FAQs
General Company & Service Questions
- We move people, safely and comfortably!
- Multiple Angies List “Super Service” Award winner (only given to top 5% of companies).
- Chosen for 2 “Extreme Makeover” events in the Houston area.
- Active in industry events, and local & national associations. We know our industry and all the best people & companies in it!
- Lancer Safety Award Winner – Documents our commitment to your safety.
- Prompt and responsive service from reservation to receipt, 24/7.
- ALL inclusive rates upfront, including suggested gratuity – no hidden fees.
- We serve all the Greater Houston area with service to and from all commercial and private airports and other points of interest and can handle all your transportation nationally and internationally.
- Cutting edge reservation and dispatch software ensures efficiency throughout your travel.
- Technology that you can count on! GPS routing and tracking systems that guarantee quality assurance and precise reporting.
- A team of courteous, experienced professionals, dedicated to your complete satisfaction.
- DMV records checks on our team members to ensure safe driving habits.
- Comprehensive criminal background checks to ensure your safety.
- Ongoing classroom training for continuous team improvement.
- Customer service seminars for continuous team improvement.
- Well trained, courteous, well-groomed and professionally attired chauffeurs.
- GPS Tracking ensures your car is always where it’s supposed to be.
- Random drug testing (in addition to COH initial drug test)
- Chauffeurs bonuses for on time performance – Positive reinforcement to get you on your way on time!
- Ongoing chauffeur training – Customer service and incident resolution training for continued growth
- Safety training – Monthly safety meetings to promote safe driving habits and actions.
- Friendly, helpful customer service – Friendly and knowledgeable people to address your questions.
- Industry benchmarking – We invest time learning from the other great companies in the industry.
- We monitor Houston area events and issues
- In house detailers to ensure a consistent high level of vehicle cleanliness
- On Site maintenance and ASE certified vehicle service technicians
- Google our reviews!
- Visit our FaceBook page!
- Our President spent 17 years Malcolm Baldridge award winning company before founding Elite using those principles.
- Clean late model luxury vehicles
- Real time reservations
- Online reservations billing reports available 24/7
- Trained, experienced and dedicated team focused on your satisfaction
- Dedicated account manager
- Weekly team meetings
- Same day incident resolution goal
Are you getting all this from your current transportation provider? If not, give EWTS a try!
Our standard hourly minimums are:
- 2 hours – Sedan/SUV/vans
- 3 hours – Stretch limousines (weekday)
- 4 hours – Stretch limousines (weekend)
- 5 hours – Mini bus/coach bus
There may be higher minimums required during peak periods (some examples are prom, major sporting events, etc.)
Our representatives will be able to inform you of any minimums required
Yes! This is a very important question to ask! Unlike rideshare and inferior services, all of our vehicles are insured at more than city, state, and federal requirements. If you have any questions about the extent of our insurance coverage for your company or guests, please call us at 281-955-5450. We will be glad to provide you with additional information.
We cannot be responsible for any lost or forgotten items, but we will take the extra effort to “double-check” for you and also will inform you if we find an item after your trip, or in the future.
Payments & Charges
Yes! We do require a contract to protect you and to inform you about the limitations we have in providing transportation services. This ensures that you understand what you are getting and are responsible for, and also ensures that we have contracted the vehicle for your use and will not back-out for a better paying client (like many inferior companies may do to you!) You can review our contract here.
Yes. We require 50% deposit at the time of booking for all our hourly rentals. Higher deposits or full payment may be required to reserve a vehicle during peak periods. All deposits are non-refundable without written authorization from Elite management. For any other services, we require credit card information to secure our service.
We accept all major credit cards, checks (that clear a minimum of 2 weeks before the event), or cash. All reservations must have a valid credit card on file for backup billing regardless. Corporate accounts may set up direct billing with additional company information.
In general, the deposit will be charged at the time of booking and the remaining charges will be processed on the day or the day after your service is completed. In some cases, additional time or services may be billed at a later time.
