AITO: The Association of Independent Tour Operators
Experience Travel Group

Experience Travel Group Traveller Reviews

Reviews of Experience Travel Group

Overall Company Rating
99%
Excellent 744
Good 33
Average 2
Poor 3
Terrible 0
Reviews Submitted: 782
Reviews Accepted: 781
Reviews Rejected: 1
781 reviews
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Sri Lankan Family Adventure by Sandraejames, 1 Feb 2015
Holiday Rating:

An amazing experience.

Our friends booked and initiated our 12 day trip to Sri Lanka. The had already travelled with The Experience Travel Group so we were confident this holiday would be good. Having landed after a 9 hour flight we were picked up by our driver Kapila ( Kappie ) . He was extremely knowledgable about all aspects of our trip. From spotting birds to the history of the island and its heritage. Our first stop was to Casa Heliconia. What an unusual ...

Our friends booked and initiated our 12 day trip to Sri Lanka. The had already travelled with The Experience Travel Group so we were confident this holiday would be good. Having landed after a 9 hour flight we were picked up by our driver Kapila ( Kappie ) . He was extremely knowledgable about all aspects of our trip. From spotting birds to the history of the island and its heritage. Our first stop was to Casa Heliconia. What an unusual place to stay.,with its out door showers. It was so lovely . We had our meals cooked and prepared for us and served up on our varandah. A hidden away gem. Next we travelled to Kandy. We visited many places of interest., including the Temple of the Tooth. A British graveyard and a gem factory. We then went up to the hill country. We stay in Ella, a beautiful scenic area. After Ella we travelled to the Tree top jungle lodge one hour from The Yala Nationsl Park. This is where we were a little concerned it may be too basic for us. How wrong were we! It was the most amazing experience we have ever had. This is not to be missed. Our final 3 days were spent in Marrissa. A Beautiful costal resort. Our hotel was right on the beach. We were serenaded by the lap of waves at night. Couldn't have asked for more on our last few days. All in all a wonderful experience we will never forget. Thank you Experience Travel Group.

Rating for tour operator:

How holiday was booked by our friends . However our trip to Sri Lanka was an amazing holiday, We could not fault The Experience Travel Group.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 02 Feb 2015:

Dear Sandra,

What a wonderful review - thank you! I'll pass your comments to Treetops Jungle Lodge and also to Kapila.

Thank you for entrusting your holiday to us and we hope to hear from you again.

Kind regards,

The Experience Travel Group Team

Experience Travel Group by Poppy, 27 Jan 2015
Holiday Rating:

Very good.

A week in the Maldives.

A week in the Maldives.

Rating for tour operator:

Experience Travel looked after us well from start to finish.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 28 Jan 2015:

Dear Janet,

Thank you for taking the time to write this review. Much appreciated and we hope to hear from you again soon.

Kind regards,

The Experience Travel Group team

Sri Lanka Laid Back - Deluxe by Poppy, 27 Jan 2015
Holiday Rating:

Very enjoyable!

Guide was excellent, activities very enjoyable. Saw an amazing array of wildlife including a leopard very close by. Hotels on the whole excellent. Experience Travel looked after us very well from start to finish in Sri Lanka.

Guide was excellent, activities very enjoyable. Saw an amazing array of wildlife including a leopard very close by. Hotels on the whole excellent. Experience Travel looked after us very well from start to finish in Sri Lanka.

Rating for tour operator:

Looked after us well from the beginning.

Cambodia and Vietnam Classic by Rodakadave, 24 Jan 2015
Holiday Rating:

18 days in Cambodia and Vietnam

An absolutely superb holiday which was well organised and ran like clockwork. There was the right balance between sight seeing and leisure time and all of the activities/experiences and places we visited were well chosen and matched our needs perfectly. There was also a good variety of different experiences, not simply visiting the local temple over and over again. Our guides were knowledgeable and all spoke good English. Our drivers were able ...

