Nearly all Prague hotels, private apartments and hostels will assist with arranging airport or train station transport. This service might look very useful and comfortable for very obvious reasons – being assured that along with your reservation most hotels will offer you their hotel taxi service for a fixed price sounds appealing to most travellers. There is no need to worry about looking for other options, taking a public taxi, or dragging your luggage while using public transport (which might not be the fastest and most comfortable way of getting to your destination). The bottom line is that you most probably will be charged a premium price for a very basic hotel taxi service unless you do some price research and choose alternative transport. Most hotels resell transport, while a few – mostly five-star – hotels operate their own taxi/limo service. Some hotels do not directly offer a taxi service but rather leave this entirely up to the front desk/reception, which is probably the worst scenario. When the taxi service is run by reception, they most likely will charge you double the price for the ordinary service – and share up to 50% commission with the driver. When the driver comes to your hotel, you will most likely notice that reception pays to the taxi driver only part of what you have paid to the hotel (if you have paid at the reception directly), or that the driver gives to the reception an envelope or cash, which is the commission for your booking. The average commission for the receptionist ranges from 300 CZK to 500 CZK. Such hotels are very unwilling to call public taxi companies, as no commission is provided. Some hotels do not care about this business and keep reception doing what they do – sometimes silently agreeing that this is the way to make some extra cash for their low-paid employees. If this is the case, do not expect a very well-organized service – instead, a friend of an affiliated company famed for overcharging will be sent to the hotel. Other hotels have taxi services run by a subcontracted company, which mostly guarantees much better service, and you will notice their hotel taxis waiting in front of such hotels. Those services are of a much higher standard (expect a uniformed driver and a better vehicle), but the price will range from 800 to 2000 CZK for a simple transfer to the airport. For example, the Sheraton or Clarion Congress hotels charge 950 CZK for a taxi to the airport, while the Four Seasons hotel charges around 2000 CZK. If you wish to save money and get even better service, use Prague Airport Transfers.
Tip: Do not ask reception or the concierge to book a taxi, even if you tell them which specific company to call for you, because later you might find out that reception has called their own affiliated company rather the one with decent prices you have chosen. Save yourself from surprises and call or book the taxi online yourself.