Search: “uber”

Since it looks like Uber isn’t coming to Kuwait anytime soon and Careem stopped operating in Kuwait as well, here is an alternative app you could use for now, Q8 Grand Limo. I haven’t used them yet but a friend of mine speaks extremely highly of them. They work similar to Uber as in you load up the app and request a cab to your location, but it also has a similar feature to Careem in which you could pre-book a cab for a specific time. So say you need a cab at 4AM in the morning for a early flight, you can pre-book the cab.

Price wise it seems to be cheaper than Careem but more expensive than regular cabs. The app gave me a fare estimate of 2.250-3.750 from Kuwait City to Salmiya. I’ll be using them soon and when I do I’ll post an update. The app is available for both Apple phones and Android phones. For links to download them as well as more information you can check out their website www.q8grandlimo.com

As far as the regular Uber cars (a.k.a. uberX) the experience in London can be mostly described as no frills. The driver takes you from A to B and you’re done. A few drivers from a certain ethnic background try to cheat the system. The platform is designed in a way that the driver doesn’t know the destination until he starts the trip. To avoid accepting a short trip that won’t make them a lot of money, some drivers call you to ask about where you’re going or falsely start the trip on the system and either way if they don’t like it, they’ll cancel or worse ask you to cancel because they’re “stuck on the road”. According to Uber rules, if you cancel the request when the car is less than five minutes away from you, you’re charged £5.00. Of course, I complain through the app and within minutes they apologise in an email and refund me. Not that much of a pleasant experience, and that’s in London. Strange enough, the driver’s attitude in New York is much better.

I don’t claim to know how Uber will legally operate in Kuwait – that’s if they manage to make it happen. However, if they open the door to individuals as they do elsewhere I am concerned about the quality of the experience customers will have. The Kuwaiti market suffers a great deal from poor customer experiences caused by both sides: untrained and/or unfriendly staff and rude or unresponsive customers. I know I’m generalising but this is the mainstream scene. With immature consumer behaviour and a lack of professionalism from drivers who feel empowered to treat you anyway they like when they’re hiding behind the app’s platform the experience can be rigged or ruined in spite of regulations. That being said, Uber claims to be strict with drivers who receive poor ratings. Regardless of the business model Uber chooses, it would be better for the Kuwaiti market if Uber offers existing taxi companies to join their system conditional to following strict regulations that can be monitored. At least, we’ll have less horn-honking on the streets from taxis trying to get the attention of people walking by. This week’s tip: Expanding from one location to another is a sound move, if and only if, you can consistently maintain the standards of operation everywhere.

Post by Loaay Ahmed, a strategic business therapist since 1995. He currently lives and works in London, UK, while earning his master’s in Service Design Innovation, and managing knightscapital in Kuwait. For Loaay’s advice on business or work matters, send a short email to [email protected]. Regrettably, only the questions chosen for publishing will be answered.

According to a Zain press release, Zain and Uber have partnered up to offer Zain customers discounted and preferential services when using the Uber platform. The service is already active in Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia but according the press release, Kuwait is next. If this isn’t definitive proof that Uber is coming to Kuwait I’m not sure what is. [Link]

Thanks Musaed

[YouTube]

Yesterday when I was on my way to Khiran to wakeboard, I passed a tow truck which had its phone number printed on the back. In my head I was thinking I should remember that number because what if my car broke down here, in the middle of nowhere what would I do? Oddly enough later during day a friend of mine sent me a link to the advert above for a locally created app called WINCH.

WINCH is Arabic for tow truck and the app works similar to Uber where as in when you need a tow truck you launch the app and request one. The app requires you to fill in some basic information the first time you run it like your name, email and phone number but after that it automatically logs you in. The app uses your GPS location to find you as well as displaying nearby tow trucks on the map. Cost wise, according to the app description WINCH is free to use but for the towing cost you need to deal directly with the tow truck company. From my previous experience with tow truck, that usually means a bit of haggling.

The app is a good idea, it’s definitely not something I will be using often (I hope at least) but it’s a good app to have if I ever need a tow truck. The app is free and available for [iPhones] and [Android]

Thanks Musaed

Earlier tonight while in Doha I took an Uber cab and as I usually do I opened up a conversation with the driver. I love Uber so I’m always being nosy and asking the drivers questions about the service like how much interest Uber takes, how many hours they work and other Uber driver related questions.

Anyway we were talking about Uber in different countries in the region and he asked me about Uber in Kuwait and I told him we didn’t have it yet. He found that odd and asked me if I was sure. After convincing him that I was he told me two months back he picked up a women who told him she worked for Uber in Kuwait. I thought that was interesting. It would make sense if they did come to Kuwait since they’re already in Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Riyad, Manama and Beirut. Even though I have a car there are occasions where I’ve needed a cab and I just hated the fact that I need to negotiate with the drivers for a price because they didn’t want to turn their meters on.

