Encounters Travel Reviews 8

My wife and I have recently returned from the Moroccan Circuit Tour with Encounters Travel and really enjoyed it. Our guide Khalid and our driver Mohammed were great - really helpful and friendly.

The booking process with Encounters Travel was really good and we always got a quick response to any questions we had.

On the tour, the minibus was modern, comfortable and air conditioned. We experienced many different things, from exploring the busy markets of Marrakech and Fes to riding a camel before watching the sunset in the Sahara. We also did the optional quad biking and rock climbing trips and everything was well organised and good fun.

Several of the hotels were quite basic, but all had working air conditioning and were clean. For the price we paid, we felt that everything was good value.

One or two of the reviews of Encounters Travel on here are quite negative, but that does not reflect the experience that we had in Morocco.

Paid for side trip to varanasi and it turned out we spent half there than expected due to flights chosen, left late evening instead of after lunch. Left for dehli at 8am, and then we spent 8 to 10 hours at international airport waiting for flights back to Australia. Some of hotels needed refit, and I would no longer consider 4 star. Bus transport was not very comfortable old, rattled, bad suspension and old style windows

Changed itinerary after we arrived. Changing hotels to less convenient ones. Didn't know where we were staying. Unsettling. Never got a new itinerary so left up in the air. Booked a personal tour for two days to Alexandria and they changed our very specific hotel downtown to one way out of town.

Scam never return my call.
I bought a trip to Jordan and with the Hamas war going on I tried several times to call them and it was always close.
So finally someone call
Me just to ask me for confirmation and I told them I was not goin because of war nearby. And they said I would not get my full refund. I paid 1600. And I was only getting 62.00 because I cancel 20 days before my trip. When I have been calling them way before. Rip offs. Never again. DONT FALL FOR THEM. THEY ARE THIEFS. !

Beware using this company. I had paid in full for the Nubian Adventure Tour. Then the month before the trip they notify me that their partner disappeared with the money and that I can do the tour if I simply pay for the tour all over again. I was really looking forward to this tour but they have completely lost my trust. My recommendation is if you have booked a tour with them contact your credit card immediately.

My partner and I recently had a two-week holiday in Turkey, organised through Encounters Travel. We wanted something tailored to our interests and availability, and Gavin at Encounters created a bespoke version of an existing tour for us. As we worked out what this tour might involve, it necessitated quite a few questions and answers going back and forth, as we refined our plans. Each time Gavin was very prompt to respond, did so in full, and very courteously. Encounters Travel liaised with all of the local agents and catered for everything we had asked for. We ended up having an absolutely fantastic (and wholly unforgettable) holiday, seeing sights that we would never have been able to fit in if we were trying to do it completely by ourselves. On the evidence of this trip, we would very strongly recommend them to others looking for an agent who'll help to take some of the hard work out of planning a holiday.

The booking process was so smooth with Encounters that I was very impressed. Unfortunately, the tour was less impressive. The itinerary was not well thought out but even worse, it was very out of date. The best example of this was when we were on the Halong Bay Cruise. The Cruise company (Aphrodite cruises, as listed on the Encounters website) gave us a copy of our itinerary when we arrived. It was nothing like the one we had downloaded from the Encounters website about a week before we left. When we asked the cruise company about the discrepancy they told us they were very sorry, but they had not been able to run that itinerary since 2015 when the government changed the rules. So the itinerary was at least three years out of date. Our tour leader in the North was also not quite right. He left us at the train station having told us that we would arrive around 10 or 10:30 in Denang and we didn't arrive until past noon (he could have asked, he just couldn't be bothered. He also left before the train arrived and all of the other western tourists still had their guides until boarding time). The itinerary also was not well thought out - too much on one of the days in Hanoi with plenty of extra time the next. And the itinerary was misleading, making half day tours sound like they would be all day and one tour that sounded like it was a half day took only about an hour. It made it hard to use our time effectively.

The worst thing, though, is that when we returned they sent an email asking for feedback. I outlined the problems we had with the tour but said I was not seeking any compensation. The problem is they didn't even acknowledge that they received my comments - and that was over a month ago. Very Poor.

Beware booking Jordan Explorer package with Encounters Travel What we thought we had booked turned out to be very different from what we actually got!

Our tour included;
• staying at 2 named hotels (both of which were changed for substantially inferior hotels at short notice)
• transport via AC coach (which in our case had faulty AC)
• a maximum tour group size (which was exceeded)
• and a tour leader/guide (who said he would fix the problems we encountered but then did nothing).

In addition our tour bus included people who had booked different levels of accommodation (3,4&5 star) staying at different hotels which were not in close proximity. On average more than 2 hours each day was wasted with pick ups and drop off 's.

If you're considering booking a holiday with Encounters Travel then I suggest you read on to understand some of the problems we encountered in more detail.........

1) HOTELS WERE CHANGED AT SHORT NOTICE
We booked the Jordan Explorer 6 Day Package in July 2017 (4 months prior to departure in November 2017). As always we did our research and were very happy with the deal as stated by Encounters Travel which included the Amman International and Petra Guest House hotels. We did not expect both hotels to be changed at the last minute!

