Dec 03, 2023 08:13 PM
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(Updated Dec 03, 2023 08:16 PM)
Soman’s Leisure Tours - Kashmir Tour - 25th November’23 to 29th November’23 -Embarrassingly Poor Tour Management!
Rating- 3.5/10
We(22 members) had a scattered check-in at Kochi. Were given Rs 500 per head to have lunch at Delhi during the layover enroute to Srinagar. We reached Srinagar to be hustled by a score of car drivers who stuffed us(on the tour guide’s instructions), into old rickety 1990’s Qualis & Tata Sumos, -7 persons in a car-since only 3 cars were permitted by “the company”.
Next surprise was the Hotel-Green Rooms. The room size was similar to the green rooms that artists use back-stage during a drama at an auditorium! We were welcomed into rooms having blood-stained bed sheets, hair rolls inside the toilet, torn bedsheets, torn duvets, torn pillow covers, yellow smelly towels & dirty tea-stained kettles.
The dinner and breakfast served at the lobby level restaurant followed a set pattern of dishes(salad-soup-1 paneer, 1 mix veg, 1 chicken) & the same cuisine! Very much to the annoyance of all the tour members without any exception. The hotel personnel said” we prepare & serve what is told by the co-ordinator”
On a positive note all of us in unison-liked the pro-active and cheerful attitude of the restaurant service personnel.
The 1st day we were taken to Pahalagam. The bus provided definitely had no proper suspension system and shock absorbers in place thereby all the ladies, in particular were left with sore back/back pains.
Enroute we stopped for lunch at an outlet named “Festival Inn”. Horrible food was served. Burnt rotis, smelly sheekh kebabs in a jhatka gravy and to add to the issue, a very dirty smelly toilet to use for the 22 members of the tour. With no one else in the outlet, we knew this was a make-shift arrangement by “the company”
The bus halted at a junction. After 4-5 hours drive we were then asked to use smaller SUV’s. These SUV’s were not fit to be operated and were Tata Sumos of the 1990’s! Three SUVs again stuffing us into the vehicles, as per company cost-cutting policy! We returned back at approx 8 PM. Needless to say, the dinner gravies tasted the same.
The 2nd day was a trip to Gulmarg. The only bright spot was the fact that it was snowing that afternoon. Had lunch at 4:30 pm…so much for tour time management! Returned back to Green Rooms for dinner and the next day(3rd day) breakfast, same parameters, so most the members had bread toast!
The 3rd day was for Dal Lake, Mughal Gardens and local sight-seeing.
We realized the problem of food(an important aspect in any group tour) was because the menus were wrongly compiled and the tour co-ordinator was obviously a green horn!
Overall, a really messy affair of tour management, same food/cuisine over many meals, hotel with dirty unclean rooms, poor logistics and old rickety vehicles + layovers of 5 hours and 4 junglee sandwiches to deal with over the 2 flights!
There’s a saying in the hospitality language “You never get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression…& last impressions are lasting impressions”. Alas, both impressions were poor.
Kashmir with SOMAN LEISURE TOURS IS DEFINITELY A STRICT- NO-NO! THIS WAS THE COLLECTIVE OPINION OF ALL 22 MEMBERS WHO TRAVELLED.
