All of the sudden I got an email saying our Hanoi to Singapore tour starting in January was canceled for "operational reasons." Excellent, now we have flights and visas to Hanoi for that start date and no tour to go on. Also, we already submitted all the paperwork, deposit, and payment authorization. The "recommended" alternative tours are a lot shorter and don't mix together well or start on the right dates. Plus, finding something that starts out of Hanoi is really limiting.
Anybody else experienced this with Imaginative Traveller? I heard they were a good company, but this is complete garbage.
A lot of other tours start out of Bangkok and I was wondering if we should just travel overland or fly over there and eat the cost so that we have a good journey. Also, does anyone have experience changing the dates for their Vietnam visa? It was a pain enough to get and changing the dates does not sound fun.
I was so excited by our itinerary. What a bummer.
Hello Jake,
Many thanks for your post and I understand your disappointment regarding the cancellation of your trip.
We have many changes to our operations for our trips post November 09 and sadly your tour is one of those affected.
The Adventure Centre should be able to help you with finding out about your visas and overland travel. However if you would like me to look into this further for you please let me know my email address is kate@imtrav.net
Kind regards
Kate Hudson
Hi Jake
I had the same problem with another tour, which was a big pain at the time but I managed to make my trip still work out. I'm in SE Asia for eight weeks in total so I had more time than average to juggle with!
I'm going on two tours (and doing stuff myself); one of the tours ends in Hanoi and the second starts in Bangkok, so I'm flying with Air Asia between the two places. The flight only cost me £20GBP or so. I'm also flying with Bangkok Airways between Phnom Penh and BK, a little more expensive, but still not much extra money in the overall scheme of things!
Sadly I can't help re the Vietnam visa - I have mine already (from the Embassy in London) and my change of dates didn't affect the tour in Vietnam.
I hope you get it sorted out eventually! It would be a sh*t to have your tour completely wrecked...
Vicky
Hello Vicky,
I am please to hear that you are still able to gete your trip arranged.
Again if I can help in anyway please email me.
Thanks
Kate Hudson
2010 cancellations
Yes it seems all of imaginative's trips have been replaced by Peregrine a company from Australia.
Is this true? It would be good to know what is going on at ImTrav. I know Peregrine is a "sister" company but has this relationship changed recently?
Soon I'll be on my third ImTrav trip and I'm planning my trip for next year which will be up to two months long so it would be handy to know if ImTrav is still the ImTrav I've known and trusted in the past ......
How can I tell if a Imaginative Traveller trip is an Imaginative Traveller trip rather than another company's trip repackaged?
Actually, I was under the impression that Gecko are running the tours now - if you look at the tours starting after 01/11/09, in the small print I'm sure it makes reference to payments etc being made to Gecko.
If I'm not mistaken, the maps for each tour starting after 01/11/09 are also identical to those on the Gecko website (same font/image).
I have much the same concerns as you Monty, to be fair - I know and trust ImTrav, and will be starting my third tour with them on 18/12/09 (Indochina Adventure). I don't know much about Gecko, other than that their prices seem quite a bit higher, and internal flights etc aren't included in the brochure price - at least, that's how it seems from the blurb underneath the tour details, anyway. Apologies if I have that wrong, but I'm not sure I do!
To be honest, the internal transport costs being met as part of the overall tour cost was one of the big advantages of ImTrav tours to me - I like to know exactly what I'm paying up front. There seems to be a trend amongst tour operators lately towards giving a price and then highlighting the additional extras in the small print, which I've always thought of as, not "dishonest", but maybe leaning towards "sharp practice".
This other thing of tour companies taking bookings far in advance and then hiking the cost later due to "unexpected rises" or similar is getting more commonplace, too. I always book well in advance for my tours (I booked for this latest one in March 2009), and I think I'd be furious if I got a letter telling me to add a couple of hundred on to the price! Again, I appreciate that the travel industry is volatile and companies have to react (often at short notice) to price rises, but I always think it's a bit of a smack in the face to customers to sell them a tour at one price, and then to say "sorry, the price has gone up, please cough up the difference" later!
At least I'm fortunate in that I've already had an email saying that my particular tour will be going ahead with no price or itinerary changes, which was a great relief (the actual tour won't exist after 01/11/09, other than my departure of 18/12/09).
Mind you, I was also told that booking on to my tour would still be possible as a one-off special tour, and yet I look at the website today, and it clearly states that it's closed for bookings. Now, it may be that they've maxed out the numbers for it, but the last I'd heard was that 7 people were on the Vietnam part, and 4 people were on the rest of the tour, so I'm not sure that's likely!
I'll have to weigh things up when thinking about my next tour after this one...it's possible that I may try GAP. Certainly I'll be keeping an eye on the forums here to see how people's experiences with Gecko (or whoever it is who's offering the tours for ImTrav now) pan out.
Wow, this turned into a bit of a rant :) Apologies, there, but I just wanted to gauge other people's experiences/opinions, I guess!
Having looked at the Gecko website, it does appear that Peregrine Tours are the parent company for Gecko, too, so it looks like Don_Suz had it spot on.
Hi,
I just want to make it clear that my intention is not to give people in the ImTrav office a hard time (and from DomM has written I assume its the same for them although I don't want to put words in their mouth!!) I hope that any changes are positive for everyone in the ImTrav team.
