Recently I completed my 2 weeks trip to Cambodia and Vietnam.
As I was travelling with my family of 11 members for this trip, I had opted for Private transfers and Private tour everywhere.
From...
Travel Triangle, I received 3 Tour Agencies. 2 of those where in discussion with me while the 3rd Agency hardly was communicating with me.
Among these 2 Agencies Michael from SVietnam Trips was the only one who was actively in contact with me and I ended up booking my trip with him.
My Trip guide Harvinder from Travel Triangle reached out to me only during initial payment. Before and after that no follow up from Travel Triangle.
Would like to take few names and express my feedback.
Michael from SVietnam Trips:
Right from the day tour agencies got allocated, Michael had been in contact with me. No matter how late it may get in the night, he would never forget to respond and tries closing out my queries.
As my travel group was big with different age group and difference choice of places, I had to do lot of research on my own to handpick few places which are not in the common itinerary any agencies would provide.
Michael was very co-operative and patient while accommodating all my changing needs and itineraries. Wherever he lacked knowledge he tried gathering info and suggested me on my itineraries.
He ensured he would be available over the phone throughout my trip and he lived up to this expectation. When we visited Ha Noi, he had come to airport to greet us and also gave me a local SIM newly bought for me free of cost.
On the next day as promised, he had visited our hotel and took me to a Currency Exchange place where he had got me very good rates and also helped me in getting Indian Dinner parcel in his own vehicle.
On the last day of our Ha Noi stay he had come to a mall where we took a pit stop and helped us with shopping and guiding in the mall.
Throughout our trip, every day in the evening he used to check with us on how our trip went and if any help needed.
My family and I liked all of these gestures including his personal visit whenever we needed his help and showing that extra care which I hadn’t experienced from any other travel agencies I had traveled before. This is where he went an extra mile to ensure quality service assured by him is provided. Very impressive and would highly recommend him for your Tours.
To say a few words about Tour Guides, we were lucky to have got very good tour guides in every place we traveled which I would recommend except for the guide in Ho Chi Minh City.
Nak in Cambodia, Thuy in Sapa, Chung in Ha Noi and Linh in Da Nang & Hoi An were very friendly, happy going, informative and approachable. They made us feel very comfortable and ensured we had good time in our tour enjoying every place covered in the itinerary.
Special Notes:
-> Thuy in Sapa: My aunt and MIL were senior citizens who were finding it difficult to climb the stairs, Thuy took an extra step and special care to assist them everywhere while climbing and walking. My aunt felt blessed to have such a person holding her hands and helping her to walk everywhere slowly at her comfort. When one of us lost our mobile phone in a Cable car, he stood by us and helped co-ordinating with customer service and housekeeping until we got back our phone.
-> Chung in Ha Noi: He was always smiling guy. Stayed with my aunt to take care of her and kept addressing her as ‘Mumma’ which made my aunt feel very touchy for his special care & attention.
-> Linh in Da Nang & Hoi An: She was very joyful and cheerful. Once when we got late in the night after our day trip, she and her friend helped in booking pickup cab for us and followed up till we reached out hotel.
The tour guide named Lucky in Ho Chi Minh City compared to others we felt was okayish. She wasn’t that informative and wasn’t much open to us. Example: In Cu Chi tunnel when we saw other guides stopping in each & every spot explaining for 5-10 min in detail, Lucky was just skipping explanation for those places and was asking us to see and understand the instruction board. We had to ask her on most of those spots which she skipped to specifically share some info as other guides where explaining few details. Overall we weren’t happy with Cu Chi Tunnel tour. Despite this place having a huge historical significance, the guide made it look very basic by giving very limited information.
From Travel Triangle, I am not happy at all for their service. Apart from follow up for initial payment, I dint see any effort from them or their Trip guide to enquire whether my trip was started, how my trip was going on and whether my trip ended well or not. Except the system generated formality emails on payment and feedback, no communication from their team.
Overall I would say we had a fabulous trip and very good experience with SVietnam Trips. All thanks to Michael for extending his care & support throughout our trip.
If I have to take another trip, I would rather go directly to Michael from SVietnam Trips than any other agencies or even Travel Triangle.