Just got back from a wonderful trip to Oman, a very interesting and safe place to visit. I started my research into our trip using my usual tools, various upscale tour companies in Europe and the States(for itinerary ideas) and Tripadvisor for hotels, guides, etc. – all this is my usual way of self planning a trip. In the end, we decided that it would be wiser and that we would get more out of the trip by hiring a guide/driver to take us around. After quite a bit of research, I fell upon the reviews of VS Private Tours and read what a wonderful guide Valentina was. I contacted her by email and received her itinerary and quote and assurance that SHE WOULD BE OUR GUIDE once we got to Oman. After much thought, I decided to take a chance and go with her. Normally, I wouldn’t send a large sum of money to someone whom I don’t know and just read about on the internet, but the reviews were glowing, so I decided to take the plunge. Since we were not booking too far in advance, our choice hotels were not available. Communication was fluid and for the most part, Valentina replied promptly. All that stopped after I sent the first half of the money (almost $2000) for our 5 night/6 day trip. No answer…I told my husband that I thought that I fell for a scam ! I actually had to contact her by sms several times to see if she got the money. I anguished for about a week and sent emails and text messages and finally she told me that yes, the money arrived and all was set. Getting in touch with her was super difficult and the waiting often long to get an answer. This is unacceptable when you are paying for a service. I never got a final itinerary, I never got a note from her saying ‘looking forward to meeting you at X hôtel at 9am…’ I realized that I was way overpaying for her services (based on estimates for the same tour that I got from the hotel concierge (a 5 start hotel so you know that their prices are already inflated) but I figured, hey, we are going to have a super guide. She also never asked about our level of mobility as some of the sites require a bit of hiking in rather rough conditions. No little note to tell us to bring hiking boots, our own towels for swimming in the wadis or water shoes so that we could enter into the water without killing our feet.. A form note that she sent to all her clients is all that it would have taken. The hotels that we were booked in were very mediocre for the most part (excepting the desert camp) and it is clear that we totally overpaid for our trip.
But the biggest surprise came the day that we were leaving on our trip (still hadn’t gotten a little email saying we will be waiting for you…..) and when we got to the lobby I still wasn’t 100% that we hadn’t fallen for a scam , Valentina was there, but told us, SURPRISE, she wasn’t going to be our guide ! She had an ‘emergency meeting’ at the bank and her collègue was going to take us on the trip ! Wow, I had confirmed with her by email that SHE was going to be our guide and that was the reason I went with her company ! Total deception and not very honest on her part. Never a note saying that she had a VERY IMPORTANT MEETING even though I wrote her many times to tell her that we were leaving home and starting our trip, etc etc. This I found to be totally dishonest and that she didn’t live up to her part of the deal.
I could have paid literally half of what I paid her for the same trip and had a guide that I knew nothing about by going with the quote from the hotel.
As is turned out, Mohammed was a wonderful guide and a pleasure to spend time with. But that is not the point. She misled me and the communication with her was difficult and not professional and it was overpriced.
Next time, I will book my own hotels and hire a guide/driver from the hotel and save myself a lot of money and unneeded anxiety from someone who is not professional.