Thank you very much for your e mail and interest on my feedback after the completion of my Cambodia trip. I agree with you that the best way to grow the business is by hearing clients and trying to adjust services based on their feedback.
Ok, so this is what I can report:
1-Overall: I absolutely LOVED Cambodia. Both cities (PP and SR) were extremely interesting and I was surprised by how much Siem Reap has to offer so I had the most wonderful time really.
2- Hotels: I really liked both hotels I stayed at and service was really good (in general people in Cambodia were incredibly helpful). The only negative I found was that the internet in Saem Siam Reap was not working properly inside the room and I had to be outside in the corridor in order to use it. Wifi was incredibly slow or just not working at times. I would still stay at this hotel as it was just beautiful and convenient and had a great pool.
3- Tour Guides: I was happy with both tour guides I had (my preference was the guide from Pnom Penh though). They were both sweet and helpful and especially the one from PP explained a lot of things. The downside was that I felt that maybe they wanted to drop me at the hotel earlier and finish their work for the day. Even so, the guide from PP was happy to visit a temple close to the market by my request so I found him accommodating on this sense.
The guide from Siem Reap was also really nice but again, I felt he wanted to drop me at the hotel as earlier as possible. There were days that we finished the activities at 1pm so I found this not great. I was also not happy that we went to see the sunrise in Angkor Wat and although I saw all the tourists coming inside the temple when it was still dark, my guide insisted that we should stay outside because the view was nicer with the water and reflection. I found that strange because all the other groups were going inside the temple but since I didn’t know the temple, I did what he said. My impression was that he wanted to stay outside because his friends (some other guides) were there as well. I didn’t find the sunrise as nice outside and when we came into the temple, I found out that there is also water with reflection in there, and a MUCH MUCH nicer view for pictures inside than outside, so I felt he deceived me.
I was also disappointed at him when we came back from our bicycle day and we passed outside Angkor Wat. According to my itinerary, I would visit the temple this afternoon and then again the next day (and Angkor Wat would deserve two visits). Instead, the guide told me we would not go in the temple this afternoon because we were coming back the next day. Again, that is not what my itinerary wrote and it was still very early (2.30pm) so I had plenty of time to go inside the temple but I think he just wanted to go home. I was also very tired from cycling (and he even said this to you) so it would make sense to go inside Angkor Wat and walk around the temple to have a small break from cycling rather than just keep cycling back to the hotel, which is what he insisted on doing (and we did).
Also, on the day I went to see sunrise at Angkor Wat the itinerary wrote I would see sunset as well but my guide didnt do it this way and just dropped me back at the hotel at 1pm.
4- Itinerary: I think most of activities you suggested were great and I would certainly do it again. The only problem I saw on this was that the activities only lasted half a day as I sad (finishing between 1 or 3pm) and I think you told me before that I would have the activities from 8am to 5pm. If I knew I would be back at the hotel so early, I would have planned for afternoon activities as well but I didn’t do this because I thought the itinerary was designed to last the whole day. Maybe it was but the guides just rushed to make it quicker? I am not sure.
I know I made some negative comments but overall I would definitely recommend your services and use them again when we visit Vietnam (on our list now), Laos or Myanmar. I would also recommend your services to friends and family. You were always very responsive and helpful and I appreciate that.
I thank you so much again Huong and wish you and your family all the best.
Regards,
Ilana
Sydney Australia
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