That’s when the call became a bit unusual…
She went on to say that she had recently purchased a tour to Morocco on-line in response to a promotional email that she received from one of our competitors. The email had arrived one evening, seemed like a great deal, and she had purchased it without speaking with anyone at the company. A true spur of the moment decision.
After purchasing the trip, she found that she had many questions for the tour operator and so phoned them several times over the course of a couple of weeks. Sadly for her, she said that no one at the company knew the trip well or could answer her questions. Feeling frustrated and a bit embarrassed, she called us knowing that we’ve operated tours in Morocco for over a decade.
My colleague, Sarah, was a bit confused as to why a guest on another company’s trip was phoning us to chat. Don’t get me wrong, we know that we have many fine competitors, and we realize that sometimes a guest will choose another company instead of Classic Journeys. (Maybe a date doesn’t work and they are not interested in a Private Journey, or they want to pursue a special interest or region that we do not cover.) That said, this was still pretty unique: a guest calling us to ask questions about their tour when they are not traveling with us!
Fortunately, many of us at Classic Journeys have been to Morocco and have been on our Morocco—Fes to Marrakesh trip. We have very good personal relationships with our head guides, Jalil and Saida, and our country manager Tarik; and we’ve spent a considerable amount of time with all 29 colleagues there who take care of our guests on tour. So Sarah was able to answer the guest’s questions completely, putting her mind somewhat at ease.
Why all this in a blog?
Sometimes a good deal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And sometimes that trip that is more expensive initially is actually a better value than the one with the lower initial price. That is not to say that dollars always dictate quality, but rather that tour operators with local knowledge can be worth their weight in gold.
We've carefully crafted all of our tours in over 65 regions around the world, combining years of research with careful scouting and relationships with local guides to operate exceptional trips. And if one of the reasons to go on a guided tour is to not worry about the logistics, we've done your homework for you and are there to make your trip seamless, even before you've left.
Sometimes prospective guests like to speak with other travelers who have visited a region with us, and we invite you to do that. And others like to know that well-known third parties like Travel + Leisure or National Geographic have rated us among the top of our peers, and you can review these on our awards page.
If we can assist with any of these requests, or you find yourself traveling with a company that isn’t helping the way you expected, just drop me a line at blog@classicjourneys.com
