Most Inspirational Moment
Not really any; New Zealand is a very beautiful country, but it misses culture, fine dining and good accommodation. Trip is far to expensive of what it actually had to offer. Some accommodations were below standard and really dirty.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Bad; only interested in what he wanted to do, not following the trip notes at all
Advice for Potential Travellers
Do not go there!!!
Reply from Exodus
We would like to thank you for taking the time to review your Exodus trip to New Zealand, Els, although we were incredibly regretful to learn that it didn’t meet your expectations in several areas. You will be aware, having travelled with us many times, of the role our leaders play in elevating our groups’ experiences in destination, so we are sorry you found yours to be so poor. Exodus requires all tour leaders to complete our online induction module and read our leader manual to ensure they understand the expectations of both Exodus and our customers, and our local operators supplement this with their own extensive training programmes. We can assure you that your leader completed all the relevant training ahead of your tour and we had every confidence in him to deliver your tour to a high standard. We are pleased to observe in other reviews that he was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and organised, although we remain apologetic that this is not reflective of your experience. We are further regretful that you felt your tour failed to capture New Zealand’s culture, food and quality accommodation, as this is not the type of feedback we expect to receive. As you may be aware, New Zealand is a particularly expensive country, with high operational costs, although we still feel our tour represents value for money due to the variety of activities it incorporates. In terms of fine dining, whilst this is available in the major cities, the hospitality industry in rural areas has been much slower to bounce back after the pandemic, which means that restaurant options are very limited. Though we recognise that not all the hotels will suit all our customers’ preferences, we are not aware of previous feedback regarding properties being unclean, so we were surprised to hear this. Nevertheless, we have shared your comments with the hotels directly to ensure any issues are rectified immediately. We realise this response cannot change the disappointing experience you had, but we do hope it shows that we have listened to your concerns.
Kelly Reid, Product Manager