Philly

Apr 13, 2023

Filthy hotels, excessive travel time & Covid!

‘Premium’ tour of India and Nepal costing £5500 including single supplement of £1500 and have been given horrendous rooms in hotels that were disgusting and filthy dirty whilst couple guests on the tour were given rooms on the ‘luxury’ floors. Only when complaining did another single guest and I get moved to rooms approaching acceptable. This happened more than once on a 10 day tour of India. So be honest Intrepid Travel and treat ALL your travellers equally instead of treating single people in a mixed group of couples as second class citizens and dumping them in second class rooms. I had paid an extra £1400 for a single room for this trip which added to my dismay Many many photographs available of course. In addition, I find it incredibly strange that a tour which attracts over 140 travellers per annum has few reviews (5 stars of course) listed on the Intrepid Travel website against this tour. Do they push every traveller to review their travelling experiences then cynically censor which reviews they let others see? How very odd…..(!) Finally as part of the itinerary we had to fly from Jaipur to Varanasi via Delhi - we were obliged to get up at 2am to leave our hotel at 3am to catch a flight at 5am. We then had a FIVE HOUR wait at Delhi to connect to Varanasi. Total travelling time with coaches both ends - 11 hours. We were told this was the only available flight which was incorrect. A look at our airline’s website listed later flight options (one at 2pm for example) which would have allowed a connection to Varanasi within a reasonable time frame and with a shorter wait at Delhi airport. Getting people up to leave a hotel at 3 am? Again, you won’t read this in the tour description. Be honest please and please do not write a reply justifying the organisation of this tour - that will not wash with me - these experiences are very real. Update - second part of the trip - there is an even bigger tale to tell after 10 days in Nepal involving seriously harrowing road journeys on mountain landslide ridden roads ( and Intrepid ask the traveller to assess their trips effect on their mental well-being!?) When we saw there was a flight available for $68 we took it - 20 minutes travel time!! The rest of the group took 7 hours to get to the hotel. But it was when x2 of our party tested positive for Covid that the horror story developed further. The leader was out of his depth with only x3 lateral flow tests. Most of the group were cooped up for 7 hours in a small bus with x2 Covid positive individuals. From then, the responsibility for the safety for all was placed upon each individual; of course I had no issue with this but found it interesting how the moral code of some was influenced by forward travel. Some openly refusing to test themselves despite having symptoms to prevent them losing a. the rest of their tour and b. their flight home. Not a thought to whether they could be Covid positive and thus potentially infect others in travel. And they had indeed packed lateral flow kits…Finally, one aspect of note if you book a holiday with Intrepid is that you will have no idea about the mix of people in your group - it’s hit and miss as to who you get and this has a bearing on the enjoyment of your trip. in India the group were from a variety of countries and strong and lasting friendships formed; and all gelled together in harmony. The complete opposite was true in Nepal. My 32year old ‘friend from India’ was roomed in Nepal with a 78 year old who snored very loudly all night; my friend had no sleep for 5 days. And from another overheard conversation to our leader ‘you have to move me to another room because the hairdryer is nowhere near a mirror’ 🤣 So when you read the trip description please factor ‘people’ in. This was my first ‘Intrepid’ experience and my last. And don’t forget to look at just how many reviews people reviewing this company have put on here: anyone with just one review only is almost certainly fake..Update - and now a totally derisory offer from Intrepid for the many awful issues on this trip. Back to the single traveller - beware, Intrepid charged me £1400 for a single supplement for a 20 day trip - that's £70 per night extra than each of the other travellers in the group. Not one of the hotels on this itinerary charges a single supplement - every one charges by the room. There have been many complaints about the standard of the 'Premium' hotels on these trips. None are premium in any shape or form - see other reviews. I was put into x2 rooms in India where I wouldn't put my dog in the shower. Filthy dirty awful hotels for £5500... and when you pay so much for the trip of a lifetime, you expect to be able to trust the wording in the trip description. This trip described on Intrepid's website had absolutely no connection with the reality of the journey. Awful experience.