My Experiences with a Tour Organiser

To Whom this would be of interest:

This blog post would be of interest for those who wish to seek the support of a travel organiser while making arrangements to travel with a family. I sought the help of a tour organiser by name 90s Kids based out of Srivilliputhur in Tamilnadu.

I had asked for a tour package in Karnataka and they suggested me a travel plan which covered Bangalore, Mysore, Chickmagalur and Coorg. I paid advance amount before a month and enquired about my room bookings. They had assured me that everything was done and would be taken good care of during the trip.

I will focus only on the experiences I faced with the tour organiser in this post. I will reserve my wonderful experiences I had visiting places in my later posts.

Day 1:

Day of roaming across hotels:

We reached Bangalore around 06:30 AM and called the driver assigned to us. The driver came promptly and picked us up. This was the only good experience I had from the travel organiser. We travelled to Chickmagalur and reached around 01:30 PM. The driver took us to the hotel allocated to us. It was by name Hotel Deepa which had a bar attached to it. After a long wait, we were told that the hotel denied us a room and we had to go to another hotel by name Galaxy Inn. During this time, even the driver who was accompanying us had no clue on what was happening. The travel organiser had told us clearly that the driver would be our guide too.

We (as a family), reached Galaxy Inn around 02:30 PM. We were allocated a room and we tried to freshen up. We had our first horrendous experience here. The bathroom had faecal stains and we were certain that the hotel had not cleaned it after the previous occupant had vacated it. I called 90s kids and informed them about it. They told me to have lunch and by that time they would arrange me a different accommodation. By the time we had finished lunch, the time was around 04:00PM. We had not even started our sightseeing and we were supposed to leave to Coorg tomorrow.

The new hotel booked for us was around 13 kms from where we were. So, we decided to finish our sightseeing and then check into the new hotel. But I got a call from the owner of Galaxy Inn to vacate the room immediately. When I reported this to 90s Kids, they assured me that I can go sightseeing and then vacate the hotel. But the hotel owner was very adamant and we vacated the room immediately. The time was now 05:00 PM.

We started our sightseeing and were not able to see even 2 places satisfactorily. We then had dinner and started to search for our newly booked hotel literally. The path shown by Google Maps for the hotel was a hilly terrain and it was a no man’s land at that point in time. When the driver lost all hope of reaching the hotel, we got a call from 90s kids asking us to take a different route to reach the hotel. It was 09:30 PM. When we called our newly booked hotel to check if dinner would be available, we were told that 90s Kids had booked us a room without food. Now, we were left wandering for a good hotel for our dinner. We finished our dinner and then finally reached our homestay. The owner warmly welcomed and allocated a spacious room which had a wooden ceiling, which turned out to be a nightmare for us. We made our kids sleep and when we were about to sleep, we noticed something running on the ceiling above us trying to climb down.

Guess what it is. It was a rat running all along the ceiling. I got concerned about my kids sleeping below and ran out to check with the owner. I woke up the watchman first who was hesitant to respond first but later gave the owner’s number to whom I spoke. She came to my rescue and allocated me a different room with a concrete ceiling. Though the owner was good, 90s kids were least bothered about this incident which I would narrate later in the post.

Day 2:

Day of rude awakening of engaging a tour organiser:

We woke up and finished our sightseeing and then left to Coorg. We reached Coorg around 07:00 PM in the evening. We were supposed to reach Coorg in the afternoon but it took us a lot of time to finish our sightseeing at Chickmagalur and then reach Coorg. When we reached Coorg, we were allocated a hotel at a place called Kushal Nagar which was far away from Madikeri aka Coorg. We were promised a Camp Fire but I could not sense anything of that sort given the hotel was located inside the city.

I called 90s Kids and here started our bigger problems. Mr.Mohana Hariharan was allocated as in charge for us and he spoke very rudely about it. Then I requested him to ask his Founder to call me. Mr.Hermanth Kumar called me and spoke with more audacity. He was least bothered to take responsibility for the missteps happened till now. I pleaded with him to make us stay for one more day at Coorg to finish all our sightseeing but he refused blatantly. He told me that all the places would be covered the next day but we as a family must finish all the places dictated by them. I asked him whether it was a customised trip or a group trip for which he replied rudely that this is how it works. I was totally upset and spent a whole sleepless night.

Day 3:

Day of nirvana about hotel rooms:

We were determined to finish our sightseeing today and reach Mysore late in the evening as we didn’t have a hotel to stay at Coorg. We vacated the room early in the morning and proceeded to sightseeing. We were very prompt in finishing places and even skipped a waterfalls to finish everything before 07:00 PM to start to Mysore. We were successful as per our plan and reached Mysore around 09:30 PM.

We were allocated a hotel by name SK Elegance and horrible experience awaited us in our room. We were allocated a room for 2 and I had to sleep on the floor in an extra bed. The blanket which was laid on the bed had hair stains and dust. When I called the room boy and showed him, he told me to take it off and sleep. When the extra bed was brought, I noticed that it was a very old one which had black stains all over it. I will attach all the photos along with the post as proof. I called 90s Kids and told them about the issue. They told me that I was always complaining and never felt satisfied with their so called wonderful service. They even told me that the hotel rooms are not their responsibility as they were in charge of only booking the rooms. Wow…

I thought that are they travel organisers or ticket booking agents?

The room was stinking all through the night and my family had to bear with it as we had no other way. I had now told 90s Kids that I would be withholding around 25% of the total travel cost as they trip was not going as per planned. They agreed reluctantly.

Day 4:

Day of intermittent peace:

The day went without much drama and we had a wonderful day seeing places in Mysuru. Throughout the trip, the driver was fantastic and that was the only good thing which happened to us.

Day 5:

Threats, threats, all along:

Now, here comes the day filled with drama. We had plans to travel from Mysuru to Bengaluru. Our driver told us that he will take us for shopping at Bengaluru and on our way back we visited Srirangapatna.

When we came out of the temple, Mr.Hariharan from 90s kids called us and bowled a googly. He asked me to transfer the remaining 25% of the amount to the driver. This was a tactic used by them to get the amount out of me. I told him very clearly that I am no way ready to transfer the entire amount and would deduct a portion of it as penalty for the horrible experience I had during the trip. Mr.Hermanth Kumar called me and literally threatened me with dire consequences as I had come with a family. He also told me that the driver would not drop me at Majestic bus stand if I didn’t clear the dues as promised. We as a family felt very insecure and helpless.

In the meantime, Mr. Kishore Naidu who was the driver’s owner called me and threatened me with dire consequences if I don’t clear the dues. Mr.Kishore Naidu apparently owns a travels by name Shree Sastha Travels at Bengaluru. Here I was in the middle of Bangalore-Mysore highway feeling threatened by 2 sets of people. The driver told me that he had balance dues and 90s kids had not paid him even to fill diesel. Now, after deliberations, I told 90s kids to clear off driver’s dues first and then I would pay the remaining amount in 2 instalments, 1 immediately and the other once my family boards the bus from Majestic bus stand as our safety and security were at risk. Mr. Hermanth Kumar threatened me with legal ramifications and after back and forth negotiations, he finally agreed to this deal. The driver was paid his dues and I paid my dues in instalments. I had cancelled all my shopping plans at Bengaluru as I was feeling insecure. My only aim was to leave Bangalore at the earliest. I even pre planned my bus trip and incurred a heavy loss due to change in tickets.

I had planned travel to many places before and this was the first time I had sought the help of a tour organiser. And this would be my last time too..!!