Press Release – Hotels.com
London’s iconic black cabs remain the best in the world while
Auckland misses out on top tenAll hail the London taxi!
London’s iconic black cabs remain the best in the world while
Auckland misses out on top ten
Auckland, 24 August 2011:
London taxis have been voted the best in the world for the
fourth year running, while Auckland taxis failed to rank among the
world’s best, according to the annual taxi report compiled by
Hotels.com, the world’s leading hotel booking website.
London’s black cabs won nearly a third (28%) of the vote in a
survey which asked almost 5,000* travellers from 23 countries
around the world for their views on various aspects of travelling
by taxi. London was placed first in five out of the seven
categories including safety, friendliness, cleanliness, quality of
driving and knowledge of the area.
Despite also being named the most expensive (with 20% of the
vote), London’s taxis beat off competition from New York (favourite
amongst 9% of travellers) and Hong Kong and Tokyo (equal third with
7% of the vote). Singapore completed the global top five receiving
6% of the vote, displacing the German city of Berlin and capital of
Thailand, Bangkok from last year’s top five.
The world’s best taxis:
Rank
City
%
1
London
28%
2
New York
9%
3
Hong Kong
7%
4
Tokyo
7%
5
Singapore
6%
Katherine Birch, Head of Marketing, Hotels.com Australia and New
Zealand, says: “Taxi drivers are often the first people a traveller
will meet on entering a country and their experience can set the
tone of their holiday. After four years at number one, London taxi
drivers are clearly leading the way, providing travellers with a
reliable and safe experience.”
Other findings include: From the airport The research found that
taxis are still by far the most popular method of travel from
airport to hotel, 54% of travellers choose a taxi over getting the
train (16%), boarding a bus (16%) or walking (2%).
Lost & found Travellers around the globe reported a number
of interesting items they’ve lost in taxis around the world. One
Korean traveller reported losing a dried cuttle fish, a Norwegian
unfortunately lost his/her wedding ring and an Italian even
reported losing her bra! With Brits reported losing a number of
items ranging from a hamster to a flute.
Tips Argentinians are the worst tippers, 34% confessing to never
tipping their taxi drivers. Hong Kong residents are the most
generous, with almost half (48%) choosing to tip 20% of the fare or
more. Brits were most likely to round up to the next round number
(33%) or tip 10% (50%).
Safety All 23 countries put safety as the most important thing
when taking a taxi ride, apart from Italians who deemed
‘cleanliness’ numero uno, ahead of safety that came in second
place!
Pet hates Chinese pet hates include smelly drivers with 55% of
the vote, while smoking at the wheel is frowned upon across the
globe with 33% of Brits and 52% of the French naming it as a pet
hate.
Cut the chat Koreans are the least appreciative of the famous
London cabbie, with 37% admit to hating ‘chatty drivers.’ Germany
also weren’t keen on making small talk, with 30% labelling chatty
drivers as one of their biggest dislikes!
-ENDS-
Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz
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