Exotissimo vs. IOT (Indochina Odyssey Tours)?
 

We are looking at custom tours from both these vendors, Bangkok - Siem Reap - Luang Prabang - Chiang Rai. I have read as many reviews about them here and on Tripadvisor as I can find, just wondering if anyone has a further comment.

Exotissimo is more expensive, but has been recommended by good friends of ours. IOT has been very responsive to us, although they both have been good at working out details. Both are offering good hotels, interesting-looking excursions, etc.

I'm a little leery about paying money to a travel agency on the other side of the world. I'm determined to do this by credit card, not by paypal or wire transfer, which one company prefers.

About to make this decision, so thought I would ask. I'm frankly wondering why I shouldn't go with IOT because they are less expensive.

and I might ask you why you don't do the whole thing yourself... in that part of the world it is very easy..

You've finally made a decision to go with an agency, so choose one and book. Sometimes getting more and more and more input is no longer helpful. Most of us here book independently for these destinations so can't really give you comparative data.

Yes, we've been through this Kathie. I suggested this to my husband, and he said no. My brother, who has lived in Asia off and on for 15 years, said "do it yourself".

I actually did do some what-ifs with prices and costs, and it's not that much cheaper to do it ourselves, considering the flights involved, at least with IOT--Exotissimo is pricier. Yes, we could do it on the cheap by staying in humbler hotels, and trying to find cheaper ways of transportation. But we've decided to do it this way, for better or worse.

It's not about prices and costs. It's about the freedom to go at your own pace without the guide that insists on going to places that you don't want to visit and always insists on accompanying your. Of course there's always the tour schedule, which is usually inflexible (wouldn't it be nice to "sleep in" occasionally? - not possible on a tour). In many ways it is less hassle to travel independently in this part of the world.

But you have made your mind(s) - just pick one, they're all pretty much the same.

This is a private tour, and we get to set our own pace, and slack off when we want. We're making sure we get free days, and some free afternoons, no worries. We run this, not the guide.

Good, I'm glad you have that attitude. Sometimes, even with private tours people feel coerced by the guide to do things they aren't interested in, like shopping stops. Fortunately, this is not so much an issue in the areas you are traveling to, but very common in India, for instance. We had a recent report from a woman who had set up a private tour in India, and the guides kept stopping at shopping places. She refused to shop, but they said they still had to stop!!