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Reviews

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Celebrating 25 Years of tour excellence

Award-Winning Tours & Happy Customers

At Wendy Wu Tours, we want to know what you think about the service you receive when you book with us and what you thought about your tour itself.

It's this vital information that helps us to improve in the future. With this in mind, we have teamed up with an independent review platform called Product Review. Once you have made a booking or returned from one of our tours, you can rate your experience with us below. We then display these reviews, completely untouched by us, so you can trust them 100%.

You can also read more reviews about Wendy Wu Tours on TripAdvisor.

 
Rating
Customer Review

Grand Tour of India

Wednesday 19 Oct 2022
Overview Rating:
Our Service: Excellent
The website is easy to navigate and give a lot of in-depth information about the tours to help with our decision to book. Our online queries were dealt with really quickly

Grand Tour of India

Tuesday 07 Jan 2020
Overview Rating:
Our Tour: Excellent
We returned on 7th November from a 28 day Wendy Wu Grand Tour of India. Wow what an amazing time and to visit so many places it seemed impossible. We knew from the itinerary that it would be a busy/intense holiday with internal flights and some long days, but despite the huge list on the day to day listings we got to see everything and more. Every box was ticked and although tired some days, extremely happy and satisfied.

We were a party of 19 and all except my wife and I were from either N Z or Australia and as they were of a similar age, (retired but not OLD) we had a fun time and our bus often rocked with laughter. None of the exceptional tour would have run so smoothly if it hadn’t been for our tour manager MK Jain who was brilliant, and we often wondered if he ever slept. He organized all luggage, checking in to hotels and airports and any hotel complaints. Any little problems he ironed out (delayed flights/traffic problems all beyond his control) and so the holiday was seamless as far as we were concerned from our day of arrival, until he left us 3 weeks later at Mumbai airport. At the other end we had our final tour manager AJ but not a parch on MK whom we sadly missed.

There are many forms of transport to be taken over the holiday scary rickshaws and even more frightening tuk tuk journeys all add to the excitement. It is the fact that you are crammed into the vehicles and mixing with fast, noisy and very close traffic. We had some very early mornings to see the sunrise, evening dashes to see the best sunsets, such great photo opportunities. We saw so many towns and cities, palaces and forts, and so it is hard to come down to which were the highlights of the whole holiday. But high on the list has to be the visit to Varanasi (seeing the sunrise over the Ganges), The Jain temples of Khajuraho (amazing), the Taj Mahal at sunrise and the Thar Desert (on a camel) at sunset. Not forgetting the caves at Ajanta and Ellora, and the wonderful city of Jaipur. I could add many more places to this.

Accommodation was varied (we stayed in 16 different places) and ranged from very good to excellent when on 2 separate nights we stayed in Heritage sites and were in a palace, and then a 500 year old fort, totally amazing! The food was always good, mostly buffet style and although almost always curries of one type or another for lunch and evening, as the regions changed so did the heat and style of the food so it never became boring.

We had (mostly) excellent local guides as well at our destinations and these helped to put into perspective the time scales of artefacts and sights we were visiting and hopefully we absorbed some if not all of the information. The exception was at Ranthambore where our guide morning and afternoon seemed to be uninterested in us as a group or even giving any information about any other animals we may/or may not see. We weren’t expecting to get even a glimpse of a tiger, and all we saw were recent paw prints. But we seemed to spend a lot of time sitting and listening with no commentary from the guide (who spent most of his time looking at his smartphone) which became a bit boring.

Our tour manager MK also encouraged us when possible to go out and meet the local people and mingle and we tried to do this often – it is the only way to get to know what a wonderful vast colourful country India is. We clearly only saw a small fraction but I believe it did give us over the 4 weeks a true flavour of this wonderful country.

