written by TravelerfUS on 25/05/2013
This is my experience with Intrepid Travel's Greek Islands Walking Tour from May 19 - 26, 2013.
Since I am in US they'outsourced' me to their UK partner Exodus Tours which is fine but the communication was ver poor. My only contact was Intrepid's US liaison. I was never given the name, email or phone#I of the Exodus' trip leader. Intrepid's original trip description included a half day tour of Athens on the first day. Only after I arrived in Athens did I find out that there was no half day tour. So what was supposed to be a 7 days/8 nights tour was reduced to a 6 days/8 nights without notice, apology or compensation. I am not sure whether this bait and switch or just poor communications and organization.
To add insult to injury I booked two extra days of hotel stay prior to the Tour at the same hotel in Athens where the tour began. Later on by checking the hotel's web site I discovered Intrepid had charged me 40-45% more than if I had booked the room directly. Upon protesting to Intrepid's US representative, his response was "The biggest reason is that Intrepid has a set rate contracted with the hotel for a full year... We contract with the hotels to hold a substantial number of rooms throughout the year. This is as a service to our passengers for their pre and post trip needs. For these hotels to be able to set aside such a large amount of inventory for our groups on regular basis, they do need to be sure that this will be financially sustainable." As if I the customer actually benefitted from being fleeced!!! And all along they tried to convince their customers that they would get the 'wholesale' rate when booking trip extras through them.
It was my first trip with Intrepid Travel and I can guarantee it will be my last.
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