Hooked on Walking www.walking-europe.co.uk
Beauty of scenery
Value For Money
Hooked on Walking www.walking-europe.co.uk
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User Reviews
Beauty of scenery
Value For Money
A Mixed Bag
We booked a Danube Wine Trails walking tour with Hooked on Walking in August 2014. In contrast to other reviewers on this site, we found the price to be more than reasonable for the service provided. Accommodations--with one exception--were excellent (and even the exception was adequate--just not as charming or as well-situated as the others). The baggage transfer service worked perfectly. And the routes chosen were lovely. However, we have to agree with other reviewers that the route maps are sadly lacking. The print quality is terrible, the photographs are badly outdated, and the text was obviously written by someone whose first language is not English. We often had to backtrack and were so badly lost on the last day that we had to give up and catch a bus to our last stop, missing out on a hike we very much wanted to do. Communications with the company before the trip were excellent. During the trip, we had a problem because they don't read or answer email on weekends of bank holidays. There is a local contact, but we were not aware of that. Perhaps we didn't read our materials closely enough, but we feel that it might be a good idea to highlight the name and number of the local contact for people like us who tend to skim over the details. We would consider booking with this company again, but we would make sure to obtain local trail maps and information rather than rely solely on their route maps.
Worst Tour Company On The Planet
Our experience with Hooked has been terrible and we haven't even left on the tour yet. As the other reviewer said, the maps supplied - actually photo copies of real maps - were so poor that much of the text was unreadable. My email to Hooked requesting the numbers for "real" maps (I was prepared to pay extra just to get them) went unanswered - as did all of my emails to the company. But the thing that inspired me to write this review is that, when we first enquired about this tour, we told Hooked that if we could not get an ensuite room at the Fanes Hut, we didn't want to go on this tour. They said "No Problem". Except that, now that we have received our travel vouchers, I see that we have not been booked into the Fanes Hut but rather the Lavarelle Hut - which doesn't even have ensuite rooms. Great!
We are Hooked on Walking, indeed we have answered everyone of the emails from this customer, it seems that maybe either some emails we are not receiving or they are not receiving our replys. We do not use bought maps on the tour they are booked up but veyr sophisticated digital mapping software and GPS digitally routing , hence we cannot provide a map number as we do not know what the map number would be . We never photo copy maps as this is illegal and the Fanes hut or any hut on the tour mentioned from the other reviewer does not have en-suite rooms , all bathrooms are outside and always have been , they do have private rooms for couples instead or dormitories. If the reviewer beleived there would be en-suite rooms then somewhere along the communication there must have been a miscommunication . Not knowing who the guest was we cannot check this. This guest has never provided any feedbakc to us after the tour or even before the tour.
Value For Money
Beauty of scenery
We Had A Bad Experience With Hooked On Walking. We
We had a bad experience with Hooked on Walking. We walked though the mountains from Pisa to Lucca in Italy, on a self guided walk. The maps they supplied were totally inadequate except as a guide, and we assumed the notes would make it all clear. Some of the notes were good but others were totally inadequate, often ambiguous and on a few occasions wrong. We should have been supplied with the appropriate large map of walking tracks in the area. We took wrong routes twice which is frightening in a strange country. There were no distances mentioned either in the advertising material or in the route notes, and some of the times could not have been walked by a champion. The arrangements on the ground ran smoothly thank goodness. I found dealing with the company unprofessional and would not recommend them.
This is a worry. I have booked and paid for a cycling holiday in the South West of France in July. At nearly a £1000 per head for a week it wasn't cheap.
I was surprised by the lack of detail enclosed in the information pack.
1. No maps
2. Just names and village location of B&B accomodation
3. An inkjet printed page voucher which I assume pays for the accomodation and food?
On asking for more information from Hooked on Cycling they suggested I Google the hotel names to obtain addresses and telephone numbers.
I called to say that I had read adverse reports about one of the hotels and would prefer to change it. The refused point blank. Very unhelpful.
I asked about luggage transfer arrangements as the detail was vague. They suggested I refer to their website?
I asked about the arrangements to pick up our car at the end of the trip, again very unhelpful. Told me to catch a train and a taxi. I indicated that they had confirmed that they promised to arrange this before booking.
If you want my advice, don't use them. Two words.. Overpriced and very unhelpful.
Work out your own route, find your own accomodation, use taxis for the transfer of luggage. It can't be more expensive than using this company.
Value For Money
Beauty of scenery
The Travel Company "hooked On Walking" Was Just Wh
The travel company "Hooked on Walking" was just what we were looking for in terms of what it offered: it sorted out the logistics of the holiday without charging the earth. Our end of the bargain was to lead the walks ourselves - it was a 'self-guided' holiday after all. Operator works with local agents who handle logistics 'on site'.
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