UK Travel Planning

Expert Insights on London Airport Transfers and Beyond with Riz of XFA Cars

• Tracy Collins • Episode 134

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Get ready to learn how to transform your UK travel experience with exceptional airport transfer services by tuning in to our latest episode featuring Riz from XFA Cars. As a beloved figure among our listeners and online community, Riz is known for his outstanding service and seamless communication, setting the bar for stress-free travel.

Discover the ease of booking your ride, whether through online quotes or instant messaging on platforms like WhatsApp and iMessage. Riz shares insider tips on managing airport pickups with flexibility, ensuring that every traveler, no matter the arrival process, starts their UK adventure on the right foot.

We also take a closer look at the customer-friendly booking and payment policies that make XFA Cars stand out. With a fleet ready to support both individual and group travel, including luxurious Mercedes Vitos and V-Class vehicles, there's a strong focus on understanding and meeting customer needs, especially concerning luggage requirements.

Learn how Riz and his team adapt to seasonal client variations, from solo travellers in winter to summer family vacations. Alongside trusted partnerships and attention to detail, these personal touches are part of a commitment to high-quality service.

We’re excited to share how these strategies have led to past successes and how they’ll continue to enhance travel experiences through 2025. Don't miss this chance to reimagine your journey with personalized travel solutions.

⭐️ Guest - Riz Idrees of XFA Cars
📝  Show Notes - Episode  134

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to episode 134 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. In this episode, I chat with our partner, Riz from XFA Cars about London airport transfers and beyond. We'll discuss why we recommend private transfers, how to book and why this popular service has received outstanding feedback in our UK Travel Planning and London Travel Planning Facebook groups. So grab a cuppa and join us for tips to make your UK travel even smoother.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the UK. Travel even smoother. Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, tracey Collins. In this podcast, tracey shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns towns.

Speaker 1:

Hi everybody and welcome to episode 134 of the UK Travel Final podcast. Now this week I'm really excited to be talking to my mate, riz from XFA Cars. Now it is 12 months since Riz was last on the podcast and since then, if you know who R is, you're probably a member of our Facebook group because he is a celebrity in our Facebook group. Now Riz is our partner for our London airport transfers and beyond, because he doesn't just do the airport transfers, he does much more than that. Now, before Riz comes on to the podcast and introduces himself, I'm going to embarrass him now because we have had so many which I talk about you as a celebrity, riz, and you are. You are a celebrity In our Facebook group.

Speaker 1:

I have had so many amazing reviews of Riz so I'm just going to quickly throw a couple of these out there. My husband and I just got back from an amazing time in London and it all started with a ride from Riz and his crew. They were so accommodating and the communication was key. Loved how Riz always let me know what he was going to do, where he would pick us up and communicate with me constantly. Our ride into London from London Heathrow was super, enjoyable and informative. Another one shout out to Riz and XFA Cars and our driver, hanif, who we just arrived in London and our trip from London Heathrow to the hotel was flawless. I'm so glad we booked with them. Thank you, tracy and Doug. So those are just two of the many, many, many amazing reviews, so I'm so pleased to welcome you back onto the podcast, 12 months since the last one, would you believe it?

Speaker 3:

hi everyone. Happy new year. First of all. Uh, thank you, tracy, for having me back. Um, yeah, can you believe it? It it's been a year already. It's been a tough blood, sweat and tears sometimes for me, including the drivers. All this communication does have a cost and unfortunately I'm keeping them awake through the night cause I'm checking on them to make sure they are there so that we're looking after people.

Speaker 1:

But it's amazing, riz, honestly everybody who books with you the reviews that we've had, the emails that we've had, have been absolutely outstanding. So I have to say personally from myself and Doug thank you so much for the outstanding job that you do. Now. I said 12 months ago and I'll say it again for me, when I arrive in a new destination or a place I don't know at an airport, I want to be picked up, I want to be taken to my accommodation I don't want to stress, I really don't which is where you guys come in and where you have been doing a fantastic job over the last 12 months, and I know you've picked up hundreds of people over the last 12 months and taken them into London. You've taken them to other places as well. So chat to us about the process when people actually do the booking. What sort of information do you require? How do you keep in touch with them? What happens when you?

