Ritz ToursReviews of ritztours.com

Reply from Ritz ToursOct 10, 2019

Dear David, Thank you for sharing your feedback about your recent trip to Japan. We sincerely apologize that some of the hotels did not live up to your expectations. We assure you this isn’t a typical situation. Most of our travelers are pleasantly surprised by the quality of their tours and accommodations. Regarding the hotel locations, we selected these hotels (Kyoto New Miyako and Osaka Granvia) for their quality, service and their central location. They are located close to department stores, restaurants and shops, as we have found that our guests like to stay in the heart of the city. As you mentioned they are located next to the rail stations which are crowded at times, however these are bustling cities and we have found that our guests take this in stride as part of a new cultural experience. Concerning the rushed pace of your tour guide, we are sorry if it was not explained why the pace of your tour felt rushed. We requested a report on this matter and were informed that unfortunately there were typhoon warnings. The tour guide and local agents were in contact every hour in order to ensure the safety of all travelers while visiting sites and transferring from destination to destination. Once again, we are sorry that this adversely affected your overall trip. We apologize that the tour guide did not provide an enriching and enjoyable tour. It’s important to us that our tour guides are professional and passionate about providing a quality experience. Please be assured that we are not taking this lightly, and we have relayed your feedback to the management team of our partners in Japan to ensure that this is addressed and corrected for future tours.

Reply from Ritz ToursAug 8, 2019

Dear Roy, We are happy to hear that you truly enjoyed this tour and the guide for it. We do see that you are unhappy about the flights and the layovers in both Hong Kong and in Taipei. Please let us explain this situation. We always aim to provide the lowest airfare for our customers, which at the time was through Eva Air with one layover stop. We are sorry that we were not aware of your desire to have a direct flight, for if we had known we would have provided that option. But, we do inform all travelers and travel agents that there are no guarantees of a direct flight prior to booking. The reason for the flight change prior to departure was due to the cabin crew strike at Eva Air. Eva Air endorsed a new flight through Cathay Pacific Airways with one layover stop in Hong Kong. The reason why your return flight though had a layover in Taipei was because we were able to still operate that original booked return flight. We do sincerely apologize that these incidences negatively affected your travel experience, but are happy that overall you enjoyed yourself.

Reply from Ritz ToursJun 6, 2019

Hi, We are sorry to hear that your experience on your recent Eastern Europe tour did not meet all of your expectations. We always aim to provide an awesome experience; we are disappointed that we have missed the mark this time. We apologize that you had to transport your luggage yourself, we can understand how that can be frustrating. Not all of our tours provide porter service for our guests; we are sorry that this information was not clearer and we have taken this feedback to better communicate this for future tours. We are sorry for your experience you had with your tour guide in Europe. His approach in offering and suggesting optional tours, should not feel pushy in any way. Please be assured that we do take this serious and have spoken with our partners in Europe to address this with him and be fixed going forward. In regards to the pricing of optional tours, we are sorry if this adversely affected your overall experience. We offer the lowest prices provided to us by our local partners and offer them as optional excursions for one to decide if they would like to purchase through us ahead of their departure date. We sincerely apologize for the cuisine not living up to your expectations. With not having enough food available during meals, we have brought that up with our colleagues to see how we can better provide sufficient portions. Typically, with beverages they provide one complimentary with the meal and additional beverages are at the travelers expense. As far as the pork knuckle dinner in Munich, we apologize for this unfortunate situation. As we have mentioned to others in your group, if we had known about the dietary requirements of the group we would have notified our partners in Europe in order to accommodate this request. We regret to hear how tipping in certain places was not handled appropriately. Tipping is customary and something we do recommend to show your gratitude towards the service provided. Tipping is not mandatory, but we do ask all of our travelers to keep in mind that tipping, in most of the destinations, is a necessary means to the guide’s/driver’s overall monthly income. We do not ever want to have our travelers feel pressured in any way, so we do allow this choice to be of your own will. It pleases us to hear that your driver provided great service, and we will pass that along to him and our partners! We are happy to know that you truly enjoyed the included excursions! We always aim to provide a fulfilling experience, our goal is to pick the best excursions possible during your trip. We apologize that there was more walking involved than expected. We will take your valuable feedback and use this information as we continue to improve our services. One of the best features is having the opportunity to strengthen old friendships and to create new ones, so we are excited that this trip allowed you to do that! Concerning the $50 discount when booking, yes this was an offered promotion for your group, but the requirement for all to receive the discount was for your group to reach a certain number; however this group size was not met. We would have gladly honored our offer had the conditions been met. Once again, we thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We are sorry that not everything on your trip was as expected, but we do appreciate your feedback and will use it to better our services for future tours.

