We booked the english language tour. Although the booking site stated the tour was available in either english or spanish, it failed to mention that the tour was in fact commentated in both. So instead of 7 hours of english commentary we received 3 hours, if that. Having the tour guide switch languages every few sentences also made it quite hard to follow or led to the english commentary being delivered before or after you had passed by the point of interest.
Furthermore, the commentary that was provided was racist and divisive at times. It is one thing to note a neighbourhood has a high concentration of a certain religious, ethnic or national group, and give the historical context to this or note how that group's integration changed the city. It is another to drive through said neighbourhood commenting on all the ways "they" are different. It's even worse when this commentary includes outdated, unproven stereotypes and is derogatory about how the group chooses to live their life.
The tour guide was also seemingly unconcerned with providing accurate facts about neighbourhoods. I spent a good chunk of the tour fact checking statements on my phone, or listening to the guide talk about where she currently lived, had previously lived and wanted to live. Many of these facts are common knowledge and not hard to get right. For example, it is not the endeavor space shuttle located on the Intrepid and the shuttle located there was only a test shuttle. Other times the commentary was quite contradictory - in one sentences a neighbourhood was entirely safe these days, in the next it was still dangerous.
I would not recommend this tour to anyone.
Réponse de l'hôte
Dec 2018
Hello Cristie.
Thank you very much for your comments; we are sorry you didn't have the best experience with us. Our guides are very professionals and experts but we will consider your comments to improve our service.
We offer an apology and assure you we're working to provide the best service for all our friends. We hope you come back soon and give us the opportunity of keep using our services.
Best regards,
Amigo Group