Speaker 3:

meet them at the airport, talk us through everything that you do, sure? So that's a very good point, uh, tracy, so the journey kind of begins from the initial communication I get. So, if I'm honest, sometimes I'm on the road myself as well, which makes it difficult for me to respond to all emails within the desired 24 hours. I think, if I could say the quickest way to get a quote would be online. The quickest way to communicate with myself is there's a business WhatsApp number. My number is also advertised pretty much all over Facebook as well, so that's on the iMessage, if you're not on WhatsApp. But, like I say, the website is configured to give you the price when you find the price isn't there. Absolutely drop me a message. If it's an urgent inquiry, drop me a message directly on the way to WhatsApp or on iMessage. Otherwise I will respond by email as well. So there's no preferred way, the only one I'll say. I uh, booking questions are probably facebook messenger, because it's not the mainstream business sort of booking tool. However, it doesn't mean you won't get a response on it, it will just be a slow response. So, yeah, go online, get yourself a quote that you need and, by all means, if you need to discuss the quote, if you need to discuss prices, if you've got questions about the quote itself, please by all means pick the phone up, drop me a message, call whatever is easy for you. I'm available every possible way.

Speaker 3:

The other thing I was going to add to that is when you're looking at quotes and people are often sort of thinking, ah, I want a book, but I don't know what time to put down. My flight arrives at 6 am. Do I give it half an hour? Do I give it 45 minutes? The answer is is even I don't know how long you'll be once you've landed and you're taxiing and you're waiting for your gates. We do allow a generous 45 minutes an hour, you know, for you to clear your passport control, grab your luggage and then meet somebody at the other side who's waiting for you at the meeting point.

Speaker 3:

And, like you mentioned, you know, in line with the communication, I share with you a small map, a picture and a video and, of course, me nagging you constantly. You know, hey, thank you for your book here, looking forward to seeing you. And of course, you know you've landed. Welcome to London, you know. And then give us 10, 15 minutes and we'll be there. So I try and communicate as much as possible, by all means, if you have questions outside of that.

Speaker 1:

I'm always happy to take any questions as well, so I think I mean the. The feedback that we've had, I have to say, is that not only yourself but your drivers are extremely friendly. They're punctual, they're on time. The communication is second to none from you guys, so there's no stress involved Once you've got the booking with you guys. From then on out, the communication is absolutely perfect and sound, and you do that. Now, key information that you need from people booking is obviously things like how many people, how many suitcases, and that is very important because you tailor the quote to them, don't you?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely 100%. Very important because you tailor the quote to them, don't you? Absolutely 100 it's. You know it's other things like, for example, child seats, you know that comes up quite often as well.

Speaker 3:

Luggage is important for me because, obviously, from a pricing perspective, there's not a huge difference between the the types of vehicles, but of course, I'd rather you have the one that's more spacious and a generous one for you to be know, to have a comfortable ride, as opposed to sort of chancing it on the day. So, yes, it's important for me to know the number of pieces of luggage you've got the space in terms of. It'd be nice to know if there's adults or children involved Again for child seats as well as the type of vehicle you're going to get, because there is a MPV vehicle, vehicle which is great for kids and adults, but not so much all adults. So then I'll try and give you the better vehicle and, dare I say it, if I've got a bigger vehicle available, I am always looking to offer the free upgrade, although I don't promise it, although I don't, you know, give that as a, as a prior agreement. I do my best to see where I can help, um. So this is why it's good to know if you've got children involved on your journey or if it's just six adults, for example. So, yeah, so flight number is very important so I can monitor your flight. There's no additional charges for this service.

