Ematthew

We’d like feedback please.

If a learning guide followed your private or semi-private tour to learn that tour, how would you feel about it being the paying customer?

What would you think of a tour company that trained its guides by having them follow other guides on your actual tour?

Any comments please would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

coldkelly

If I'm in no way prevented from enjoying my tour, I don't care who else is on the tour, nor do I care why they're on it.

mlgb

Learning to give a tour also includes learning how to interact with the customers and respond to questions.

I don't understand what your problem with this was? Did the guide in training do anything more than observe? Or did they give part of the tour that you felt was substandard?

NewbE

Sounds like a good practice. Unless the trainee was obtrusive in some way, I would feel fine about it. Did it bother you, Ematthew, and if so, why?

LoveItaly

Well I don't really take tours but if the tour guide under training did not interfere with the tour personally I would think the tour company was being right on regarding training their recently hired tour guides.

djkbooks

I would NOT appreciate this if I booked a private or semi-private tour. For those, you pay a lot extra for personal attention - not for a guide who's training another guide.

starrs

"Shadowing" is a tried and true training practice in a wide variety of careers/jobs. Are you upset that it was used or upset that it was used on a tour that YOU took? I can't imagine how it would interfere with your tour experience and I'd be concerned with a tour company that DIDN'T use this practice.

wliwl

Ematthew -

You have harped about this supposed tour endlessly.

You know, sometimes it pays to just let things go.

Perhaps you could provide some other highlights of the trip you were on.

Surely, this could not have been the biggest thing to come out of your trip to Rome?

wliwl

Hmmm. That's interesting. I see all your other tour posts have been taken down.

nytraveler

Is there some reason to be discussing a tour in Rome on the US board?

And if it was a private tour did that person disrupt it in some way? Take time away from the guide? How "private" was the tour? Just for your family? Or was it merey a small group day tour versus a whole multi-day package?

Ematthew

Thanks for all your thoughts. It gives a greater perspective. I don’t know why, but I’d feel ok about a senior guide observing a new guide to see if he/she’s doing a good job.

I see some of you points if the training guide is only an observer. In our case it wasn’t. The 2 training guides asked questions that were about giving the tour, the course they could change & about other tours they could learn latter. There were only two people of us on the tour. It was a 2 hour orientation tour. Then we thought, gosh, these guys are just learning this woman’s tour and then would lead it. What’s stopping me from leading this tour with some background info?

I see the good of “shadowing” but perhaps in the situation of learning to give a tour it should be done on a mock-tour or something, and then the new guide could just observe a real tour?

marleneawe

Your point is??? How else will they learn. No problem at all. Just like when I go see my doctor, sometimes there is a intern. I am asked if I mind, of course not. Just cannot understand some peoples logic to even question such a thing.

chepar

marleneawe-

did you read Ematthew's further explanation that the trainees were not just observers and that they actually asked questions during the tour?

Some people may not mind this, but I can also understand Ematthew's point that time was taken away from his tour by the guide having to answer questions by the trainees.

If the trainees were strictly observing then I would not mind. If during the tour the guide kept having to answer questions asked by the trainees, I would be bothered.

kauai_aka

that would annoy me to hi heaven. we had this happen in vancouver but the trainer asked relevant questions, so the addition info was nice. i hope you were able to leave some feedback on your tour.

i know the hawaiiana studies dept here at kcc provides tour guide certification program which i wish we had 25 years ago. shame on the idiot who responds to a tourist asking about a particular plant with "sydof-arodus" (side of the road). oops, that was me.

coldkelly

If I stressed about things like this and let these kinds of issues bother me, I think I'd have a lot less fun on my travels. It's called "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff."

Ematthew

When on vacation, do you really think going on a tour is “small stuff”? or that your tour being used to train other guides is not important? If you think about this practice - what does it say about the guides and the company who would just do this to train its guides?

I think many people have their travels “made” or “ruined” by the quality of a tour.

Think about it, two training guides show up on a tour for two people - so there are three guides (1 official and 2 learning) and two paying customers.

If you are not interested in this topic you really don’t need to respond. Thanks.

NewbE

Ah, I see. "Interested" means "in agreement with you that your tour was spoiled."

OK, fine, your tour was ruined. What's the rest of the story--did you get your money back, write a letter, what?

I guess I just don't understand why you'd pose a question, phrased rhetorically, then get snippy with people who answer it. You said "ANY (my caps) comments would be appreciated," didn't you?

Ematthew

Sorry NewbE, my last comment was actually addressing a more previous post and not coldkelly. Didn’t mean to be snippy to coldkelly. Hoped to stay on the topic though.

Dukey

Man, oh MAN, some of the comments on this thread make me GALD I can travel alone!!!!

kauai_aka

i'm glad