Hotel partnerships for chauffeur companies: what hotels need from you

Why do hotels book chauffeur companies?

Hotels arrange cars for guests every day: airport arrivals, late departures, day trips and dinners out. Reception or the concierge desk needs a company they can call once and trust, so they can confirm the car to the guest straight away and never hear about it again. The hotel's reputation travels in your car, which is why the desk is slow to change supplier and quick to drop one that let a guest down.

What does a hotel need from you?

• A rate sheet for the routes their guests take most, such as the nearest airports and the main sights, in the hotel's currency and with what is included.
• One booking contact who answers quickly, with a phone number and an email address, and cover when that person is driving.
• A written confirmation for every booking, with the car, the driver's name and number and the pickup time, that the desk can forward to the guest.
• Clean, punctual cars and drivers who can look after guests in English and, where it matters, in the guests' language.
• A simple way to settle up, whether the guest pays the driver or the hotel pays a monthly invoice.
• Rates for next season before the hotel sets its own, usually in the autumn.

How do you approach a hotel?

Start with the hotels at the end of your busiest airport routes, because their guests already travel the roads you drive and the desk already knows the problem. Write to the front office or concierge manager with a short introduction, your rate sheet and your partner pack, then follow up once by phone a week later. A visit works better than a third email: the concierge wants to see the car and meet the driver who will collect their guests. The emails we write for a client go out from its own mailbox and stay with it, so we do not publish them.

Smaller hotels and guesthouses are often the quicker win. They have no concierge desk, so the owner answers the guest's question with whichever card is by the phone.

Commission or net rates?

Some hotels take a commission on your price, others buy at a net rate and charge the guest their own, and many want nothing at all beyond a car that turns up. Decide which you offer before the first email, and keep your own website and OTA prices in line, so the hotel never sees its guest offered the same trip for less. The net rates guide covers how to set both.

What makes a hotel keep booking?

The first booking is won on the rate sheet; the next fifty are won on what happens at the kerb. Confirm within the hour, send the driver's details the evening before, and tell the desk about a delay before the guest does. Irish Transfer works with 47 travel agencies and tour operators won since October 2025 alongside its hotel contacts, and the ones that keep booking are the ones that never had to chase a confirmation.

How do you count what each hotel sends?

Mark every booking with the hotel that sent it in your booking system, and look each month at which hotels book and which went quiet. A hotel that stopped booking may need only a call and a fresh rate sheet; a hotel that never booked after the pack needs a visit or a different contact. The partner pack guide covers the document, the corporate accounts guide the company travel that often comes through the same hotels, and the Win hotel and agency work page how we run this for a client.