The Plaza Hotel Car Service: Private Chauffeur to Fifth Avenue and Central Park South

The Plaza hotel car service: arriving at 768 Fifth Avenue the easy way

If you are flying from Toronto to New York and staying at The Plaza, the car is the part of the trip you can settle before you leave home. Enroutz.ca books a private chauffeur for The Plaza hotel car service from any New York airport, from the train stations and from the cruise terminals. The hotel's own site gives its address as 768 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South, and that is where your driver delivers you.

Trips inside the United States are driven by US-licensed local chauffeur partners. They are vetted, commercially insured and booked, confirmed and invoiced by the Enroutz.ca desk in Toronto, so you deal with one booking, one confirmation and one invoice. Only the Toronto and Ontario work is run from our own fleet. Cross-border trips from Toronto run from Toronto; once you are on the ground in New York, a partner takes over.

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This page covers the practical side of getting to a hotel that has no shortage of famous history: which entrance to use, what to expect from the roads, how long the airport runs take, and when a taxi or the train is the better choice.

How do I get from JFK, LaGuardia or Newark to The Plaza by private car?

Drive times in New York depend on the hour more than the distance. The ranges below are typical, not promises.

Each airport has its own page with terminal-by-terminal pickup detail: JFK airport car service, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Teterboro private aviation. For private jets landing at Westchester County, see Westchester (HPN).

What to know about the entrance and arrival at The Plaza

The hotel's guest information page says that bellmen are stationed at the Fifth Avenue porte-cochère and in the Fifth Avenue hotel lobby, which is where luggage is handled and where the elevators to the rooms are reached. For a chauffeured arrival, that is the door your driver heads for. The Plaza Shops have a separate entry at 1 West 58th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, so a driver who is told "shops" will drop you in the wrong place; the booking should simply say The Plaza hotel, Fifth Avenue.

The hotel is famous for its revolving door and for the view of Central Park from the south end of the park. The block is busy at all hours with horse carriages, tour coaches and pedestrians, so the drop-off is short and managed by the doormen. Your chauffeur stops where the hotel staff direct, helps with bags and leaves you with the bell team. Check-in on the hotel's FAQ page is 3:00 p.m. and check-out is 12:00 p.m., so a morning arrival from Europe or the Gulf may mean a luggage hold rather than a room; ask the hotel in advance.

During the holiday season the hotel asks non-guests to reserve in advance to visit. If a colleague is meeting you in the lobby in December, they will need to arrange that with the hotel.

• Use "The Plaza, 768 Fifth Avenue" as the destination.
• Give the chauffeur the name on the hotel reservation, not just your own.
• Tell the desk if you want the driver to wait while you check in; on hotel pickups 15 minutes of waiting are included.

Why a chauffeur beats the airport taxi line at a hotel like this

New York taxis are reliable and the city regulates them well. The Taxi and Limousine Commission publishes a flat fare for yellow-cab trips between JFK and Manhattan, with surcharges, tolls and a tip added on top, and it is a perfectly good option for a light traveller who does not mind a queue. The details are on the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission fare page.

A private car earns its place in three situations. The first is a long-haul arrival where you want a named person at the exit and a fixed fare quoted before you pay. The second is a family or a group with luggage, where a Luxury SUV or an Executive Sprinter removes the need for two cars. The third is a business arrival with a meeting an hour later, where a missed connection with a taxi line is a real cost. If none of those apply and you land with one carry-on at mid-morning, the taxi rank is the lowest-cost option and it is fine.

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The Plaza, Central Park and the streets around the hotel

The Plaza sits at the southeast corner of Central Park, where Fifth Avenue meets Central Park South, which is 59th Street. The Plaza's own timeline page records that the current building opened on October 1, 1907, after the first hotel on the site opened in 1890, and that the hotel became a New York City Landmark in 1969 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The hotel closed in 2005 for a restoration and reopened in 2008, according to the same page. The hotel describes 282 guestrooms including 102 suites on its website.

The practical consequences for a driver are the geography. Fifth Avenue runs one way southbound, so cars approach the porte-cochère from the north along the avenue. Central Park South is the park-side street, and 58th Street is the side street the shops use. Drivers who know the block approach from the right lane, drop at the doorman's signal and move on within a minute or two; this is one reason partner chauffeurs matter in New York, because the local streets reward familiarity.

