Italy Destination by Paltours

Hi Maggie,

Thank you for your review. It’s always valuable to receive feedback from travelers, even if it isn’t entirely positive.

I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the trip and that you rated 5 stars for 50% of the experiences.
However, I'm disappointed about your rating of 2 for the Florence guided tour. You initially requested it in the trip plan, then changed your mind a few days before the experience, expressing a preference for more shopping time. As a result, you didn’t attend the tour, and we refunded you. How can you rate a tour that you haven’t done?

I appreciate your feedback about the Athens guide. I'm sorry you didn't find it fully satisfactory, even though it is not easy to summarize centuries of Ancient World history in such a short time. At least you had the opportunity to explore one of the most iconic archaeological sites in the world.

Throughout your trip planning, I made considerable efforts to tailor an itinerary that suited your preferences. As you may recall, our conversation began on January 29 with the understanding that you were willing to spend on a great trip without worrying about the budget, stating, "I am happy to splurge on a great trip. Budget is not my concern." Given our expertise in your chosen destinations and our focus on luxury services, we prepared an initial trip plan (Version 1).

Due to some health issues in your family, the planning process was delayed, and I didn’t hear from you until May. At that point, you revised your request to include some expensive destinations and services while asking for a lower budget proposal. You requested luxury services but wanted to minimize costs, asking me to secure reservations at Michelin-starred and gourmet restaurants for free, which you paid for directly despite the time involved.

I made every effort to meet your expectations, creating 10 different versions of the trip plan over the course of 4 months. One of your unique requests was accommodation in a room with two bathrooms.

We made several adjustments to reduce costs, including changing from private transfers to economy-class train tickets and switching from 3–4-star hotels to B&Bs and apartments.
Eventually, you chose to book Airbnb accommodations on your own since our policy doesn’t permit us to handle private hosts.

After the fourth version of the trip plan, which you initially said was perfect, you requested multiple revisions, leading to version 10. The rough pricing of the trip, given your original requests, was estimated at $6,000–$6,500. However, after adjusting the services to cut costs, the final price came to less than $3,100.

We dedicated considerable time and effort to your trip plan, always aiming to keep costs low and never charging an extra planning fee. We finalized version 10 of the trip plan on June 24, after a six-month process.

We had to wait until September 1 to receive the first deposit, despite the requirement for full payment 60 days before departure according to KimKim policies. During this period, you continued to request restaurant reservations to be paid in cash on-site while we awaited your payment to confirm and pay the providers for the included services. Nevertheless, we suggested restaurants for all your destinations and made reservations for the ones you specifically asked us to.

Throughout this process, I have always been available to you, both before and during your stay. My direct contact has continually been accessible to you via the kimkim portal, allowing us to interact frequently before and during your trip.

Overall, I find it unfair to receive a so low rating in response to all my professional efforts, which ended in a trip that you stated you enjoyed.

Best regards,
Claudia