Nepheline

My SO was staying at the Hilton at Esther Short Park in Vancouver WA and asked hotel staff to arrange a taxi to pick him up this morning at 3:30 a.m. and take him to Portland airport. Taxi driver charged him $47.50 for the ride (after missing the exit). I called the hotel and asked what the normal fee would be and they said they aren't allowed to tell me that but that an Uber would have been about $14. They found info about the taxi, which was RadioCab, and a reference number so I called RadioCab and asked for a supervisor. I was connected to a voicemail and left a message, but am wondering if any Fodorites would happen to know the usual cost of that taxi ride.
Thanks in advance.
Nepheline

newtome

I checked a couple of Taxi estimators because I was curious to about the differential between an uber xl and a taxi. The taxi estimators I looked at said it would cost somewhere between 41 and $47. So accounting for perhaps an night charge for the evening (3:30 AM) pick up it seems like the taxi charge was right in line with what companies charge. But I think it’s weird the hotel couldn’t give you an average taxi cost.
I know here in San Francisco, the cost for an Uber to the airport from downtown is much cheaper than taxi from downtown so I’m kind of not surprised.

tomfuller

The lesson here is to stay at a hotel near the PDX airport that has a shuttle. The Embassy Suites is nice and is within walking distance in the daytime.
Get the Lyft or Uber app and call either when you are ready to go.

traveler24

Last month I took Lyft from area called Battle Ground...near Vancouver..
to PDX ...cost...daytime hours...=$ 29.00 and I gave $5.00 tip.

suze

Then it sounds legit for a normal taxi.

What is strange is that the hotel front desk staff immediately mentioned Uber & weirder still they wouldn't tell you the proper taxi fare should have been.

Never heard of that before from a hotel!

suze

And yes depending on time of day (Uber fares vary by demand) they can be less than half the cost of regular service taxis. That part is not a surprise.

marvelousmouse

That sounds like a legit taxi price to me- I would have actually expected it to be a bit more due to previous experiences in the area.

I wonder if it’s more that the hotel clerk had no idea how much it would cost and didn’t want to be wrong. I wouldn’t think a lot of people staying there would taxi to the airport. Agree with Tomfuller that a pdx Hotel would have probably been the better choice.