Letter ONE. HOME
Posted 31st October 2007, and for which no acknowledgement received
Thomas Cook Tours
PO Box 5,
12 Collingsbury Road
Peterborough,
PE3 8XP
31st October 2007
Re:- The Eastern Spirit Tour . ref: 66021394
Dear Sirs,
Please find attached our completed holiday customer feedback form.
Before commencing with the real purpose of this letter, which is to comment on our recent Thomas Cook holiday, we felt that it was worth-while letting you know what our expectation levels for this tour were.
We knew from the description of the holiday that it would be lot of travelling. We also knew that Thomas Cook were not providing any meals. We were therefore aware of the potentially tiring nature of the holiday, and were quite happy to be able to purchase food, thereby giving us a chance to eat what we wanted, rather than fixed (set) menu of Thomas Cook's choice.
We have already been on four touring holidays, one with Cosmos when we travelled
similar distances in the West Coast of America, and three trips with Journeys
of Distinction in New Zealand, Canada and China. As JOD didn't have an East
coast of America trip, we decided to take your 'Signature' tour.
We could have taken a far cheaper alternative, but decided that as your Eastern
Spirit tour was one of your 'Signature' tours, (one, we assume you wanted to
be compared against), and as it was by no means cheap, that it would be quality
throughout.
First impressions count for a lot and we were very impressed with a young lady named Holly in your Tonbridge branch who was very attentive and helpful. The taxi journey and driver were excellent, as was the lady who welcomed us at Heathrow. The Virgin flight was one of the best we have ever had.
We were feeling really good and buoyant, and looking forward to more of the same.
We expected to be greeted by our Tour Guide at Heathrow, either at Check-in or the Lounge (excellent), but, in fact he did not make himself known to us until shortly before arriving in Dulles Airport. He advised us that we had got to the airport too early and 'must have missed us in the lounge' …. (in fact he seemed to have missed everybody). He advised some of us to meet him at the top of a particular ramp at the exit at Dulles, and others to meet him at the bottom … not a good start.
He was absent on arrival at Dulles airport, offering no support until we clients
tried to sort out where we were to meet him. He eventually arrived and instructed
us all to go outside and await the coach.
This we did, waiting for over 1 hour in 90 degrees temperature. He was not present
for most of this time and left us with no idea what was going on. Communication
was nil …. which transpired to be the norm for the entire holiday. After
an hour he was asked whether it was time for him to provide local taxis, as
some were suffering from the heat. He said that the coach was only five minutes
away. After a further 30 minutes, the coach arrived. He mentioned that the delay
was the coach-driver's fault, although the coach driver had his own opinions.
The Channel Hotel Washington hotel was fine, although there were no convenient eating houses near, leaving us to eat in-house which proved a nice meal. . The guide for Washington was monotonic and tried to rush everybody from place to place. Some passengers were not able to keep up his pace. To do justice to the Tour Manager, he did try to slow him down, but eventually gave up. The highlight of our evening tour of Washington was being deposited for dinner in a dirty, fast-food hall which should have been condemned as being unsanitary.
We didn't realise it at the time of booking, but as an after-thought we find it strange that the next stop was Albany (419 miles) stopping at Philadelphia for lunch. We eventually arrived at Albany at 6pm with no other place than the hotel to eat. We set off for Niagara early to cover many more miles arriving well after lunch, eventually arriving at the Hampton Inn at 6.30pm. What we find it difficult to understand was why did we all have to go such a long way round to get to Niagara? It may have been far better to find a stopping place somewhere along a straighter line. You may like to consider this for future itineraries.
The coach driver got lost running between Niagara and Toronto. This was the first of at least 5 occasions when the coach-driver got lost, often wasting our precious free time. (We didn't go on the Quebec City tour, but we understand he got lost a further three times there as well).
The Days Inn Hotel was acceptable, and there was at least somewhere other than the hotel to eat.
On the way to Ottawa we stopped at a coffee stop. Lunch was at Kingston, but we were later in the day deposited at a trucker's stop, presumably for high tea.
Every time we passed into a new State, our Tour Manager opened his travel guide and read from it. Much was interesting, however he had a great interest in the history of the States, which was at times, over-powering. What we never had, at any time, was local information, such as the name of the river we were crossing, or the purpose of imposing buildings we were passing. We have always had this sort of information given to us on our previous tours, and sorely missed it on this trip. Our coach driver did pass on some information to the Tour Manager, but he generally chose not to repeat it over the microphone, so eventually, the driver stopped trying. Thinking that the Tour Manager was new to Thomas Cooks, and that he had not yet been evaluated by yourselves, he was asked when he first worked for you, and was amazed to be told that he had done so for at least 10 years.
Everything in Ottawa was really good, with the Lord Elgin Hotel particularly so.
