Travel Review: Luxury Tour of Italy and France, Sardegna, Corsica

Review by traveler

Ventz P.

6.22.2016

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Italy

France

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

Had an amazing trip - however a few comments about this travel company.

PROS: They were able to book/find local tours/activities that we never would've found on our own. This is very important to us as we do not like doing "popular" tourist things. We were taken off the beaten path and fully enjoyed this. The owner of the company was amazing to work with. They also booked very good hotels - very happy with our accommodations.

CONS: Once we paid, we no longer got to work with the owner and were assigned our own trip manager. She was not very communicative with us, never checked in with us to see how things went and to be honest, not very helpful. Everything was great before we paid because we were able to work with the owner - who designed an initial itinerary. We did not realize that the initial was also the final itinerary and that once you paid, no further/minimal service was received. There was no customization of the initial itinerary - we had assumed there would be, maybe this is our own fault however, for what we paid, we thought it would be more personalized. We had problems with one of our transfers and we received NO HELP at all when planning our own activities - very little suggestions were given. There were a couple of days where what was on our itinerary wasn't what we actually did - this made it difficult to plan (ie wearing appropriate clothing for a beach vs hiking a mountain). Also, we felt the itinerary was designed more for "older" travellers. We started our days very late and never go to do too many outdoor hikes (which is something we had disclosed we wanted to do - there are a lot of hiking trails and paths in Corsica that we missed as a result of this). Felt like we were on a "one size fits all" itinerary instead of it being customized. Did not like this. We also had a huge problem with their lack of planning for us in Corsica. This was near the last few days of our trip and at this point, my wife took over and started planning on her own while we were there. This is not what we expected to have to do or else we would've just did this on our own without going through a company. I also find it a bit odd that it has been 4 days after we returned and we have not received a single email from them, asking us how things went or to make sure we got home safely. Even hotels have sent us emails.

Overall, despite the fact that we had an amazing time, we would not recommend this company to anyone. It was average at best. Sardegna and Corsica is naturally a beautiful place. We enjoyed it because of that reason and not so much because of the itinerary designed for us.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

see above under PROS.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

see above under CONS.

TRAVEL COMPANY COMMENTS:

Dear Ventz -

We are truly sorry that your expectations were not met with our travel company. The key issue here seems to have been a sort of “miscommunication”. As with all our clients, a trip manager is assigned and is your “go to” person throughout the trip planning process as well as during your travels. Your trip manager has always done a very thorough, in fact excellent, job with our clients, so it came a quite a surprise to me that you were unhappy. If you were not satisfied with our services, all you needed to do was contact me directly and we could have resolved this long before your trip.

In any case, I have discussed this issue in detail with your trip designer and have also been through several threads of the correspondence between you. No less than 19 emails were exchange between the time she was assigned your your trip and during your trip - including re-arranging 2 transfers while you were on your trip. In the thread of emails, there is no indication of 1) her not being helpful and 2) you being even frustrated with her assistance.

In terms of guidance and planning activities outside your scheduled ones, we did send you our Italy & France info kits along as well as our Northern Sardegna kit before your trip. We also sent you information on Porto Vecchio, Corsica a bit later as we did not have a specific kit made up for that part of the island (my apologies for not having it to your sooner). These documents provided you with a list of “on your own” excursions and much more. We did not give a ton of info for Corsica only because you were spending less than 48 hours there with one full day tour and no rental car, and thus there was very little you could have done in your time there. Additionally, your trip designer tried to find you another boat tour but it required a fairly expensive transfer to and from, that you did not want to pay. Unfortunately, from where you were staying (without a rental car), the only reasonable choice was the tour offered.

Lastly, while you found it strange we had not yet “welcomed you home”, we usually do this within 3 days to one week after your return. We like to give our clients a few days to acclimate to the real world once again before writing. In no way were we ignoring you and placing less importance on your trip.

Ventz, we try our best to deliver top notch service and we have a very good track record in doing so with over 40 5-star reviews on Zicasso. Still, in your case somewhere we took the wrong path. I apologize for this and will take into great consideration and thought the feedback we have received from you.

We wish you many happy vacations in the future

Owner

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Travel Review: Luxury Tour of Italy and France, Sardegna, Corsica

General Info

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

Real Customer Reviews

Other Reviews for Travel Agency 1977594

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Travel Review: Luxury Tour of Italy and France, Sardegna, Corsica

General Info

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

Real Customer Reviews

Other Reviews for Travel Agency 1977594

Travel Review: Luxury Tour of Italy and France, Sardegna, Corsica