FIRST TIMERS TO DELHI MUST READ THIS

Delhi - the capital of India
Bustling 13 million plus population,
Once the most green capital city
Once fourth most polluted capital
Presently awarded for one of the most clean city
Runs the world's largest fleet of public buses on CNG
Boasts of 1500+ historic monuments built over 5000 years,
and the city itself being rebuilt around the same area eight times,

Today the capital is a potpourri of Indian & western culture - the old & the new; traditional & modern; even the language is a mix of Hindi, English, Punjabi & Urdu; coffee parlors & pubs; hop on a cycle rickshaw in old Delhi or traverse through the city's longitude by modern metro train; multi-cuisine city - Italian, Spanish, Mexican, Thai or just breads : plenty of choices…
The city also has a moving population working in the city and staying in the sub-urbs; lots of them look forward to eventually settling into the city and make the big city buck. Just trying to say there are all kinds of people in the city like any other big city in the world.

AND there is a rather small number of 'travel-shops' (I do not even like to call these travel shops) who believe in quick buck by whatever means. Almost all the guide books speak of this problem - where a tourist (generally first timers) gets a pre-paid taxi or taxi from airport to reach their hotel. Generally most international flights arriving at middle of the night, the city is dark and at times the cab drivers purposely choose darker alleys or lanes. The first timers, on some pretext or the other, are taken to such midnight 'travel shops', where they need to 'register' themselves. The 'registration clerk' makes entry into a big register (where so many tourists are listed - I wonder the numbers they have cheated over time) and makes phoney calls to check if the hotel you are supposedly booked in, actually has your reservation. The answer of course is - the reservation has been cancelled (even though you paid advance by card) as a group overstayed or the reservation is infact from the next day onwards - AND there are no rooms available for the night. The clerk offers to help and finds you this great deal for US $ 60 - 200 depending on your original hotel booking. The taxi driver is then asked to take the guest to the designated hotel. All this for no fee. Wow ! Such friendly people. AND the truth prevails - 2 AM - the hotel now booked for you actually is a sleazy guest house where as per rules (you are shown a copy) you need to pay advance equivalent to 2 or 3 nights deposit. There is nothing much you can do at 2 AM and decide to pay up and decide to sort in the morning. In the morning, the night receptionist is not there, there is no copy of the receipt, nor the taxi number or the visiting card of the travel shop. The travel shop gets his commission from the hotel and so does the taxi chap. You in frustration check out and reach your original hotel, where they never received a phone call and your booking was considered a 'NO SHOW'. Your first hours in Delhi and despite reading the guide books of all the possible scams and being very careful, you have been cheated.

This happens every night in connivance with the taxi drivers etc.

WE WANT TO STOP IT OR ATLEAST MINIMISE IT AND WANT YOUR HELP.

We in our own small way have decided to fight this system and assist the travelers to settle down on their first night in Delhi. Generally a cab from airport to center of the city, will cost Rs 200 - Rs 450 depending on which cab counter you get it from. We pay Rs 300 for a tourist cab from city to airport and back including waiting of upto 3 hours at airport + add on car parking fee of Rs 80 + airport entry fee of Rs 50 charges + Rs 20 towards admin. charges = total of Rs 450 (US $ 9.5 or Euro 9). A tourist cab for Rs 450 is good for 4 persons. We are suggesting is that you pre-book your transport from airport to city with us and we ensure that our representative with a placard and your name meets you in the arrival lounge (see sketch) of Delhi airport AND drives you to the hotel of your choice. No questions asked, no bogus registrations, no gimmicks. Though if you so wish, we could also assist in making your hotel reservations at discounted rates, organize train/air tickets, car hire or just offer tourism information as per your request. But if you ask for just arrival transfer, we will provide so. Please do assist us in getting these so called 'travel shops' out of business.

ps : In case of parties who are arriving around same time and staying at nearby hotels, we could bring you together and thereby further reduce the cost.