I wish to report and share, the extremely bad experience that I had during my recent European Grand SOTC tour.
I had taken SOTC's European Grand Tour in July 2012 from their agents in Abu Dhabi UAE... I was advised by their agents that I need to opt for the European Grand Tour over the cheaper Cost saver Tour, as this tour had better rated Hotels and in the Central locations of the cities (even though it had lesser number of days and also did not include London). Though this tour was approx. 4000 AED expensive than the cost saver, I still opted for it based on the Travel Agent's recommendation that this tour offered better Hotels.
I myself did a check between the Hotels of Cost Saver Tour (indicative names) as well as for this tour and found that SOTC proposed to use better hotels in this tour (or Similar.)
I received the final list of Hotels at 11:30pm on Tuesday Night, just two working days before the tour departure. To my surprise and Horror, I found that the first two nights, which were supposed to be in Amsterdam City, the hotel was booked in the City of Den Haag!!
I reported the same to the agent about this discrepancy and I was initially offered some excuses like SOTC is free to give Similar Hotels and Den Haag is a twin city of Amsterdam! Upon my insistence that Den Haag is 45 minutes to 1 hour away by a train from Amsterdam and cannot be called a twin or sister city, finally at the last moment, SOTC called me back on my mobile and offered the following two solutions:
1) SOTC to provide a dedicated car for me and my family only for travelling To and Fro from the city (as this Hotel was far away from the city) under the condition that I don't share this detail with the other group members!!! or,
2) to change the hotel back to Amsterdam City.
I was surprised at this unethical behavior of providing additional services to a single customer as he had complained and not extending the same facility to other group members. However, finally they managed to shift the entire group to a Hotel on the outskirts of Amsterdam city.
I hoped that there would not be any further problems on the tour and started the tour on a positive note.
However, to my surprise and Horror, I found that ALL HOTELS provided by SOTC (barring the three nights in Switzerland), the hotels were of much inferior quality than indicated in the Brochure. To prove my point, I have attached an excel sheet (see attachment 07), wherein I have found out the normal rack rate prices of the brochure Hotels as well as those actually provided and find that the Hotels provided to us costed 50-60% of the Brochure Hotels.
Also, there have been instances that the Hotels had better facilities (e.g. in Idea Hotel in Italy), However, other groups were provided those facilities and SOTC group was subjected to the use of old, stinking and dilapidated hall for the purpose of Buffet breakfast. This problem was rectified the next day only after a strong objection being made by the group. (Please note that I have attached photos and video for the same. - See attachment 01-04)
I have also attached video of same Hotel (Hotel Idea - See attachment 05) and I need not say anything further as it speaks in detail about the condition of Hotel. I am 100% confident that no tour operator can say indicate that this is a 4 star or even a 3 or 2 star Hotel!
Another thing which was mentioned in SOTC Brochure was that the travelling will be on a Coach, which will have emergency toilet facility available. During the trips there were two coaches used. The Toilet was not available on the first coach, and we thought it was our bad luck that the toilet in this coach was not operational. After 4 days of the trip, the coach was replaced by another coach, (which was only one year old). Even in this coach the toilet was locked. Clearly, the intent was not to extend this facility to the passengers! As a result of this, we faced a lot of inconvenience, especially when one is travelling with small kids with over 8-9 hours of drive time. I treat this as a breach of service provided.
Finally, as per the tour details, only one day Packed Lunch was to be provided. However, on two occasions, we were refunded 10 Euro per person as Restaurant Lunch could not be provided and on two more days there was Packed Lunch. Also, this packed lunch was offered to us in the middle of nowhere and the people were forced to eat it sitting on the floor next to the parking lot (Video attachment 06)... If such poor services and planning is to be provided by SOTC, then why should people to pay a premium price for an SOTC tour???
All the above attachments are available at the following link :
https://www.box.com/s/9bbf27b075b5a846f2a0
I wrote the above complaint to SOTC management and got the following casual response, which was most evasive and did not even attempt to understand the problem.
QUOTE
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your family for travelling on our SOTC World Famous Tours to Europe - 2012. We are in receipt of your feedback dated 16st August 2012 addressed to us and have noted and gone through the content.
Having gone through your feedback please allow us to present the following to you
Choice of tour and hotels:
In respect to your feedback received regarding the choice of tour, we wish to state that we offer value for money as per the package chosen and booked. We wish to state that the rack rates differ from time-to-time and are directly related to the demand during a particular period whereas the contracted group rates remain the same throughout the season except during event/festive period. Our choice of hotels confirmed for the tour is based on the budgeted group rates and is booked accordingly. We further confirm hotels based on the group size and room configuration and subject to availability. We keep in mind the comfort of our passengers and choose our hotels in accordance. All hotel confirmed for the tour are of a 3 plus/ 4 star category, hotel Idea is a 4 star property which has been provided, however we have noted your feedback on the hotel for corrective action.
In respect to your feedback regarding the area designated for breakfast, there are multiple areas for breakfast and allocation for the group is done by the hotel.
Coach Toilets:
In respect to your feedback regarding the use of toilets on the coach, we ensure that comfort stops are given every 2-2.5 hours. We wish to state that the using the toilets on long distance European coaches is not possible as all are not bio toilets. There are challenges to find a proper facility to empty the septic tank which is mainly found in the city municipal areas which is not en-route from one city to another. If we allow the same to be used the stench will surely be discomforting to the passengers on the coach while travelling on road.
Packed lunch:
In respect to your feedback regarding the packed lunch, we would like to state packed lunches or auto grill lunches are provided in order to make up with time lost either due to late reporting of the passengers or due to traffic conditions. At times coach may have to take an alternate route which is longer due to highway closure or other related factors. Keeping in mind these circumstances, our Tour Manager manages to finish the days sightseeing/ program rather than missing it and prevent having a cascading effect on the following days of the tour. We hence try having our packed lunches in at autogrills/parking area or at times a picnic spot. We have however noted your feedback and will surely share the same with our operations and product design teams
With this we trust we have answered all the issues raised by you to the best of our efforts. We would look forward to having the privilege of you and your family travel with us in future and service you better.
UNQUOTE
I only Hope that after publishing the above feedback / complaint, I am able to help other people by saving some of their money so that they don't fall into this trap and web of deceit !!!
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