Umrah Family in Different Hotels: Transfers

For an Umrah family in different hotels, you can usually cover the airport arrival with one journey that stops at the first hotel and finishes at the second, and the departure with one journey that collects from both. Whether that is the better choice depends on how many people and bags are travelling, how close the hotels are, and whether both parts of the family are ready at the same moment. When the numbers are large or the timings differ, two separate transfers are often simpler.

This guide is for the organiser planning for relatives who, for reasons of budget, availability or preference, are booked into two hotels in the same city. It explains how stops work in a Pilgrim Taxi journey, how to choose the drop-off order, how to collect relatives from two Makkah hotels on the way to the airport, and when separate transfers make more sense. It includes a decision table, a worked example and a checklist.

Why families end up in two hotels

It is more common than people expect. Some typical reasons:

Grandparents want to be as close to the Haram as possible, while younger relatives choose somewhere more affordable a little further out.
One hotel had rooms for only part of the family on the chosen dates.
Two households booked separately and only later decided to travel together.
One relative has accessibility needs that one hotel meets better than the other.

None of these is a problem for ground transport, as long as the plan says clearly who is going where, with which bags.

How stops work in a Pilgrim Taxi journey

A Pilgrim Taxi journey has one pickup place and one destination. In between, you can add up to 8 stops, entered in the order the vehicle will reach them. The pickup and destination must be different places.

For a family in two hotels, that makes one transfer with two hotel drop-offs possible, with a natural shape:

Arrival: pickup at the airport, a stop at hotel A, destination hotel B.
Departure: pickup at hotel A, a stop at hotel B, destination the airport.

Two points are easy to miss.

A stop is a brief drop or collection, not a wait. It is time for people to get out with their bags, or to get in. It is not time for a meal, a rest in the room, or a visit. If one part of the family needs longer, treat it as a separate journey.

The vehicle has to carry everyone until the first stop. On arrival, every passenger and every bag is on board from the airport. On departure, every passenger and every bag is on board from the second hotel onwards. The vehicle class must fit the full party and full luggage, not just the group at either hotel.

Search results only show vehicle classes that pass the capacity check for the passengers and bags you enter, so enter the totals for the whole family. Our note on describing an extra stop by purpose and address covers how to word a stop so the driver understands it.

One journey with a stop, or two separate transfers?

This table sums up the trade-offs.

Question	One journey with a stop	Two separate transfers
Vehicle size	Must fit the whole family and all bags	Each vehicle fits one group
Number of bookings	One	Two, each with its own minimum booking value
Timing	Both groups travel together	Each group travels at its own time
If one group is late	The other group waits	Only one booking is affected
Drop-off order	Someone is dropped second	Both go direct
Best for	Hotels close together, small or medium family, same flight	Large family, heavy luggage, hotels far apart, different flights or schedules

Each journey has a minimum booking value equivalent to £40. For short hotel journeys this can make two separate bookings less efficient than one journey with a stop. For large groups, one vehicle big enough for everyone and two smaller vehicles can compare either way. Search both options in the ride finder for your real numbers before deciding.

Choosing the drop-off order on arrival

On arrival, the order of the stops decides who gets to rest first. There is no fixed rule, but these questions help:

Who is most tired? Older relatives or young children are often better dropped first.
Whose hotel is on the way? Dropping the nearer hotel first usually makes the route shorter. The route summary in your search will show the distance for the order you entered.
Who has the most luggage? Unloading the heaviest group first frees space and makes the rest of the drive more comfortable.
Who can help at the second hotel? If the second group needs help with bags, someone from the first group may choose to ride on and walk back.

Road distances differ by direction because of one-way systems and junctions. Our live route checks show, for example, about 1.5 km from the Clock Tower area to the Hilton Hotel & Convention Jabal Omar. Short as that is, a different order can still produce a different route in busy central Makkah. Try both orders in your search and compare the route summaries.

From Jeddah Airport to central Makkah, the drive is about 95 km. From Madinah Airport to the Madinah Hilton, it is about 20 km. The stop between two hotels is a small part of either journey, but it is the part where time and patience go.

