There is a difference between what a booking needs and what a pickup needs, and it is not a difference of degree. A booking needs the commercial and structural facts: dates, addresses, vehicle, hours. A pickup needs the operational ones: which of four doors you will come out of, whether the barrier is manned at that hour, and what number reaches you when you are not looking at your phone, which is most of the time when you are actually travelling.
The second list is shorter, more specific and more time-sensitive, and it is the one most often left incomplete because the booking felt finished weeks earlier. This guide sets out what the chauffeur actually needs before they set off, why each item matters at the kerb rather than in the office, and what genuinely does not need to be sent.
How the chauffeur finds you
The single most valuable thing is the exact point where you will be standing. Not the building, not the street, but the door. Large offices, hospitals, hotels, stations and residential blocks routinely have several entrances on different roads, and the difference between two of them can be a long walk round the block with luggage in the rain. Naming the door removes that risk completely.
For anywhere gated or controlled, add the mechanics of getting in. A gate code, the name on the intercom, whether a barrier is staffed at that hour, whether visitor access requires a call to reception, and which of two turnings off the lane is yours. These are the details that turn a smooth arrival into a series of small negotiations at your expense.
- The exact door, exit or meeting point where you will be standing
- Building name and the road it is actually accessed from
- Gate codes, intercom names or barrier arrangements
- Which entrance is open at that hour, if it varies
- Whether the chauffeur should come in or wait outside
- At airports, whether you want a name board in arrivals or a kerbside meet
How the chauffeur reaches you
A mobile number that works at the time of the collection is not the same as the number on the booking. If a passenger is landing from abroad, travelling on somebody else's arrangement, or being collected at six in the morning, the number that will actually be answered may be different. Say which one to use and whether messages or calls are preferred.
Set the expectation for how contact will happen too. Most chauffeurs send a short message on arrival and then leave you alone, which is right for the majority of people but wrong for anyone who has their phone silenced or packed. If you would rather be called, say so, and if you would rather nobody contacted you at all until you appear, say that instead.
What is being loaded
The luggage count on the booking decided the vehicle. What the chauffeur needs to know before pickup is what has changed and what is awkward, because that determines how they position the car and how long the loading takes. Two extra cases added the night before matter a great deal more at the kerb than they ever did at the enquiry stage.
Mention anything that will not simply go in a boot. A garment carrier that must hang, a case of documents that should stay in the cabin, a musical instrument, a folded wheelchair, a pushchair that has to come out again at the far end. Each of those changes the order of loading and occasionally where the car is placed. Say so in advance and it is simply dealt with.
The passengers on the day
Confirm who is actually travelling, because parties change. Somebody drops out, somebody brings a colleague, a child is now coming. The chauffeur needs the final number, and if a child seat is involved they need it fitted and checked before they set off rather than discovered on arrival, when there is no seat in the car and no time to fetch one. It is the single item that cannot be improvised at the kerb.
Say if anybody needs help. Assistance to the door, an arm on an icy morning, more time to get in, or simply a car brought closer than would otherwise be necessary. None of that is difficult if it is known in advance, and all of it is awkward to improvise while a queue of vehicles builds behind you on a set-down that allows nobody to linger.
What has changed since booking
This is the item most often skipped and most often needed. Bookings are made weeks ahead and life moves. The meeting is now at a different office. The flight has been rebooked. The party is four rather than two. The finish time has become an evening rather than an afternoon. Any of those is fine; none of them is fine if it arrives as a surprise.
Send changes as soon as you know them and wait for an acknowledgement, so that the person driving has the same version of the plan that you do. A change agreed with the office and never passed to the chauffeur is functionally the same as a change nobody made, and it is the commonest way a well-organised booking goes wrong.
- Any change of address, entrance or timing since the confirmation
- A revised flight number, terminal or arrival day
- A different passenger count or a new child seat requirement
- Extra luggage, or anything awkward added late
- A different mobile number for the day itself
- A finish time that has moved, in either direction
What you do not need to send
There is a limit, and it is worth stating so that nobody feels obliged to write an essay. The chauffeur does not need to know why you are travelling, who you are meeting, what the meeting is about, or anything about your personal circumstances beyond what affects the journey. A professional will not ask, and the information does not improve the service.
The test is the same one that applies at the booking stage: would this change what we do. Where you will be standing changes what we do. Your seat number does not. Everything you do send is shared only with the people who need it to run the booking, and none of it is discussed with anybody else afterwards, which is the whole basis of the arrangement.
