Hotel Guests Sitting Pretty in a Limo

The latest hotel guest amenity has nothing to do with the room, a welcoming fruit basket or fancy soap in the bathroom. Fancy hotels have at least one. And now, so do dozens of middle-priced hotels.

It’s called the hotel limousine. Whether you’re staying at the Peninsula in Hong Kong or the Drake in New York, there seems to be a luxury car waiting for you.

At certain hotels and resorts around the world, limousines virtually are expected. At the train station in Milan, it is not an abnormal sight to see Mercedes limousines picking up passengers from the Orient Express for a leisurely drive to Villa d’Este on Lake Como.

Rolls-Royce limousines are a regular fixture at the Palace Hotel in St. Moritz. And in Washington, the Hay Adams wouldn’t be the Hay Adams without its limousine.

But hotel competition has become so fierce that a growing number of guests almost can expect to find a luxury limousine at their disposal.

Free Service

When the 288-room Four Seasons hotel opened on Boston’s Back Bay in June, the hotel offered free limousine service to guests. The Drake Hotel in New York offers limousine service to guests, including a free Cadillac used for its Wall Street shuttle each morning.

The Huntington in San Francisco just bought a 1962 Silver Cloud II Rolls-Royce and offers the car to its guests on a complimentary basis. And the Park Hyatt Hotel in Chicago has acquired a vintage, elegant 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III.

“One of the first things we did after renovating the entire hotel,” said Gary Sain, corporate vice president for the Ritz Carlton in Washington, D.C., “was to come up with a proposal for our own limousine. We recognize its importance as a necessary convenience for a hotel of our caliber.” The new Ritz Carlton limo will be available for all guests during peak morning hours for their downtown appointments, and by reservation at other times.

At Washington’s Watergate Hotel, managing director Paul Astbury was one of the first to provide complimentary limousines for his guests.

In Hong Kong, the Peninsula, a hotel that seems to define the word service, was one of the first to make use of luxury limousines on a grand scale. The hotel’s fleet of dark green Rolls-Royces is nothing less than legendary.

Since 1970, Peninsula guests have been transported royally by Rolls-Royces. In fact, when the hotel made its first order for seven Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow models, it made news in England. Rolls-Royce announced it was the largest single order for one model ever received.

Hotel Trademark

The Brewster Green saloons quickly became the hotel’s trademark around the world. (In 1974, when the hotel tried to replace the limousines with Lincoln Continentals, the move was met with nearly unanimous disapproval by guests. The U.S. cars were soon replaced by Rolls-Royces.)

In 1980 the Peninsula placed another record order for nine Silver Shadows. The Peninsula uses a team of 17 chauffeurs to operate its Rolls-Royce fleet.

“We look at our Rollses,” said Lynn Grebstad, spokeswoman for the Peninsula, “as an integral part of our hotel. And so do our guests. After all, what would coming to the Peninsula be without arriving via Rolls-Royce?”

Indeed, few Peninsula guests arriving at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport leave for the hotel in anything but a Rolls-Royce. The ride from the airport becomes a welcome buffer between the airplane ride and the frenetic pace of the city.

The cost of using one of the Peninsula’s limos: about $40 an hour. However, many guests prefer to hire the cars for a full-day rate of about $200. One exception is for guests staying in the hotel’s Marco Polo suite. A Silver Shadow is put at their disposal 24 hours a day, included in the room rent.

Fleet of Stretch Cars

“Hong Kong is tailor-made for limousines,” said Rudolf Greiner, general manager of the Regent, which, like the Peninsula, defines the state of the art of limousines in the crown colony. Greiner commands a fleet of seven Mercedes stretch limousines, two Phantom Rolls-Royces and 10 showcase Daimlers.

As a result, the long, circular driveway of the Regent, decorated with a moving parade of dream cars, is truly an impressive sight.

At the Regent in Bangkok, general manager Clyde Min presides over a fleet of beautiful white Mercedes limousines. Anyone who has ever stayed in Bangkok knows that the Regent’s limousines are not only the nicest, but the most necessary of hotel amenities. The hire fees are about $15 an hour, the drivers are knowledgeable and have mastered the most difficult art of negotiating one of the toughest traffic situations in Asia, if not the world.

Perhaps the ultimate limo perk is in Hong Kong. The Miramar Hotel there has become the first to have its fleet of Mercedes limousines licensed to operate in both Hong Kong and mainland China.

The hotel limousine also has invaded Hawaii. Almost all the major hotels in Waikiki offer limousine service. More often than not, the cars are used for airport pickups and deliveries.

First to Have Fleet

However, on the neighbor islands, especially the Big Island, limousines are used for just about everything. The Mauna Lani Hotel was the first to have a fleet of limos, six stretch white Cadillacs. The cars meet all arriving guests for the 30-minute ride down the Kohala Coast to the resort.

The cars also are hired out for guests. “The island is a big place,” said Mauna Lani spokeswoman Francine Duncan, “and our guests seem to prefer to see it in comfort.” One of the hotel’s popular outings offered for guests is a private limousine tour of the island, complete with an elaborate picnic lunch prepared by the hotel’s chef from a menu planned by the guest. The cost: $43 an hour (quite reasonable when you consider that two couples usually take the tour together).

In London, the Savoy Hotel group boasts the largest chauffeur-driven fleet in the United Kingdom. Since 1973 the hotel has offered its guests more than 50 Daimler and Jaguar limousines. The cars can be found at either the hotel or at the Savoy’s Heathrow Airport office.

It’s taken awhile, but other London hotels offer similar services. When the Mayfair Inter-Continental bought a Rolls-Royce last year, the limousine was instantly in demand. “To say that the car has been extremely busy ever since,” said general manager Patrick Board, “would be almost an understatement. In fact, the limousine is sometimes used 24 hours a day.”

Not Just for Airport

And, since the limousine has become available, the Mayfair’s guests are not just using it to go to the airport. “Our guests have become very demanding when it comes to the Rolls-Royce,” said Board. One guest regularly hires the car at 6 in the morning to drive to Scotland to shop and returns to the hotel after midnight. Another regular guest, who doesn’t like to fly, frequently asks that the Rolls-Royce be driven to meet him wherever he may be in Europe and deliver him back to the Mayfair.

One recent request by the guest and the Rolls was put on the Channel ferry and then driven to Geneva to fetch him. “The tab to drive him back from Switzerland was about eight times the cost of an airline ticket,” said Board, “but our guest arrived well-rested. On the other hand, our chauffeur was exhausted.”

And, once a month, Paul Astbury gets a call from a wealthy female guest in New York. The Watergate’s limousine is sent and drives the woman to Washington. “The cost is roughly $500, slightly more than a $49 shuttle ticket,” he said. “But as offbeat as this request may sound, it really isn’t. After all, that’s what the limousine is all about, and we’re happy to do it.”

A Few Warnings

One word of caution: Many hotels claim they have their own limousines, or offer limousine service, but these cars or services may be limited by time of day or hours of use.

Some hotels, for example (such as the Omni Berkshire Place in New York), advertise free limousine service to downtown business areas during peak morning hours, but the cars may not always be available in the afternoon or evening.

Finally, in Atlanta, there’s a new “limousine” service for hotel guests. Just call Private Chauffeur and the company provides a trained, uniformed driver to take you just about anywhere. The fee is $11 an hour (with a three-hour minimum) plus a 15% tip. What’s special about this service? The company doesn’t provide the car, you do, usually a rental car you don’t want to drive that you’ve picked up at the airport.

If you’re going to use this service, try to do yourself a small favor. At the very least, try to rent a good-looking car. Somehow a chauffeur-driven Fiesta just doesn’t make it.