Booking notes for a Makkah hotel pickup should answer one question for the driver: where exactly will these people be, and how will I recognise them? In practice that means the hotel’s full name as written on your reservation (with its Arabic name if you have it), the tower or building if the hotel sits in a larger complex, the meeting point you have agreed, who will be there and on which phone, and any practical need such as a slow walker or a folded pushchair. Room numbers, card details and the story of how the plan changed do not belong there.
This guide is for anyone booking a Makkah Cabs journey that starts at a hotel in Makkah (also written Mecca): an outing, a move to another hotel or a departure to the airport. It explains which details already have their own fields, what to write in booking notes and in what order, how to handle hotel tower and room details for pickups, what to leave out, and what to do when something changes after you have booked. It builds on our guide to choosing a hotel frontage or an agreed meeting place, which covers the meeting point decision itself.
What booking notes are for
The booking has fields for most of the journey’s facts. Notes are for what those fields cannot hold: the practical description a driver needs to find you and help you. Before writing anything, check which details already have a home.
| Detail | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Pickup place and destination | The journey search, checked in the route summary |
| Date and time (Saudi local time) | The journey search |
| Passengers: adults, children, infants | The journey search |
| Large bags and cabin bags | The journey search |
| Extra stops, in order | The journey search (up to 8) |
| Child seats and a wheelchair requirement | Options in the search, confirmed for the vehicle |
| Flight number, for airport journeys | Checkout |
| Your mobile number | Checkout (required) |
| Traveller’s name, phone and an emergency contact, if booking for someone else | Checkout (required in that case) |
| Group leader phone | Checkout (optional) |
| Tower, meeting point, how to recognise the party, practical needs | Booking notes |
If a detail has a field, put it in the field. A child seat mentioned only in the notes is a request someone has to read; a child seat added in the search is part of the vehicle check. The notes then add the description around those facts.
Booking notes for a Makkah hotel pickup: five things worth writing
Most useful notes cover the same five points, in the same order.
1. The property, named exactly
Write the hotel’s full name as it appears on your reservation, not the shortened name the family uses. If you have the Arabic name from the hotel, add it. Names in Makkah are often similar, and a driver reading quickly benefits from the exact form.
2. The building within the property
Many Makkah hotels sit in larger complexes with several towers or buildings. Name the one you are in. More on this below.
3. The meeting point
Describe the place you have agreed to wait in one sentence, using a name that does not change: the main lobby entrance of a named tower, for example. We cannot promise where a vehicle may stop at any hotel; that is managed on the day. The note describes where you will be, and the driver-assigned email then gives the meeting and waiting instructions for the journey.
4. Who will be there
Say how many people will be waiting and who the lead contact is on the day, if that is not the person who booked. If the lead contact has a different phone from the booking, make sure it is in the right checkout field too.
5. Practical needs
A slow walker, an older relative who needs a hand into a high vehicle, a folded pushchair, or a wheelchair that has been added in the search and now needs describing: our guide to describing a folding aid or wheelchair explains what detail helps.
Five short lines are usually enough. If your note runs to a page, some of it is probably in the wrong place.
Hotel tower and room details for pickups
The two details families most often get wrong are the tower and the room.
Towers and complexes
Central Makkah has large complexes where several hotels share one development. Accor’s own guide to the Abraj Al Bait complex describes it as a development of seven towers, with the tallest housing Makkah Clock Royal Tower, a Fairmont Hotel, and names several other hotels in the complex, including Raffles Makkah Palace, Swissôtel Makkah, Swissôtel Al Maqam Makkah and Pullman Zamzam Makkah.
That is exactly why “the Clock Tower” in a note is not enough on its own. It can mean the complex, one hotel, or a general area. The planner’s popular locations include “Makkah: Clock Royal Tower / Fairmont Hotel” and “Makkah: Hilton Hotel & Convention Jabal Omar”; if you are staying elsewhere in a complex, type your own hotel and check the route summary before you pay. Then use the note to name the hotel and the tower you will actually walk out of. The rule is simple: the note should name the building your party is standing in.
Room numbers
The driver does not come to your room, so a room number usually adds nothing to the pickup. It can also cause confusion: a note saying “Room 1412” may lead someone to think the party will be waiting on the fourteenth floor, or that the driver should ask at reception for that room. Leave it out unless the booking team asks for it.