At each hotel: meeting points, not promises

Where a vehicle may stop outside a hotel, especially close to the Haram, is managed on the day. We do not promise that a car can pull up at any particular entrance.

For a family in two hotels, that means:

The lead traveller should expect the driver to suggest the nearest workable point to each hotel.
The group getting out should be ready to walk a short distance with its bags.
For departures, the group being collected second should wait at an agreed meeting point near its hotel, ready to load quickly, rather than in their room.

A live location from the group at the second hotel helps the driver more than a screenshot of a map. Our note on what a map screenshot cannot show explains why.

Each hotel should be entered by its full name, as listed in the hotel confirmation. Hotels near the Haram often have similar names, or are part of the same brand. Our note on when the hotel name and map pin disagree shows how to check the right place is selected.

Collecting relatives from two Makkah hotels on departure day

Departures are harder than arrivals, because two groups have to be ready at once and a flight will not wait.

Set the pickup time at the first hotel by counting back from the airline’s check-in deadline, allowing for the stop at the second hotel. Look up the deadline on the airline’s own website; it varies by airline and airport. King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah has more than one terminal, including Terminal 1, the North Terminal and the Hajj and Umrah Complex, according to its official overview, so check which one your flight uses.

Then build in the second collection:

The group at the second hotel checks out before the vehicle leaves the first hotel.
They wait at the agreed meeting point with all their bags, not in the lobby with the bags still upstairs.
The lead traveller in the vehicle calls or messages them as the vehicle sets off.
Loading is quick because everyone knows which bags go where.

If the two groups are on different flights, or one group simply cannot be ready in time, book two separate journeys instead. A missed flight is far more costly than a second booking.

Who is the lead contact?

With two hotels, it is tempting to name one lead contact for each. For a single journey with a stop, choose one lead traveller for the whole journey: the person who will be in the vehicle from start to finish.

On arrival, that is someone in the group dropped second, because they are on board for the whole journey.
On departure, that is someone in the group collected first, for the same reason.

The other group should have a named contact too, with a working phone, who can talk to the lead. Our guide to one organiser and one travelling contact explains how to keep the organiser at home out of the critical path on the day.

Luggage: label it by hotel

When a vehicle carries two households to two addresses, the most common mistake is a case unloaded at the wrong hotel.

Put a clear tag on every case with the hotel name, not just the family name.
Load the bags for the first stop last, so they come out first.
If a case is shared between the two hotels, agree before the journey which hotel it goes to.

Our note on one shared suitcase not meaning one traveller covers shared luggage in more detail.

A worked example: the Malik family

Eight members of the Malik family land together at Jeddah Airport.

Clock Tower hotel (3 people): grandparents Rashid and Nargis, and their daughter Huma, who is looking after them.
Hilton Jabal Omar (5 people): Huma’s brother Kamran, his wife Saima and their three teenage children.

Huma’s husband, Faisal, is organising everything from London.

Arrival. Faisal searches Jeddah Airport to the Hilton Hotel & Convention Jabal Omar, with a stop at the Clock Tower hotel. He enters eight passengers and the whole family’s luggage: eight large cases and six cabin bags. The capacity check shows the Toyota Hiace (11 seats, 10 large bags) and larger. He enters the Clock Tower hotel first, so the grandparents rest sooner. The lead traveller is Kamran, who stays on board to the end.

Stay. The family sees each other every day at the Haram and walks between the two hotels, which are about 1.5 km apart by road.

Departure. The grandparents and Huma fly home on the same flight as Kamran’s family. Faisal books one journey: pickup at the Clock Tower hotel, a stop at the Hilton Jabal Omar, destination Jeddah Airport. He counts back from the airline’s bag-drop deadline, allowing time for the second collection. The lead traveller this time is Huma, who is on board from the first pickup.

The plan for the stop. Kamran’s family checks out early and waits at the meeting point agreed with the driver by phone, with all their bags tagged “Hilton Jabal Omar”. Loading is quick.

Status. Faisal waits until both bookings read Confirmed, then sends one message to the family with the booking references, the pickup times and the names of the two lead travellers.