Speaker 3:

We will monitor your flight, we will make sure that you know coming in early or late. Someone's there waiting for you and, of course, you know that is what's used to determine what terminal you're going to come to. Because, I'll be honest with you, the number of bookings that I get that say Heathrow Airport, and I have no idea which terminal at Heathrow Airport we're going to meet you at. And then the number of times. It says 11.35, but the flight is due to land at 11 or even 10.30 in some cases, and I'm looking for a flight that lands from particularly a place in the country, but I don't know which terminal you're going to be arriving at. So, yeah, very important If you could always make sure you're putting down your flight number.

Speaker 3:

Don't worry about how much time to give to come out, because, as I say, we'll monitor your flight and we'll give you ample time to come out and we'll be in contact anyway. So, regardless, and the other rule, I guess, is sometimes people don't use WhatsApp. Some people don't have roaming, I get it. And then there's a simple agreement we will be 45 minutes an hour after your flight lands. That means somebody will be in the terminal between 30 to 45 minutes and and will be there to to take you away I'm gonna say it's not.

Speaker 1:

It's not always you and I do. I think we do need to kind of say that, because I just say you are. You are pretty much a celebrity these days and people kind of really want to be met by riz. We get that so often. Riz, honestly I know you're smiling, but it's's so true but we've had fantastic reviews back from about your team as well, so I think that's important to say. You may not have Riz picking you up or dropping you off, but his team are all amazing.

Speaker 3:

No, I just have to say I think there are people that are far better than I am. They are much more capable than I am. They probably have better jokes than me as well. But yeah, you know, honestly, I love to be everywhere and I love to meet everyone.

Speaker 3:

I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm a celebrity, but I always try my best to be on every journey that I possibly can on, but, of course, as you can appreciate, it's not always going to be possible.

Speaker 3:

Particularly, I was a bit beaten up. Actually the last Boxing Day until New Year's, I wasn't well myself and those would have been the days to be able to meet people, because, obviously, festive time, everyone's happy and I would have loved to take some pictures. So apologies to everyone that thought I was going to be picking them up, because even I thought I was going to be picking you up but I couldn't. So, um, but yeah, these things sometimes are out of control. There are vehicle issues, there are bookings, there are you know, just like it's life commitments, things that take over. But yeah, where possible I'll be there. Otherwise, I'm sure the guys that you are going to be meeting with are going to be the ones that are as good as me being there, and and if they're not meeting that standard, then then they won't be working with me, let alone seeing you.

Speaker 1:

I was gonna say you're very, very high standards. Uh, you do have. Now, I know in episode 95 I spoke to deb pecker. Now, deb was somebody that not only had the pickup from heathrow but you did some other uh work with deb when you were, when she was in london, didn't you?

Speaker 3:

yeah, no so. So she had to be at a certain sort of time 9, 9am actually, to be precise from Tower Bridge to Guildford, which is quite a bit of a journey and I guess this is a good sort of point to make is, you know, we don't just do airport transfers, we will take you to anywhere, to or from London. If your journey begins in London or ends in London, I'd love to take that book in. Having said that, if your journey is not quite finishing in London or not ending or beginning in London, I guess we're reasonable 50 miles, 100 miles, whatever it is, we will price that in the quote. Of course I'd love to take you all over the country and pick you up from, I don't know, bath to scotland. Of course it may not be practical, but if you're finishing in london or you're starting in london, please call me. Uh, I'd be more than happy to to help you.

Speaker 3:

I will also stress, you know, points of interest or places of interest. So we're not, we're not tour guides. I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't pass myself off as a tour guide. I wouldn't do anyone a disservice by boring you on a long day. So you'd probably regret being out there with me. But you know, if you said to me, hey, can you pick me up, take me to Stonehenge Absolutely, take me to Bath, absolutely. Tell me about the history, about what's happened here.

