Thinking of booking a holiday for my parents to Thailand and checked on various websites. I have personally Travelled to Thailand earlier on several occassions for official trips as well as a holiday with Makemytrip which was good(See my review).
I was looking at a guided tour as my parents have not travelled a lot outside India. Shortlisted Kesari and Veenaworld looking at several aspects. Kesari guys were too slow in responding and most of the times, phone calls went unanswered with no call back once you are through. Once I received the call back from Kesari after 2 weeks of enquiry!
With Veenworld though, the experience of initial contact was good. Booked the trip online after discussions with their representative Ms.Yogita Shirnath who was very prompt in answering all my queries patiently. Made all the payments online and was then supposed to deal Ms.Sneha Baiker from operations team of Veenaworld. She was extremely slow in responding to begin with the booking and payment confirmation. They provide a welcome kit for travelers i.e stroller and a sling bag. I called Ms. Sneha so many times in a span of 2-3 weeks and the result was nothing. She was too slow in responding with the details asked (such as flight tickets and hotel details) and the bags delivery. Every time I called her, she would promise to revert soon. But the reply would never come in quick.
Finally even after following up so much, she could not arrange to deliver the bags to my address in Navi Mumbai citing lack of sufficient manpower in their office. In the last week of travel I personally went to their Vashi office to collect the bags to put an end to the endless follow up.
Apart from this, they make a compulsion for each traveler to carry 700 US Dollars. It is simply a pointless compulsion. When all the expenses for travel, hotel, food and entry fees are paid to Veenaworld, why does one need to carry 700 USD per person? Their Reps had only one answer. THIS IS A RULE. What rule? It simply puts one in financial loss considering currency changing costs which is stupid. The valuation of buy and sell rate for USD makes you poor by at least by 5 to 7 rupees per USD. So a loss of Rs. 3500 to Rs.5000 per person at the end of it when you exchange INR to USD and the unspent USD back to INR! Carrying a reasonable sum is fine but compulsion of 700 USD per person is not reasonable. My parents also don’t use a credit card, which could have helped in this scenario.
Coming to the tour part, the pricing of the tour is good and economical considering the inclusions which are a bit better in comparison to Kesari for the same price. Only thing positive with Kesari is they don’t ask the traveler to carry 700 USD per person and call the tour as Guarantee of ‘Carry Zero Money On Tour!’
First day of their tour was a bit tiring as it started immediately after arrival into Bangkok. As the group traveled the whole night by the 1.30 am flight from Mumbai, it would have been good to have a couple of hours to take rest and start the tour. Anyway, apart from this, the entire tour was excellently planned and executed. The hotels and restaurants were very good and so was the food as well. Special mention of the tour manager Mr.Sandesh Wagh, who according to my parents deserves all the credit for being very patient with everyone and managing the tour in an excellent manner.
My parents had a wonderful and memorable trip with Veenaworld and they are already recommending Veenworld to their friends and colleagues!