FEED BACK / COMPLAIN OF KERALA TOUR BOOKED THROUGH MAKE MY TRIP
Myself Nitesh R. Agrawal. I am a Practicing Chartrerd Accountant by Profession. I came in contact with Make My Trip(MMT) in this April, 2010 when I booked my Thailand Tour with it(Booking Id : IN1004B07818, IN1004B08427). It was my first Honeymoon tour as I got married in May, 2010. I was satisfied with the company as I was given the same thing as commited to me. Impressed by that tour I thought to paln my Domestic Holidays also through MMT for this Diwali Vacation. I booked a package named “A HEAVEN CALLED KERALA” with MMT. I booked this package in September, 2010 only. My booking ID is IN1008B10127. The package was for 8 nights & 9 Days starting on 7th November, 2010. This time I had booked it for our whole group of 10 people including myself, my wife, my eldest sister and her family, my elder sister and her family. Unfortunately I have to say that this time the things went totally opposite than my earlier trip. We all gone through very bad experiences during the whole trip. I would narrate the entire trip in following words :
First of all, The biggest blunder I found is that our ALL hotels were changed at last moment. When first time we visited office of the MMT at Surat(Ghod dod Road Office) for the inquiry of this tour, we were given a tour program of Kerala Tour Package as “Heaven Called Kerala” for 8 nights and 9 days from Mumbai. The names of Hotels given in the itinerary were as follows :
PLACE NAME OF HOTEL
COCHIN HOTEL NYLE PLAZA
MUNNAR TEA CASTLE RESORT
THEKKADY PERIYAR MEADOWS
ALLEPEY PAGODA RESORT
KOVALAM KOVALAM BEACH RETREAT HOTEL & SPA
As a normal tourist, we searched the above hotels on the internet. We visited the websites of these hotels and also read the reviews of these hotels on www.tripadvisor.com . I found that the hotels were good and suitable to us. Considering this, we made a decision to book this package with MMT. So, we booked our tickets with Surat office and made the full payment accordingly. But when we were asked by the office to collect the Itinerary before departure of last 3 days, we came to know that the hotels were not as those were mentioned above. ALL hotels were altogether changed(degraded) in our itinerary without our consent. This change resulted into many hurdles that we went through during the entire tour. We did not know anything about these hotels in advance as we had no time to get the right information about these hotels. We had to start our tour on Dt.[protected] from Mumbai.
Day-1. ( 7th November ‘10 )
Arrival at Cochin.
On arrival at Cochin, we were checked in Hotel Emerald as per Itinerary. This hotel was good and there was no problem except a small issue of hot water for bath. However it was also provided to us after request at the reception. We all were happy as it was a good start of our tour. In the evening when we started for the sighseeing in Cochin, we found that there was no guide/escort in our bus. We were directionless. I called up to Mr. Krunal at Surat office with whom I had booked the package. He gave me a phone number of a local person in Kerala and told me to talk to him. I called up and the reply from the other end was “An escort is already provided to you among the three vehicles wide 2 buses and 1 travera.” Unfortunately, I have to say that these 3 vehicles were never together throughout the trip. The escort used to travel in Travera only. So, we bus travellers had no escort/guide with us and we had to take our decisions on our own. There was nobody to direct us for the normal things of a tour like ‘which sight seeings are worth visiting for a particular place’ , ‘what are the timings for some museums / parks / lacks / boat riding / sunset’ , ‘At what time we should get ready in the next morning so that we can cover the maximum things at next palce which we are going to visit’ etc. So, we were feeling like “we have come here in our own vehicle and we have to plan our travel on our own with the help of local people and driver” Anyway, we made our minds for that also.
Day-2/3/4. ( 8th November to 10th November )
Cochin to Munnar.
Knowing nothing about the time of sight seeing we traveled all the way depending on driver’s knowledge about all the places. And as a result, we always missed sight seeing of those particular places due to lack of knowledge of exact time to reach there. We had to travel for many hours and it took much time to reach the places to visit for sight seeing. But, unfortunately, we used to reach there when the time was over. If our tour manager would have informed us well in advance about timing when should we start from our hotel, we could have followed accordingly and able to see all the sight seeings. This way, we missed several sight seeing for which we had joined the tour. The distance between Cochin to Munnar is 130 Kms. This was approx 4 hours drive. But it took 7 hours. We reached at Munnar at the evening and checked in the hotel ‘Cloud Valley’. As it was evening time,we hardly could see anything in Munnar on that evening as the day light ends up early in these days. Next morning, again problem arose with hot water facility in this hotel too. Due to the rain, we could not see most of the sight seeing in Munnar also.
Day-4. ( 10th November- 11th November )
Munnar to Thekkady
We started for Thekkady after breakfast in the hotel at 10 AM. The distance was 105 Kms from Munnar. It was 3.5 hours drive as per Itinerary. But actually it took more time and we reached too late and we could not get the tickets to enjoy a boat cruise on lake Periyar and to observe wild life in Periyar sanctuary which is the best and unique experience that one has to take. It disappointed us. Also, there was nobody who could arrange for the tickets of boat cruise in the next morning. At last, elephant ride was the the only option left for us. So, willingly or unwillingly we all took an elephant ride.
