Marlene & William Haider

Minnesota, USA

Jan-2016

“You were attentive to our needs as the trip went along”

You requested we give you a review of our recent trip that you organized.  Sorry this took so long! I wanted to have my husband review this too and we finally sat down together to get this done.   Overall we thought it was great and a good value for our money!  Thank you for a wonderful vacation.  We loved the Chitradurga fort, Hampi and the palace in Mysore as well as Nagarhole.  Nagarhole was a bit exciting too when a bull elephant decided to challenge the bus a little.  The scenery around Coorg was beautiful and we enjoyed a full moon off our balcony each night. We were lucky enough to see the priests parade around the temple at Chamundi hills, very interesting.  We also very much enjoyed our driver, Mr. Binu Varghese.  He was always on the look out for things we might like as we explain below.

You also asked for any critiques so that you can improve your services overall. Below is more of the many good things and couple that could be better.

We did a tour of Hampi, Coorg, Mysore and Nagarhole National Park.

We had 2 drivers, Mr. H. Gowda in the beginning and later Mr. Binu Varghese. 

We began our tour by traveling to Hampi with Mr. H. Gowda.  Mr. Gowda was polite and was waiting for us at the Bangalore airport and the vehicle was good, but he was not very informative.  We also had the impression that either he did not know Hampi or he wanted to limit his driving time each day.  

Mr. Gowda insisted the temple with the stone chariot is not part of Hampi even though it was part of a Hampi ticket, on your advertising and in the Hampi book.  We nearly missed it if you had not sent him back again.  It did cost us an extra 500 rupees because we had to buy tickets again on the second day.  We did not go to the bazaar nor did it seem that we could ask Mr. Gowda to do anything in the evening, such as seeing a sunset as listed in your advertisements.  

As I said earlier, your next driver Mr. Binu Varghese was great.  He was very attentive to what we liked and did not like and alerted us to possibilities as he saw them.  He translated for us as needed and even helped negotiate some shopping.  He took us to Ranganathitta Bird Sanctuary by Mysore which was not on the itinerary but was one of our favorite afternoons.  It was wonderful and should be something you recommend to travelers as a welcome alternative to temples.  While the history and temples were superb, they began to blur together for us.  We asked to see a silk factory in Mysore and Binu took us there.  He helped us find a place to get an ayurvedic massage and a yoga class and didn't mind driving me to them early one morning and later in the evening another day.  The palace at Mysore is a must see on your itinerary.  When we were traveling between sites we passed a school where the students were outside performing a Republic Day program for their parents.  He stopped and we got to see the program, visit with the headmaster, tour the school and meet the teachers.  What a wonderful time!  Again, possible because Binu was open to these adventures.

The trip from Hospet to Chikmagalore was too long to be able to see the coffee museum the day we arrived so Binu ensured we saw it the next day before leaving which was good because we liked it.  We realize that our requesting Hampi made this long trip, so this is not a criticism, it is something to keep in mind when presenting possibilities.

Make sure your driver knows that the Dubare Elephant Camp is closed from 1 to 4pm.  We arrived about noon but the line was too long for us to be able to see the camp before it closed at 1pm, so it was a long drive for nothing.  Luckily we saw many wild elephants at Nagarhole.

Our accommodations were excellent!  The only one needing improvement is Cynosure in Coorg. It is in a beautiful setting and we were there for 3 nights, but it has a few problems.  There was no internet.  The manager was very rude. The in-room safe wasn't even bolted down, etc. I won’t go into this further, because we discussed this before. Even our driver was upset with the manager.

Our rooms and the food at the rest of the hotels were excellent.  We can’t say enough good things about the staff at King’s Sanctuary and the room, which was nearly as big as our house.   We were the nearly the only people there mid-week so we got to know the staff very well.  All of the other hotels had good food, and good accommodations. 

All in all we would rate your service highly.  You were very attentive to our needs as the trip went along.  I tried to go onto Trip Advisor to give you a good review and couldn't seem to find a way to review travel services even though I read reviews for them.  If you could guide us in this, we would be happy to go and write a good review.

Thank you for a wonderful trip. 

Marlene and William Haider