Kedarnath is a great place. However we made a huge mistake, by choosing the wrong tour operator Shrikant Thosar.
Shrikant Thosar operates in Thane, Mumbai, Pune, etc. He operates under the below two tour companies, but might change their names. Shreyas Travels(Address: 629/B/3 MMRDA Building, Opposite Kores Tower, Vartak Nagar, Thane) Unnati Holiday(Address: Yeshwant Bhuvan, Behind Anand Ashram, Agyari lane, Tembhi Naaka, Thane)
He organizes religious trips to various places like Kedarnath, etc.
Till the time he gets money from you, he talks very sweetly. He will promise you a lot. He will tell you, that his standards are like kesari, Veena World, etc. He will tell you not to worry about anything and that he will take care of everything.
Once you pay him all money, he becomes extremely arrogant. Then he won’t even answer your queries, and will shout on the tourists only.
On the tour he doesn’t guides anyone, won’t do any co-ordination, the tourists are left to themselves.
If you face any problem, he will simply tell you to bear it, and would add, in this part, you won’t get good facilities.
He doesn’t even does the travel arrangement and accomodation himself.
He takes it from other tour operators, and simply puts his label on it.
On the tour, if any destinations are missed, you will never get a refund, or even a simple apology from him.
He will try to portray that he has already paid, and he himself is suffering losses.
On the last day of the tour, we came to know, that while he had charged us, 33, 000 per person, he had simply loaded us onto another tour operator, who was charging 19, 000 per person. So he was making 14, 000 per person, by almost doing nothing.
We had a terrible experience with him. While he had promised hospitality of the likes of kesari, Thomas cook, etc. Our stay was in very simple hotels, nowhere near the standard of kesari, etc.
Regarding food, he always tries to give people plain thali, with minimum items. Such is his attitude. When people started getting angry and shouted at him, then only he changed for a day or two. Thus he will spoil your mood.
Regarding bills, he will try to not give bills for any payment. First he will tell, that he has them ready and will give it to you. Later he will keep postponing it, and you will need to keep on reminding him. Still he won’t give you bills. Some people didn’t even had their own names on travel tickets.