The same logic applies when the hotel moves you to a different room. A room change is a hotel matter. If the property, the tower and the meeting point stay the same, your pickup has not changed, and there is nothing to update. It becomes a transport matter only if the move changes where you will meet the car: a different tower, a different entrance, or a different hotel.
The National Address and the hotel’s identification card
Two official tools help you get the hotel’s details right before you write them down.
The National Address. Saudi Post describes the National Address as a precise addressing system made up of a building number, street, secondary number, district, postal code and city, with a short address of four letters and four numbers. If your hotel gives you its National Address or short address, add it to the note. It helps confirm which building you mean, alongside the name and the map pin.
The hotel’s identification card. The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah advises Umrah performers to request an identification card from their hotel or place of residence that includes the facility’s name, address and contact details. Ask for one at check-in. It gives you the hotel’s own wording of its name and address, which is what your note should copy, and it is useful for every traveller to carry anyway.
What to write in booking notes: a template
Here is a simple template for what to write in booking notes. Replace each part with your own details.
Pickup: [full hotel name as on reservation] ([Arabic name, if known]), [tower or building]. National Address: [short address, if known]. We will wait at [meeting point in one sentence]. [Number] people; lead contact on the day [name], phone as given at checkout. [Practical needs.]
And the difference between a vague note and a useful one:
| Vague | Useful |
|---|---|
| Clock Tower hotel | [Full hotel name] in the Abraj Al Bait complex, [tower name] |
| Come to reception | We will wait at the main lobby entrance of [tower name] |
| Family of five | Five people: three adults, two children; lead contact on the day is Ahmed |
| Grandma needs help | One older passenger walks slowly and needs a hand into the vehicle |
| Lots of bags | Bag count already entered; one folded pushchair included as a large bag |
| Call when here | Lead contact will send a live location when ready |
A useful note can be read aloud in under half a minute and still tells the driver where you are, who you are and what to expect.
What to leave out
Notes are read by people who need practical information. Keep everything else out.
- Card numbers, passport numbers, visa details. None of these are needed for a pickup, and they should never be written into a free-text note.
- Room numbers, for the reasons above.
- Time changes. A new pickup time is requested through your account, not in a note. See below.
- A different place or destination. These cannot be changed by editing a description. They need the booking team.
- Long histories. “We were in the other tower but then the hotel moved us and my brother said…” A driver needs the result, not the story.
- Religious questions. Anything about ihram, prayer or Umrah belongs with a qualified scholar and the official Nusuk platform, not with a driver.
Notes for outings and for departures
The same five points apply to every hotel pickup, but the emphasis shifts.
For an outing, the note is about finding the party and helping anyone who needs it. If relatives are joining from another hotel, add that the journey includes a stop there and who boards at each place; our guide to meeting relatives at another Makkah hotel helps with the plan. The return is a separate journey with its own note, written from the site’s point of view.
For a departure to the airport, the note is also about luggage. The bag count belongs in the search, but the note can add useful detail: that bags are coming from the hotel’s luggage room, or that one case is especially heavy. The flight number goes in its own field at checkout.
For a move between hotels, write a note for the pickup hotel and check that the destination hotel is named exactly in the search. Our guide to moving between Makkah hotels with a visit on the same day covers the rest.
Writing for a driver who reads quickly
A driver may glance at a note between journeys. A few habits make it easier to read.
- Put the location first. The hotel, tower and meeting point before anything else.
- Use names from the booking. If the booking says “Hilton Hotel & Convention Jabal Omar”, do not write “the Hilton” in the note.
- Keep numbers clear. Write “five people” or “5 people”, not “a few of us”.
- Avoid relative words. “Tonight”, “after prayer” and “the usual place” mean nothing to someone outside the family. The date and time are already in the booking.
- Add the Arabic name where you have it. Keep the English name too, so both match what the booking and the hotel use.
If someone at the hotel desk will be helping on the day, our guide to asking your Makkah hotel reception for help explains what to show them. Reception cannot see or change your booking, so the note and the booking remain your responsibility.
Booking notes when you book for someone else
Many Makkah hotel pickups are booked by a relative who will not be in the car: a son in Birmingham booking for his parents, or a daughter arranging an outing for an aunt. The checkout handles this with its own fields. When the booking is for someone else, it requires the traveller’s name, the traveller’s phone and an emergency contact, and there is an optional group leader phone. Fill those in properly, because they tell the booking team and the driver who is actually waiting in the lobby.