Had the grandparents been on an earlier flight, Faisal would have booked two separate departures instead.

The move between cities: two hotels at each end

Many families spend part of the trip in Makkah and part in Madinah. If they are split across two hotels in both cities, the intercity journey can collect from two hotels and drop at two more.

Because a journey allows up to 8 stops in journey order, the shape is straightforward:

Pickup: Makkah hotel A.
Stop 1: Makkah hotel B, to collect the second group.
Stop 2: Madinah hotel C, to drop the first group.
Destination: Madinah hotel D.

Our routing engine gives about 439 km between Makkah and Madinah, so the collections and drops at either end are a small share of the whole journey. They still take time, and they come at the start of a long drive and at the end of it, when people are least patient.

A few things make this work:

Put the most tired travellers on board last and off first, if the hotel positions allow it. Being collected second in Makkah and dropped first in Madinah means the shortest time in the vehicle.
Count every bag for the whole journey. Between the second Makkah hotel and the first Madinah hotel, the vehicle carries the whole family and all its luggage. The capacity check must reflect that.
Check the hotel check-out and check-in times. One family’s early check-out in Makkah and the other’s late check-in in Madinah can pull in opposite directions. Ask each hotel whether it can hold luggage or allow an early room.

If the two households are travelling on different days, or one wants to stop somewhere on the way, book separate journeys. For arrivals and departures at Madinah, the airport is Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport, operated by Tibah Airports; the live check from there to the Madinah Hilton was about 20 km.

Child seats and accessibility across two hotels

If one household has young children or a relative who uses a wheelchair, the requirement applies to the whole shared journey, not just to their part of it.

Child seats (infant seat, child seat, booster) and a wheelchair requirement can be added in the search, and are then confirmed for the vehicle. Add them to the shared journey even if the children are dropped at the first stop. A folding wheelchair also counts as luggage space, so include it when you count bags.

Where one hotel suits a relative’s accessibility needs better, say so in the booking notes in practical terms, for example “passenger at hotel A walks short distances only”. You can also read our accessibility statement before booking.

If a hotel changes after booking

Hotels sometimes move families at the last minute, or relatives decide to join the others in one hotel. That changes the stops or the destination of the journey.

Only the pickup time can be changed online. The pickup place, destination, stops, passengers and vehicle cannot. If a hotel changes, contact the booking team before doing anything else. Do not cancel the existing booking and rebook, because 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 the customer cancels. A full refund for the affected journey applies if we or the transport partner cancel or cannot supply the journey. The cancellation and refund policy sets out the terms.

If only the time moves, use “Request a new pickup time” in your account. An approved new time carries a £5 rescheduling fee, converted into the booking currency and added to the cash paid to the driver at pickup. A rejected request costs nothing.

Booking notes that help the driver

The booking notes are where you can explain the two-hotel arrangement in plain words. Keep it short:

“Stop at [hotel A]: three passengers and three large cases get out. Destination [hotel B]: five passengers.”
“Departure: collect five passengers from [hotel B], who will be waiting at a meeting point to be agreed by phone.”
“Lead traveller: [name], [phone number with country code].”

Online bookings need at least 48 hours’ notice before pickup. Payment secures a provisional request, the status updates within 1 to 12 hours, and the journey is booked only when it reads Confirmed.

Checklist: one family, two hotels

List each hotel by full name, with the people and bags going to each.
Decide whether both groups travel at the same time; if not, plan separate journeys.
For a shared journey, enter the whole family’s passengers and bags in the search.
Choose the stop order, and compare route summaries for both orders.
Check that each journey meets the £40 minimum booking value.
Name one lead traveller who is on board from start to finish.
Give the other group a named contact with a working phone.
Tag every case with its hotel name.
For departures, count back from the airline’s deadline and allow for the second collection.
Write clear booking notes describing the stop and the passengers at each hotel.
Book at least 48 hours ahead and wait for Confirmed.
If a hotel changes, contact the booking team before cancelling anything.

Once you know who is staying where, use the Pilgrim Taxi ride finder to compare one journey with a stop against two separate transfers for your family’s real numbers.

Umrah family in different hotels: one pickup route or separate transfers