An absolutely superb holiday which was well organised and ran like clockwork. There was the right balance between sight seeing and leisure time and all of the activities/experiences and places we visited were well chosen and matched our needs perfectly. There was also a good variety of different experiences, not simply visiting the local temple over and over again. Our guides were knowledgeable and all spoke good English. Our drivers were able to make us feel safe even when driving in very heavy traffic. We would thoroughly recommend Experience Travel as they did a great job for us.

Rating for tour operator:

Everything organised to meet our needs. All paperwork arrived when expected and tour ran like clockwork with all transfers exactly as described in our itinerary

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 25 Jan 2015:

Dear Rod,

Great to hear you had an excellent holiday. Please let others know about us and we hope to hear from you again in the future!
All the best,

The ETG team.

Experience Travel Group by CSC, 19 Jan 2015
Holiday Rating:

A holiday so different from any other.

A trip to North East India. Starting in Calcutta which is a city of such contrasts. Beautiful historic monuments. Lovely people Full of noise, smells, colours and sights. A city that makes you reevaluate your own life. Then several stops as we travelled up into the hills ending in Darjeeling. Such beautiful and breathtaking scenery along with magnificent temples.

A trip to North East India. Starting in Calcutta which is a city of such contrasts. Beautiful historic monuments. Lovely people Full of noise, smells, colours and sights. A city that makes you reevaluate your own life. Then several stops as we travelled up into the hills ending in Darjeeling. Such beautiful and breathtaking scenery along with magnificent temples.

Rating for tour operator:

We booked through Experience Travel Group and we will definitely use them again. Absolutely every aspect of our trip was arranged for us and we were looked after throughout our holiday. Very impressed.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 20 Jan 2015:

Dear Christine,

We're so pleased to hear that you had a great holiday. Thank you for taking the time to write this review too. Really pleased!

Regards,

Sam Clark

Experience Travel Group by Wingealot, 16 Jan 2015
Holiday Rating:

A ten day tour in Sri Lanka

An excellent tour was organised for us bearing in mind the short time we had in the country. Out first hotel Casa Helonica can be described in one word 'amazing' and service first class. We have seen many temples over the years so only went to the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy which was interesting. Staying in the hills at Ella was stunning. The scenery was just beautiful. The highlight of our trip has to be the Tree Top Jungle Lodge ...

An excellent tour was organised for us bearing in mind the short time we had in the country. Out first hotel Casa Helonica can be described in one word 'amazing' and service first class. We have seen many temples over the years so only went to the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy which was interesting. Staying in the hills at Ella was stunning. The scenery was just beautiful. The highlight of our trip has to be the Tree Top Jungle Lodge and our safari. We were all a little apprehensive about living in a tent in the jungle with no electricity or hot water, but the entire experience was brilliant. The staff at the lodge couldn't have made us more comfortable. It would have been good if we could have stayed for three rather than two nights so we could have enjoyed more time in this stunning peaceful camp. The beach at Mirissa was our final destination and Number One Mirissa hotel and the food in their restaurant was first class. I don't know how many miles we covered but watching rural life along the routes we took added to the whole experience in Sri Lanka. We have travelled with Experience Travel Group before and would have no hesitation in booking with them for any future trips or recommending them to our friends and family,

Rating for tour operator:

Excellent and helpful service from our first enquiry to the return home.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 16 Jan 2015:

Dear Christine,
So pleased to hear it went so well. I'll pass on your comments to Lars and the gang at Treetops - great to hear as it is one of our favourites too. Hope to hear from you again in the future!
Regards,

Sam Clark

Sri Lankan Family Adventure by paddy, 12 Jan 2015
Holiday Rating:

A truly wonderful experience for all the family

We stayed at some truly wonderful places and saw some incredible things whilst in Sri Lanka with our two children (age 10 and 8). Without doubt, I would recommend a visit to this truly beautiful country, to anyone! It has inspired us to visit more interesting places as a family, instead of opting for the Canaries in a hotel with a pool!!! We stayed at different places each 2 or 3 days and everywhere was completely different. We rode and ...

