How to cheat visitors to Delhi

When I booked my "expensive" hotel in Delhi, I received a message from them. At first I was not going to read it - I thought the standard set "thank you, we are very happy". But it was boring and looked all the same. And then he became incredibly pleased that he had not sent him to the basket!

The fact is that the hotel sent me instructions on how not to let the taxis separate themselves on the way from the airport. It turned out that in India this happens so often (and so it is sophisticated) that they made up a whole memo to the tourist, from which I learned about the existence of malicious bureau interceptors.

First of all, I’ll say on my own that all official taxis at the airport are prepaid. You need to pay in the window in the terminal. There are several of them, and they are competing, so there is an opportunity to bargain. But when you have already paid, you don’t owe anything else. Neither for baggage, nor for mileage, nor for "extra" passengers. Tipping is also not accepted, only if you really liked your taxi driver. So if he starts to beg for money upon arrival, feel free to go out and don’t give him anything.

So the letter (in my literary translation):

* * *

Thank you for booking our hotel!

To make your holidays in India more pleasant, we offer you the following list of instructions. Please read it carefully if you intend to get to our hotel by taxi! Be careful that your driver does not deceive you!

Do not believe him if he starts to tell you anything about our hotel or about the roads. (The hotel was closed / under repair / crowded. Roads are blocked due to a religious festival.) Remember, our hotel is open around the clock and roads to it are not closed due to any festivals!

Or if he pretends that he does not know how to get to the hotel and offers to give you a lift to the "official state" tourism office. Needless to say, this is a tourist trap! In this fake bureau they will try to settle you in some kind of bedbug, and the taxi driver will receive a reward for bringing you there.

The driver may even ask you for the phone number of our hotel and pretend to call us to supposedly find out how to get there. After that, he will say that he was told that we are closed / blocked / lost your reservation. And it will offer you a “good” alternative. Or, again, the "official" bureau.

If you really need to call us from a taxi, ask the driver for a cell phone and dial the number yourself. We speak English.

And the last: since you are taking a taxi in Delhi, then you have already been allowed into the country and everything is fine with your visa. You do not need to appear anywhere, anywhere to celebrate, do not need registration or permits. If the taxi driver mentions this, then he also wants to bring you to some left office.

We are waiting for you and wish you a pleasant stay in Delhi!

* * *

By the way, do not think that I did not like India.