Facets of tour not as expected

Following is a letter sent by a reader to Pacific Delight Tours (formerly Pacific Delight World Tours), a copy of which was mailed to ITN. It concerns a 15-day tour of Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, April 4-19, 2006. The cost without airfare was $1,843 per person.

Five years ago a friend and I took a 21-day trip to China with Pacific Delight Tours, and we have referred many other travelers to your company for your impeccable tours.

In April 2006, three of us took a Pacific Delight tour to Southeast Asia. We arrived at the Bangkok airport on our own and secured transportation to the Century Park Hotel as specified. It was interesting that it took us at least 30 minutes to register since there were no vouchers in our paperwork, and the desk clerks acted as though they had no idea who we were. They kept asking for vouchers.

Ultimately, we secured our room and in the process inquired about Pacific Delight Tours and a pickup the next morning. They knew nothing of Pacific Delight but said people usually were picked up about 5:30 a.m. for early morning flights.

We then realized we were traveling with Turismo Asia, booked through Pacific Delight. It would have been very helpful if this fact had been transmitted to us in some way.

The trip to Cambodia went exactly as advertised and was excellent in every way. We were promptly picked up at our hotel and transferred to the airport in Bangkok for the flight to Siem Reap.

Our escort, Soul, was waiting with the van and driver and we were immediately whisked off on a tour of the market area and the river/lake people. Fortunately for us, Soul suggested we do this on Wednesday, which would leave us free to do our own thing all day Friday, especially in the event we wished to return to the ruins of Angkor Wat.

The Princess Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap was definitely first class — not luxury but certainly what we had anticipated — and the van and tour were excellent.

We have nothing but praise for everyone in Cambodia. When we developed stomach problems, Soul went out of his way to try to get us an early flight back to Bangkok. With that not possible, he did get us an extension on our room for the entire day.

We then returned to Bangkok. Since we had had a transfer from our Bangkok hotel to the airport, we assumed there would be an inclusive transfer from the airport back to the hotel on our return to Thailand from Cambodia. An hour and a half later, after talking to the Turismo Asia people in the airport and having them try to talk us into using their services, we secured our own cab and were taken to the Century Park Hotel.

Upon check-in, for the second time we had no voucher, and it took a good 30 minutes to secure accommodations. When we asked about the tour the next morning, we received the same runaround as we did for our tour to Cambodia. We decided to be in the lobby at 7 to see what would develop.

At 7 a.m., we were approached in the lobby by a gentleman who introduced himself as Wat Boon Pan, an escort from Turismo Asia, who with a driver would be showing us Thailand.

We were extremely pleased to find that there were only three other people who had booked this trip, until we discovered that the six of us plus Wat and the driver were to spend the next 12 days touring the country in a 10- to 15-year-old 10-passenger van with very limited air-conditioning. The average weight of each American passenger was well in excess of 200 pounds, and we had two large suitcases each.

At the end of the first day in Bangkok, three of the gentlemen in our group approached Wat and demanded that this van was not a “luxury coach” and there was no way that eight adults with excessive luggage would fit in this van. After more than an hour’s discussion, he conceded that we could get a small bus for the duration of the trip if we were willing to each pay the equivalent of $90.50.

Enclosed is our receipt for the $181 which two of us paid Wat. We feel that Pacific Delight should reimburse us for this added expense, since the transportation provided did not constitute a luxury coach as advertised.

Also, nowhere in Pacific Delight’s brochure/advertising does it mention that two days would be spent riding hundreds of miles with nothing really new or interesting to see and with no dialogue from our guide. In fact, on a number of occasions our guide was sleeping in the front seat.

Two days after spending a night at the Lampang River Lodge — with its malaria mosquito warnings, air-conditioning problems and gaping holes around the windows and doors — our next adventure was a night at the Hmong Lodge. We were not prepared for the even more deplorable conditions there. Pacific Delight should be clear in its brochure that this is camping! We are not campers in any way.

Heading toward the Hmong Lodge, on the bus we had asked Wat about the conditions at the next hotel and he said, “This will be the highlight of the trip. You will love it, and if you don’t I will get you back to Chiang Mai.”

Well, when we saw our filthy room — with grass-mat walls, quarter-inch-wide gaps in the floors (leading to dirt below), large holes in the screening, a shower which didn’t work, plus no air-conditioning (not even a fan) — we decided this was not the place for us.

Wat told us that if we wanted to go back, he would try to get a cab from Chiang Mai to come and pick us up, but it was up to us to get a hotel in the city at our expense. We stepped back and made the most of a horrible situation.

The next day on the bus, he added to the previous night’s unpleasant situation by saying we should accept the experience we had the night before, telling us, “Americans are spoiled and need to be shown how the rest of the world lives.”

We did not appreciate this person, who on many occasions showed disrespect to his own people, in our opinion being rude to locals and also addressing us in that manner. We did not pay for a one-star experience with attitude!

We feel that Pacific Delight should reexamine its literature and make some definite changes in terminology, as in “superior first class hotels,” “luxury coach” and “professional tour manager.”

Also, some sort of actual ticket or voucher should be included in the package that’s sent out. It is disconcerting to not have backup tickets or vouchers.

We look forward to your reply and would appreciate the refund of our $181. (No credits toward future trips, please.)

G.L. MEROW

Venice, FL

ITN sent another copy of the above letter to Pacific Delight Tours and received the following reply.

In response to your letter, we would like to take the opportunity to clarify Pacific Delight Tours’ position regarding these clients’ letter to ITN.

Pacific Delight Tours has been a leader in tourism to China and Asia for over 35 years and has always taken great care to deliver a quality product to our customers. Our knowledgeable sales staff makes every effort to ensure that customers are well informed and fully understand the features of our tours. Additionally, our website offers helpful information, with web links to properties used as well as detailed descriptions to assist prospective travelers in selecting tours that would meet their expectations.

In our response to Mr. Merow, we pointed out that services and specifically vehicles used on tours are suited to accommodate the number of people participating on each program. This certainly was the case on this trip.

Further, to date, this is indeed the first time we have received customer feedback of this kind regarding our local operator.

Pacific Delight Tours appreciates all customer feedback both positive and negative and makes every effort to fully investigate any problems our clientele experience. With this information, we continually work with our partners in Asia to improve our tour delivery.

ROSE HANCOCK, Customer Support Department, Pacific Delight Tours, 3 Park Ave., 38th Fl., New York, NY 10016-5902