Experience GrabPasko holiday treat with GrabTaxi

There are only 9 days left before Christmas and GrabTaxi is feeling the holiday cheer. From 11am to 2pm yesterday, the company sent out 200 puto bumbongs for free to GrabTaxi users who booked through the special GrabPasko icon that was specially made for the event. Lucky passengers in Makati CBD and BGC were treated to the Filipino holiday delicacy delivered by GrabTaxi and GrabExpress drivers.

“We wanted to spread the holiday spirit and give our passengers small tokens as thank you for their support throughout 2015,” says Khriztina Lim, Country Marketing Head of GrabTaxi Philippines.

For more information about GrabTaxi’s services and promos, check out their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/GrabTaxiPH or their website, www.grabtaxi.com.

Take your love to the skies (and avoid the hellish metro traffic) with GrabHeli

“I try to keep my face impassive as we enter the elevator. The doors close, and it’s there, the weird electrical attraction crackling between us, enslaving me. I close my eyes in a vain attempt to ignore it. He tightens his grip on my hand, and five seconds later the doors open on to the roof of the building. And there it is, a white helicopter with the name Grey Enterprises Holdings Inc. written in blue with the company logo on the side.

…“Let’s go,” Christian says, and we make our way toward the helicopter…“Sit – don’t touch anything,” he orders as he clambers in behind me.”

For those who have read Fifty Shades of Grey, one of the most memorable (besides their romps in the red room) is when Christian first took Anastasia on a helicopter ride.

And while the chances of meeting your own Christian Grey may be  next to impossible, booking your own helicopter ride for a romantic date isn’t—thanks to GrabHeli—GrabTaxi’s newest addition to its transport fleet.

GrabTaxi, the Southeast Asia’s largest land transport brand, launches two new services GrabPay and GrabHeli at  PhilJets’ hangar in Pasay last Nov 24. The event was hosted by Ms. Joey Mead King and attended by Grab ambassadors Solenn Heussaff, Janine Gutierrez, Mikela Martinez, Joyce Pring, Chico Garcia, among others.

Ms. Khriztina Lim, Thierry Tea and the Grab Ambassadors

Thierry Tea, CEO of PhilJets Group

If you book a GrabCar, GrabCar+ or a GrabHeli, you have the option to either pay in cash or debit/credit card using the GrabPay app in your smartphone. To register, passengers just need to enter their credit card details in the payment section of the settings, wait for approval and when they book rides, they’ll be able to select credit card payment already.

GrabPay, the new payment option for GrabCar, GrabCar+ and now, GrabHeli, will enable passengers to pay with their credit or debit cards. GrabCar, which became popular for being the first ride-sharing app to accept cash transactions for rides, has added cashless payments to their payment options.

When a passenger books a GrabCar with GrabPay, all they need to do is get in and out of the car, no more looking for change and they receive the e-receipt immediately.

Starting today, GrabPay will be rolled out to all GrabCar Peers, and passengers who book rides with GrabCar and GrabCar+ will have the power to choose their preferred mode of payment after registering with GrabPay.

“The Philippines has always been primarily a cash country that’s why we invested our efforts in making GrabCar available to most Filipinos. Now that we’ve established the brand, we want to be able to reach out to the credit card users and make the app accessible to virtually anyone with a smartphone,” said Khriztina Lim, Country Head of Marketing, GrabTaxi Philippines. GrabTaxi has made the transition from cash to credit as seamless as possible for passengers.

GrabTaxi Takes to the Skies with PhilJets

In an exclusive partnership with PhilJets, GrabTaxi adds GrabHeli to their growing product offerings. GrabHeli, which is in its beta stage, will be tested for three months. PhilJets, a startup in itself, is aligned with the goals of GrabTaxi in innovating and providing transport solutions to the country. “We are very happy to partner with GrabTaxi Philippines. In the 2 years they’ve been in the country, they’ve proven that they’re a formidable company to be associated with and this partnership promises a ride to remember,” said Thierry Tea, CEO of PhilJets Group. GrabHeli, a pre-booking helicopter experience, is the company’s latest innovation. “GrabTaxi has been in the Philippines for a few years now and we’re launching GrabHeli as a way to thank the passengers who have always supported us and stood as witnesses to our growth. It has always been our goal to transform the way Filipinos travel and aviation is not an exception.”