Speaker 1:

I'd probably say I've got a cold and I'm going to keep quiet for about an hour. I think the important thing is that you can do the transfer if people need it. Yes, 100%.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely so. How many people can you pick up maximum? I know you've picked up one. I mean you've picked up Doug a couple of times this year. You've dropped Doug off at the airport. In fact, you took me to Heathrow when I was going to India. You've picked me up earlier this year. I mean I don't know how many times. In fact, you did a lovely trip for me. I was staying at a friend's house in London and I needed to go to my mum's and you did that before Christmas, took me and all my luggage to my mum's, which was fantastic.

Speaker 1:

And that.

Speaker 3:

Mount Sinai Tower.

Speaker 1:

one wasn't it, it was we didn't know it was, but it's always good and obviously you take my parents to the airport when they when they fly off and they go to South Africa in March and you'll be taking them on that, on that trip as well. So, um, obviously we're talking single and we're talking couples there, but you, but you do have families. Um, yes, yeah, so tell me about last year then. What would it look like in terms of what, what your demographic was?

Speaker 3:

oh uh, that's a good one. So it it does begin, I I say going into jan feb. I think I'll probably see more couples, ones and twos. Then it starts getting through march, april, summertime, because it starts picking up with families, if it helps in terms of the number of people we can pick up. So there are mercedes vetoes on the fleet. They are licensed to carry nine, uh people in total, so that's eight passengers and the driver. I personally have a mercedes v class which is licensed to carry eight, including the driver.

Speaker 3:

Now the thing I'm conscious of is is if I said to you we've got eight people and then we've got lots of luggage for eight people, it can and it can't work. And actually that takes me nicely on to the point of what people define as check bags, carry-on. For me, when I'm thinking carry-on, I assume automatically it's just carry-on suitcase and actually most people are referring to a carry-on backpack or a small bag, which is fine, there's absolutely no issues with. But of course, when I'm sending a vehicle out, I'm assuming the worst, because if I assume everybody has a backpack and it turns out to be a suitcase, we've got a problem there. So in terms of the vehicles up to eight people, no issues. Up to seven people, six people. If you are booking a MPV-sized vehicle, I would say you know, no more than four people in there with their luggage is fine. After that you go with a minivan.

Speaker 3:

One more thing I've actually done is I've got rid of the streamlined some of the options in there. So there's like a small car, like a solo passenger one check bag, one carry-on, bearing in mind that's just one person and you've got all the boot to them. So that's great. Then it goes into the saloon or sedan, which is great for two people and a bit of luggage.

Speaker 3:

But if you're two people with a lot of luggage, then you want mpv um ie to check, to carry on suitcases at your own risk. You can book what you like. I'm not going to dictate which car you should book and you must have, but I will just say I try my best to give you the guidance based on what I know in terms of experience. But you know you know your luggage better than I do and if you feel like you know this could fit in, fit in a book because you've done the journey already. Buy all these please. You know, override what I think, because my assumptions are based on large bags and you know things that will potentially cause problems if you get the vehicle wrong, and I obviously don't want to get it wrong.

Speaker 1:

So if people want a book, do they have to pay everything up front straight away?

Speaker 3:

That's actually another. Where are you getting all these questions from, Tracy?

Speaker 1:

I don't know. These are really good questions.

Speaker 3:

I know. So I had a long hard think about this one. So I thought do you know what? Sometimes it's just one or two journeys and it's quite inexpensive and you could just book it all in one go. Some people want to book it in one go, some people don't, some people don't even want to leave a deposit. So I anyone want to leave a deposit, so I get it.

Speaker 3:

What I would do is is, in order for me to secure the booking and assign a driver, an allocated driver, with enough notice in terms of commitment, in terms of making sure we don't get any hiccups last minute, we do need the payment up front now.