And now the period of our hard luck starts. We came to know that the hotel which is booked for us in thekkady is not actually in thekkady but it is far away( more than 35 kms ) from thekkady. We were totally shocked as we were desperately waiting for shopping of spices from thekkady market. We had no time for shopping and roaming in the main market as we had to travell another One and half hour for the hotel. The hotel which was shown to us at the time of booking ‘PERIYAR MEADOWS’ was in the centre of the market. We all regretted a lot that may this hotel would have allotted to us, we would have a lot of time for shopping and roaming in market even at night also. But as usual we had no option but to go to the hotel given to us i.e. The hotel Trisangu Heaven ???? Situated more than 35 Kms away from the Thekkady. It was late evening to reach at this hotel. As we reached the hotel, we were shocked to see the rooms. It was not expected at all. Actually hotel was just ordinary kind of. Bad smell was around in the rooms. We had to ask for room freshener even. Mosquitoes were there in the room. Our overnight stay in this hotel was a most disgusting. We had no option but to stay in this worst kind of rooms. I still think, why nobody from MMT visited these kind of hotels where they booked rooms for us. Atleast, they should visit all the hotels once before booking for the guests. After all, guests has to suffer during the tour and spoil the enjoyment of the tour for which they have paid money and spared their valuable time. This is a very unfair practice. I firmly believe that instead of providing best services and due care to the tourists, only business mind was focused on this tour for the money which is a bad state of affair.
Day-5 (11th November-12th November)
Thekkady to Allepey.
As per Itinerary, we were supposed to go to Kovalam from Thekkady. But at last time we came to know that we are going to Allepey first instead of Kovalam. I could not understand the logic for such change. However, we reached to Allepy. Here we were given a motorboat ride as commited to us. It was good. Frankly speaking, this time we had given good hotel named Pristine Island. But the same thing as in thekkady, the hotel was too far from Allepy. It was nearly 40 kms(1 and half hour drive) from Alleppy. But after reaching the island, the beauty and comfort of the place overcame our anger of distance. We had some good time here. In the morning after breakfast, we had to proceed for Kovalam.
Day- 6/7 ( 12th November-13th November)
Allepey to Kovalam.
We started for Kovlam after breakfast by 10 AM. It was also a very long drive. I was very excited to reach Kovalam and stay there as Mr. Krunal of MMT told me that the hotel given to you in Kovalam is ‘HOTEL PARK INTERNATIONAL’. He told me that those who started their trip on 5th November were given hotel ‘Holiday Inn’. Those who started on 6th November were given ‘Club Mahindra Resort’ and those(we) who started on 7th November were given in ‘Park International’. So, I made up my mind that it is a five star property of Park Group. As We reached Kovalam at evening time and checked in the hotel, we all were like ‘OH! Sheet”. I thought some kind of joke is happening with us. But no it was reality. We were literally SHOCKED to see the rooms of the hotels. The rooms were too small and very ordinary. Too many Mosquitoes were there inside and outside the rooms. Immediately we bought 4 mortins(Mosquitoes killer) and distributed in the rooms. No housekeeping things like soaps, shampoos, showercap, shaving kit, gel etc. were there in the bathroom as we found in earlier hotels. Even there was no phone in my room. When asked for the cold drinking water, the reply was ‘ There is no COLD drinking water facility available in the hotel’. The staff of the hotel was too rude. But this was not enough as at night my wife told me that Air Conditioner of our Room is not working. I talked to reception and the reply was ‘Yes, it is not working.’ I had to pass my 3 nights 2 days without Air Conditioner though I had paid for the AC rooms. We all were gossiping that it was not a Hotel even but it was a ‘Dharamshala’. I continuosly called to MMT Surat office for change of hotel but the only response was that “It is not possible now.” I even went to nearby hotels to ask for availability of rooms so that I can at least comfortably sleep at night because in so called PARK INTERNATIONAL the bads were so small that my feets were hanging outside the bed. But as it was pick season there was no rooms availability in nearby hotels. Even they did not clean the rooms next day morning. They changed only one towel out of the two. So, either I have to use my wet towel next morning or my wife has to do so. Quite disgusting things happened in the hotel with the other tourists also who were with us from Surat and Rajkot. They had booked their tour with MMT in their respective cities. They also complained to their booking agents for the entire tour hardship. All the families were really in the panic. Instead of enjoying the tour, everyone was tired and disappointed with the management of MMT. We were litteraly doing Count down when this tour ends and we go back to our home.
My entire tour proved to be a highly disappointing. No one has made me fool like this ever. I am not in a position to tell anybody about my unworthy tour coz I have praised MMT among my friends and relatives. If I would have a little hint about this kind of hotels and management of this package, I would have never ever booked it. I put blind faith on the goodwill of Make My Trip and I am regretting now. May I had planned my tour by my own car, I would have better Diwali Holidays.
CA. NITESH R. AGRAWAL
B.Com., LL.B., C.A., DISA(ICAI), DIRM(ICAI)
Booking No. IN1008B10127.
(M[protected]
Surat
Aug 13, 2020
Complaint marked as Resolved 
I had booked my Tickets in the hotel 'Mark and Meadows' at Shantiniketan. The Booking ID was NH[protected] . I paid the amount of Rs.9093 as well by credit card. I called up the hotel at Contact Number: [protected] ( which is given at my Confirmation Booking Voucher ) as well. The hotel informed me that they do not have any available rooms since last 2 months and are really surprised at the confirmation given by Make my trip. The brooking hence stands invalid with respect to the situation. The booking was for 24-dec-2010 ( Check-In) and 27-dec-2010 ( Check Out) in Shantiniketan, since this is a festive time there so no other places can also be booked due to non-availability of rooms in other hotels. I called up Make My Trip customer service as well and they said that they would get back to me with some solution within 24 hours and that too went not responded and no further communications even were done with me from your end. Hence, it leaves me no other option but to unfortunately cancel my plans to visit. I even called them up at[protected] but it always says that 'due to heavy network calling, lines are busy ' which is preventing me to cancel as well.
I feel really bad and disappointed at such a fraud of Make my trip and would like to take consumer care actions against this definitely.