Booking notes for a Makkah hotel pickup made on someone else’s behalf then need two extra checks:
- Write from the traveller’s point of view. “We will wait at…” should describe where your parents will stand, not where you imagine they might be. Ask them to confirm the tower and the entrance they use.
- Say who answers the phone. If the traveller does not use a smartphone, or speaks little English, say so plainly, and make sure the emergency contact is someone who can be reached on the day.
Our guide to a Makkah visit booked by a relative covers the handover between organiser and traveller in more detail. If a child is travelling, add the seat in the search rather than the note; our guide to booking a child seat for a Makkah journey explains the options.
Checking the driver-assigned email against your note
Once a driver is assigned, an email arrives with the vehicle registration, meeting and waiting instructions, and a link to view the vehicle photo securely in your account. Read it alongside your booking notes for a Makkah hotel pickup. If the meeting instructions describe a different place from the one in your note, contact the booking team with your booking reference and ask which applies, rather than guessing on the day. Pass the registration to whoever will be waiting, so they can check the car before anyone gets in.
When details change after booking
Plans move. What to do depends on what has changed.
- Your room changes, but not the meeting point. Nothing to update.
- Your meeting point changes within the same hotel. Tell the booking team with your booking reference and the new description, and ask for confirmation. Do not assume the driver will learn it another way.
- The time changes. On a paid booking, use “Request a new pickup time” in your account before the current pickup time. It stays pending until the booking team approves it. An approved change carries a £5 rescheduling fee, converted into your booking currency and added to the cash paid to the driver at pickup; a rejected request costs nothing.
- The hotel, destination, passenger count or vehicle changes. Only the time can be changed online. Anything else needs the booking team, or a new booking plus a cancellation request. Bookings are subject to our cancellation terms (free cancellation with a full refund up to 48 hours before pickup; inside 48 hours the deposit element of the price is kept) if you cancel; if we or our transport partner cancel, or cannot supply the journey, you receive a full refund for the affected journey. See the cancellation and refund policy.
Remember the notice rule too: online bookings need at least 48 hours’ notice before pickup, so a replacement booking cannot be made at the last minute.
Worked example: two notes for one family
Omar is booking for his parents, Abdullah and Ruqayya, who are staying in a hotel in a large complex near the Grand Mosque. He is planning an outing to Hira Cultural District and, later in the week, the departure to Jeddah Airport.
First draft. Omar’s first note reads: “Clock Tower, room 1412, parents are old, please call when here.” It names the wrong thing (the area), includes an unhelpful detail (the room) and leaves out who will answer the phone.
Getting the details. Omar asks his father to collect the hotel’s identification card from reception. It gives the hotel’s full name, its address and phone number. Ruqayya confirms which tower their lift goes down to.
The outing note. “Pickup: [full hotel name] ([Arabic name]), [tower name]. We will wait at the main lobby entrance of that tower. Two passengers, both older; my father walks slowly and needs a hand into the vehicle. Traveller phone as given at checkout.” Omar enters his parents’ details, with himself as emergency contact, in the checkout fields for booking for someone else.
The departure note. The same first two sentences, then: “Two passengers, bag count entered; bags coming from the hotel’s luggage room just before pickup.” The flight number goes in its own field.
A change. Midweek, the hotel moves his parents to a different room in the same tower. Omar checks: same property, same tower, same meeting point. He changes nothing.
Checklist for writing booking notes
- Put every detail that has a field in that field first: passengers, bags, stops, child seats, wheelchair, flight number, contacts.
- Ask the hotel for its identification card, and copy the name and address from it.
- Name the hotel exactly as on the reservation, with its Arabic name if you have it.
- Name the tower or building within any complex.
- Add the National Address or short address if the hotel gives it.
- Describe the meeting point in one sentence.
- Say how many people will wait and who the lead contact is on the day.
- Add practical needs in plain words.
- Leave out room numbers, card or passport details, time changes and long histories.
- Read the note aloud: under half a minute, and clear to a stranger.
- If the meeting point, hotel or time changes after booking, use the right channel, not a new note.
When your details are ready, enter your hotel and destination in the Makkah Cabs planner, check the route summary, and add your booking notes at checkout.