I'm Anastasiya, I handle PR and brand at Kiwitaxi.
We run pre-booked private transfers - airports, city-to-city, door-to-door - across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, and a bunch of places in between. Over a million rides completed, 105+ countries.
The thing that drove this app rebuild was a pretty specific frustration we kept hearing. People weren't complaining about the ride itself. They were stressed about the 20 minutes before it - not knowing if the driver was there, not having a number to call, not being sure if the price they booked was the price they'd pay. So the whole app is structured around eliminating that window of uncertainty. Price locks at booking. Driver contact lands in your phone 24 hours before. Flight tracking is built in so if you're delayed, the driver already knows - you don't have to call anyone.
The feature that took the most back-and-forth internally was vehicle selection. Sounds simple, but travelers kept telling us "I had no idea what car would show up." We now show exact makes and models per class before you confirm. Small thing, but it changed how people felt about the booking. Child seats, pet-friendly, ski equipment, female driver option - all bookable upfront. Works the same whether you're coming into Heathrow, Narita, or Sharm el-Sheikh.
What I'd love from this community:
If you book transfers regularly where the taxi situation at airports can be chaotic - I'd genuinely love to hear what still annoys you about this category. We have a product team that reads this stuff.
And if you work in travel media, DMOs, travel platforms or tour operations and want to talk about how the platform works on the B2B side, feel free to reach out directly.
Today is my first day on this platform - and tomorrow marks 10 years since I joined Kiwitaxi.
I started as a support manager while still being a student, and somehow that journey eventually led me to becoming the company’s CEO.
Over the years, I’ve had the chance to help build travel operations across 100+ countries, work with incredible people from all over the world, and see how deeply emotional travel actually is behind all the logistics and technology.
I’m especially interested in: - human-centered travel tech - people-first leadership - women’s experiences in travel - community building in the travel industry
Excited to connect with fellow travel professionals, founders, creators, and people shaping the future of travel ✈️
Hi Anastasiya, Marie and team, thanks for joining Travel Massive and welcome to the community.
Your app redesign looks beautiful, with some very thoughtful UX! I have met a few people working to solve airport transfers over the years, and it seems (looking from the outside) that the biggest challenges are a) maintaining a reliable network of drivers who you can count on 24/7 and b) building distribution both direct and via agent networks. Overall, it seems like a very competitive industry with a lot of costs for both customer acquisition and customer support. So, bravo for what you've achieved!
I'm curious, what's the origin story behind Kiwitaxi? And where do you see the next phase of your growth coming from (e.g. markets, or distribution channels)?
Thanks again and hope you find our community helpful!
Ian, thank you so much! You nailed the two hardest parts of this business on the first try, which tells me you've been paying attention. Driver reliability and distribution are exactly where we've put most of our scars over the years, and honestly, figuring those out is what separates the survivors from everyone else in this space. As for the origin story - Kiwitaxi started back in 2012, born out of a pretty universal frustration: you land somewhere unfamiliar, you're tired, you have no idea what a fair price looks like, and suddenly you're negotiating with a stranger outside baggage claim. Not a great start to any trip. Our Founder wanted to fix that first moment - make it predictable, human, and actually pleasant. Everything we've built since has been in service of that same idea.
One thing I'm personally proud of - we recently launched Women Driving Women women.kiwitaxi.com, a feature that lets female and non-binary passengers request a female driver. No extra charge, just a real option that a lot of people have been quietly wanting. As far as we know, we're the first among dedicated private transfer platforms to actually build this in Where's growth coming from next? B2B distribution - hotels, OTAs, travel agencies - is a big focus right now because the fit is just so natural. And on the direct side, we're doubling down on markets where pre-booking a private transfer is still an underdog habit but the demand is clearly there.
Really glad to be part of this community. Would love to connect with anyone here who's thinking about ground transport seriously - there's so much more to talk about🙌
Hi! Sounds interesting - feel free to email us at partner@kiwitaxi.com with a bit more info about your company. Our team will take a look and get back to you.
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Comments
Hi everyone,
I'm Anastasiya, I handle PR and brand at Kiwitaxi.
