Hi Zoe,
I am back in California and the tours you set up for me in Kyoto were great! They were the highlight of our trip.
Of all the places we visited Kyoto was thebest and having the tours arranged was such a peace of mind.
We have returned home from our holiday. Thank you for making our holiday memorable. We enjoyed it very much. I loved our cooking class.
Might I suggest when you send confirmation to hotels in Japan that you use both Japanese and the full English names (according to passports) of the clients because several of the hotels had difficulty finding our reservation even with the booking numbers because they were trying to translate Japanese script into English names that sometimes didn't match the passport we gave them.
We were happy with the hotel rooms although some were barely big enough to fit us and our suitcases (for example the Roynet hotels). The hotels were clean and very central and had very good breakfasts and good facilities. I particularly liked the Takayama Ouan which made us particularly welcome.
Our guides were very helpful and had reasonable to good English.
I didn't know enough about Japan before organising our tour. If I had known Haneda is closer to Tokyo, I would have gone through Haneda airport rather than Narita. I think Jetstar flys into Haneda too so it is a cheaper and quicker flying option. Perhaps this would be a suggestion you could offer clients.
Thank you again for an excellent holiday,
Sincerely,
Jane Tyson
My colleague and I had a wonderful trip, you're planning and the execution of the the complex logistics worked like clockwork. All of the hotels were excellent ( although in retrospect we should have chosen a more expensive hotel in Tokyo, given the smaller dimensions of the rooms there). The guides/driver were all punctual and did their utmost to ensure we had an informative tour. The itinerary was excellent, providing us with a good over view of Japan.
Thank you for all of your help
Martin Shine
Thanks Nick. We have already set up our photos – Bernard is quite good in that respect. We were very pleased with Sung Il and all that she did with us.
Regards
Maureen and Tony and Bernard
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | 5 | Very helpful before our trip and accommodated all our requests | |
Tour Guides | Command of English | 4 | more than adequate for all our needs |
Knowledge of Subjects | 5 |
| |
Ability of Explain | 5 |
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Attitude | 5 |
| |
Flexibility | 5 |
| |
Drivers and Cars | 5 | Same as guide | |
Hotels | Location | 5 |
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Comfort | 5 | An infinite improvement on our Seoul hotel which had tiny rooms | |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 5 |
|
Meet Your Interests? | 5 |
| |
Too Tight or Too Loose? | 5 | Not rushed in any way | |
Meals | 5 | Our guide recommended a restaurant to enjoy black pork and it was great with other customers very friendly | |
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | 4 |
| |
Any Other Aspect |
| Loved the Teddy Bear Museum but all the sights were well worthwhile | |
Overall Score of the Whole Package | 5 | And the weather was just superb, after our last trip to Jeju was rain rain rain! | |
Denise M. Jones, DVM
Hi Cindy,
We had a really good trip. Embedded below is my filled out feedback form. I think everything went well with the exception of the tour guide. She could have been better prepared and better informed.
Thanks,
Beth
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | 5 | Cindy was very responsive, provided good recommendation and made overall planning easy for us. | |
Tour Guides | Command of English | 5 | She had good command of English. She also spoke Mandarin well which helped with communicating with my parents. |
Knowledge of Subjects | 2 | She did not know the sights well and had poor planning skills. At the different sights, she did not offer background or historical significance. We had to read about them ourselves. I ended up reading everything to the children then translating it to my parents. I had better knowledge of Kurama yama than her. I had to tell her about the train that would take us halfway up the mountain. She delayed us by taking us to the wrong train station so we had to delay our lunch reservation. It was also stressful because we were afraid we would miss our train to Tokyo. She also did not know we can hike over Kurama yama to Kibune. I told her that was our plan and she seem very confused. She also did not know Arashiyama well and had to defer to our driver several times. I told her in advance that we need to know exactly where we're having lunch to avoid waiting as we had a party of 8 people. She did not plan ahead and had to scramble after the tour had started. She did not know which restaurants to call so I had to search on my phone to offer suggestions. She wanted us to take us on a scenic train ride but did not look up the train schedule in advance. She started looking at the schedule when we started driving toward Arashiyama. We ended up not going on the train because of poor planning on her part. In Nara, she also did not plan ahead for lunch. We had to walk a long way down a row of restaurants, which all had a long wait for lunch, until I finally suggested a pizza place that was empty. I also told the guide in advance that we cannot do a lot of walking because of my father and my 5-year-old. However, she still planned to take us on hikes to temples that we then told her to scrap. She did not provide us with Shinkansen tickets until I inquired 2 days before we were to leave for Tokyo. Good thing I asked otherwise we would not have had our tickets. | |
Ability of Explain | 3 | ||
Attitude | 5 | She had a good attitude. My husband was very frustrated with her poor planning skills and inability to understand what we wanted. He was rude to her but she took it in strides. | |
Flexibility | 5 | My father forgot his diabetes medication. The guide called the Taiwanese consulate where someone was able to direct us to a doctor who provided the medication. We went directly to the doctor after our first day of tour so my father was able to get his medication right away. It was very helpful. | |
Drivers and Cars | 3 | We liked our drivers. 2nd driver on the tour was terrific. He knew more about Kyoto, restaurants, sights than our tour guide. We could have just used him and forego the tour guide. The cars could have been cleaner. | |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 4 | We planned our own itinerary. |
Meet Your Interests? | 4 | ||
Too Tight or Too Loose? | 4 | ||
Any Other Aspect | |||
Overall Score of the Whole Package | 4 | We will use Novaland again based on the service we received from Cindy. | |
All i can say is we really enjoy ur trips this time... and your services..hotels and yr driver guide is above par excellent.
