WestOne Cars launches the Kiosk

WestOne Cars has launched a new stand-alone booking platform called the Kiosk – a touch-screen podium that can be installed anywhere, such as pubs, bars, restaurants, hotel foyers and reception areas of businesses, allowing customers to make cash or credit card minicab bookings within minutes.

The booking system is the brain child of WestOne Cars’ managing director Amarjit Pall who took over the helm in December 2010.

The Kiosk has been developed in-house at WestOne Cars and operates seamlessly with their booking and job allocation system. As such it is able to give accurate information to the customer regarding car arrival times.

The Kiosk, which has been trialled for the past couple of months at an exclusive venue in London, has received a flow of positive feedback from customers and clients.

Once installed bookings can be taken immediately. The step-by-step process requires customers to enter information such as drop-off address and contact number. The pick-up address automatically defaults to the venue location, but can be changed if necessary meaning that, for most bookings, only limited information needs to be entered.

Once the customer has entered their journey details they will be provided with a booking reference. Details of this, as well as the car registration number and notification of its arrival are all sent to the customer via text message.

Pall said: “The Kiosk grew from an idea we had in the business about making it easy for customers to identify and book licensed minicabs but also for venues to be able to provide a simple and easy-to-manage option to their customers.

“Many venues we have spoken to say that they have a desire to be able to provide added value services to their clients but, in reality, being able to discuss travel options or book minicabs is not feasible, particularly on a busy weekend night.

“The Kiosk provides a win-win opportunity as venues can support their customers in this way without any additional work for themselves. We have made it as simple as possible for venues to be able to utilise this booking option and, we hope, they will be keen to work with us to roll this out across the capital.”