2 guides - 2 big differences (letter to the travel agency after the tour)

My husband and I recently returned from a trip. This was our second trip with your company.

We want to thank the travel company for the interesting development of the excursion route! From, certainly good, also the hotel "Pam" (it would be better if we were in this hotel 2 nights, it would be possible in time, and not in the worst "Tusan" before that), and meals at the hotel "Mirada del Mar" ( we even wanted to write thanks to his chef). The drivers on the tour, both in this and in the past, have been professionals. In my opinion, this time the road was more difficult, because. it was still raining, and we were driving uphill along the serpentine.

We also want to note the nuances that during the trip both of us were very upset, and, in connection with which, we had complaints about the organization of the tour.

If you do not want to take into account the wishes of your customers, one of them, you will certainly lose. Because As we are in the service industry, we know this very well. Now there are so many offers on the market of each direction of services that it seems to us, at least, not reasonable to scatter customers. And such satisfied customers as we are a guarantee that we will pay everything on time, that we will not refuse the tour at the last moment, and we will not make unreasonable claims.

If it seems that only we have claims left, you should understand that we went again and we have something to compare with. Also, if desired, the travel agency can ask the opinion of other tourists from our group regarding the issues raised by us - for example, haste. Of course, those who went for the first time and who have nothing to compare with, liked it. But it is not a fact that all of them will want to contact you again, otherwise the percentage of those who applied again for several years of your work would be higher than the percentage of primary clients.

We do not think that visiting sightseeing and large shopping facilities for 45 minutes-1 hour is enough. In our group, more than half of the people were older than us. Silva constantly, in all places, said “then take pictures” (which was not real) or “another time you will come and go there again.” Why are we here this time? On all excursions, she walked at her own pace with a quick step, stopped and immediately began to tell for 2-3 people who caught up with her (we specifically paid attention to this) and the rest either did not take pictures and caught up with her at their own pace, or those who took pictures on the go (!) (as we) did not have time to listen to her story. And "the group stretched out" - this is a purely subjective explanation of the guide, who wants to quickly work out the day. If everyone walked at a fast pace, convenient for Silva, this was the pace of marching soldiers (free step). And if the group "stretches" 1,2,3 times - maybe something is wrong with the pace of the guide, not the group? After all, people pay money for their trip and do not want to be driven, but want to enjoy the tour - after all, this is not a tour for young athletes, especially when it's cold and everyone is in winter clothes.

1. We would like to note that such guides as Ismail M. should certainly be encouraged by the travel agency (tour operator). such guides do much more for the development of the country's tourism and at a lower cost than, for example, the creation of commercials about the country. Especially for tourists like us, who had never been to Turkey before and, in principle, were not particularly interested in tours to Turkey. We were very upset by the lack of the opportunity to get into the group with Ismail, who accompanied us on the last trip, and which we asked for immediately when concluding the contract (since December 2011). We were ready to adjust to get into Ismail's group (for example, to go a week later). And, in this connection, we were very disappointed with the organization of the tour. Because we were not just given not Ismail, but an absolutely non-professional guide. Those. guide Silva knows and tells the necessary information, knows Turkish, speaks without an accent in Russian, which is certainly very important, 6-7 times we listened to her stories with interest, so that you do not consider our criticism unfounded, we also mention all the positive points: we liked that she handed out route maps, gave the tour program on the first day, on the last day she gave an information booklet about Antalya in Russian, said that delicious Sheringe wine is sold in that village at the lowest price, but that’s all! And all this is absolutely not enough for a good organization and good impressions from the tour - there were more bad ones. A good guide should live the life of his tourists this week, as Ismail did, and not just try to earn more bonus money for himself and get to the hotel faster at any cost, even at the cost of ruining the mood of tourists.

When we are RARELY asked by students of our courses to refer them to a particular teacher, we definitely do this, because this is not difficult for us, but we want our client to be satisfied, even if it seems to us that the initially proposed teacher is excellent, better and more experienced than everyone else. Although we also do not keep teachers on the staff, this already depends on our ability and desire to negotiate. And therefore, the request for a group assignment to the desired guide does not seem to us supernatural and impossible for the management of a travel agency.

2. As we saw on the website of the travel agency, there are small discrepancies in the tour program No. 2:

- discrepancy between the declared and provided hotels;

- it is impossible to visit the tombs in the World, they can only be seen. Why is deliberately false advertising information presented on the site?

