Two Canadian brothers contemplated this website idea back in December 2006 while waiting at their departure gate in Bangkok, Thailand after being ripped off yet again by a taxi driver. Realizing that being ripped off was more-or-less an international problem for travellers, the ideas for a website evolved over the next couple of years. A plan was put into place in December 2008 at the Phnom Penh airport in Cambodia on the back of a few napkins and construction of the site soon followed. The IHateTaxis.com website was born to deal with the ongoing problem and a possible solution that travellers (namely themselves) faced in their various global travel pursuits -- GROUND TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS. Sure one can book their plane ticket, hotel room, car rental, and even attractions online, but something very important was amiss in the new age of travel e-convenience. Simply put, how does one get from the airport to their desired destination and where does one find all of these ground transportation options in a centralized website location?
Like most travellers out there, both brothers have individually and collectively experienced the shark tank feeding frenzy of extortion at various airports as soon as one clears customs with your luggage.
Looking dumbfounded, not knowing the going rates of services, and being hassled after a long flight most often leaves you in a state of complete vulnerability. The common resultant outcome is that you end up paying a ridiculous amount of money to get to your hotel and sometimes this unfortunately shapes your first impression of the city or country you are in. The name of this website is thus a half jocular expression of this frustration.
The website concept then expanded to include information about country profiles (including cultural tips), medical information, electrical information, visas, lost luggage, currency conversion and the list keeps expanding. This was done to avoid surfing several different other websites for this information or shelling out a small fortune for a country guide book every time you step on a plane. Guide books can also become out of date relatively quickly.
Our website constantly updates ground transportation options at hundreds of airports around the globe. We keep our pulse on this by constantly searching the internet and making contact with various companies operating to or from the airport or other selected destination. We also speak with travellers like yourself whom have recently been to a particular location and can offer useful information. Our forums were created to facilitate this communication medium. We research all information posted or emailed and then update our web pages accordingly in a quick turn around time so that our website can reflect ground transportation information in real time. We provide continual 24 hour ground transportation options surveillance.
Our primary goal is to provide a FREE centralized & constantly updated global ground transportation repository so that travellers like ourselves are empowered upon arrival. We do make recommendations based on our research and if you do not agree with our thoughts please let us know why. If several individuals are not happy with a particular airport shuttle service in Miami, for example, then we will seriously look at revising our recommendation.
Yes, we are biased towards some services if we think they are efficient, cost effective and safe (this is our criteria for assessment). Companies that meet this criteria only can potentially advertise on the appropriate pages. You will notice that we almost always recommend free hotel shuttles as the price is generally nominal and it is a direct transfer to your hotel without the stress of negotiating fares or doing a milk run. But as mentioned on our site, ensure the hotel that offers this free shuttle is providing you with an accommodation rate that meets your budget otherwise consider the other available options we have listed. While we do intend for the website to pay for its operating costs, we are not looking at making a profit if it in anyway compromises our ongoing ability to provide realistic & honest assessments of ground transportation options.
The intent behind this idea was that of a hobby to assist travellers in this previous e-information void. Undoubtedly an empowered traveler will make smarter decisions and will thoroughly enjoy their trip more. This new form of empowerment will hopefully somewhat curtail the shark tank feeding frenzy of extortion for travellers around the globe.