By this time most people were feeling uncomfortable, and we were beginning to realise how 'basic' the coach was, with not particularly comfortable seats. The saving grace was that as there were only 27 travellers on the coach, some were able to spread out into unused seats. If it had been a full trip, I daren't guess at how people would have fared. The air-conditioning was 'patchy' to say the least.
Montreal was fine, as was the Novotel Hotel. What did cheer us up was that we had an excellent guide for the Montreal tour
This may be the time to point out that the Tour Manager was never available to us. He never provided his room number, nor his telephone number. He was never more than 5 minutes early for any departure time, and apart from getting the hotel keys en-bloc, which was very helpful, he disappeared as soon as the coach arrived. In short, he never made himself available.
According to your holiday brochure, we were next going to a suburb of Boston, with an orientation tour followed by the rest of the day free in Boston.
What we had was as follows:-
We were not in a 'suburb of Boston'. We were not even in Andover. We were some
distance outside Andover in a really poor hotel, with unbelievably bad service
levels. Our Tour Manager asked us not make any complaints to the hotel. He said
that Thomas Cook were very lucky to have the hotel as a stopping-place, and
as other tour companies would like to use them. If we complained, Thomas Cook
might not get further bookings. As there were 27 of us with no choice but to
eat there, we were instructed to make reservations so 'they could cope with
the numbers'. There was one sorely pressed and un-trained young girl, 'helped'
by a lady who floated about as if she were in a trance, 'assisted' by a 'waiter'
who did no waiting except for going from table to table upsetting people. We
paid a fixed price for a four course meal. They tried to miss out the second
and third courses such was their command of what was going on. Our food was
fine, but other guests were quite voluble about the quality of theirs. Admittedly
all our courses were cold when they got to us, but we were so pleased to eventually
see the food that we didn't send it back.
What really annoyed me, that after all this they refused to take off the mandatory
18% service charge. All we got was a shrug of the shoulders.
Andover is 30 odd miles outside Boston. Surely a few miles further travelling
would have been preferable to what Thomas Cook made us suffer at the Wyndham
Andover Hotel?
Why were we not in a sufficiently close position to Boston to be able to go
into the City and eat?
Why put us in Andover where we were captive to that shambles?
The following morning we were looking forward to one of the high-lights of
our holiday …. Boston.
However, our tour guide decided, unilaterally, and without asking us, to take
us to the Minuteman Museum which took 2/3 hours. We were then taken to Concord
for coffee, and then Lexington, where we were deposited for lunch. Eventually
we got to Boston after getting lost yet again, losing about a further hour.
We got to Boston mid-afternoon where we were then taken on a mandatory three
hour trip. (In the circumstances, many of us would have preferred to be free
to look at Boston on our own, but we were not given that opportunity). When
we were finally granted our freedom (approx. 6pm), the Tour manager instructed
us to be back to the coach so that we could return to the hotel for dinner.
This did not please too many people, so we were allowed to stay at Quincy market
for two hours so that we could eat there.
In summary, our Boston trip consisted of a half day we didn't want… 1 hour getting lost, a coffee break and a lunch break that we could have had in Boston, but didn't. Absolute disaster, and a great disappointment.
We left for New York and because we were unable to get into the hotel until 3pm, the Tour Manager arranged for us to have a coffee break in a trucker's stop. And, even better later on, for lunch at a McDonalds for an hour. Do you know anyone who has ever tried spending an hour in a McDonalds? When getting off the coach, I personally asked him if any consideration had been given to continuing to New York rather than stop at McDonalds. He said it had been considered. I asked him whether the result of that consideration was YES. He said NO. I asked him why, …. and he told me that others had asked to stop there for 1 hour. Try as I might, I couldn't get anyone to own up to this request.
We eventually got to New York at about 2.40pm. The rooms were ready at 3pm,
but as the Tour Manager was nowhere to be seen, reception would not release
the keys. Eventually we managed to get them to release them to one of our party
who distributed them, allowing us to get to the rooms at 3.20pm.
Why was it not possible to get to New York earlier, drop us and the cases, and
let us have some freedom for the couple of wasted hours?
Once we left the coach at JF Kennedy airport, we never saw anything of our Tour manager again, except for when he was queuing for the toilet!
The Virgin Airlines trip both to and from the States were excellent, as was the taxi ride home.
In fact, all the things that went OK were not too much to do with Thomas Cook!
From the foregoing you may get the impression that we were less than impressed
with Thomas Cook.
I should also say that instead of writing to you immediately upon our return,
we decided to wait until we cooled down a bit. For that reason, we hope that
this is a more constructive missive than it otherwise might have been.
Needless to say, we would not be too keen on considering Thomas Cook again, and whenever asked by friends we are happy to relate, at least some of our feelings.
As one member of the tour aptly put it at JF Kennedy Airport. ………
……. "This has been more of an experience than a holiday"
There are, of course, two sides to every story and we will await your responses,
hopefully in the near future.
Yours sincerely,