Vacation Review: Argentina, City Tours, Countryside, Winery, Nature, Culture & History

Trip was fantastic and was enhanced by (1) the exceptional tours, tour guides, and excursions suggested and scheduled by our travel company and (2) the efficiency and promptness of all of the transfers to/from airports throughout our trip.  
The trip planning wasn't without any issues.  Days before our trip, we learned that two of our four preferred hotels were no longer available.  Our trip hadn't been finalized yet but it was 95% agreed upon and the hotels had been agreed upon for well over a month, so we were caught entirely unaware that there might be a hotel issue.  We simply assumed that the travel company had relationships with the hotels and had secured the rooms in advance (When I travel for myself, I book accommodations as early as possible).  If we needed to pay for the hotels in order to secure our room, we would have expected our travel company to make us aware of that and we surely would have done what we needed to in order to secure our accomodations.   
Also, I didn't appreciate the fact that the travel company could not tell us what the cost was for the various individual components of our trip.  This was particularly true considering that there might have been certain things that we might have chosen to do, or not do, certain trips/tours/excursions, depending upon the price; When asked for price information, the tour planner refused to provide it (with the exception of airfares).  
As for our hotel issue, I wound up identifying and selecting one of the replacement hotels that wasn't available as we expected.  Upon checkout, I happened to see the receipt that was charged for my stay at this hotel (a receipt which was not provided to me) and was further dismayed to learn that the price I would have been able to secure for myself, had I chosen to book directly, was substantially less expensive than what was charged for my room, actually (less than half of the cost charged).  I don't know if the difference in cost was a benefit received by the travel company who planned my trip or the hotel who perhaps had charged more than their internet advertised price.  It was a bit bothersome that the travel company should have made any fee on this hotel considering that I discovered it, selected the room and confirmed the availability myself.  However, regardless of any fees paid or not, had I booked directly, I surely would have saved money.