Worst stay with Accord

From May 9 to May 14, my sister and I went on the Our Budapest tour. Flight 199, team leader - Kristina Semenyuk.

I have mixed feelings about this trip. Beautiful Budapest, which you want to return to, cozy Eger, excellent relaxation in the Miskolc cave bath. Good bus and professional drivers. Organized and friendly group of 29 people. And the disregard for the Accord-tour to its customers. Before this trip, I had already traveled with Accord (New Year's tour to Prague in 2014). The first trip went well, for all the time there was only one problem that the group leader, the host party and the Accord-tour solved and then with dignity got out of the situation. But on the Our Budapest tour it was different.

Accord website says 3 nights in Budapest for this tour. For my sister and I, this was the decisive factor when buying - I wanted to walk around the city longer. Additional excursions, therefore, did not take. We decided that we would walk around Budapest on our own, take a boat ride for 2500 forints (less than 10 euros), and not for 26 euros as suggested by Accord. And the choice of authentic places where you can eat goulash and drink wine is simply huge in Budapest. And this pleasure is inexpensive. As it turned out later, we made the right decision not to buy excursions. Since having bought an excursion for which the minimum group is not recruited (for a minute - 30 people. And our group is only 29 :)), Accord does not return the money. At best, they can offer some other excursion, but it’s not a fact that the replacement will be equivalent for you.

The organization of the trip was disappointing. It all started with the fact that the company sent the information sheet 2 days before departure, and there was no information about hotels in it. I asked my travel agent, through which I bought the tour, to clarify the names of the hotels. In my opinion, this is very important information, on the basis of which the tourist makes plans, calculates the route. But the names of the hotels in which we will be accommodated, we were not informed until the last. I recognized them less than a day before departure, some tourists were informed already when boarding the bus. It turned out that for some reason there will be two hotels. When we, after leaving Terminal "A" for the tour, began to ask the group leader Christina questions about this, she somehow smoothly "moved out" of the conversation, said that she herself was going to the first hotel for the first time and "we will test it together." She kept silent about his whereabouts. The second hotel was praised and told in which part of the city it is located, what sights are nearby, etc.

In general, the impression about Christina is such that the girl is here, because she needs to work somewhere. She is not interested in the work, she gives information - at least, the standard answer to the question about the museum, sights - "you will not be interested" or "you should not go there."

The first stop was the baths in Miskolc. This is a good relaxation, compensating for a night move. For 2.5 hours washed away fatigue and road dust. Therefore, we arrived in Eger, gaining strength and energy. The tour guide was a professional, loving her job and her city. She told, showed, orientated where to dine, buy wine and souvenirs, take a walk, exchange currency without commission. If the accompanying group Christina would be at least ? the same pro, then the trip would be for sure, much better organized.

The first hotel we were checked into was the Drive Inn Hotel, with a tripadvisor rating of 2.5. But a low rating is not the worst thing that could happen to us. This hotel is not located in Budapest, but 20 kilometers from the city, on the highway. We checked into the hotel around 6:30 pm. That is, the evening was free, but we were not provided with a transfer to Budapest so that we could at least take a little walk around the city in the evening. The promised excursion on the boat was not even for those who paid for this excursion when buying the tour. Moreover, the hotel turned out to be terrible - the rooms are smoky, there are no toiletries, there are no towels either (only narrow long rags that look like washed-out kitchen towels), wifi works more or less normally only at the reception. The air conditioning in our room did not work, someone did not flush the toilet. It is not clear for what reasons Christina and my sister were placed in a smoking room. Although we are both non-smokers and both are allergic to tobacco smoke. When I told her about it, she replied that it did not concern her. The hotel does not have a cafe where you can have dinner. There are no cafes or shops in the vicinity either. About 500 meters from the hotel, across the road, there is a gas station with a mini market. But apart from water and snacks, there is nothing else. That is, the tourists, having arrived here, turned out to be hostages - in smelly, stuffy, smoky, untidy rooms, without food and the opportunity to get it at least somewhere. And that's not counting the ruined evening. When I and other tourists asked about the possibility of a transfer, to find out why we were settled outside the city, how to get into the city, etc., Christina said that she called Accord and contacted the host, and is waiting for an answer. But then she just left the tourists and went to spend the night in another hotel. She did not respond to calls and messages, she returned for us by breakfast. All evening, I and other tourists wrote to travel agents through whom they bought the tour. My travel agent reported the incident to Accord Tour, but Accord Tour and the host did not respond to this conflict in any way. In my opinion, this situation is not accidental, Accord knew where he settled tourists, and he did it deliberately, in order to save money. Although, wanting to save money and check into this hotel, it was possible to do this at 10-11 pm, giving tourists time to walk around the beautiful Eger. But no, we were urged to leave, motivated by the fact that in the evening there will be a boat trip and we need to be in time for Budapest. The fact that there will be no walk, we learned already when we were standing at the reception at the hotel, and the buses left for the parking lot to settle. By the way, to our question about the price of a taxi to Budapest, the staff at the reception answered that one way it would cost about 10 thousand forints (about 1000 UAH), but possibly more. When Christina came to pick us up from the hotel in the morning, she didn’t give any explanations “what it was” and no apologies for ruining the evening and night.

The second Danubius Hotel Flamenco is an excellent location near the Gellert mountain, lake and park, good clean and bright rooms, delicious breakfasts. Bus and trolleybus stop nearby, metro station, Gellert bath nearby.

Moving to Budapest, a sightseeing tour with a good guide, an excellent hotel, of course, brightened up and slightly dulled the negative impression of the first hotel. Budapest is beautiful and the daily walks are 25-26 km. confirmation of this. But still, we didn’t manage to do everything we wanted, so I will definitely come back here again. But without Accord.

Returning to Ukraine, I looked at the reviews on the work of the Accord Tour. Most of them have been negative lately. Especially 2017-2018. I am a rather unpretentious tourist, and did not expect on this tour that we would be accommodated in the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace? But "Drive Inn" is not the place where I would like to stay. Therefore, my review is another warning to future tourists. If you are traveling with an Accord, be prepared for surprises such as a bad hotel, canceled excursions, unrefunded money for them. In this case, your problems will be only yours. Neither the escort, nor the host, nor the Accord Tour itself will solve the problem. They don't even apologize for the inconvenience caused. At least that's how it was with us. Their Facebook page is closed for feedback, I wrote in private messages, the message was read, but I'm still waiting for an answer to it, it's been exactly 2 weeks already :)

I'm not sure that Accord Tour representatives read reviews and draw conclusions. But still I will give advice - choose hotels in the city. If it costs more, increase the cost of the tour by these few euros. But it is not necessary to spoil the tourist's vacation by putting him in a place where he cannot get out on his own. Why sell a tour package, which then you are not going to "turn" into excursions? Do you want to make money on excursions? Make a couple of excursions a must by including this in your tour price. And yes, return the money for excursions that you did not conduct for reasons beyond the control of the tourist. And it smacks of fraud from such non-returns. And your strange payment system with different prices for tourists who bought a tour at different times is also like a game of thimbles. Or is this also such a clever idea? If there are no tourists who are ready to pay for the tour at a double price, for those who paid for it at the minimum price, the tour is also canceled? And tourists are not returned money, offering to buy another tour, but at a different, high price? Cunningly invented ... Ostap Bender turns over in his grave with envy :)

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