Over the weekend Uber launched their services in Beirut which means Uber is now available in Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Uber is probably going to launch in Kuwait one day but until they do there currently is a service running in Kuwait that is kinda like Uber, it’s called Easy Taxi.

Easy Taxi is an app that’s available on iOS, Android and Windows phones and once you install it and sign up allows you to request a taxi. If you’re not familiar with how Uber or other taxi apps work its pretty simple. Whenever you need a cab you launch the app which will automatically pinpoint your location. Once your location is found a button becomes active allowing you to request a cab. When you click the button it starts scanning the area looking for available taxis. I tried it when I was at Sultan Center in Shaab and found 5 taxis in my vicinity. I confirmed the cab request and it told me the cab was 7 minutes away and that I could chat with the driver or give him a call if I needed to. The app also gave me the cars description and license plate number so I could recognize it once it arrives.

It’s pretty similar to Uber taxi except for the fact you can’t get a fare quote before requesting the cab nor can you pay for your cab using your credit card or PayPal account. But, until Uber comes to Kuwait this is a pretty good alternative. For more information on Easy Taxi just visit their website [Here]

Thanks Roberto

After launching in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, Uber launched in Riyadh earlier today. Uber is a kind of taxi service where you can book a taxi from your phone. I tried it for the first time a few days ago when I was in Paris and I loved it.

The way Uber works is it will show you your location on a map as well as all the drivers in the area as soon as you launch the app. You can then get a price estimate to your destination and if you’re happy with it you can request for a pickup and they’ll send you a driver. Before the driver arrives you can track them to see how far they are, check out their profile as well as well as msg them your ETA in case you’re gonna be a bit late. Finally when they pick you up and drop you off the payment goes through automatically since you connect your paypal or credit card to your Uber account and you also get emailed a full breakdown of the journey including the distance traveled and time (check below).

Now that they launched in Riyadh I really hope they follow up with a launch in Kuwait. Anybody who’s ever taken a cab in Kuwait knows what a headache it can be from finding a cab to negotiating a price and then having to put up with old dirty cars and terrible driving.

Not sure why you’d want a square egg, but here’s the device to make one with. Results may vary. [Link]

If you’re looking for something fun and different to do this coming holiday weekend, drive down to Riyadh for the Paul vs Fury fight. Jake Paul, the popular YouTuber turned boxer is fighting Tommy Fury, the brother of two-time heavyweight boxing world champion Tyson Fury. The event is on February 26th and ticket prices start at just 15KD.

Riyadh is just 6 hours away by car and there are plenty of things to do there. If you want fight tickets, click here.

E-Fly is a scooter-sharing service that was recently launched in Kuwait.

Scooter-sharing is a service in which electric scooters are made available to rent on the side of the road for quick trips. They can be picked up and dropped off usually anywhere within a zone and are activated using an app. I’ve used them in Europe and Dubai to move around and they can be extremely practical and usually a lot faster than Uber or public transportation especially when you’re in a congested city like Paris or London.

In Kuwait, at the moment there are three areas where E-Fly is available, the Gulf Road from Marina Mall to Scientific Center, the Mishref Oasis Park, and at the South Island of the Causeway Bridge.

The rental price is 100 fils to start and then 50 fils for every minute you rent the scooter. The app is available on both the Apple and Google Store and you can check out their Instagram for more details and links @eflyscooter

One thing a lot of people like to do in the summer is head to one of the islands off the shore of Kuwait and chill there for a day. If you don’t have a boat or yacht that wasn’t so easy to do before but now there are a lot of different ways of finding one to rent.

The easiest way to get a boat is probably using the app WAVES. I just counted 36 yachts available for rent in the app with prices starting from 25KD. The starting prices listed are a bit misleading since most yachts have a minimum hours you need to rent. If you’re planning a trip to Kubbar for example, expect to pay 200KD and upwards for the trip. There are smaller boats for cheaper, but they won’t be as fast or comfortable. The WAVES app is fairly easy to navigate and book with and most importantly, you don’t need to create an account if you just want to browse.

To check out the WAVES app, click here.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to use the WAVES app and prefer contacting the yacht owners directly, there are a lot of different Instagram accounts that offer boats and yachts for rent. Here are some of them:

7 Oceans Yacht Rental
Adventure Icon
Aloha Beach Boat Rental
Aquarium Boat Rental
Deverano Kayak Rental
Jigging and Fishing Cruises
Luxury Yacht Rental
Maria Luxury Yacht Rental
Neom Yacht Rental
Queen Nina Boat Rental
Sanpedro Fishing and Sea Trips
Sea Adventures Q8
Soud Yacht Rental
Summer Winter Trips
Uber Marine

I’m sure there are more accounts I’ve missed so if you know of any more let me know in the comments. Also if you’ve tried any of them and had a good or bad experience, let us also know in the comments.

