Pickup and delivery apps
Book a slot, hand a bag to a driver, get it back the next day.
Yes — pack fewer clothes
This is what the packing calculator means. With this available, a week's trip needs about five days of clothes instead of seven.
What it is
In most large cities there is now an app that collects laundry from an address and returns it clean the next day. It sits between the wash-and-fold shop and the hotel service: much cheaper than the hotel, and it costs you none of the afternoon a launderette does. The awkward part is not the price — it is that you have to be at a known address twice.
How it works, step by step
The whole thing is a booking flow, with one question worth asking your hotel first.
- Ask your accommodation whether they'll accept a delivery for you. This is the step that decides everything. Many hotels will hold a returned bag at reception; some will not, and short-let apartments with no front desk are the hard case.
- Check the app actually covers your address, not just the city. Coverage often stops at the inner ring.
- Book a collection slot, usually a one- or two-hour window the same day or the next morning.
- Put everything in any bag you like — most services provide their own on the first collection, but they'll take yours.
- Flag anything that shouldn't be tumble-dried in the order notes, the same as at a wash-and-fold shop.
- Book the return for a time you'll be at the address, or confirm reception will take it.
Usually priced per bag or per kilo, and typically lands between a laundromat and a hotel service — often €20–€30 for a full traveller's bag in a European capital, with a delivery fee and a minimum order on top. You are paying for the two car journeys, which is why it is more than the shop that does the same wash.
- A delivery or service fee, per collection
- A minimum order value, which makes a small bag poor value
- Express turnaround, at a premium
- First-order discounts that make the trial cheaper than the second use
- Large cities only, and often only the central districts
- You need to be at a fixed address for a collection and a return, which is awkward mid-trip
- Not every hotel will accept a third-party delivery for a guest — ask before you book the slot
- It is a next-day service, so it's no help the night before a morning flight
- The two handovers are where a tight itinerary breaks
- Nothing — but confirm the delivery address will accept the return
- A count or a photo of the bag, as with any drop-off service
- A local phone number or working data, since drivers call
- Are in one city for several nights with a fixed address
- Are working or travelling on a schedule with no spare afternoon
- Have a hotel reception that will hold the return
- Have a full bag, so the minimum order isn't wasted
Turnaround is measured door to door — from handing the clothes over to wearing them again — not from the machine's timer.
Questions people ask about this
Usually, if reception agrees to hold the bag — ask before booking the slot rather than after. Hotels with a 24-hour desk are straightforward; short-let apartments with a keybox and no staff are the ones where this falls apart.
Often €20–€30 for a full bag in a European capital, plus a delivery fee and subject to a minimum order. That is roughly double a laundromat and a fraction of a hotel's per-item pricing, and what you're buying is the afternoon you'd otherwise spend waiting for a dryer.
It depends what your time is worth on that particular day. A launderette costs about €10 and two hours; the app costs two or three times that and about ten minutes of your attention. For one night in a city it's rarely worth it; for a working trip it often is.
Most large European and North American cities, and a growing number in Asia and the Gulf, though the operators differ everywhere. Rather than looking for a specific brand, search the app store for laundry delivery with your city's name and check the coverage map against your actual address.
The calculator asks whether you'll have laundry. Start with this answer filled in and it will size the list around washing once mid-trip instead of packing a fresh set for every day.