Booking ID: 1104172
Cox and Kings Tour: Bhutan Delight (10th June to 15th June) Ex: Mumbai

Pre tour Experience
Knowledge of the product- Poor
Courteousness- Satisfactory
Willingness to help- Poor
Efficiency/quickness/Response time- Poor
Holiday Information- Poor

Remark
We are travelling from Ahmedabad to Mumbai with our aged parents (70+) for our Bhutan delight 5N6D tour package (on 10th June, 2019). We were provided with incorrect flight details verbally for Mumbai to Paro, Bhutan by your Cox and Kings sales person Akshata Yelgonda, conveying that she cannot reveal the information 3 days prior to the tour as per Cox and Kings travel policy. Due to which we had to cancel our booked flights to Mumbai and back to Ahmedabad as we were given the correct flight details from Mumbai to Paro, Bhutan just on 8thJune (0ne day before our 10th June tour) by your Cox and Kings another co-ordinator Leena Raghav. We feel that your staff who is managing your tours and your policies are highly unprofessional.

Liasioning Support- Poor
Reservation & Ticketing- Poor
Payments and Acknowledgments- Satisfactory
Visa Services (if any)- Satisfactory
Pre departure handovers and confirmations- Poor

Overall Experience
How would you rate our Pre-tour services (Holiday Information, Reservation & Ticketing, Liasioning Support, timeliness of handovers and confirmations- Poor
How would you rate our On-tour services (Hotels, Meals, Transport Services, Sightseeing, Tour Guide)- Satisfactory
Overall rating of Cox & Kings Experience- Satisfactory

Remark
1) We were travelling with our aged parents and we had to cancel and book our flight tickets from Ahmedabad to Mumbai and back again just a day before our tour, as we were given incorrect details of Mumbai to Paro, 'Bhutan Flight details' verbally by Ms. Akshata Yelgonda, your travel executive and even after our repetitive requests to her to send the details by email asap. So we had to bear the cancellation for flight charges as well as cost for the new flight tickets which were almost doubled when we booked it again a day before our travel to the tour 'Bhutan Delight'.
2) Ultimately after receiving the final flight details just a day prior to our tour, we came to know that our trip was only 5 nights 4 days instead of 5 nights 6 days, so we felt cheated. (First day we reached late evening to Thimphu by evening flight so first day gone and Last day our flight were in the early morning, so last day also gone)
3) Akshata had said we do not send flight details 3 days prior to the travel as cox and kings policy. Where as we were sent the emails with flight and all the necessary other details by Leena Raghav, just one day prior to our tour, which was quite late and very inconvenient to prepare for the required documents like 4 photocopies of passports and 4-6 photos. (ultimately nothing was required in Bhutan for immigration and we had struggled getting the documents last moments and carrying it with us all the way to Bhutan unnecessarily)
4) Akshata was also not responding to our queries in time after we had made the full payments for the tour.
5) While taking our booking, Akshata had informed us that we do not have to pay a penny extra apart from 44,999/- and everything is inclusive in the amount. Where as we found out later that we had to pay 5% GST extra, and all the entry fees of the tour itinerary places were extra which was quite a lot and we felt cheated again.
6) A few places were even dropped from the itinerary like Kuensel Phodrang Nature Park, Paro Dzong, Drukyul Dzong. 7) We were total five people in the family group and we had paid per person extra Rs. 300/- each for National Memorial Chorten, Thimphu, Rs. 300/- each for Punakha Dzong, Rs. 25/- each for Paro Museum and Rs. 500/- each extra for Taktsang Monastery paid for five people.
8) Non of the emergency contacts were responding to our calls when in need.
9) Your tour representative nos were not available to us and we saw only one person on the first day in Thimphu Hotel and then on the last day at the airport.
10) A day prior to last day one of our family member was told to shift to the other hotel with luggage, for which we had to waste a lot of time, energy and peace of our mind to request to your representative to not to shift him and to give him the accommodation with us in the same hotel and not ruin our trip. With great difficulty, we got Avinash's no, who was your one of the representative from Cox and Kings and requested him for proper management of the rooms group-wise. After that he somehow managed the situation and our family person was given a small 10ft x 10ft room after so much of hassle.

Likelihood of travelling with Cox & Kings Again- Most Unlikely
Likelihood of recommending Cox & Kings to your friends- Unlikely

Remark
Going for the leisure trip and spending good amount of money is something to get some relaxation and amazing experience of life from our busy routine and no one would like to spoil their peace of mind and money after booking a planned group tour to get such a bad experience, which we have experienced after booking with Cox and Kings.

Most of our co-passengers had also same bad experience with this trip and if you do not reimburse our cancelled flight charges and itinerary sight seeing places entry charges in a week, we are also thinking of writing our reviews to the tripadviser and other important travel sites for other travellers better feedback.

Regards,
Rachana Viswanathan
Anand Viswanathan
Arvind Joshi
Daksha Joshi
Maulik Patel

This is to put on record my overall experience of European Discovery (15D,14N) Package
Pre Booking Experience at Judges Bungalow Rd Office, Ahmedabad: The Sales Person was not all competent on answering my queries related to the itinerary, just because one of the tour manager Mr. Cyrus was present when I visited I got convinced to book. During negotiations the Manager one Chandani Chattawani was really arrogant and needs some basic training on how to deal with customers. She did not even inform me that the total price agreed for 3 persons had no validity and will be charged as per rate of Euro on final settlement. This way Cox & Kings coaxed me into paying additional 27K during my final payment. They booked inconvenient flights from Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Muscat-London and I had to incur one night hotel stay on my account at Mumbai. The meal was not selected as VEG and as a result we ended up starving on the 10 hr flight from Muscat to London as there was no VEG food available.

FREE Domestic Holiday & LUCKY DRAW ..... A BIG HOAX
During booking I was promised a FREE domestic holiday for 2N - they said that all major tourist places were included and this we could avail only after completing out international tour. It was also expected that at least they would offer a 4 star hotel in the domestic package considering that I was paying Rs. 8 Lacs for the international tour. However to my utter disappointment I am been offered a average lodge type budget hotel called Vishnupriya in Udaipur for this package (the hotel tariff on the site shows Rs. 1500) so Cox & Kings is offering me a FREE domestic package worth Rs. 3000/- What Cheats. This is the way they take customers for a ride.
The much published LUCKY DRAW is just a sales strategy and a Hoax .. none of the 42 people from my group won anything.

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY EXPERIENCE (Tour Manager: Deepak Sampat)
All the hotels considered were outside city limits and very basic. The breakfast had limited choice and at some places almost nothing that you can eat if you are a vegetarian. Although the lunches and dinners were descent. During booking the sales person said that 'Louvre' in Paris would be included in the itinerary and we would be shown the painting section from inside, however the tour manager denied this and we were just driven past this attraction. On another instance when the entire group was served a packed lunch enroute on the highway .. all the 42 people were asked to get down from the bus and have lunch on the road in the rains ... we felt as if we had paid for some budget char dham yatra tour and not European package.

Overall it was a mix bag but surely COX & KINGS did not live upto my expectations and I would definitely not recommend them to others.