Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Why I will NEVER use CHAT tours again

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Why I will NEVER use CHAT tours again

On September 13, 1999, we departed Athens on CHAT Tours tour number 8, the 3-day Delphi/Meteora tour. The following are the reasons why we will not only NEVER use a tour operated by CHAT, but why we discourage everyone we possibly can from using this company and its affiliates in the tourism/hospitality industry. 1. Misrepresentation NOWHERE in the literature provided by CHAT tours is mention made of combining tours; in this case Tour 8 and Tour 11. Every other tour company I have used does not do this. Due to this practice, a potentially dangerous situation was created due to crowding on the bus. We were not informed about the combination until just before we arrived at the hotel. 2. Being lied to Upon arrival at Delphi, the tour guide informed the group that the Temple of Athena was "closed to the public." Subsequently, we found out that this WAS NOT the case. We were later informed that CHAT tours ROUTINELY does not include this site in order to get the one-day tour members back to Athens after lunch at the Amalia hotel at Delphi. 3. Stranded at Delphi for 24 hours The free afternoon and subsequent free morning at Delphi amounted to being dumped at the hotel and fending for ourselves. We were never told anything about the town, what was available there, and options available for filling the free time. 4. Playing one group against the other Upon boarding the bus, we noticed that there were singles sitting in window seats. When we asked Irene, our new guide, if she could ask the singles if they would double up so that couples in our group could sit together. Irene's response was "The seats are reserved. These people have been sitting in the same seats since the beginning of their tour. I am not going to ask them to move." After this, Irene went to the front of the bus and announced that the only thing we were interested in was sitting in the front of the bus. The TRUTH was that ONE member of tour number 8 had a tendency to mothion sickness and requested a seat in the front. She was denied. It wasn't until I called Amphytrion Tours in the UNITED STATES and ATHENS at MY EXPENSE that the situation came close to being resolved. At dinner the second night, Irene came over to the table at which I was sitting and told me that she received a call from CHAT headquarters in Athens. She stated, a number of times, that it was her job to take care of problems. If she had done her job, and hadn't CREATED ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS, there would not have been any problems. 5. Guides who espouse their politics and racism as "interpretation" Irene made a special note, on a number of occasions, to state that garbage by the road in the countryside was left by "Gypsies." It is interesting to note that she did not mention anything about who left mounds of trash and garbage by the road in the Athenian suburbs. She also made a note of stating that all the damage done to frescoes in and the sacking of the monasteries at Meteora was done exclusively by the "communist peasants" who returned from Turkey in the 1920's. It is sufficient to point out that damage was done. There is no need to be political about it. For the record, I must state that we are neither Romi (Gypsies) nor communist. 6. Substandard Service at Amalia Hotel, Delphi When we got to our room in Delphi, the room was hot and the air conditioning was not working. When we contacted the desk, we were told "It is too cold for air conditioning so we turned it off." Later, when requesting a FAN from the desk, the littany of "It is too cold for air conditioning" was repeated in response to my requests for a fan for air circulation. The conversation ended with the desk clerk stating "Yeah, yeah." and hanging up. We did not get a fan. So much for the "high quality" of the accommodations at Amalia Delphi - a statement made prominently in the literature in the hotel room. 7. Milk the guests for every Drachma After visiting Meteora, we were not given an opportunity to spend time in Kalambata. Instead, we were taken to the hotel Amalia which was remote from the town. We also were required to pay the exorbitant prices for food at the hotel restaurant if we wanted lunch. Because of this, we were denied an ooportunity to do some shopping, get cash at an ATM, and buy reasonably priced food for lunch. 8. CHAT headquarters attitude When, on September 14, we talked with CHAT headquarters to try to resolve the problems experienced to that point, the person was most uncooperative. When asked to speak to a supervisor or manager, we were told that there was none available. We were told that we should put our complaints in writing. 9. Less than helpful at drop-off We were dropped off a few blocks from our hotel. Given the neighborhood in which the hotel was located, this is understandable. What is INEXCUSABLE is that, when we asked for directions to the hotel we were preremptorily told "over there behind the (St. Constatine) Church.

Thanks for the warning...what a disappointment!

Oh, my, this sounds awful! Did you book this through a travel agent? If so, you should give her/him an earful! Kittie

Andrew, I have mixed feelings about your message. I can certainly understand how disappointing it must be when a long anticipated trip is ruined by a tour. However, I think you are painting with a very broad brush. For instance, combining tours, letting the customers have free time in a town, accommodating singles as well a couples, and bringing the guests for lunch at a designated hotel, are all things that are generally disclosed in your brochure or contract, and are common practices. You choose to name these events "misrepresentation", "stranded", "playing one group against the other", and "milking the guests for every drachma". Your headings alone are strident and highly inflammatory As for lying about the Temple of Athena, I would be irked if it was in the brochure and you didn't have time to see it. Having said this, it is common for tour guides to have to "cut and paste" at certain sites in order to keep the schedule. If you don't want to be on a schedule, go on your own. And when you arrive at a site, you are perfectly entitled to leave the group and see what you want to see, then rejoin the group at a predetermined spot. Finally, the part of your message about tour guides exposing their own racism or politics bewilders me. Although we rarely use organized tours, we did when in Greece and Turkey. The political innuendo was frankly quite fascinating and informative. When your guide stated that the trash was left by Gypsies, why didn't you ask her how she could be certain that was true. Why didn't you say, pleasantly, that in the US, that kind of a statement would be considered racist unless backed up by fact? And I believe it is likely that she was correct that the damage to the frescoes was done in the early century by the Turks. Had a tour guide simply said that the frescoes were wantonly damaged, I (and most other tour guests) would have asked "Who did it?" It is NOT sufficient to say that the frescoes were damaged if you really want to understand history. I am a demanding traveler in many respects, but I just don't see justification here for your anger. Is seems as though somes things were disapointing to you, and you chose to view everything through a glass darkly.

AJ, I agree with some of your points, but since when does are Turks and "communist peasants" equivalent terms?

Whilst i do not dissent from anything that Andrew says- after all it was his experience- not mine, I have always found the political commentary of guides absolutely fascinating as a social commentary. Usually I know something of the factual history of a place, but that can never give you the feel for how things are seen by the people affected by recent history. A case in point is Cyprus- partitioned in 1975, Turks went north and Greeks came south. Neither group was expelled but both think they were. And whilst the Greek position is the internationally legally correct one, the worst poverty I have ever seen was a Turkish family living in West Cyprus in a remote location- not presecuted, but also, not helped. I read "Dinner with Persephone" during my recent holiday in Crete- excellent book about modern Greece, and it's fascinating to know that the Greeks who came "home" from Turkey in the 20s considered themselves more Greek thant those who never left. They did bring new political ideas, but nothing I read said anything about damage. I would have considered myself to be better informed following the guide's (possibly misguided) comments. And one thing

Martha, you're right to raise your question. I glossed over the historical issue in order to make my point that I relish the political persepctive of tour guides. My expertise is certainly not in this area. Our travel to this area started a FAX and email correspondence with 3 individuals in Greece and Istanbul, and I'm learning all the time. If you know as an historical fact what happened to the frescoes, I would like to hear. Thanks.