A slight downside was the latter part of the holiday, in Kerala. Our accommodation in Kochin (Casino Hotel) was poor compared to previous weeks very run down with a restaurant poorer than a transport café. Our night on the kettuvallam was so disappointing. Our group was split into 5 crafts, 4 of these larger, with modern and better facilities. Ours was an old craft, lacking modern facilities (and even water for some of the trip!) Four of us had an uncomfortable night with the only boat not having mosquito screens. The captain and cook spoke virtually no English, we had no idea where we had to go when we stopped, the food was poor and cold, including a dish of chicken which we dared not eat. It is a shame that we were not all treated equally and those that experienced the better standard boats had an enjoyable time.

The last hotel in Kovalam was indeed in a lovely setting right on the Indian Ocean, and the bedrooms were excellent, with large rooms and a balcony and air con. But the public spaces and dining areas were open, hot, noisy and had no air con, a very unpleasant and uncomfortable dining experience. We were taken to another hotel on the last evening for a meal and that was a disaster. We were on a higher floor with no air con, high humidity and a widescreen TV on throughout the meal. Water provided at the table was warm, as were the soft drinks ordered and subsequently sent back. Even our tour manager apologised and said it was unacceptable. I cannot understand how any Wendy Wu representative had sanctioned this as a suitable venue.

The holiday was very good value for money with all the transport, accommodation, expert guides and entrance fees included. You get to see a lot of India in a fairly short time, and there is not a lot of relaxation time, but that I had expected. Go prepared for that, and some long days and come back with a much better understanding of India. Thank you Wendy Wu we had a ball.

Most of the trip deserved a 5+ star rating and 2 of the hotels (heritage sites) were off the scale for luxury, but the poor experiences and accommodation in the last few days (as detailed above) dragged the rating down. I was also disappointed that the package accommodation ended 14 hours before our pickup time at 1.00am on the Thursday of our return. I cannot understand why Wendy Wu demanded £140 for a room for the last afternoon and evening prior to leaving for the airport when booking direct online cost us just over £80, just a bit of a niggle as virtually everything in our 28 day tour was included. We will certainly travel again with Wendy Wu.



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Our Response

Thank you for your 5* review!

We understand that upon your return to the UK you contacted us with some concerns about the tour, which my colleague had responded to towards the end of last year, but are pleased to see that despite those concerns you still had a fantastic tour to India.

It is amazing to receive such a detailed review. Please be assured we have shared this with our local operators in India who will pass your comments about MK Jain onto him, and our India product team.

Although our tours can be tiring, we try to incorporate as much sightseeing as possible to ensure our passengers get the most out of their tours. We are pleased that you both saw everything that was scheduled along with more to enhance your experience, including the sunset at the Taj Mahal and the Ganges in Varanasi along with many more!

We love to hear such positive comments about MK Jain, and how he handled any issues that arose to ensure these did not effect the enjoyment of your tour.

Our local operators and India product team have worked very hard to ensure the hotels used for our 2020 tours are of a suitable standard, and it is great for us to learn that most of the accommodation allocated to you was of either good or excellent standard.

We are pleased to hear that you would travel with us again, and truly hope you have returned with some incredible memories that will remain with you for a lifetime!

Grand Tour of India

Monday 02 Dec 2019
Overview Rating:
Our Tour: Excellent
An amazing journey and adventure for all of us !

Our Response

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your 5* review.

We are delighted to hear that you you all had a great time on the Grand Tour of China.

We would be delighted to welcome you back on another in the future!

Kind regards,

Wendy Wu Tours.

GRAND TOUR OF INDIA

Monday 19 Mar 2018
Overview Rating:
Our Service: Excellent
Our Tour: Good

Service rating :

The trip ticked every box for us in visiting India with all we wonted to see, hear and know about the country.
our guide was full of information and passed as much as he could onto us on every aspect of his country.

Product :

did all as advertised and more with several early starts we got the best from the whole trip.