Speaker 3:

That doesn't mean you have to do it there and then. So if you're traveling I don't know july, and you were looking at quotes today, and, and you're obviously more than one trip, and you were looking at quotes today and you obviously more than one trip, and you have additional trips in there as well and your total is quite a large one. By all means, I'm happy to agree things where you put a deposit down, you secure your bookings and then, as and when, interest-free, you just keep making payments towards your booking, as long as we are clear, before you've arrived or before that journey is due to take place, we're happy with that. We can work with that, because it doesn't help me anymore by sitting on your money for a year, and also if it makes it easier for you to spread the payment across multiple installments, we're happy to work with that as well.

Speaker 1:

That's perfect. Now there's always an elephant in the room here when people will say to me oh, there's a couple of things actually. I want to mention one or two. We've had people who've said, oh, we, we didn't book. But then then we did and we realized just how much more superior the drive was with riz compared to who we initially booked with. Or we've had people say, oh, I just booked and I decided to go with an uber or you know, uh, whatever, and we decided that's what we want to do.

Speaker 1:

So that's not going to be particularly necessarily a lot cheaper than you guys, because you guys are very, very reasonably priced for the service that you guys are providing. I have to say it's outstanding. And if you are listening to this podcast right now and thinking, oh no, I'm just going to get an Uber, honestly, seriously, take a look at our facebook group of people who went oh, actually, I wish I'd booked with riz. Because there's a reason that we work with you, there's a reason why we promote you, and that is because you are one of the best, if not the best, at doing this particular service that people need and making sure that people start their holiday the best way possible um, no, I think, tracy, it's very important to recognize that.

Speaker 3:

Look, uber is well priced. You know they're shying away from it, but you do get what you pay for and and ultimately, for me to survive as a business, there are certain minimum. You know points. I have to sort of accept that I can't do it for less than that and it just means that, obviously, in order to deliver that great quality, that great service from the drivers and, as I say, if it's me I could take the compromises all day, but I can't expect a driver to turn up and then tell them that you're going to pay less than the Uber price and give the service that's twice, as you know, better than what you would have got with Uber. So, yeah, everything does.

Speaker 3:

Sometimes it does come down to money and the cost of it is important to recognize, but the value for service, I'll be honest with you. Sometimes even I look and go oh, that's a bit steep. But then I look around and honestly I look at the service, the like for like, equivalent options which are not Uber. And I don't want to name call anyone here because I don't want to be advertising anyone unintentionally. But if you did look around, I'm sure, if you saw the services, there are business out there that will charge you twice the money you were charging and I would like to say, probably not as good quality of service as what you would get.

Speaker 3:

I think the word I like to hear or see when I'm looking at feedback is something that sounds like personable. When I'm looking at feedback is something that sounds like personable, and a lot of the businesses that are charging almost twice more than what we are charging are not giving you that personal experience. They're giving you great experience. I'm not going to discredit their service, but it's not personable and it's not someone you could pick the phone up to. And actually, you know, I always say to people, even if it's not transfers related, if you have question, I can help you. Please just ask me. Um, you know even things like you know, I'll even meet you with the sim card if it helps. I don't think many companies would.

Speaker 1:

So it's just that sort of stuff yeah and um, and I think you're still in quite in contact with quite a few people that you, you picked up last year aren't?

Speaker 3:

you. Oh, we're sharing pictures, um, at least I think they're happy with them.

Speaker 1:

Well, I think it's lovely because it's like I think you approach it, like Doug and I do is that we want the best for people coming to the UK.

Speaker 1:

We want them to have the best experience, from the minute you get off the airplane to the minute you're back on the airplane. We want you to have the best, best time in the UK and experience, which is why and I say this time and time again and I say this in the Facebook group and I say it in the podcast we genuinely only work with people that we know, that we've met, that we've reviewed, that we know are the absolute best at what they do, and we get so many fantastic uh, you know emails and reviews from people going oh, thank you so much for preferring us to to raise or to a particular tour guide or to a company, because they've had a fantastic experience and that is exactly what we're doing, and we know that that customer journey is so important for you as well, raise I think I I see it more than just a journey, I think the word you use with experience, I like to really take that home and go.