He is very flexible in meeting ur needs and of course a commmendable attitude with sufficient command of english langguage ...
...the only drawback is we are unable to locate the HALAL restaurant..but it is not a big issue to us since sea food are plenty full in hokaido.
...thank you
Aspect | Mark(1-5) | Advice or Remark | |
Travel Consultant | 4 |
| |
Tour Guides | Command of English | 3 |
|
Knowledge of Subjects | 4 |
| |
Ability of Explain | 2 |
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Attitude | 4 |
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Flexibility | 4 |
| |
Drivers and Cars | 5 | Driver is courteous and humble. Command of English not good enough for effective conversation | |
Hotels | Location | 4 | Good location in town but Onsen in Ashibetsu disappointing (too far away from town and facilities old) |
Comfort | 3 | Satisfactory | |
Sights or Activities | Worthiness of Visit | 4 | Satisfied with trip although could do away with the visit to ninja village ( not much to see or experience) |
Meet Your Interests? | 4 | Reasonably happy with our expectations | |
Too Tight or Too Loose? | 3 | Reasonably happy with schedule | |
Meals | 3 | Could be better. | |
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.) | 4 | Satisfying | |
Any Other Aspect |
|
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Overall Score of the Whole Package | 4 |
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Hi Emma. Going great so far. Young is very good. We are having dessert with him rift now. Thank you for checking in. Rick
Hi Emma. Trip is going great! Young is amazing. We are in Jeju right now going to Busan tomorrow evening. For our return to Lotte Seoul for 2 nights starting on August 1, can we request rooms in the new tower? We liked the rooms in the old tower but would like to experience the new tower if possible. Thanks.
Rick
______________________________________________________________
Hi Emma,
You have my approval to post our pictures on your company Facebook page. I'll be sending you photos soon. Working on my picture books in Shutterfly.com. I put my rating responses in your email below. Hopefully you, Young and your management have read my review on Tripadvisor. It's under LonghornRick.
Thanks again for everything.
Rick
1=poor, 2=fair,3=good, 4=very good5=excellent
Aspect
Mark(1-5)
Advice or Remark
Travel Consultant
5
Loved working with Emma.
Tour Guides
Command of English
5
Young was the absolute best guide we've ever had!
Knowledge of Subjects
5
Ability of Explain
5
Attitude
5
Best!
Flexibility
5
Amazing!
Drivers and Cars
4
A slightly larger vehicle would have been nice.
Hotels
Location
5
5-star luxury except for Daegu
Comfort
5
Sights or Activities
Worthiness of Visit
5
Meet Your Interests?
5
Too Tight or Too Loose?
5
Meals
5
Best food we've had on any trip.
Public Transportation (train, flight, cruise, etc.)
2
Local airports crowded and delayed. Chose not to take KTX.
Any Other Aspect
Overall Score of the Whole Package
5
Very satisfied. Posted a nice review on Tripadvisor under LonghornRick
Hello Lynee,
The tour was great. The tour guide ( lee min sook) was excellent, verycaring and with lots of experience and knowledge. Thanks to Novaland I had agreat time in Busan.
Thank you very much