It would just be good to know what has generated what appear to be such significant changes and what the impact will be on my future experience of ImTrav compared with very positive past experiences ...
I'm too am concerned that a trip I have booked in November does not appear on the site but I have covered this in an email already ...
Thanks
Monty - absolutely. I'm certainly not trying to give anyone from ImTrav a hard time either, it's just that, like you, I find myself wondering what the future now holds for ImTrav and the tours they offer. As you say, these appear to be significant changes, so my main worry would be that they retain the same competitive pricing, service and tour structure that's been so enjoyable in the past.
I've built up an awful lot of faith in the ImTrav "brand" over the time I've used them, and I consistently recommend them to other people. I hope to be able to do so in the future, but the apparent changes might make that more difficult. Then again, we could be worrying over nothing, and I certainly hope it's the latter!
Thanks Vicky for the helpful info and best wishes on your trip. Since the replacement tours did not really work we went with another company instead. We had to change our flight for a fee to go to Thailand instead, but the visa dates are still okay. It is really helpful to know that flights from/to Vietnam and Thailand are reasonable. We are probably going to explore the Thai islands on our own as well.
I am with DomM and montyf on wanting to know how drastic the changes at Imaginative Traveller have been regarding the relationship with Peregrine/Gecko. My wife had a great trip with ImagTrav in Turkey a couple years ago and her parents have done several with them all with great reviews. If the folks who built the good reputation are no longer running things we should be told. Until I hear from some people on 2010 tours, I do not think I will consider a tour with this company.
IMTRAV 2010 TOURS
read the following and hope that this does not mean that ImTrav is no more!
TREK HOLIDAYS HARMONIZES
Imaginative Traveller, Peregrine & Gecko's Adventures will harmonize tour departures for 2010
Please note I found the following in a trade magazine:
Trek Holidays announces that for the 2010 selling season, all Imaginative Traveller departures will be operated through a partnership with Peregrine and Gecko's Adventures. Please note that all companies are part of TUI Travel plc. Both Peregrine and Gecko's Adventures are based in Australia and have more than 30 years experience in adventure travel. Imaginative Traveller’s ‘Adventurer’ style trips will fall under the Gecko’s brand, and ‘Traveller’ style trips will be offered by the Peregrine brand. For the North American market, all trips will be listed in Peregrine or Gecko’s brochures in the 2010 season. Visit trekholidays.com or call 1-888- 456-3522 for further details.
Maureen
Vancouver, BC Canada
I wrote an email to TUI yesterday evening to make them aware of the concerns being caused by recent changes at Imaginative Traveller. Today I got a phone call from the Managing Director of Imaginative Traveller. It is obvious to me that Imaginative Traveller are very keen to maintain the loyalty of their customers.
I don't want to become a spokesman for ImTrav, and I did suggest it would be a good idea for ImTrav to publish an update, but here is my understanding ...
The booking team we are all used to dealing with at Imaginative Traveller will remain, in fact it may expand.
Imaginative Traveller will when appropriate offer Geckos or Peregrine Trips. I did raise my concern that with three companies potentially all offering the same trip the choice available would be reduced. However, I guess in the current climate this type of thing is bound to happen and on the plus side it should mean that trips get enough bookings to be guaranteed to run sooner. I hope there is minimal impact to the tour leaders for all three companies ...
I've been given contact details for the MD in case I have any further concerns, and it is possible that others that have raised concerns will get a phone call too.
So in general it seems to be good news given the current economic climate !!
Note: I'm more than happy for someone at Imaginative Traveller to correct me if I've misunderstood anything, I don't want to cause any confusion ...
NEWS FLASH ...
Further details which Amy at ImTrav included in an email to me today...
"The good news is that Imtrav is as strong as it ever was and that all these changes are for the better. Every year in November we bring out our New Brochure and with it we add lots of new itineraries and amended ones too with our main aim to give you the widest range of destinations and exciting itineraries. In addition to this we have also started to work along side our Sister Companies Peregrine and Gecko's who are based in Australia and specialise in the same great Small group adventures that we do, so it makes sense to combine all our experience to offer our clients the very best"
"It is quite a busy time in the office as you can imagine and have kindly mentioned and we are all doing our very best to service our clients to the best of our ability because at the end of the day we wouldn't be here without you!. With the changes that are mentioned above, there have been more changes to tours than usual which is probably why you can see lots of comments on our forums. I hope my explanation helps to reassure you and that you will see that as a company we have our clients best interests at heart"
I hope any impact to fellow travellers is minimal ....
See above, I've combined my posts ...
Hi Montyf
I've been watching your posts with interest. I'm not entirely sure that your update is true. Friends of mine lead tours for Imag Trav but are being replaced by other companys guides soon, and they tell a very different story.
Is Imag Trav going to post an official response to this?
I have only shared the information made available to me, and as I say I don't want to become an ImTrav spokesman.
All we can do is keep sharing the information available to us until something official comes out - (and hope that changes are sensitive to everyone involved ...)
Can I suggest that from now on we share updates in the Imaginative Traveller Q&A section under IMTRAV TOURS 2010 so that everyone's input is in the same place ....
Cheers