- The 6th day we should spend in Hierapolis, but on the 6th day we just left the hotel in Pamukkale;

- an opportunity for shopping was promised in Antalya - in reality this opportunity was not there, because past the goods sold on the street it was necessary to rush very quickly.

I would like you to have more information on your site with the exact names of all visited excursion objects.

3. At first, they charged us $120 for dinners, and when someone said that in Kyiv they paid $140 for them, they took the rest of the money from us. Those. There is something wrong with the company here. If it is possible to take $120, let it be $120. Of course, it was said: "Who does not want to rent $140 each, $120 will be returned." But who will refuse?

4. Despite the fact that the price of the tour includes honey. The guide does not even have basic medicines “for the head, stomach” with him - this time someone asked for medicines from the group on the recommendation of Silva.

The following is a detailed description of the situations that arose:

On the 1st day after buying dinners and excursions, we were offered to go on a paid excursion to the bath complex in Kemer (we liked it very much!), but we were not warned that additional services would be offered, which would require additional time. As a result, we partially used the services for extra. payment and at the end there were difficulties with the calculations for these procedures. We missed the bus that took our tourists to the hotel. People were not recruited for the next minibus - probably, the number of people and minibuses was not correctly calculated, we were the last to stay due to an incomprehensible delay at the reception, and we were already late for dinner. Because there was no breakfast that day, it was very important for us to attend dinner on time. Only after repeated calls to the guide we were taken to the hotel by 21h, and the mood was spoiled on the very first evening. Although the weather was good on the day of arrival, and we arrived in a cheerful mood, because. we did not expect anything positive from the tour, we did not think that it would be so much worse for us than it was the first time.

On the 3rd day upon arrival at the Tusan hotel, the guide advised us to go to the sea (because the SPA center was not working at the hotel), which looked like a mockery at t air 0 C. The passage to the sea was also closed, which the guide did not ask before making this recommendation.

On the same day, after visiting the main excursions, only 15 minutes were given to get dressed at the hotel for the next excursion, because. it got cold very suddenly, although it took about 7 minutes to walk at the usual pace to our room in one direction from the hotel entrance (past all the hotel shops, to the second floor and again long twisted corridors).

It was impossible to stay in the Church of the Virgin for more than 5 minutes, but as you yourself understand, this is not enough. Again, Silva recommended to go to the church again to those who have little time, my husband and I even quarreled because of the delay in the church and at the source, because. the whole group was already driven to the exit from the park, but since it was only the second excursion day, it seemed to us that we were wrong, not the guide.

In the village of Sherinzhe, both churches that we were supposed to visit were closed. Given the slippery road and narrow and steep streets, we also ran like crazy there. After that, the guide gave a little time for shopping, but after the appointed time, we waited another 15 minutes for her on the bus. When we jokingly asked why she was late, she said: "The guides are not late, the guides are late." Silva was there on business, and we would have been okay with that if she hadn't pressed on tourists for every 5 minutes of being late: the next morning, the departure was at 8:30. At 8:31 a.m. (according to the hours on the bus), we sat in our seats on the bus, but because everyone gathered earlier at the entrance to the bus, the group gave us a “shameful applause”, and Silva, in front of everyone in a raised voice, told us that we were obliged to be “on loading” at 8:15, and if we did not agree with this, she would appoint us “a separate time ". (In such cases, we always try not to quarrel with our clients and it doesn’t even occur to us otherwise, because “the client is always right”). In other cases, people from our group were late after visiting other trading places where they brought the group, from which, most likely, the guide receives bonuses, and they no longer reacted to this. Moreover, the delay was not 1, but 15 or more minutes.

On the way to the textile factory, the guide talked about fixed prices. In fact, it was another bazaar for tourists with prices 2-5 times higher than in Turkey. But we didn’t even have time to see everything, because we were told that it was no longer possible, although there were 2 floors (we did not have time to get to the second) and the Turks told us not to worry about the time, but Silve drove us to the bus, and then we waited another 15 minutes for those who packed in vacuum purchased. And Silva said that "it's okay, they pack, they don't buy."

