Bolivia & Peru Travel Review: Cusco, Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley

I would request from Travel agent to provide details itinerary for day to day tour.  We felt some of the local tour guides are not knowledgeable and trying to cut corner but by not showing all places that were originally communicate to us. 

Travel Company's Comments:

I appreciate the fact that she mentioned that we give them support during some incidents during their trip. "Some incidents" as she put it included: Missed flights, lost passports, change of international flights schedule, rearrangement of last minute changes /transportation due to missed connection. Mrs. Pai is right about our maximum support. It took a lot of time and effort on my part and my suppliers in PERU to address all those issues in an urgent manner and without acquiring any extra cost to the client. I feel that this part of the service that we delivered was trivialized as compared to complaints regarding one guide. In my opinion we deserve 4* rating after reviewing the full trip for 11 passengers and given the services we provided above and beyond. 

We personally stayed in this hotel in CUZCO and it was a very comfortable hotel for a 4* hotel. They also had a complimentary upgrade to a 5* hotel ( MACHU PICCHU PUEBLO BY INKATERRA) which she does not mentioned in either review and it was much nicer that their hotel originally booked and that they paid for.  

The itinerary was changed by the clients while we were working on the reservation because they didnt have the time for visiting both places ( Ollantaytambo and Pisac Market in SACRED VALLEY) so I asked them to choose and they decided to visit the ruins more than the market. Original itinerary included PISAC MARKET and it was our mistake not to remove it at the end after the change was done. In the end the clients had what they chose to see. 

The itinerary being too tight is a very common issue and complaint. And I am usually the one that is putting the breaks on clients unrealistic expectations regarding their itineraries. A lot of clients want to cram in as much sightseeing as they can, not realizing how tiring and crazy it can get. This was exactly the case. I discourage them from doing SO much in such short period of time. Ultimately it is the clients choice if they want that route. So yes, it was a tight itinerary as per their request.   

The itineraries are typically an outline, and yes we did provide detailed description. But reality is that those are the outlines and depending on the group, circumstances, weather, traffic, etc.etc. in some instances the itinerary may slightly vary from the original and this was that case. The bottom line is again, that everything that we promised was delivered and we went an extra mile as I outlined in the first point above.