GRAND TOUR OF INDIA

Wednesday 25 Nov 2015
Overview Rating:
Our Service: Good
Our Tour: Good

Service rating :

Generally well organised, tour guides very courteous and knowledgeable. Compared with our trip on "Grand Tour of China" we had fewer local guides in India. This may be because we were a smaller group (11).

Product :

It was a very good experience overall, with a good range of sites visited, and was a very interesting trip.
However, we did not feel it was good value for money, compared to the Grand Tour of China we did in 2013 - for the same length holiday we paid about twice the price - and the standard of hotels, meals, was only average. Also in India we had to buy all drinks at mealtimes, whereas in China this was provided.
Internal flights with Air India were poor quality - aircraft seemed badly maintained, and in one the auxiliary engine was not working, affecting air conditioning and lighting in the cabin.

Our Response

We would like to thank you for writing back with your constructive comments from your time on tour with us. In regards to your local guides, depending on the distance between the cities you might find that your guide will accompany you between such short lengths. This is why you had fewer guides in India as appose to when you went away on tour in 2013 to China.

It is disappointing to hear that you did not feel as if this particular tour was value for money. We hope you can appreciate that the costs vary from country to country, and we do our upmost by working closely with our suppliers to ensure that our customers get the best possible deals when they book with us.

Please note that we have also recorded your comments regarding your experience on your aircraft. We are apologetic to hear that it did not meet expectations.

We are pleased to see that overall you have rated both the service and product as good and we hope to welcome you back with Wendy Wu again at some point in the future.

Kind regards,
Shanice

GRAND TOUR OF INDIA

Thursday 26 Mar 2015
Overview Rating:
Our Service: Excellent
Our Tour: Excellent

Service rating :

The team in India were on top of the game and revised the itinerary at the first sign of problems ie one train running 3 to 4 hours late due to fog rebooked the group on earlier train hence no delay

Product :

As described in the brochure and more, our national guide (Vikram Singh Solanki) was very knowledgeable and had opinion on everything question we asked plus the local guides were always very informative

Our Response

Thank you for your much valued feedback! we are delighted to hear you enjoyed your trip and will forward on your comments to our office in India who will be pleased. Your guide Vikram in particular will be delighted with your kind comments.

We hope to welcome you on tour with us in the not too distant future.

Kind regards,
Junior, Wendy Wu Tours

GRAND TOUR OF INDIA

Saturday 21 Mar 2015
Overview Rating:
Our Service: Excellent
Our Tour: Good

Service rating :

our guide on the northern part (MK) was excellent the southern didnt have much to do as it was treated more as a wind down on the holiday

Product :

we had max 2 nights in any hotel would have been good to have a spare day 1/2 way through

Our Response

Thank you for your feedback regarding your tour. We will pass on your comments relating to your guide MK in India who will be pleased.

Kind regards,
Junior, Wendy Wu Tours

GRAND TOUR OF INDIA

Wednesday 31 Dec 2014
Overview Rating:
Our Service: Excellent
Our Tour: Excellent
Your tipping system does not work in India, works well elsewhere(China/Vietnam etc). It encourages corruption.
Individual tipping system is the only way to operate in India. The guide pays out poor tips, we witnessed dissatisfied recipients., must pocked the bulk Total tips given 2100usd driver and mate given 1000 & 600rupees
Camel drives very unhappy. Could cause a problem for future tours

Our Response

Thank you for your feedback regarding the distribution of tips. Our partners in India have advised us their national escorts are provided with guidelines on how these should be divided up. However, we have advised them of your concern and are grateful to you for bringing this to our attention. We are delighted you enjoyed the tour and hope we can be of assistance in the future.

Kind regards,
Lorraine, Wendy Wu Tours

GRAND TOUR OF INDIA

Monday 28 Jul 2014
Overview Rating:
Our Service: Excellent
Our Tour: Excellent

Service rating :

Comprehensive. Every base covered. Full-on experience.

Product :

Everything worth experiencing is packed in, at a moderate price + all meals!