Travel Review: South Pacific Tour, Australia, New Zealand, Melbourne, Tasmania, Rotorua, Queenstown, Australian Open, Kayaking

FIND A BOUTIQUE HOTEL IN SYDNEY; make sure we were at least three nights in each location - cut out the estate in Tasmania and do three nights at each of the others instead of two at each of three; only rent from Avis.

TRAVEL COMPANY COMMENTS:

We were happy to read the trip was overall “terrific”, we are sorry to read the they were unhappy with the accommodation in Melbourne and Nelson.  Hotels in Melbourne sell out over the 2 weeks of the Australian Open and unfortunately the boutique size hotels sell out the fastest. We chose/recommended the hotel in Melbourne – despite that fact that it is a large hotel – because it was 1. A brand new hotel for which we had received rave reviews about the amenities, staff and rooms and 2. Because it is close all the action in Melbourne and relatively close to the Australian Open and 3. There was not availability in the boutique hotels.
 
We chose/recommended the luxury B&B in Nelson because in this part of New Zealand it was the closest fit/best match with the rest of the style of accommodation used throughout the itinerary. We apologize if the directions for meeting tours was not clear: Richmond is a suburb in the town of Nelson, so that may have added to the confusion and we will do a better job of clarifying that in future directions.
 
The attitude of the guide in Sydney is of great concern. We have raised the issue with the tour operator in Sydney and awaiting a satisfactory response before using this tour again.
 
We have changed internal procedures to ask clients about food, allergy and mobility issues. Thank you for the ‘heads up’.