• Fifth Avenue shopping: the department stores and flagship boutiques begin at the hotel's own corner and run south.
• Midtown theatre district: about 1.5 km (1 mile) south-west, normally 10–25 minutes by car in the evening.
• Museum Mile: the Metropolitan Museum of Art is about 2 km (1.2 miles) north along the park.

Parking, valet and the house car

The hotel's guest information page states that its parking facility is off-site and that valet service is arranged through the hotel, so if you are being driven by a chauffeur you will not need any of it. This is another practical argument for a driver on a short stay: there is no car to store, no garage to find and no charge for a vehicle that sits idle between trips.

The same page mentions a complimentary house Maybach for guests within a 10-block radius of the hotel, running on certain weekdays during the day on a first-come basis and not reservable in advance. It is a hotel amenity, not a substitute for an airport transfer, and it is not something Enroutz.ca arranges. For a pre-booked day of meetings across the city, an hourly chauffeur is the right choice, because the car and driver stay with you from the first stop to the last.

Compare the ways to reach The Plaza from the airports

Be honest about the trade-off. Public transport is the lowest-cost route and is quick if you are travelling alone, but it requires stairs and a change of trains with bags, and the nearest station to The Plaza is a short walk away rather than a door-to-door service. A private car costs more but it removes the transfers, the wait and the uncertainty about the fare.

Late arrivals, delays and flight tracking

Flights into New York are delayed often enough that you should assume yours may be. Every Enroutz.ca airport pickup includes flight tracking, so the driver's start time follows the actual landing, not the scheduled one. On international arrivals we include 60 minutes of waiting after landing, and 30 minutes on domestic arrivals. That covers the usual walk from the aircraft, passport control and baggage claim at any JFK terminal, where lines at US Customs and Border Protection can be long on a bank of arrivals from Europe.

If you want a name board in the arrivals hall, ask for it at booking. It is an add-on, and an alias name can be used on the board if you prefer your own name not to be displayed.

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Choosing the right vehicle for The Plaza

The Executive Sedan (Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Cadillac CT6 or Lyriq or similar) takes up to three passengers with two large and two cabin bags. The First Class Sedan (Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series or similar) has the same capacity with a more generous rear seat, which suits a long-haul arrival. The Luxury SUV (Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Yukon Denali or similar) takes up to six passengers and five or six large bags, which is the usual choice for a family of four with proper luggage. An Executive Sprinter carries up to 12 passengers and 12 bags for delegations and wedding parties.

Maybach, Rolls-Royce, stretch limousine and armoured vehicles are available on request, with availability confirmed at booking. Vehicles are "or similar", and the exact model is confirmed at booking. Wi-Fi, water and phone chargers are in most vehicles. Child, toddler and booster seats can be added at booking, which matters in a city where they must be arranged in advance. See the fleet page for details.

When The Plaza is part of a bigger trip

Many guests arrive at The Plaza as part of a longer itinerary. If you are coming off a ship, the New York cruise terminal page covers the pier-to-hotel run. If you are arriving by train from Washington, Boston or Montreal, the Penn Station transfer page explains the pickup. For the city as a whole, including hourly hire, theatre nights and day trips, see the main New York car service page, and for the rest of the country, the USA hub.

Toronto-based travellers who drive down rather than fly face about 800 km (500 miles) of road, which is about eight to nine hours before the border wait. Most people fly the 1.5 hours instead and use a chauffeur at the New York end. If you need the same standard of car in both cities, the Toronto desk handles the whole booking. Start with the Toronto airport transfer page for the home leg.

Business travel, events and discretion

The Plaza hosts weddings, meetings and receptions, and its meeting spaces include a grand ballroom. For a corporate delegation, a corporate chauffeur service account lets a travel manager book a fleet of cars under one invoice. Chauffeurs do not photograph clients or post about trips, and NDAs are signed on request. For executives who travel with their own security team, Enroutz.ca works alongside that team; we are a chauffeur service, not a security company, and we do not supply armed drivers or bodyguards.

For a week-long stay, the corporate accounts page explains monthly invoicing, and the travel desk can coordinate the arrival car, the daily hourly hire and the departure transfer under one confirmation.

Cancellations and changes

More than 72 hours before the scheduled pickup, cancellation is free. At 72 hours or less the charge is 10%, at 48 hours or less 50%, and at 24 hours or less or a no-show 100%, all measured from the scheduled pickup time. Large events and conventions may carry a different deadline, which is stated on your confirmation. If your flight changes, tell the desk; because the driver tracks the flight, a delay does not normally need any action from you.