Before the tour in Pamukkale, they didn’t warn that you need to dress in such a way that you could wander barefoot through the water on limestone terraces (I could wear socks, not tights under trousers) - probably with the hope that the less people want to go there, the sooner finish walking. In the spring of Cleopatra, we could swim until closing (until 17h) and then walk for 30 minutes in Pamukkale, i.e. the difference in departure time was only 1 hour, we asked Silva about this, but she categorically refused, said that we needed to get to the hotel earlier (why?), although before that they offered lunch, which no one wanted, i.e. in the case of paying for lunches, the time would be extra. Those. with all the moments we settled in the room already at 17h40, it was still light (we specifically looked at the clock). The whole excursion in Pamukkale was a run without time to take pictures (as in all other places) and calmly walk around Pamukkale itself, without excursions to the Antique Theater and Museum. Other groups of foreigners calmly walked around Pamukkale, visited the Antique Theatre, no one drove them, they walked very pleased with these places, given the number of people walking there, it was absolutely impossible to say that the weather was cool. Our tour itself was crumpled, held under the motto "faster to the hotel." At the same pace and under the same motto, the tour of Antalya was held. We have something to compare with - the guide Ismail spent it in a completely different way. On the day of the excursion to Ephesus (end of February) it was cold (maybe we need to start this tour later), and in Antalya (beginning of March) it was already warm, but we still ran with Silve like crazy.

This time in Antalya, a family of Russian-speaking Turks with a small child tried to follow our group in order to listen to a tour in Russian (we heard their conversation), but they fell behind very quickly.

The rush reached the point of absurdity, for example, in a restaurant after a long move, we were asked to first place an order, then go to the toilet and not vice versa. After we ate we still had a lot of free time. Although we were not warned that there would still be dessert, and we ran out into the street, afraid of being late for the bus, and then returned for dessert, it was not the guide who told us that it was being served, but the girl from the group.

At the leather factory, too, there was little time for selection, shopping, and bargaining. And they also tried not to give us time to visit the toilet, Silve looked at us with scary eyes and said that we should visit the toilet not here, but at the “golden” factory, although then again we waited for 15 minutes for someone else to shop later US.

Although we both times made purchases at leather factories, last time at the Golden Factory, this time we also bought every little thing that we managed to choose at a textile factory, as well as bags at a carpet factory, which, of course, should be beneficial for a travel agency, since these factories pay for your tourists to visit their shopping centers.

Perhaps we would have visited the Golden Factory this time, just like that time, because the last time with Ismail, people had the necessary time for shopping both at the leather and at the “gold” factory, and Ismail did not tell them how this time Silva, that whoever does not choose in 1 hour will get to the hotel not by bus, but by cars of the “golden” factory. Because time this time was only 1 hour, we only had time to run to the METRO, which is nearby. After all, Silva did not give the opportunity to visit ordinary supermarkets, as Ismail did (although not only we asked her about this). She offered someone to stay in the supermarket so that they would then get to the hotel from Antalya, and, as you understand, there were no people willing to do this. And when we were still driving to Dalaman, women from the group who did not order dinner asked about the possibility of visiting supermarkets to buy food, but Silva refused them, although we drove past the Migros supermarket in some locality.

It seems to us not right to do the “Turkish Night” on the night before the morning flight, because it was hard for us and those who visited it to get ready for departure at 6 in the morning, they also called us in the room and hurried us 5 minutes before the exit. We think that the wishes of tourists on the first day of setting the date of the "Turkish Night" could not be decisive, and yet the guide himself must reasonably plan the most favorable time for all excursions.

There is also a wish that the guides hand out their business cards, because anyway they dictate their bodies. and other coordinates, but this is not always convenient to write down.

In general, the places were very exclusive, but just as a bad toastmaster can spoil a good wedding, so a guide who works without a soul, and “if only the day until the evening” spoiled the impression of these excursions. Those. we were dissatisfied with the fact that the guide Silva constantly hurried us and others, i.е. to attend the tour, while it was impossible to listen and take pictures. Moreover, all information about the country must be obtained from the guide - there is no detailed information about the places visited on your website, but there was simply no desire to turn to Silva once again. If a person does his job well and interestingly in a few days, he will only arouse more respect and interest, but Silva, thanks to her behavior, every day only caused more and more irritation with herself and the tour.

Although we were told after the first tour not to worry that all your guides are good and professional, this turned out to be an absolute lie. After all, a tourist lives this week in a different time dimension, for 8 days - a whole life, completely different from his usual one. It is clear that for organizing a tour, the choice of a guide seems to be an insignificant trifle, which you should not focus on at all, in fact, this is absolutely not the case!

