Emailing your way out of business
Discussion
I want the collective PH advice on if I should kiss this travel agent in Ethiopia bye-bye and get someone else.
Bear in mind this is Ethiopia so English is not their native language and also contacting new travel agents there is a bit of a ball ache.
I want to rent a 4WD+driver for about 8 days at a cost of around US$1,600 for a drive around the North of Ethiopia.
We have exchanged 5 x emails each so far. Their emails have been helpful but wouldn't have taken them much time to prepare. They have given me an itinerary, but it is mostly a cut and paste job out of a standard tour with dates edited to suit me.
Anyway, the last email contained this sentence as a sign off from the tour manager (who has not emailed me on the previous 4 emails):
"By the way we only give as much information for those who buy package tour but not have time to write many e-mails for those who only rent car from us, since we are so busy."
So, bye-bye this agent or no? Would you think things are likely to go wrong?
Bear in mind this is Ethiopia so English is not their native language and also contacting new travel agents there is a bit of a ball ache.
I want to rent a 4WD+driver for about 8 days at a cost of around US$1,600 for a drive around the North of Ethiopia.
We have exchanged 5 x emails each so far. Their emails have been helpful but wouldn't have taken them much time to prepare. They have given me an itinerary, but it is mostly a cut and paste job out of a standard tour with dates edited to suit me.
Anyway, the last email contained this sentence as a sign off from the tour manager (who has not emailed me on the previous 4 emails):
"By the way we only give as much information for those who buy package tour but not have time to write many e-mails for those who only rent car from us, since we are so busy."
So, bye-bye this agent or no? Would you think things are likely to go wrong?
Yes I know about the travel advice and am not planning on going to the areas which are not recommended.
I wouldn't say I'm competing with the travel agent - car and driver hire is prominently displayed as a service on their website so I'd be using a car and driver hired off them to complete an almost standard itinerary available of any Ethiopian travel agent (well Ethiopian travel agents who actually answer the phone, which isn't that many).....
I wouldn't say I'm competing with the travel agent - car and driver hire is prominently displayed as a service on their website so I'd be using a car and driver hired off them to complete an almost standard itinerary available of any Ethiopian travel agent (well Ethiopian travel agents who actually answer the phone, which isn't that many).....
el stovey said:
Why do you expect a free itinerary from them?
Unless Ethiopia is different to other developing countries, if you hire a car and driver you end up staying in hotels who pay commission to either the tour company, the driver or both. They are also unlikely to rent me a car+driver unless they know where I'm going. It's US$200/day for a 4WD inclusive of driver, fuel, drivers accommodation. A bit expensive for a developing country and I've certainly done cheaper, but not ridiculously expensive. Perhaps not even expensive since fuel is included. You could easily burn up $50 worth of fuel a day.
Obvs the $200 excludes the hidden commission paid to them from staying in their recommended hotels.
It's quite hard to organise stuff in Ethiopia. Phones don't work, places don't have websites, when phones do work you spent your time saying HELLO! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
Obvs the $200 excludes the hidden commission paid to them from staying in their recommended hotels.
It's quite hard to organise stuff in Ethiopia. Phones don't work, places don't have websites, when phones do work you spent your time saying HELLO! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
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