Unfortunately I had a poor experience. Firstly, as a solo traveller I had to book a private tour as no shared options were available. This further meant that the price nearly doubled for me. I accepted that, thinking that I would at least have the company of the guide. That turned out not to be the case, for the most part. The first stop was Penang Hill. The driver /guide bought my ticket, not including the eco park part. I expected this part of the tour to take 1 hour (as indicated) and arranged to call the guide when I was finished. I was not able to get in touch with the guide for 2.5 hours. The number given on the ticket was not manned and the guide made no effort to call me within that 2.5 hour time slot. When he eventually called me after 2.5 hours he said he assumed I wanted to spend more time on the hill. However, as my ticket was for the restricted area it seemed bizarre that he would think that. I thought I had been abandoned and took a taxi myself to the next venue, the Botanic garden. When the guide eventually made contact with me I arranged to meet him outside the Botanic garden. He offered to pay my taxi fare of 40 RM and I accepted. I went around the botanic gardens on my own as I had not yet met the guide again. I am not sure if he would have accompanied me but it seems unlikely as he made no comment about it when I met him. We then drove to the Buddhist temple. However, here he basically acted as a driver and didn't accompany me through the site. He dropped me at the entrance, made a couple of short comments about the venue and statues and then instructed me to meet him in the car park after I had gone around by myself. I then had to negotiate the temple on my own and try to make some sense of what I was looking at, as I had no 'guidance'. After the disappointing temple visit I saw no point in carrying on, as it was clear I was 'on my own'. I asked him to drop me back to my hotel. Enroute he did comment on some sites we passed, giving some historical and other context. However, the whole experience was very poor considering the €165 I paid.
Dear Anne, We're truly sorry to hear about your disappointing experience during the tour. It's disheartening to learn that we didn't meet your expectations, especially as a solo traveler. Your feedback is invaluable to us, and we deeply apologize for the lack of communication and support you encountered throughout the tour. We understand that being left without guidance and support during key parts of the tour is unacceptable. We'll thoroughly investigate what went wrong to ensure that such incidents don't occur in the future. Your concerns regarding the duration of your stay at Penang Hill and the lack of guidance at the Botanic Garden and Buddhist temple are noted, and we'll take immediate steps to address these issues with our team. Regarding the misunderstanding with the ticket and the assumption made by our guide, we apologize for any inconvenience caused. We'll reinforce our communication protocols to ensure that such misunderstandings are avoided in the future. We truly value your feedback, and we're committed to making necessary improvements to enhance our services. We apologize once again for the frustration and disappointment you experienced and hope to have the opportunity to make it up to you in the future. If there's anything else we can do to address your concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly. Safe travels!
