5 day, 4 night visit of Las Vegas, Sedona, Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire....
We were very satisfied with the tour guide of the second part of the tour. Janet was fun, friendly and very professional in her management of the group. She kept us clearly informed of all aspects of the tour, including all the necessary information regarding departure times, restrooms, breakfasts etc.
However, the first part of the tour we were not happy with. The tour guide, Pasquale was disorganized and seemed not entirely informed about the regions we were visiting. My wife is a tour guide and has worked for Trafalgar Tours. So we expect certain basics to be in place.
1. There was never any written itinerary of places we would visit. This is usually given out as photocopies or emailed to guests. Pasquale seemed disorganized and unclear about instructions for many things; departure times, breakfast timings, Starbucks vouchers etc. In fact, he made his life more difficult by having to repeat himself several times. If the instructions had been written down, or given very clearly to start with, that would have been more professional. Several times we had to ask what was going on, almost having to drag the information out of him. This should never happen. He should let us know everything well in advance. For example, on the first night in Las Vegas, he did not tell us that some elevators only went to certain floors. And we only had 30 minutes to freshen up before heading out again. We took the wrong elevator and lost valuable time. Even the envelopes containing our room keys did not have the room numbers clearly written on it. Once again, we had to use our own guesswork. Not easy when you are tired and pushed for time.
Pasquale was a nice guy. He was very friendly. But he was not a good tour leader.
2. Pasquale gave very little information about the places we visited. He gave perhaps one or two sentences about the history of Las Vegas or about the construction of the Hoover Dam. There could have been a lot more, without being overwhelming. His narration was disjointed and consisted of a few random facts thrown out. And speaking on the microphone in 3 different languages to the various groups within the group meant that any continuation was lost.
Pasquale more or less confessed the paucity of his knowledge by saying that the tour was a ‘visual tour’ that was not going to give too many details. Well, we have never heard any such nonsense from a tour guide before. A tour guide is there to inform, instruct and entertain. A good one charms the guests and gets them to be his or her best friends for the length of the tour.
Pasquale also gave too much of his personal interpretation of things. He filled in time with his pseudo-religious philosophy on life, when he could have been giving more information on destinations of the tour.
3. Pasquale gave no phone number for emergencies. On the first night of arrival in Las Vegas, I lost my rucksack that contained my passport. I was so tired I could not think where I might have left it. In fact I had left it in a restaurant. By chance, I had the phone number of Jakob, the driver. I called him and he was not interested in going to his van to see if the rucksack was there. He did not offer Pasquale’s phone number and did not want to get involved in my problem. I went back to the restaurant and fortunately my rucksack was still there, sitting on the seat where I had left it. The situation could have been so much worse, had someone taken the rucksack. But I was left with no help from either guide or driver. If I, my wife, or anyone else from the group had had any kind of accident, robbery or other mishap, what were we to do if there was no number of the tour leader, a person who is there to help in all situations?
4. There was no ‘branding’ on the tour. When we were picked up by van in LA’s Farmer’s Market, it was 6.30am and dark. There was no logo on the van, no T-shirt, cap or badge that told us that he was a legitimate tour driver, for Viator or any other tour company. He could have been anyone. Separately, my wife and I each were slightly fearful of being kidnapped!
Finally, it would have been nice to have received a brochure of the tour, as a souvenir of places we had visited and something to show our friends at home. We received one for the one-day tour of LA. So why not a brochure for a tour that cost ten times as much?