RSD Travel
View company profile →
Overpriced factory outlets with RSD Travel
My partner and I did RSD's "cultural tour of Crete" in December. The tour was okay, the guide extremely well-informed, but the hotels did not live up to their alleged 5-star rating. Giorgiopolis hotel had good food but the spa consisted of a sauna (good and hot), a hammam that was cold and a plunge pool that was on the chilly side. The Heraklion hotel (Santa Marina) was not as good with soulless rooms (no rugs, bare walls), no pool/sauna/hammam and food that was just about satisfactory. A big beef is with the jewellery/carpet/leather outlets that are an unavoidable feature of RSD tours. On a previous holiday in ANTALYA we bought diamond rings with a generous alleged price reduction. Back in Brighton these were valued at less than 75% of what we paid. In Crete an Asian gent on our tour with considerable haggling skills brought a £7,800 starting price in the carpet warehouse down to £1,000 - which shows just how overpriced these places are. RSD need to advise their clients to be aware of the hefty mark-ups in these warehouses; better yet, they could stop taking their clients to them. We thought this holiday was nowhere near as good in value and hotel quality as the Antalya tour. Not sure if we would use them again, though we are tempted by both the Israel and Morocco holidays in their catalogue.