Greedy hotel doormen are illegally steering airport-bound tourists to livery cabs, black cars and gypsy hacks in exchange for cash kickbacks, the Post has learned.
By law, luxury limos, livery and black cars can only be used for pre-arranged trips at hotels — but The Post observed many Manhattan doormen guide guests to the vehicles idling outside, waiting to make the lucrative airport trips. Illegal cabs also get a cut of the action, for a price.
“The driver will give the doorman the money in a handshake or when they put the luggage in the trunk,” said Bakari Lackre, 33, who has been driving a yellow taxi for four years.
“The doormen control the atmosphere. They will talk the customer into taking a black car.”
One Hilton hotel doorman was seen openly exchanging cash with a rogue driver, while a black-car operator was observed craftily putting the payola in his trunk for a doorman to grab.
The driver of a Toyota SUV from a Long Island City black-car base was also seen handing a rolled bill to a doorman at the Park Central hotel last week.
One doorman at the hotel told a driver inside the lobby, “Have your $10 ready. Ten. Not two’’ — then was seen receiving his kickback behind the man’s car.
The doormen regularly demand $5 and $10 for fares to LaGuardia, JFK and Newark Airport from the drivers — with some making up to $150 a day in kickbacks.
They punish those that don’t pay by giving their fares to the hacks who will.
“It’s extortion,” said David Pollack of the Committee for Taxi Safety. “It’s an insult to the industry. It’s unfair to our drivers.”
At the Crowne Plaza on 48th Street, a manager said the practice is forbidden — but a gypsy cabbie in a Nissan Quest without TLC plates was recently spotted by The Post giving cash to the doorman and picking up a family from the hotel.
The TLC later busted the illegal hack, seizing his car and slapping him with a $600 fine as well as a $185 towing fee.
Three illegal cabbies were also busted at the Doubletree Marriott in mid-April.
Most yellow cabbies can’t afford the scheme, according to a drivers’ union.
“Taxi drivers pay $150 to $190 in daily expenses,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxiworkers Alliance. “How can they afford paying an extra $10 just to pick up a fare from a hotel?”
Tourists also are paying a price for the illegal activity.
While yellow cabs have a set airport rate, for-hire vehicle rates vary and can be more expensive. Illegal cabs aren’t regulated, so the price can be anything.
The Alliance has compiled a list of hotels that it says have the most aggressive doormen — including every hotel on 44th Street such as the Sofitel, Iroquois, and Algonquin.
Other taxi drivers have identified the Times Square Hilton, the Omni Berkshire, the Roosevelt Hotel and the Ameritania as hotels where they are regularly hassled.
Livery-car bases condemn the practice, and a spokeswoman for the Hotel Association of New York said they don’t approve of it.
“It is up to each individual hotel to know what is going on at their property,” said the hotel-industry rep, Lisa Linden.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission also often busts yellow-cab drivers for other illegal activities at hotels.
For example, more than 40 yellow cabs were recently hit with summonses for refusing trips from hotels that weren’t to the airport.
The TLC meets regularly with the city hotel association to discuss security and other issues.
“It’s something that’s been on our radar screens for some time,” said Commissioner Meera Joshi of the kickbacks. “We’ve made progress in some locations, but I think we can do better. We’ve been in touch with the hotel community to see how we can work together to work more efficiently on the problem.’’