they automatically calculate a fare for your journey and if you continue to proceed once confirming your transfer details you are then redirected to a payment processing page where you have a few different payment methods to choose from. Once payment is made you receive an email confirming your payment and booking.

When arriving in Phuket I mistakenly looked out for someone holding a sign with my name on it and had to double back to have another look. I then spotted someone holding a very professional looking plaque with the Vecay Phuket name and logo. When I approached the man holding the sign and he checked my name off the list he very politely asked me to have a seat and wait for a moment while he organised one of their drivers to come around to the taxi rank to pick me up. While I waited he did ask me to confirm the name of the place that I was heading to so as to ensure the correct details of my booking. Shortly after that the driver promptly arrived and not another word needed to be said, the driver knew exactly where to go and how to find the hotel that I was staying at which is saying something as the hotel where I was staying was a bit off the beaten track.

The same can be said about my returning trip to the airport. The driver was 15 minutes earlier to the hotel than my requested pick up time which worked well in my favor and headed straight on to the airport while avoiding all of the built-up traffic areas. The only problem that I had with the transfer journey to the airport was that the driver dropped me off at the arrivals terminal instead of the departures terminal, although this wasn’t much of an inconvenience as all I needed to do was to go up a couple of levels on the escalator.

The best part about my whole experience with booking through Vecay Phuket was that the trip from the airport only cost about 550 Baht and the transfer back to the airport cost about 530 Baht. An easy 2 to 3 hundred Baht less than what any of the other online booking fees or even the transfer price through the apartment manager was offering.

When next you visit Phuket, I would highly recommend booking your transfer through Vecay Phuket. Simply visit their website by clicking here