Reply from Ritz ToursJun 7, 2019

Hi Carolyn, We are happy to hear that your overall trip was enjoyable, but saddened to hear that not everything lived up to your expectations. Thank you for acknowledging Joji for her outstanding service, she truly is a valuable asset to our team! We will pass along your gracious compliments to Joji, and the management team of our partners in Japan. We are pleased that you found the quality of the tours and accommodations to be exceptional; we pride ourselves in providing top notch service. We do apologize for the change in the itinerary, and understand how this was an inconvenience to you. We know that because the departure date changed it affected the cost of the trip; in addition we added some other inclusions (meals and a show) in order to improve the overall itinerary. We are sorry if these costs were not thoroughly explained when booking but we do hope you enjoyed the updated itinerary. In regards to the show that was missed, we are sorry that you did not get to experience it. As the Samurai Cafe show was cancelled by the cafe on March 11, we replaced it with the Samurai Experience and we do hope that you found it enjoyable and just as entertaining. Concerning the usage of public transportation, we are sorry if it was more than expected. We do state in our Features tab of this tour package that ground transportation is used in each city. We will take your feedback and use it to improve our communication about this for future bookings. We are sorry if the bus size during times of transfer between cities seemed a bit small, we can understand how this could be uncomfortable. We are in contact with our partners in Japan to better this service. Once again, we would like to say thank you for sharing your experience with us and the world. We do value your feedback and are taking all of it into consideration when improving our overall services.

Reply from Ritz ToursOct 4, 2018

Hi Mr Steckel Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We appreciate your feedback as it helps us improve in our operations and tour programs. This is a relatively new itinerary for us, and while we are happy we that you enjoyed the hotels and the guide in Oia, we are sorry to have let you down in other aspects of the tour. We have already spoken to our ground operators in Greece regarding the Caldera cruise, which was cancelled due to the unusual Mediterranean hurricane that affected Greece with extremely high winds. They mentioned that they tried to contact you at the hotel to operate the tour one day earlier but were unable to reach you; however they offered a private walking tour of Oia, which we are glad to hear you enjoyed. We will be in touch with you shortly to follow up and see how we can make this up to you. Thank you for your business.

Reply from Ritz ToursSep 6, 2018

Hello, We appreciate your feedback about your tour to Greece. We are surprised to hear about your negative experience at the Santorini Aressana Spa Hotel and Suites as we have only received glowing reviews of this hotel. It is centrally located in Fira and when viewing and staying at this property we have had only positive experiences. We would love to hear more about what marred the experience for you as it will help us to improve our programs in the future. Regarding the transfers - one of our customer services reps has reached out to you to get some more information about this, so if you could kindly get in touch with our team we would love to chance to make things right. We're happy to hear that the rest of your trip was enjoyable. Thank you

Reply from Ritz ToursAug 22, 2018

Hi Peter, I will definitely pass along the information you've provided about the commute and request for more formal introductions. You might be happy to hear that we do provide other, more localized, tours to fewer countries. We hope you try us out again. Please contact our helpful associates to book a tour that's right for you and are happy to offer specialized options. Happy travels!

Reply from Ritz ToursJun 26, 2018

Hi Ms. Woo, Thank you for taking the time to leave us feedback on your experience. We will be investigating this concern and someone will be in contact with you shortly. We do hope that the rest of your tour was enjoyable. Thank you.