Over the holidays I went to Istanbul for vacation, my first time there since a university trip 22 years ago so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. There were two things I kept hearing about Istanbul or Turkey in general which is the food isn’t great, and people aren’t very friendly. Well, no idea what people are talking about because the food was great and I found everyone incredibly friendly (except for people in cars who seem to just want to run over everyone).

The trip was semi-spontaneous, originally the plan was to go to London but by the time I decided to book my ticket the prices had shot up a lot and it just wasn’t worth it anymore. I looked at other destinations that I could fly direct to and decided to head to Istanbul. I did some quick research on hotels and right away booked at Soho House, there really was no doubt about the choice and after staying there I’m glad I did because everything about the hotel was great. I booked their “small” room which really didn’t turn out to be that small and was really nice looking. The staff were great and the hotel turned out to be located in a great spot and less than a 5-minute walk to a subway station. Because I was staying at the hotel I also got access to the members-only Soho House Club next door. The club has two bars, one on the ground floor and one on the top floor as well as a restaurant and tons of cozy seating areas. It’s a very nice space where I ended up every night just chilling on my phone while having a drink.

Traveling around Istanbul was hit and miss. If I could take the metro to wherever I’m going then it was a hit. If I needed to take a cab then it was a miss. Uber is terrible in Istanbul and mostly because drivers kept canceling trips or messaging me after I booked asking me where I wanted to go. If the trip wasn’t in the direction they were heading they didn’t want to take it. That was the case the whole trip, drivers didn’t want to take any trip that would get them stuck in traffic or take a trip that wasn’t in the direction they were going. Their subway system on the other hand was great, very fast, very efficient, and pretty new. It’s what I used to get to most places and it’s how I avoided the terrible Istanbul traffic. The only issue I found was that their ticket machines didn’t accept credit cards so I always had to keep cash on hand which I hated.

The city itself is really beautiful, I was worried that a week would be too long of a time to spend in Istanbul and eventually I’d get bored, but it was actually the opposite. There was so much to do and see I didn’t even get through my full list of things to do, nor did I get the chance to hit up most of the museums on my list or even restaurants. I tried as much as possible to stay off the beaten path and it was fairly easy to do with so many nice areas and lots of great shops. If you want a fancy area they have it, if you want a ghetto area they have it, if you want a hipster area they have it, there is so much variety it kept me entertained till the very end to the point I’m now thinking of going back just to finish going through my list. One thing to note is that Istanbul is fairly hilly and you’re never really walking on a flat path, you’re always either walking downhill or climbing some super steep hill. It was exhausting exploring the city on foot, but because the weather was cold, it was very manageable. In the summer I’m not really sure it’s something you’d want to do unless you don’t mind sweating a lot. When it came to food I tried as much as possible to stick to Turkish food and that worked out really well. Lots of kebab, lots of tea, and lots of desserts.

I think my favorite part of the trip though was how affordable the whole experience was. It took me a couple of days to adjust to the price because I kept thinking I was miscalculating because everything was coming out really cheap. Most of the places I ate at the bill was around 10KD for two. My favorite breakfast spot was around 6KD for two and that was with a lot of food. Even the hotel which is one of the best cost me around 80KD a night. It won’t cost you a lot to have a great time in Istanbul.

Even their airport was one of the nicest I’ve been to. Their main airport opened up just a few years ago and so is really new and it shows. It also had lots of restaurants, a huge duty-free area so you can easily kill a couple of hours before your flight.

Anyway, I’ve temporarily set up a highlight for my Istanbul trip on my Instagram (@mark248am) if you want to check it out. But, I’m also sharing my shops and food list on Google Maps in case you want to use it on your trip.

Exploring Istanbul
Eating in Istanbul

Wiyak is a new cab booking app similar to Uber. I’ve previously posted about a number of similar premium rides apps including Grand Limo, Draewil and Rove. Draewil and Rove were the two I was using the most until Draewil closed down which sucked because I prefer having more than one app to pick from since I usually go with the one that will arrive the fastest to me.

I don’t really use cabs much only when I’m picking up or dropping a car off at my garage. Every now and then I might use them if I have a meeting somewhere in the city where I know the parking situation is a mess. What I like about these premium ride apps is that they obviously make ordering a cab an easy process but I also like the fact the cars are premium since I end up looking forward to the comfotable ride. Last week I decided to try Wiyak out when I needed to pick up my car from the garage and it’s everything I’ve grown to expect from these services.