Receipts will go out to the email on file immediately as payments are processed. You can also view and print your receipts by viewing your account on-line, or may call into request a current or past receipt as needed.
Our professional chauffeurs work hard both in front and behind the curtain to ensure your ride with us is comfortable and stress-free. For your convenience, in most cases we include a suggested minimum gratuity for transportation services, this minimizes petty cash issues and assists with business expense reporting. This can be adjusted at your request. If you choose to tip additionally, please let us know! Our chauffeurs do work for tips and your generosity is appreciated by our chauffeurs and their families! Click here for more gratuity info.
Yes. Please be ready when your vehicle arrives as it can affect other clients later in the day. Extra time may NOT be available in some cases.
For airport transportation, we offer a 15-minute grace period and then charge additional time in ONE HOUR increments. For delayed or lost luggage, delays in customs or immigration (one hour, including grace, max wait free of charge), late departures from pick up location to the airports (Waiting longer than 15 minutes past the schedule time), extra stops, extra service or any other services not previously arranged and listed will result in an extra charge to the card on file.
If you have reserved hourly, the waiting will count as time in the car.
We are sorry but all reservations should be considered as non-refundable. Ensure that your event and guests are committed to the trip before reserving. We suggest you always have alternate plans for your evening in case of an event cancellation.
In most cases, we will work to re-book your vehicle with another client to minimize your expense, but this is usually not possible with short notice.
Airport Transportation FAQ's
Elite Limousines’ Sparkling Service Professional Chauffeurs will be looking to meet you with a greeting sign (with your initial and last name on it) on the baggage claim level. To avoid confusion, please proceed to baggage claim whether you have checked luggage or not. With rare exceptions, your chauffeur will be wearing a black suit, a white shirt, and our signature gold tie.
Specific terminals may vary a bit, but as a rule, look for your chauffeur on the baggage claim level and do not go outside the terminal. Call 281-955-5450 immediately if you cannot locate your chauffeur. If you arrange other transportation without contacting us, trip charges will apply.
In most instances, our chauffeurs will be dressed in a black suit, white shirt, and our signature gold tie. They will have an Elite sign with your last name on it printed in big BLOCK letters. You will also receive a text with their name and contact information.
Look for your chauffeur on the baggage claim level and do not go outside the terminal. Call 281-955-5450 immediately if you cannot locate your chauffeur. If you arrange other transportation without contacting us, trip charges will apply.
Our chauffeurs are known for routinely arriving at any pick-up location (at a residence, office or airport) 15 minutes prior to your scheduled pick up time. If your chauffeur has not arrived in this time frame, please call 281-955-5450. In many cases, you will receive a text message notifying you of your trip status to inform you that your chauffeur has arrived at your pick-up location.
Our operations staff monitors the exact arrival time of commercial flights into Houston. Our goal is to ensure that your chauffeur will be waiting for you when you arrive. If this is a commercial flight, there will be no additional charges for airline delays.
We do not charge for any flight arriving into Houston that is canceled by the airline prior to take-off. However, it is the responsibility of the traveler or booking agent to notify our office at 281-955-5450 to advise us of any new travel arrangements.
Diversions are rare but are particularly tough to deal with. Usually information is inaccurate, or very hard to get out of the airline. We will do our best to be there for you regardless. In some circumstances, we may charge a $40 diversion fee and/or additional time. In rare instances where we find that accurate or valid arrival information is not available, we will send you a cancellation and you will need to call in to re-reserve your transportation when accurate information is available. This may help minimize any additional cost to you.
In most cases, on smaller vehicles, we can make thing work with very little notice! We do however, suggest that you reserve at least 24 hours in advance whenever possible. This allows us to properly route our vehicles and chauffeurs to ensure that everyone gets picked up on schedule as requested. With larger vehicles and during peak periods, it may be wise to reserve your vehicle earlier, 2 weeks and up to several months beforehand.
