Dangerous Situation and Unsafe Practices for Women or Anyone

Taxi Scam…

What started out as an otherwise pleasant and acceptable stay at this hotel ended up being quite an ordeal and so unsafe that I would NEVER stay at this hotel again or recommend that anyone unfamiliar with this city, female solo travelers, women or families stay here.

Our first trip to Washington D.C. we would assume that you would be able to trust the bellmen and concierge at a respectable, well known hotel, however – please read on.

We made prior arrangements and reserved a ride back to the airport (BWI) through the concierge who was very accommodating. The company that was to pick us up was called “Eagle”.

Our final day in the city and at the hotel, we had an event to attend so after checking out of the hotel we checked our luggage with the bellman to be later retrieved.

After our event we came back to the hotel, spoke with the bellman and retrieved our luggage. I specifically told him we were waiting for Eagle to take us back to BWI at 3:00 pm.

At approx 10 minutes to 3, a cab driver comes to pick us up, and the bellman kindly loads our luggage onto the cab- asks me for the stub that the concierge gave me a day prior to just “confirm” the price that was quoted to me by the concierge. The stub clearly said “Eagle”.

Away we go. First clue – no company name on the side of the cab. I asked the driver, who’s English was marginal, if he was from “Eagle”, he said yes, yes. I could only “trust” that the Bellman and Embassy Suites would not put anyone in danger by allowing “unauthorized “Cabs” to pick up their guests. WRONG. About 10 minutes into the ride, at 3:00 I get a phone call on my cell from the “real” Eagle Taxi-cab driver. He wanted to know where we were – Confused I said, “Well, we are in one of your cabs”. He started screaming and said, “no no your are NOT!”. He said that “we must come back”. I then asked our Cab driver what was going on and he said that he was told to pick us up because the original driver was running late. I was called 4 more times by the actual Eagle taxi driver and he told us to quickly get out of the cab, our driver was not an Eagle driver. We asked the cab driver where his picture I.D. was and he pulled out what looked to be an official I.D. however it was not “posted” anywhere on the cab but in a visor pocket.

At this point we felt like we were in danger and not knowing the area we had no idea what to do…Going 60 on the interstate, we couldn’t quite jump out of the vehicle. We were called several more times by the “real” driver and then the concierge who told us not to pay for the cab… Basically, at this point, we were in survival mode, I was ready to dial 911, and really had no idea what was going to happen here… All we knew was that if the cab ride was more than one hour, we should get the hell out of the cab and seek help because we weren’t going to end up at the airport. I called the manager of the Embassy suites while we were still in the cab as per the concierge’s request and let him know the situation. I was unable to give details, however, while we were in the cab. We did arrive at the airport, thankfully, however the cab driver expected to get paid and we decided to pay him the agreed upon amount that we were to pay Eagle. At this point the rogue cab driver began to haggle” about the price and things got very ugly again – basically an extremely bad experience.

Once inside the airport I called the Manager at Embassy Suites again who claims this has never happened before however sounds like a “scheme” with the Bellman.

Whether the bellman, the concierge, or whoever gets a kickback with this scheme is unknown and really doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is that the hotel bears some responsibility into the safety of it’s’ guests. The Bellman KNEW we were not getting into a cab that was pre-arranged for us and we feared for our safety when we found out we were not in the right cab and the real driver is telling us to quickly get out of that cab…

The manager was attentive in listening and offered to reimburse the cab ride however this was a rewards stay and therefore I used my points to pay for the room. He did offer to investigate who the bellman was that put us in the cab and to give me “points” that equaled the price of the cab ride. Obviously, NOTHING could be done to rectify a terrifying situation like this other than to let others know and BEWARE of this practice that is occurring at this hotel. Book your own transportation.