I love learning about history and love tours, so I was really looking forward to this tour. I found it incredibly boring, redundant, and many of details given were inconsequential, in my opinion. I booked based on the great reviews, and maybe this isn’t the tour for me, but I greatly disliked it. An hour and 45 minutes in, at the bathroom break, we left the group and didn’t return. My wife and kids asked if we could leave and I wasn’t arguing.
I found the minutiae that the guide brought into the stories completely uninteresting. And he repeated himself with the restating of a sentence with use of synonyms or repeated sentences with adjectives added. I liken it to someone who has tirelessly studied American history from 1765 to 1775 and wants to prove that they memorized every detail. He gave us a multiple minute description of James Otis’s personality.
The guide also needed whispers. Once we started walking only the first six or so people could hear what the guide was saying. We walked right by the Old Corner Bookstore. If he even acknowledged it I didn’t hear it and he didn’t break stride.
I don’t care about the money spent, we only had one day in Boston and I feel like our time would have been much better spent doing a self guided Freedom Trail tour.
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Jul 2022
Hi Andrew, this is Ted Clark, owner of Hub Town Tours. As a small, local operator, we take our quality reputation on the Freedom Trail quite seriously. As you mention, we've collected years and years of great reviews on TripAdvisor, Google, Yelp and beyond, so I'm exceedingly disappointed to read about your tour experience with us. I will reach out directly via private message to learn more about your experience and potential solutions to the issues you raise.
Your guide has never received feedback of this nature, so your concerns have already been addressed directly with the guide. In defense of our guide, however, we aim to avoid point-and-shoot tourism that simply lists every site on the Freedom Trail, instead diving deep into Revolutionary Boston from 1765 to 1775, and introducing guests to lesser-known names like James Otis, Jr.
In addition to our narrative approach, the 2.5-hour tour is designed to provide guests a view of all 16 landmarks on the trail. Sometimes due to folks' questions or the walking speed of a group, guides may have to pass over particular landmarks. I spoke with our guide about skipping the Old Corner Bookstore—it sounds like a situation in which the group was running behind, so the guide mentioned the site in passing but did not make a full stop. I'm sorry you felt that particular landmark was given short shrift, but our goal is to always respect guests' post-tour obligations and finish as close to on time as possible.
To address your final concern: we are proud to keep every group small in number so our guides aren't forced to wear microphones or voice boxes. Many other operators in town use voice amplification, but we feel it intrudes upon the historical narrative. While we unfortunately cannot control the noise level of Downtown Boston, all guides are trained to locate quiet places to stop and ensure they can be heard without a voice box.
I apologize that your experience didn't meet our standards—our goal is to be the absolute best tour on the Freedom Trail, and we're proud of our guides who consistently receive 5-star testimonials for their efforts. We certainly hope to earn your trust if you visit Boston in the future; please expect a direct message from me shortly.