This depends upon the specific situation and where our vehicles are positioned at that time. We will make every attempt to accommodate you but you must call 281-955-5450 directly to reserve. DO NOT email or use our reservation page to make a last-minute booking.
Cruise Ship Terminals - Port of Galveston
Yes, We provide all types of private transportation to the POG terminals.
Elite vehicles are legally permitted to get to the closest terminal entrances and can drop you right at the check in area for the ship.
Elite vehicles are legally permitted to get to the closest terminal entrances and will pick you up there.
Please call us as soon as you clear custom and immigration and we will have your chauffeur meet you in front as soon as traffic permits.
Due to POG rules designed to manage congestion, there is no vehicle waiting at the pick-up and drop-off zones.
We have found that there is no reliable source to monitor the actual arrival and departure status of the cruise ships. Due to this limitation, we cannot accept any responsibility to do so. We rely on you to contact us immediately if there are any delays to minimize your transportation expense. We will act in a way that minimizes your expenses whenever possible.
Yes, the first hour of waiting from the specified pick up time is complimentary, any additional waiting time will incur additional charges depending on the vehicle type.
Please ask your representative at the time of booking.
This is on a case-by-case basis, and in most cases, minimum charges will apply regardless of the situation. We apologize, but consider that in this situation we have already driven 1 ½ hours to pick you up, and will have to drive back without you also!
Comfort & Amenities
We do have various car seats available at a cost of $25 per seat per trip.
We actually prefer that you bring your own and we will store it for you for $20 if necessary. This ensures the optimal fit for your precious passenger!
I’m sorry, but we cannot allow smoking in our vehicles. Our entire fleet of vehicles is nonsmoking. While we respect the rights and freedoms of our smoking clients, we also must consider the expectations of our non-smoking clients and their families. Smoking will result in a minimum $250 charge.
If you need to smoke, we can make an additional stop as needed per your request.
We provide bottled water, and additionally, soft drinks on request. Our guests are welcome to bring their own alcohol assuming they are of legal drinking age of course!
We apologize, but to keep our vehicles as clean and fresh as possible for ALL our guests, we do not allow any food in the vehicles.
Yes! In most vehicles, if you bring the AUX connection cord you can hook up your phone or iPod.
Employee Opportunities
We are very sorry, but we don’t hire “drivers”. Here at Elite we say “Drivers deliver pizza, chauffeurs deliver service!”
If you understand the distinction, we are always interviewing great chauffeur candidates! You must be mature, have a safe driving record, and pass a rigorous background check and random drug testing. Please fill out our preliminary application here and we will contact you shortly!
Cancellation Policy
We are sorry but all limousine & bus reservations should be considered as non-refundable. Ensure that your event and guests are committed to the trip before reserving. We suggest you always have alternate plans for your evening in case of an event cancellation.
In most cases, we will work to re-book your vehicle with another client to minimize your expense, but this is usually not possible with short notice.
Prom Questions
While we can do this, it would still be subject to our hourly minimums established for that day, usually four to eight hours. This may not be cost effective for you.
We’re sorry, but due to the high demand during prom season, we have to keep all our vehicles available for these longer trips. It would be impossible to re-book your vehicle after it dropped you off because most other proms would already be starting to. Our vehicle would likely be idle the rest of the night. We appreciate your understanding during this period of peak demand.
We have had some resourceful parents use the vehicle in between for a quick dinner date, if that gives you any ideas!
Sure! Any drop offs outside the beltway area are subject to additional travel time. Galveston drops start at one hour additional travel.
This is recommended but not required, but we do require the divider be down and any bags, purses etc. be kept in the trunk to avoid the issues that most parents remember from their proms!
Please note that our contract is with the CARDHOLDER/CONTRACT SIGNER only. If there are any issues, cancellations, damage, extra time, etc. it will be your responsibility to get reimbursement from your other guests as needed. YOU are responsible for your entire group.