Mathilde Dubuisson

Since I had very little time to plan and book a trip to Switzerland , I decided to give kimkim a try. In 7 weeks, Mathilde put together a suggested itinerary, worked with me on zoom calls to add and subtract destination cities, and purchased/booked travel passes and hotels.

While I might have done a few things differently (like staying in Wengen rather than Grindlewald), all in all I think it was money well spent with kimkim. The directions for each stop were thorough and clear and the online vouchers and schedules were easy to access.

If I find myself in a similar situation with short lead time, and no knowledge of the destination country, I would use kimkim again.

This is our second time booking through Kimkim. We had an absolutely amazing time with the process and experience on our first trip to Italy last year. So, we were excited to plan the second trip this year. Mathilde jumped in to plan fairly late in the game so we were thankful for that. I will say., in comparison to our first planner, Mathilde seemed to be less available / communicative and/or slower to respond than our first experience. I also was a bit concerned about her knowledge of the areas we were traveling since she is from France and we were not traveling there. That said, everything got booked and we were looking forward to it.

When we arrived in Munich, we had to call our driver when no one was present when we arrived. So, that was a little frustrating and different than we experienced previously. But, the ride was fine. When we arrived at the hotel Jederman in Munich we were very surprised and disappointed in the location, but tried to shake it off. We were there early, and the room was not ready. We knew this was a likely possibility, so that was not a big deal. We were very under-impressed as a first impression of the hotel. We were given a space to put our luggage and a map of the city. When we asked for some suggestions on where to go, the staff was fairly non-responsive. So, we did our best to find the city center for lunch. When we returned to check in, we were given our keys to adjoining rooms, and we retrieved our luggage ourselves. There was just no interest in assisting in any manner from the hotel staff. I guess we’re just not used to that at all. When we got to the rooms, we were again disappointed. They were minimal, semi-clean and definitely not welcoming or comfortable. When we entered my daughter’s room, it was filled with the smell of heavy smoking, even though it was supposed to be a non- smoking room. It was so bad, we all started coughing and sneezing and I started to get a headache immediately. I went down to the front desk and the initial response was - sorry - we can’t control if people smoke in the rooms. That’s when I called Mathilde to see what options she could help with. I was honestly uncomfortable staying there. In the meantime, my daughter found mucus wiped all over the wall next to her bed and some kind of pink substance on the wall next to the door. Additionally, there was black mold in each bathroom. We have pictures of it all. They offered Mathilde to clean my daughter’s room, but I knew that wouldn’t mitigate the smell. They were able to find a room down the hall for my daughter, but, it made me very uncomfortable given the overall state of the hotel. That said, every answer I got was that there were just no other options.

By this time, because we had to wait to check in, and then deal with the room debacle, I was not comfortable leaving in the middle of that mess to go on a tour of the city. And, apparently the guide had been told a different location to meet (we were told she’d come to the hotel, she was at a different location by “the fish pond”). I felt it was such a mess. I couldn’t just drop everything to go meet her. I felt like there was just very limited help to resolve the issue from Mathilde or the staff. I actually resorted to looking for other hotels that I was willing to pay for myself. Ultimately, because we had no idea where anything was in the city, and becausexwe we’re going on a full day tour the next day, we decided to suck it up and stay.

The breakfast buffet at Jederman was just okay and, again, we found the staff unfriendly and unhelpful. It was honestly one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve ever had. Based on our prior experience with Kimkim, we were just very surprised at this choice, it’s poor location and poor presentation. Definitely did not meet expectations and we felt like we had no options but to suck it up and make the best of it. We definitely felt it was well below the standard we had come to expect from Kimkim.

The tour to the castle in Germany from Munich was a lovely day and definitely the highlight of Munich.. It was great to be out of the hotel and somewhere beautiful for the day. The tour guides were very nice and knowledgeable. Well worth it.

The trains to Stuttgart were coordinated well and that travel was easy, as always. So, we appreciated that. The Maritime Hotel in Stuttgart was much more in line with our expectations and was in a lovely, convenient area of the city.

Travel to Bruges was also simple and well planned, so we appreciated that.

Hotel Aragon in Bruges was amazing and fully in line with our expectations. Great staff, warm welcome, assistance with questions and suggestions, and a fabulous location. Just a great experience. Hotel Aragon was in line with what we experienced with our Italy Kimkim trip and we were very thankful for that. The rooms were beautiful, clean and comfortable and the breakfast was very good.

There was a snag with my son’s arrival and transport. We don’t really know what happened, but when he arrived he, too, had to reach out to the driver to see location. Apparently the driver was still an hour away. As a result, and to not waste a full hour waiting, my son took a cab from the airport to the train station. Again, for us, we weren’t used to that inefficiency. That said, he did arrive safely.

The tour of Bruges was great and our local tour guide was super nice and knowledgeable. A great tour. Also, the transfer to the airport on our final day went well and our driver was very nice.

Overall, the trip started in a very disappointing manner. Those first two nights were very uncomfortable and we would never stay somewhere like that again. I was surprised Kimkim would select that hotel as something acceptable for guests. It made me wonder if anyone from Kimkim had ever stayed there.

Thankfully, the trip ended on a much better note in Bruges with hotel Aragon. Much more in line with our previously established expectations.