The Wiyak app is pretty much similar to Rove and simple to use, there was also a cab nearby so I had to wait less than 10 minutes to get picked up. The car was a new Mercedes S Class so nice and fancy, and the price was pretty much the same as Rove. Not sure what else to say. I don’t think they’re bringing anything new to the table, but I like the fact I’m back to having two apps to pick from.

My trip from Salmiya to Al-Rai cost KD6.720 which is pretty much exactly the same I paid for the same trip with Rove. If you’re a Rove customer and like me are looking for a Plan B when you need a cab urgently, download the Wiyak app by visiting wiyak.com

ROVE is a local car booking app similar to Uber. It’s a lot more upscale than the street cabs and more in line with the likes of Draewil. Before the pandemic, I was flip-flopping between ROVE and Draewil depending on which had a cab closer to me but Draewil hasn’t reopened yet (I think they’ve closed down for good they’re going to be back September) so currently ROVE is the only car booking service I’d use.

Like I mentioned in my Draewil review, I don’t use cabs a lot, usually only when dropping one of my cars off to the garage so I don’t mind spending the extra amount of money for comfort and right now, safety. I actually don’t think ROVE is even that expensive compared to the experience you’re getting in return. A trip from my garage in Kuwait City to Salmiya cost me KD4.5, but I was picked up in a brand new Range Rover, there was a bottle of hand sanitizer in the rear cupholder alongside a water bottle, I had a charging cable, lots of legroom, the driver wore a face mask the whole time and the whole service is very professional.

I’m actually not sure if ROVE have other cars since every time I’ve used them I’ve been picked up in a Range Rover. Depending on where you are the time it takes for their car to reach you will vary, yesterday it took 8 minutes for the car to arrive after I requested one. For payment, you can either set up your credit card in the app, pay by cash or pay by KNET. If you’re looking for a premium cab service, I’d highly recommend ROVE right now. Here is a link to their website with the app download links. [Link]

They’re also on Instagram @rideroveapp

While prepping for this post I realized that I hadn’t written a hotel review since 2015. I think that’s because I don’t travel as much as I used to and when I do, they’re usually quick weekend trips over to Dubai. I usually stay at the Vida Downtown Hotel in Dubai but this past weekend the room prices were more expensive than usual at KD67 a night which is more than what I wanted to pay. Hotel rooms are still one thing I’m not comfortable with paying a lot for, I only tend to sleep there and not really hang out in the room so can’t see myself paying so much money for it. So while looking for alternative places to stay I stumbled upon the Rove Downtown Hotel. The reviews online were all pretty great, the hotel was a 5-minute walk from Dubai Mall, a 10-minute walk to my best friend’s apartment, the rooms looked nice and clean, and most importantly, it was only around KD35 a night. So I booked and hoped for the best.

When I first arrived to the hotel check-in was pretty quick even though they were a bit busy. While checking in I noticed what looked like an entrance to a cinema on the far end of the lobby so I asked the receptionist if that was an actual cinema and he was like yes it was. Turns out the hotel had a small Reel Cinema movie theater that played current movies and was free for hotel guests. I was already impressed. After getting the room key I headed towards the elevators when I spotted a Zoom brand convenience store connected to the lobby. I decided to check it out and they had a ton of munchies as well as things you might need like deodorant and toothpaste. So far it seemed like the perfect hotel and I started hoping the rooms would be good because I knew it had the potential to be my new favorite hotel in Dubai.

As soon as I walked into the room I was relieved. The room looked like what I had seen in the photos, it was clean, modern, cozy and not that small. When booking a room they had only two options really to choose from, either a room overlooking Burj Khalifa, or not. I didn’t care about the view so I booked a regular room and so my view was of some random towers further down the road and it wasn’t that bad. My overall first impression was really great at that point.

Over the next two days, I really couldn’t find anything negative about the hotel. Even if I’m trying to be super picky the worst thing I could come up with is the lack of decent TV channels or the lack of Apple TV. At Vida, I could connect to my Netflix account on the room’s TV and also stream YouTube videos from my phone to it. But that’s really the only negative thing I have to say about Rove. Dubai Mall was really easy to get to with the closest entrance being the new Fashion Avenue extension and if you want to Uber somewhere, the cabs are all super close and never take more than a couple of minutes to get to the hotel.

If you’re looking for a great budget hotel to stay in the next time you’re in Dubai then I really recommend you check out Rove. I was so impressed it made me go back to writing hotel reviews again. Here is a link to their website.