AMMAN
The Amman International Hotel is perfect, it is a "top end" 4 start hotel with an outdoor pool, 4 dining outlets and bars and is ranked 5 of 150 hotels in Amman on Tripadvisor ..........but this hotel was changed to........... The Sulaf Luxury Hotel which is situated on the incredibly busy Al-Monawara St (a three lane inner city road that is heavily congested during daylight hours and remains busy 24 hours a day). The hotel has no swimming pool and more importantly for anyone who enjoys a drink it has no bar. Restaurant facilities can best be described as basic. The hotel is ranked 50 of 150 hotels in Amman on Tripadvisor.

Whilst both hotels meet the Jordanian 4 star rating The Sulaf Luxury Hotel is of a much lesser standard than the Amman International Hotel

PETRA
The Petra Guest House is amazing and one of the main reasons we chose the tour. It is situated in the heart of Petra at the visitors entrance to the Siq and only steps away from the archaeological site. The hotel offers a fabulous dining experience and an atmospheric and original Nabatean bar surrounded with a large Piazza. It is ranked 5 of 40 hotels in Petra on Tripadvisor ..........but with just 24hours notice this hotel was changed to........... Petra Sella Hotel which is located out of town at the top of a very steep hill 2 miles from visitors entrance to the Siq. Transport or taxi is needed to get to the heart of Petra and back. Its a dry hotel with no bar and is generously ranked 10 of 40 hotels in Petra on Tripadvisor although having read the reviews I would suggest that a number of those reviews look suspect!

When we were shown to our room at Petra Sella Hotel it was cluttered with three single beds. We called reception and requested a double room but were told none were available so we asked for someone to rearrange the beds to form a double. Moving the beds revealed a fungus growing on the wall and we asked for the manager. Surprisingly he was able to find another double room so we moved rooms but still encountered problems (TV with no signal, Fridge unplugged and empty, Safe not working, No phone..etc...) Although once again both hotels have a 4 star rating The Petra Sella Hotel is of a considerably lesser standard than the Petra Guest House.

Whilst staying at Petra we decided to call into the Petra Guest House for lunch and spoke Guest Reception to check if they had any rooms available and guess what? they confirmed they did have rooms available should we wish to stay so I explained that we had booked with Encounters Travel and had expected to stay with them but Encounters Travel had switched our hotel at the last minute. I was told that a number of tour operators advertise the fact that they use Petra Guest House and whilst they would be happy to have their business when it comes to making a firm booking those same tour operators often choose to book cheaper hotels that are available in the town?

2) TRANSPORT BY COACH WAS EXHAUSTING !
The tour notes from Encounters Travel make mention of "small distances" involved in Jordan....... 'we want you to finish journeys refreshed enough to enjoy the next stage of the tour' ........ In reality - we travelled on journeys varying from 2.5 hours to 5 hours. Hardly small distances and we were never refreshed because temperatures on the coach throughout the day were either far too hot or too cold

On the first day the tour guide said he would get the coach changed for one where the AC was working but this never happened.

Pick up and drop off from 4 hotels added an additional 2 hours travel per day. Pick up started at 07:00am and drop off's usually finished some time after 18:00

The coach driver slept on the coach. The coach was dirty inside and not cleaned until the last day of our tour.

3) GROUP SIZE EXCEEDED THE MAXIMUM ADVISED
Don't believe the Encounters Travel tour notes which state; "Most of our tours have a maximum of 12-18 travellers. However to keep costs down, we do allow our Shoestring Tours to have larger groups with a maximum of 26 travellers".

Our tour is not a shoestring tour. Encounters Travel define the tour type as "Small Group" and group size "Min2/Max26". They have brought together travellers staying in 3 4 and 5* hotels but included 30 travellers in that group. The tour group maximum size was therefore exceeded bringing with it all the associated problems which I could list but don't want to bore you.

4) ENCOUNTERS TRAVEL AGENT IN JORDAN:
We attempted to resolve our issues via the agents in Jordan (Al-Thuraya Tours) and raised them with Sami Atmeh (our tour guide). Sami said "He would fix it" but despite reminders he did nothing. Eventually he said "I am employed as a freelance guide and have nothing to do with booking hotels" he offered to swap our 4 star hotel for a 3 star hotel in Petra but would do nothing to get us into our original hotel.

We don't really know who runs the show (Encounters Travel or Al-Thuraya Tours) but having paid our money to Encounters Travel I believe they should take ownership.

5) MISCELLANEOUS FRUSTRATIONS
• Coach pick up times were rarely achieved (the worst was 50 minutes late)
• At Wadi Rum it felt like we were the "poor relations" when with more than 30 4x4 jeeps available the 6 vehicles assigned to our group were the oldest "rust buckets" they had. Encounters Travel must have negotiated a special cheap deal for us to have so many poor vehicles assigned when other much better quality vehicles were not being used. I've got to add that our 4x4 churned out more clouds of diesel fumes than you would expect from an industrial chimney.
• The tour guide was knowledgeable and passionate about the history when visiting the sites but did the bare minimum when it came to keeping us informed about our surroundings when travelling onboard the bus.

When booking a holiday we do a lot of research about the location, accommodation and transport required to ensure we enjoy our time away. We do not expect hotel bookings (made 4 months in advance) to change at the last minute or be expected to accept sub standard travel arrangements without challenging them. The Tour Leader/Guide should have been able to address problems as they arose but far too often what he said and what he did were two very different things.

I hope this helps anyone thinking of booking a Jordan Explorer Tour in the future.