Palma airport transfers for your guests

In short

Airport transfers are one of the services guests in Mallorca ask for most, but in the Balearic Islands carrying passengers for a price is public transport and needs a licence. Your property can offer transfers without trouble if a licensed company (taxi, VTC private-hire or coach) does them and bills the guest. Problems start when you drive guests yourself and charge for it, or take a cut without being a travel agency.

Why you can't charge for transfers in your own car

Spain's national transport act (Law 16/1987, LOTT) allows ancillary private transport: transport run by a company whose business is not transport, as a complement to its main activity. But the conditions rarely fit guests:

• Vehicles and drivers must be part of the business (article 102.2 c and d).
• "The transport may not be contracted or invoiced separately": its cost goes into the price of the main service (article 102.2 e).
• For passengers, article 102.2 a refers to the company's workers "or other persons accompanying them", not to customers.

If those conditions are not met, article 102.3 says the transport falls under the public-transport rules, which require a licence. In practice, charging €60 to collect a guest in the house car is unlicensed public transport.

What you can do

Commissions: handle with care

Balearic law defines an intermediary for car transport as anyone who sells these services "in their own name or on behalf of a third party, for a price or a fee" (article 112.2), and reserves intermediation for licence holders and for travel agencies and other intermediaries recognised by tourism law (article 64.1). Law 4/2026 also made it an offence to offer these services on websites or social media without a licence, whether to provide them or to act as intermediary (article 94.6).

The safest model is for the guest to book and pay the licensed company directly. If you want a commission per transfer, ask your adviser or the Direcció General de Mobilitat first whether your case counts as intermediation.

What a taxi from the airport costs

To judge a fair price when you negotiate with a transfer company, these are Mallorca's official taxi fares (Decree 20/2025 of 23 May):

On top: €3 for 5 or 6 passengers, €6 for 7 or 8, and €4.75 on Christmas Eve night and New Year's Eve night. Luggage is free and drivers must accept cards.

A rough example: a finca 40 km from the airport, Tuesday 15:00, 4 people: 2.50 + 4.65 + 40 × 1.20 = about €55. The same trip on a Sunday: 2.85 + 4.65 + 40 × 1.35 = about €62. The meter decides: the actual route and waiting time change the total.

A VTC or pre-booked transfer has no official fare: the price is free (article 74 ter.3), but it must be booked in advance. It cannot wait at the terminal for whoever turns up.

How to offer it well

1. Pick one or two licensed companies and ask for their VTC authorisation or taxi licence number. Since Law 4/2026, intermediaries must check that the vehicles they assign are licensed (article 74 sexies).
2. Agree a fixed price per route and vehicle size for your guests (4-seat car, 7-seat van, child seats).
3. Offer it before arrival, in the confirmation email or your app, with the price already written and how to book.
4. Have guests book and pay the company, with name, flight and time. If the flight is late, the company tracks it.
5. Tell them what they don't have to pay for: the taxi rank at the airport is a legal option too, and it's better they hear it from you.

What guests ask

• How long does it take? It depends on the area and time of day; give the time to your house, not a generic one.
• Are there child seats? Ask when booking: not every vehicle carries them.
• What if the flight is late? A transfer booked with the flight number waits; with a taxi from the rank there's nothing to arrange.

In the GetMallorca app you can list the transfer as a service run by an outside company: guests see "Managed by" with its name and book directly on its website, without going through you.