Coorg: The Scotland of South India 7 Days & 6 Nights

Our tour was just Awsome and every moment is memorable

The trip was good but not the hotel services. Though I paid for breakfast but didn’t get it in Hotel Cannan, Kanyakumari and the service was also very poor. Driver was very generous and helpful.

The hotels were good except MSP Grand hotel of Madurai. It was the filthiest hotel I have ever come across. The room was also too small to accommodate 2+1 guests. Also the did not provide a blanket with the extra mattress. And the pillow was covered with fungus. The hotel didn't have any parking space neither any facility for the driver. I would not give even 1 rating to that hotel. As regards the driver he was a decent person , but I had asked for a driver who could also act as a guide and help us to plan our day. But this driver didn't know the places nor the timings of these places. Imagine he didn't even know about Auroville. He would just say tell me where you want to go, he would then put the directions on the Google map and take us there. So we had to plan our day ourselves and it resulted in reaching the places when it was closed. So that was a great disappointment

Hi team, I recently got in touch with Rakesh to plan my trip between 7th Jan - 13th Jan, and just wanted to share what an absolute blissful experience it has been working with him. From the start, he was proactive and quick to understand my preferences, working style and time limitations. He was thorough with his planning and took upon him to do a detailed due diligence. I had a seamless trip, and even if there were any challenges he was on his toes to resolve the issue at the earliest. I appreciate how he’d say “aap trip enjoy karo, wo meri responsibility hai, main sort out kar lunga”. I have worked with agents in the past, but have never seen this level of understanding, accountability and proactiveness. He made practical suggestions and was extremely understanding. Often I’d not be be reachable or available, but he’d follow up and ensure everything falls in place. Big thanks to him for a great experience. Look forward to working with him I future as well - will also recommend him further to any acquaintances planning a trip.

*Pros:* - Quick on call support at any point - Handling with patience while tweaking the itinerary multiple times - Budget friendly planning - Customization as per requirement - e.g break journey - Provided Hotel with good locations Cons: A: No idea of exact location & impacting events on the journey dates. e.g.1 We landed to Madurai on the day of Year's biggest festival of Minakshi Temple. Impacted our schedule. e.g.2 We were first timer to Tirupati. Being Travel planner - the team should have ensured that we have proper provision for Tirupati Darshan. Rather - the team took advance from us without confirming if we have ensured darshan tickets, - and then started our struggle with surprise - as we were not able to get Darshan Tickets. Somehow, we ourselves managed to get Darshan tickets at almost 6 times actual price, which is big amount - also impacting our budget & complete itinerary. We had to hire local vendor to solve this. Don't know if it is intentional by the Travel Planner, they just ensured that advance is received then let the travelers struggle with surprises. - how can Travel planner miss such important factors. Based on our request - additional discount was added by the travel agent- as we had to suffer extra cost to manage darshan tickets. e.g.3 We landed Trivandrum on day of election, due to which couple of our major destinations were not open on that day (Being Government Properties) This was also surfaced on the day - and no one from the travel agent team could anticipate this till last moment. This could have been better managed & well informed. B: Violation in the committed itineraries. e.g. 1 We supposed to land at Madurai at 5 am, which was well informed in advance. Still we found challenge to convince the team to arrange early morning pick-up, which was denied even after pre-agreements. Thanks to WhatsApp messages as proof - it saved us. e.g. 2 Based on early landing at Madurai - we specifically asked for ensuring early check-in at Madurai Hotel. Which was to our utter surprise,- this was completely missed by the team - and they denied for this & asked use to wait from 6 am to 12 pm for Check-in. We were in state of panic. Here also - Thanks to WhatsApp messages as proof - it saved us - which was having clear mention of the agreement for this requirement. But still - Team could not full-fill the agreement - and we had to adjust with make-shift arrangement for 1st half - 2 rooms instead of committed 4 rooms. e.g. 3 At Trivandrum, the checked-in hotel refused to give us Buffet Breakfast (CP plan), which was committed. Guess - this also happens. The hotel was under renovation and smelling paint at reception - this was not even known to the travel agents - that's what they say. So, the committed buffet they converted to “à la carte” and told us that it will be delivered to room. & they were not sure of Menu. This all information was given to us after interrogating the hotel staff at Check-in. Otherwise, it was left as Morning surprise. We had to argue & fight lot - to make sure they deliver Buffet - at least in limited way at their small available cafe. We got this done with Fight and involving travel agent. C: Driver's proficiency Make sure for south journey you ask for proper Driver who atleast understands Hindi. Else it will be like under-control of bot which is having it's own agenda. Our Driver - had limited agenda as per given list - that too was not followed - or we had to enforced. We managed somehow through Hinglish and could convey what sequence to be followed and made sure it is done. D: Hotel Categories - was committed to be 3-4 star atleast. 2 out of 5 provided hotels were way below 3 star category - atleast as experience. One of the hotel was so bad that - had to click photos to share bad experience with the agent. *Summarization:* - Agent should have proper understanding of location & other impacting factors (eg. Darshan Tickets, Larger events on the day, Hotel under renovation...) - Properties To be provided with proper check (e.g below committed star ratings, Breakfast facilities...)

Fooding arrangements were improper , quality of rooms & area were not up to the mark. Driver was not updated with the places of visit & hotels. Itinerary had lots of flaws.