We became very interested in Turkey after the first visit accompanied by Ismail and really wanted to go again, and were very disappointed with the second tour accompanied by Silve. We felt with her either in a bad camp, or in the army, or in prison.

It turns out that after such a tour, a bad guide remains in profit and your company is at a loss, because. the desire to re-order a tour is reduced to a minimum, because, as you write, on the 8th day we should be “with wonderful impressions and rested”, but in reality we turned out to be tortured and extremely disappointed.

It’s just that someone doesn’t care, someone has nothing to compare with, someone won’t go silently a second time. And we wanted to contact you, but such

I don't want to swallow the colossal difference silently. If we didn't particularly like it the first time, maybe it would have been ok the second time. To be honest, I hoped until the very end that the second round would not be bad. Maybe you will now have a plan to refuse to work with Ismail, so that no one else compares him to other guides and everyone likes other guides who are worse?

I am for everyone to get acquainted with our letter - both the management, and Sylvia, and all other guides, so that this is a guide on how not to lead a tour. We didn't write anything negative or exaggerated - this is just a chronography of the tour with our attitude to what is happening, because believe me, we were also offended. Without saying a word, we approached Silva at the same time that day in Pamukkale and began to say that there was no need to oppose us to the group, she said that: “You will be 1 minute late, next time others will be 5 minutes late”, I tried to repeat several times : “We are not flying into space, we are on vacation.” She said: “Write a complaint against me.”

Then she said on the bus (like for everyone, but, probably, addressing us): "Here, the Baltic people (in my opinion) drive smiling, and then 20 complaints." (So, there were already some incidents with her).

Sorry, I didn't even mean to write about it. To those who were returning from the Turkish Night on the bus, she told what kind of tourists there are, for example, "the nymphomaniac Voina, who harassed the Turkish driver, and no one wants to take her into her group." From my point of view, it is not tactful to talk about it at all. It seems to be a joke, and then you sit and think: "How will the guides then laugh and discuss you?quot;

At the same time, I remember that at first I perceived Silva even more respectfully than after that ill-fated day when I began to pay attention to all her shortcomings. Well, we expected too much good from Turkey after the tour with Ismail.

The second point is that we talked to a woman who was with us on the first tour and was on tour in early February. Here are quotes from her letters:

"The tour is called "Turkish Riviera". It includes excursions to

Pamukkale and Hierapoli, and the rest - rest in Antalya."

"Tour number 1. The name of the tour is Turkish Riviera: Antalya - Pamukkale.

We depart on 08.02 from Kyiv.

"The trip was not bad, because the weather was very good: warm, and sometimes even hot, many bathed in the spring of Cleopatra and in the sea. I really liked the visit to the hammam with massages, peelings, masks, etc. (free of charge, as it was included in tour). I really liked the tour to Pamukkale and Hierapolis. There was an additional tour to Mira. It costs $ 65, but the tour is really worth it. It includes a visit to the Lycian mountain burials, a huge theater, a trip on a yacht to the flooded city, lunch. "

"Last time the program was richer, so I liked it more. But this time there was more time for sleep, for fitness, for walks, bazaars and shops, which was also good, although I practically did not buy anything. In the last place where we lived in Kemer, there was a whole street with shops nearby.I bought cool men's Italian shirts for 10 euros as a gift.Our guide was Osman.He was quite good, but Ismail was better.

Yes, I would go again, because I have a very good rest in Turkey, especially when it's warm there, but it's so cold here."

"...lived in three: Meder, Colossae, Premium. All hotels were good, but I especially liked Premium/"

And this is what she said over the phone:

they walked around Pamukkale 1 time for 4 hours, on another day 1 hour + 40 minutes near the lake with ducks, and went to the Antique Theater.

We had 2.5 hours for everything in 1 day + 10 minutes, a maximum of 15 minutes to the lake with ducks. She said that Osman discussed the date of the Turkish night with them and did not set it on the eve of the flight. Nobody asked us to discuss it.

And in Antalya, Osman took them not to where Silva took us - where the road is being repaired, to the lighthouse in 5 minutes to run and take pictures, but for a long time another beautiful road.

We thought that we might not be so rightly outraged, but when we talked with this tourist, we realized that it was not in vain.

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