I don't expect that you should publish this as a review of specific places, but rather use is as some guidance for selecting the places you offer to your clients.
All our accomodations were convenient and clean, and provided good value for the cost. Few had adequate hanging space for hand-washed clothing (and often exorbitant laundry pricing). Some had very little space for placing anything so we had to rummage in our bags on the floor. Location and quantity of electrical receptacles was generally feeble, particularly since the vast majority had only one port and that was in many cases already occupied by a lamp or appliance cord. Modern travelers need to charge phones and other electronics, and preferably be able to use them while charging. We invested in a combination USB charger/plug adapter that took care of providing USB charging but only had one pass-thru AC receptacle (It replaced a lost adapter that only served to provide a port for our 3-port extension cord). At least one hotel had USB charging ports at each nightstand. Several hotels had receptacles that had 3 ports arranged around a central axis, which works for three ungrounded EU-standard cord plugs but does not accept our adapters or chargers without blocking the unused ports - making the outlet no more useful than a single-port one.
Meals at the hotels were all quite good to excellent . We only took one dinner in a hotel (in Zurich - excellent albeit from a limited cafe menu). Breakfasts were all great in terms of quality and variety. Our only gripes about breakfast are that the coffee machines generally can serve only a dozen or so tiny (but nice) coffee drinks, one at a time, to a line of generally sluggish and easily confused customers. Getting a decent-sized cup of black coffee usually takes multiple button presses and cycles, and a trip to the machine is best done empty-handed so one doesn't have to balance a plate of food while puzzling out the menu and waiting for the action. Some of the breakfast layouts were kind of chaotic, with a lot of walking around to scope out the offerings and decide on what one wants, then finding things in a rational order and navigating the traffic of other similarly challenged customers. A first-world problem, I realize, but it could be easier...
We spent for an upgrade to our room in Zurich so we'd have extra space for our final re-packing and some relaxing before the flights home, and it proved worthwhile. Hanging and shelf space were still limited and arranged so that it seemed we were always in each others' way or blocking a closet door when unpacking/packing . The ultra-modern bath was almost entirely open to view from the room, being walled with glass. We didn't mind the lack of privacy, having been married for 47 years now, but having any light in the bathroom illuminate the whold sleeping room was annoying. The toilet and shower were further isolated by a second, partially frosted glass wall which hid only the toilet. IMHO, a bathroom that has no provision for using the toilet then washing and drying at least the hands before handling one's clothes is barbaric. No amount of TP is ever going to beat soap and water. Oddly, the only bidet we encountered on our trip was in a 350-year-old house in Courmayeur (IT) remodeled as an inn by a young couple, in a small bath with everything in reach and a place to put everything two guests would need.
Maybe someday we'll stay somewhere that has, on each side of the bed(s), a nightstand, reading lamp, two receptacles compatible with chargers and adapters, hanging space, shelves and drawer space and a countertop or bag stand big enough for at least one large and one carry on bag. The room should also havelso two decent chairs, at least one usable desk with power, some open level space for snacks and personal items, adequate lighting for sorting, packing, reading out of bed and for the cleaning staff to see what they are doing. A dim nightlight in the room, switched from both sides of the bed or by a motion detector, and a second one in the bathroom placed to not illuminate the bed when the bathroom door is open should be standard. Bathroom lights should be switched inside the bathroom so they can be operated without waking a sleeper.
On our Tour du Mt. Blanc, many inns had a shoe-changing room at the entry, with at least a place to store dirty outdoor shoes, and some offered loaner sandals or mules for indoor use. Several had drying racks or cabinets and a couple even had hanging space for wet raingear and packs and wet clothes. These might be over-kill in urban hotels, but for folks who intend to do a lot of walking and sightseeing in whatever weather is extant they are a real attractive amenity.
Our transportation was fine - the driver who took us to Martigny was good comapny and full of information. The rail passes worked fine, though I seemed to have a hard time finding the daily ticket on my phone sometimes and had to log back in repeatedly.
The bike tour out of Interlaken was great fun. Guide Leo did a great job herding us (10) and laid on a nice picnic. The bikes were good quality and plenty powerful, though the saddles could be better. Getting a train of 11 bikes through the traffic of downtown Interlaken seemed a bit chancy, but Swiss drivers are a lot more courteous than Americans and all went well.
The Jungfraujoch was grotesquely oversold and overrun with tourists (like us), many of whom seemed obsessed with getting the perkiest selfie ever taken at whatever cost. Lines for everything, and lines for lines. Dirty windows so photographs from indoors were not practical, but there were few places one could stop inside anyway apart from at dining and shopping opportunities. We took a walk through the Discovery tour, partly icky and artless but partly interesting and informative, spent a bit of time out on the balconies and the glacier in worsening weather, then bailed out as soon as we could get onto the train. At Klein Scheidegg the food options were quite limited but we had a little lunch of food bought from the sausage stand and some we'd brought, then hiked down the trail to Grindelwald - quite enjoyable in a very unusual sort of rural setting, and a much-needed opportunity to de-compress and get some exercise.
The outing from Lucerne to Mt. Pilatus was very much more to our liking - still a little busy but much less intense than Jungfraujoch. Lower elevation, better weather and less imposing infrastructure made the whole experience there more comfortable partly because folks could spread out on the trails and outdoor viewpoints and there wasn't the sense of collective claustrophobia - just a bunch of friendly people out appreciating a beautiful place, mostly unhurried and un-flustered. The cogwheel train down and the boat ride back to Lucerne were also quite pleasant - we got back feeling like we'd had a fun, relaxing and stimulating day. We should have scheduled Zurich for other than a Monday as most of the cultural attractions were closed, but we had a good time walking and sightseeing, with a big bike race event to provide a little bit of buzz (though opportunities to see any of the time trial racing were quite limited).