Bhutan arrangements ‘challenging’

My wife and I took a trip to India (the “15-Day Romantic Rajasthan Passage”) and Bhutan (4-day extension) with Pacific Delight World Tours, March 12-April 1, ’05. Pacific Delight partnered with Creative Travel of India to handle the Indian component. Creative Travel in turn partnered with Etho Metho Tours & Treks of Bhutan to handle the Bhutan component.

In sum, we’d give Pacific Delight a grade of B+*, Creative Travel an A- and Etho Metho a D-. Following are the details.

Pacific Delight did a good job, particularly in selecting Creative Travel to handle the India trip. The only reason Pacific Delight didn’t get an A is because of our round-trip flight with Air-India. The plane, a Boeing 767-400, was cramped and crowded. The seat pitch must have been just 30 inches, which for a tall guy like me is too tight. Of course, the lengths of the flights exacerbated these conditions.

Creative Travel did an outstanding job. Everything went very smoothly. They would have received an A if they had provided free bottled water at the beginning of each day. Not every hotel provided free bottled water and, given the problem of safe water in India, this was surprising.

Etho Metho would have received an F but for the good job performance by the guide and driver. We flew from Delhi to Paro, Bhutan, on Druk Air, the official airline of Bhutan, and were met at the airport by our guide and driver. On our way to Thimphu we saw several sites. So far, so good.

When we got to our hotel in Thimphu, imagine our surprise when it was the Druk Hotel, not the Riverview as promised. The Druk’s twin beds with their 2-inch-thick mattresses gave new meaning to the word “firm.” Still, the Druk Hotel was conveniently located in the middle of town, while the Riverview was located about two miles away across the river. We figured this trade-off was okay. The food was good and the service was excellent.

Two days later our guide offered to confirm our flight back to India. He took our tickets and came back saying that there were no seats in the economy section. We were on standby.

We were told we could be booked in first class for an extra $100 each. We said, “No way!” We had paid well in advance and had been issued round-trip tickets by Creative Travel; we felt it was up to Etho Metho to correct the problem.

After spending the whole afternoon in the office of Druk Air, we were issued first-class tickets at no extra charge. By this time, our afternoon itinerary was kaput.

We were then driven back to Paro for our final two days. Our hotel was supposed to be the Olathang, but this time we were assigned to Pelri Cottages. There was no trade-off here. We felt Pelri was a third-rate operation in all respects: food, service and accommodations.

There was no TV nor phone in our room. Lighting was poor. There was just one chair. In the bathroom there was no shower curtain, though there was a leaky toilet with a broken seat. There was no bottled water. And there was no maid service. Regarding the food, on the first morning we were given only one small glass of juice plus cold cereal, cold toast and tea.

All in all, we felt our Bhutan experience was not a good one, but our Indian one was excellent.

RONALD A. KORNER
Grass Valley, CA

ITN sent a copy of the above letter to Pacific Delight World Tours and received the following reply.

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to ITN regarding a letter received from one of our clients.

Mr. and Mrs. Korner booked our 14-Day Romantic tour package to India with a 4-day extension to Bhutan. They were very pleased with their 14-day tour; their complaint was with the Bhutan extension.

After completing a thorough investigation, we ascertained the following and passed this information on to the Korners.

The country of Bhutan is a challenging environment to operate in. Although travel is a very important economic contributor to the Bhutanese economy, it is a very closed society. As a result of its being closed to outside investment and influences, skills are limited.

The ground operator in Bhutan is one of the top ground handlers in that country. Through the combined efforts of our partner in India working hand in hand with their Bhutanese partner, the majority of clients have returned satisfied and, until now, Pacific Delight Tours has had no prior complaints.

The hotels in Bhutan are small, with 20 to 30 rooms. Hotel management, overseeing room inventory, lack the skills which those of more mature destinations possess. However, the last-minute changes should never have happened and were poorly handled, especially in the way they were communicated.

Regarding the problem with the airline, our ground operator confirmed that the original seats, ticketed and paid for, were 100% confirmed. After much investigating, they determined that an error had been made by Druk Air.

We apologized for the unfortunate series of circumstances which Mr. and Mrs. Korner encountered. Realizing the seriousness of these issues, our partner in India has taken action and canceled their contract with their partner in Bhutan.

In addition, Pacific Delight World Tours, together with our partner in India, have issued a generous good-will refund to the Korners.

ANDREW MILLER, Senior Vice President, Sales & Special Projects, Pacific Delight Word Tours, 3 Park Ave., 38th Floor, New York, NY 10016-5902

*Mr. Korner told ITN, “I got a check for $400 from Pacific Delight World Tours, and I’d like to change the grade I gave them from a B+ to an A.”