We run pre-booked private transfers - airports, city-to-city, door-to-door - across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, and a bunch of places in between. Over a million rides completed, 105+ countries.
The thing that drove this app rebuild was a pretty specific frustration we kept hearing. People weren't complaining about the ride itself. They were stressed about the 20 minutes before it - not knowing if the driver was there, not having a number to call, not being sure if the price they booked was the price they'd pay. So the whole app is structured around eliminating that window of uncertainty. Price locks at booking. Driver contact lands in your phone 24 hours before. Flight tracking is built in so if you're delayed, the driver already knows - you don't have to call anyone.
The feature that took the most back-and-forth internally was vehicle selection. Sounds simple, but travelers kept telling us "I had no idea what car would show up." We now show exact makes and models per class before you confirm. Small thing, but it changed how people felt about the booking. Child seats, pet-friendly, ski equipment, female driver option - all bookable upfront. Works the same whether you're coming into Heathrow, Narita, or Sharm el-Sheikh.
What I'd love from this community:
If you book transfers regularly where the taxi situation at airports can be chaotic - I'd genuinely love to hear what still annoys you about this category. We have a product team that reads this stuff.
And if you work in travel media, DMOs, travel platforms or tour operations and want to talk about how the platform works on the B2B side, feel free to reach out directly.
App: kiwitaxi.com/en/app
Happy to answer questions about anything!
Cheers
🙌
Hi Travel Massive 👋
Today is my first day on this platform - and tomorrow marks 10 years since I joined Kiwitaxi.
I started as a support manager while still being a student, and somehow that journey eventually led me to becoming the company’s CEO.
Over the years, I’ve had the chance to help build travel operations across 100+ countries, work with incredible people from all over the world, and see how deeply emotional travel actually is behind all the logistics and technology.
I’m especially interested in:
- human-centered travel tech
- people-first leadership
- women’s experiences in travel
- community building in the travel industry
Excited to connect with fellow travel professionals, founders, creators, and people shaping the future of travel ✈️
Hi Anastasiya, Marie and team, thanks for joining Travel Massive and welcome to the community.
Your app redesign looks beautiful, with some very thoughtful UX! I have met a few people working to solve airport transfers over the years, and it seems (looking from the outside) that the biggest challenges are a) maintaining a reliable network of drivers who you can count on 24/7 and b) building distribution both direct and via agent networks. Overall, it seems like a very competitive industry with a lot of costs for both customer acquisition and customer support. So, bravo for what you've achieved!
I'm curious, what's the origin story behind Kiwitaxi? And where do you see the next phase of your growth coming from (e.g. markets, or distribution channels)?
Thanks again and hope you find our community helpful!
Ian, thank you so much!
You nailed the two hardest parts of this business on the first try, which tells me you've been paying attention. Driver reliability and distribution are exactly where we've put most of our scars over the years, and honestly, figuring those out is what separates the survivors from everyone else in this space.
As for the origin story - Kiwitaxi started back in 2012, born out of a pretty universal frustration: you land somewhere unfamiliar, you're tired, you have no idea what a fair price looks like, and suddenly you're negotiating with a stranger outside baggage claim. Not a great start to any trip. Our Founder wanted to fix that first moment - make it predictable, human, and actually pleasant. Everything we've built since has been in service of that same idea.
One thing I'm personally proud of - we recently launched Women Driving Women women.kiwitaxi.com, a feature that lets female and non-binary passengers request a female driver. No extra charge, just a real option that a lot of people have been quietly wanting. As far as we know, we're the first among dedicated private transfer platforms to actually build this in
Where's growth coming from next? B2B distribution - hotels, OTAs, travel agencies - is a big focus right now because the fit is just so natural. And on the direct side, we're doubling down on markets where pre-booking a private transfer is still an underdog habit but the demand is clearly there.
Really glad to be part of this community. Would love to connect with anyone here who's thinking about ground transport seriously - there's so much more to talk about🙌
We have built amarihitch.com in Uganda and we would like a collaboration with you in East Africa.
Hi! Sounds interesting - feel free to email us at partner@kiwitaxi.com with a bit more info about your company. Our team will take a look and get back to you.