Be a GrabHeli beta tester For Php 3,888 per person, anyone registered with GrabPay can fly around Manila in an aerial tour of Makati, BGC and Pasay. Unique GrabCar promo codes will be given to GrabHeli passengers to take them to or from PhilJets’ helipad in Manila Domestic Airport. “Booking a helicopter ride used to cost tens of thousands of Pesos. But through our partnership with PhilJets, we’ve made it possible to just buy a minimum of one seat on a helicopter and you’re good to go. With GrabHeli, riding a helicopter will not be as far-fetched as it used to be. It is now luxury within reach,” said Lim.

Pre-booking a GrabHeli will be available weekly from Saturdays to Wednesdays through the GrabTaxi app with fixed flight schedules during Fridays and Saturdays at 4pm.

GrabTaxi brings convenience and safety to Baguio commuters

I have always considered Baguio City as one of the more commuter-friendly places for tourists and and compared to the taxi drivers we have in Manila,  the taxi drivers in Baguio are generally more courteous and friendly.

So I didn't think GrabTaxi would be setting up operations in the City of Pines anytime soon.

But as it turns out, the local residents were clamoring for even better service-- and the convenience that only GrabTaxi can provide.

And just as fast as you can book a GrabTaxi ride, Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand transportation app , got the approval from the Baguio government allowing taxi franchises to install the Grab system on their units.

GrabTaxi Country Marketing Head, Ms. Khriztina Lim

Even more surprising, was the invitation I got to join Grab Taxi at their formal launch at the Baguio Craft Brewery  last August 5!

Together with GrabTaxi Country Marketing Head, Ms. Khriztina Lim, and media both from Manila and Baguio we witnessed what could be another game changer for the 300,000 plus commuters and almost one million tourists visiting every year.

Baguio becomes the 6th city in the Philippines that GrabTaxi operates in. The app first launched in Manila in 2012 followed by Cebu, Davao City, Iloilo, Bacolod and now Baguio.

“We are committed to provide convenience to every taxi driver and commuter wherever they may be. We bring GrabTaxi to Baguio to be of service to both drivers and passengers. We want to help increase earnings of the drivers while letting the passengers have a more convenient commute,” said GrabTaxi head Poch Ceballos. 

We paid a courtesy call to Mayor Mauricio Domogan at his office in Baguio City

“With the success of the app in other mega cities, we plan to bring the app to more places in the country. Now Baguio people can experience GrabTaxi rides that have always been rooted in our three key pillars of Safety, Certainty and Speed,” said Lim." 

As I discovered during our three-day trip, my impression of Baguio drivers was apparently wrong, as I heard stories of choosy" drivers who refuse to pick up passengers, those who charge extra P50 and even an instance where a passenger jumped out of the car because she was scared of the driver who took a very different route.

With the Grab booking system in place, there would be no reason for drivers to ask extra, or refuse passengers once they accepted the fare. But more importantly, riding a taxi becomes safer with Grab's live tracking feature.

You also get the profile of the driver and get the option to share their whereabouts privately or on social media through the ‘Share My Ride’ function, assuring the passengers of a safe and convenient commuting experience.

The app even saves a history of your Grab rides so you can always contact the driver in case you forgot something in their car.

GRAB 101
GrabTaxi mobile app allows people to virtually hail a cab with just a few taps on their smartphone. Available for free for Android, iOS and Windows phone users, GrabTaxi connects the passengers and the drivers to allow seamless commuting experience.

GrabTaxi passengers just have to type in their place of origin and their destination, and wait for the app to assign a cab for them. When there is already an assigned cab, the passengers will know the location, plate number, estimated time of arrival of the cab, as well as the name and contact number of the driver. These features would allow the passengers to contact the driver for the specifics of the transaction.

To jumpstart the operations in the city of pines, GrabTaxi opened the Baguio and is looking to hire over 50 employees. “Aside from improving the commuting experience of the passengers, this expansion, following the success of the app in Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao and Iloilo, also means creation of more jobs all over the Philippines,” added Ceballos.

For more information, please visit www.grabtaxi.com .