Trip Review: Iceland, Walking Tours & Sites

Good afternoon Pamela and thank you for taking the time to provide us with feedback from your trip to Iceland. We are disheartened that your experience wasn’t what you had expected. The level of critique you provided for us is a first for us but we will definitely take your points on board and reflect on how we can improve our service.

With over 500 tours, our guides have received overwhelmingly positive reviews from our guests. I am not sure if any feedback from our end will help explain or clarify events from our end, but we will say that the particular guide on your trip has received only full marks on every one of his allocated tours and is known for going above and beyond for his guests so your critique comes as a surprise to us and I know that he will be as disappointed as we were to read your review.

The itinerary included a mix of private tours, group tours and a couple of activities where a meeting place was described for where the tour initiated i.e. the food walk and the whale watching.  According to the itinerary, the meeting point for whale watching tour was 15 minutes away at the harbor and the food walk was about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. A description of a pick up at the hotel for these activities is not mentioned in the itinerary and according to our numerous email corresponce, was not requested. If there was such a request, we would have gladly provided transportation to the meeting points. The itinerary, along with a short description of the group tours, provided the address of where the activities were, a map of the shortest distance to walk from the hotel to the meeting points, and vouchers for the tours with descriptions of the meeting points. According to our email correspondence, which we would be happy to provide, when you acknowledged that there would be short walks to the meeting points, you did not respond to our email when we offered to have our driver pick you up to bring you there. This was done in addition to your guide volunteering his private number and email in case you needed any help getting to the activities.

For the private tours, we collected and dropped off your family from the doorstep of the hotel. Regarding the small bus tours, as with many large cities, restrictions are imposed on where the buses can drive and therefore, a bus stop, 300 yards from the hotel, was the pick up point for the group tours. Again, this information was stated clearly in the itinerary we provided well in advance for your trip and was also on the voucher provided.

The hotel we chose together for your family in Reykjavik is rated by trip advisor at the top of the over 300 guesthouses/hotels in the city. Your remarks come as a surprise as we have not had these issues which you describe from previous guests. The hotel is not all in one building and the walk to your room was 150 yards. We have spoken to the hotel and they have assured us that the standard service of bringing their guests’ luggage to the room was offered. If it was not, then we do apologize.

Again, thank you for your feedback and I hope that these points go some way of explain our side of things