Speaker 3:

This is someone's first trip, this is someone's big occasion. They've been waiting for a while Sometimes, and these are expensive trips. These are people planning for maybe years sometimes and I think lack of oversight in some cases can really make or break someone's trip and really ruin the experience. To begin with, typically it'd be things like, for example, if you've turned up and you know airbnb is a good example, so you've booked, everything's great, we've arrived and you know it's, there's a big disconnect between the instructions you receive versus where your keys are. And again, a typical uber journey would be is they'll drop you with your luggage, it's raining, they're gone and you've got no access to the property you're at. This is where I guess we know we are different. We will make sure that you know you've got your keys, you're comfortable, you're settled. Sometimes it may need mean that we need to drive around the corner to somewhere else, bring the keys back. We're not going to be one to turn and go. Oh yeah, but you know you booked a to b. This is b, bye-bye, um, you know. So this is where we kind of like to go beyond just the journey. It's the whole experience. It's about making sure that you are fine, you're comfortable.

Speaker 3:

Um, there are even times, you know, when people have arrived really early in the morning, they've got check-in quite late in the afternoon and they've got luggage with them.

Speaker 3:

They need places to hold and I'll be honest with you, as weird as it sounds, I volunteer to hold luggage for them whilst you go do your thing, as long as they haven't got to follow a booking, or at least we drive to somewhere where we can store your luggage, or even your own hotel, and drop you to another place so you can get breakfast and do these things. As I say, it's all about money, money, money. It's about doing the right thing, and I think I share that with a lot of the drivers. You know we will do the right thing, and that's probably the been a secret of our success, which is we don't see it, as you know, a customer. We see as how would I treat my family member? But, which is why it's very important to have that communication from the moment you landed, because I I know, even when you arrive, tracy, I message you from the moment you've landed, not when you say to me hey, I'm outside, I'm at W Smith, so it's yeah, it makes a difference to me.

Speaker 1:

And I think that comes through and I hope this year 2025, we're going to build on the success from 2024. I'm sure we will. And if you listen to this podcast and you are arriving into london this year and you want that transfer, then I suggest that you contact uh riz and I will put the contact information in the show notes, which will be at uktravelplanningcom. Forward slash, episode 134.

Speaker 1:

You can also listen to riz talk in last year's episode, episode 83, as well, if you want a double dose of Riz, but it's been great to chat with you, as always, riz, and I'm just talking to you now about picking my daughter up later on in the year, so you're taking my parents to their flight in March, so we see each other all the time, don't we? So that's absolutely fantastic. So, as I say, you're in our Facebook group, so if people also want to ask Riz any questions in the Facebook group, pop over there, because Riz is in there. We also have a new thing called speak pipe, which means that you can actually leave a voice message if you have a message or something or a question about this episode, something that you want to talk to myself or Riz about, and you can contact us via that and we'll get back to you that way too. So that's a brand new thing that we're doing this year, but otherwise otherwise. Thank you so much, rhys, for coming on and chatting again about XFA cars and your service.

Speaker 3:

Thank you again. Thank you, Tracy, for having me. Thank you Well. I wish you all the best of 2025. And let's see if we can get another one of these episodes out, maybe in the year.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, maybe in the year see how things are going and any more tips for people when they're arriving in London as well, and things to think about when you're arriving at the airport, and that will be really useful.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, I guess the only one thing I will say is not just transfers. Any trip, check online, check on the website. The quote is there. You can book online. If you have questions about the quote, whether it's the price where the journey, whether it's changes to the journey, any stops you want to add in there, only then you know. Um, you know it may not always answer the questions, otherwise, a straightforward journey is ready to book brilliant.

Speaker 1:

Oh, thanks so much riz brilliant.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for having me thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanningcom. If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app? We love to hear from you and you never know. You may receive a shout out in a future episode, but, as always, that just leaves me to say until next week. Happy UK travel planning.