Has anyone ever paid £65.00 for a taxi to go 5 miles!!! ???? Ouch! That's what I just paid and had difficulty getting a driver to take me to Marriott Windsor/Heathrow! I did find out later that I could have taken a bus but who would ever think that it would cost so much for a taxi to go 5 miles. Flat rate of £65.00 (pounds) and that is if you can get a taxi driver to take you from the airport.... Windsor/Heathrow is very nice as far as Marriott full service hotel go but it's not very easy to get to and there is nothing close. This hotel seems to be out in the boonies! I won't stay here again!!!
Dear Treetree,
Ouch is right! I'm sorry to say that I think you may have been "taken for a ride." I have never been to London or anywhere outside of LHR, so I don't know for certain, but in my experience (elsewhere), I have learned that there are two types of taxi services: 1) legitimate and 2) unscrupulous. My first trip to Rome (Europe, actually), we wanted to hire a taxi to take us from the main train station (Termini) to the Marriott (we didn't know exactly how to get there; it was less than 2 miles away), and the taxi driver wanted to charge us 28€! I was so mad, I refused, and figured out how to take the metro to Barberini and then walk up the hill using a paper map. It was sweltering and by the time we arrived at the nice hotel, we looked like a "hot mess" (but that's another - actually quite comical - story). Later, in Sorrento a taxi driver tried to charge us in excess of 50€ (can't recall the exact amount) to take us - again less than 2 miles - to the hotel. After I told him off ("Do you see a giant letter 'N' on my forehead (for naive), Buddy? No you do not, so scram, skidaddle."), I bought a 4€ map and sorted it out for myself, and we walked (another interesting story). By that last leg of the trip, I had been preyed upon by scammers enough to be sick of it. Anyway, I learned that at airports and train stations, you have to find the right queue (where the legitimate taxis line up). Or give the hotel a call and ask them for assistance with hooking you up with a legit service.
I hope that our Insider London/Heathrow experts will weigh in.