We stayed at some truly wonderful places and saw some incredible things whilst in Sri Lanka with our two children (age 10 and 8). Without doubt, I would recommend a visit to this truly beautiful country, to anyone! It has inspired us to visit more interesting places as a family, instead of opting for the Canaries in a hotel with a pool!!! We stayed at different places each 2 or 3 days and everywhere was completely different. We rode and elephant, climbed Sigirya, had a head massage in a spice garden and ate curry that we'd made, went whale watching, went on a safari, stayed in a mud hut and kayaked across a lake, swam in waterfalls and met some amazing people. What a place! It should be on everyone's bucket list!

Rating for tour operator:

Knowing that Experience Travel were there to organise everything gave us such peace of mind and they listened to what we wanted to see and do so that, when we arrived, (almost) everything went smoothly! The experience was made even better due to our wonderful guide Kapi! I felt quite sad to see him go when we had to say 'Good-bye'

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 12 Jan 2015:

Dear Samantha,
Thank you so much for writing this review. Just the sort of feedback we want to hear from a family holiday in Sri Lanka. We'll be sure to mention this to Kapi too - he'll be really pleased!

Thanks,

Sam

Cambodia and Vietnam Classic by James C, 12 Jan 2015
Holiday Rating:

Extended Christmas in Cambodia and Vietnam

Having decided to spend the Christmas break in Vietnam, we relooked at how much holiday we could take and decided to extend our trip so that we could see Angkor given we were so close, knowing that this wasn't doing really justice to Cambodia. Our bespoke tour took us from Angkor down to Phnom Penh across to Saigon and then up the coast to Ha Long Bay and back from Hanoi. Had a combination of guided tours, bike rides and independent sightseeing ...

Having decided to spend the Christmas break in Vietnam, we relooked at how much holiday we could take and decided to extend our trip so that we could see Angkor given we were so close, knowing that this wasn't doing really justice to Cambodia. Our bespoke tour took us from Angkor down to Phnom Penh across to Saigon and then up the coast to Ha Long Bay and back from Hanoi. Had a combination of guided tours, bike rides and independent sightseeing which kept a 12 year old and 14 year old interested and engaged. Highlights were probably cycling round Angkor, Vespa tour round the streets of Saigon (stopping off for street food, the (relative) calm of Hoi An and then our boat on Ha Long which took us away from the areas frequented by the large tourist boats so that we woke up to see sunrise without anyone else in sight.

Rating for tour operator:

We were recommended Experience Travel Group by a friend and they delivered a very memorable holiday. They happily amended their initial suggestions as we got feedback from friends who had been before and recommended extra things we should do. Having decided that we wanted to treat ourselves for Christmas Day and Boxing Day they got a great package for us at the Nam Hai in Hoi An. All the arrangements when we arrived were very smooth and the hotels good. The local guides they had secured were very flexible eg no complaints when we decided we would like to see a few extra things having read some of the finer detail in the guide books or extend a bike ride when they realised that we weren't just going to pootle around. There were a number of things that they suggested such as the Vespa tour in Saigon that I'm not sure we would have come across ourselves - but will be recommending to anyone we know going to Vietnam in the future.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 12 Jan 2015:

Dear James,

Thank you for taking the time to write this. We're so pleased you all had such a great holiday and that it worked out so well. We'll pass your comments onto our guides too.

Kind regards,

The Experience Travel Group Team

Essential Laos by chimi, 12 Jan 2015
Holiday Rating:

FANTASTIC - HONEYMOON!

Experience Travel Group was fantastic from start to end the trip was as described and at times better! Laos is a magical country and Thailand beaches were beautiful!

Experience Travel Group was fantastic from start to end the trip was as described and at times better! Laos is a magical country and Thailand beaches were beautiful!

Rating for tour operator:

Experience Travel group was excellent always reliable and friendly. Matt and the team where attentive to us through out our trip!

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 12 Jan 2015:

Dear Simon,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this review and for your kind words. Delighted to hear you both had such a great honeymoon. All the best for your future life together!

The Experience Travel Group Team.

Experience Travel Group by Dive free diver, 7 Jan 2015
Holiday Rating:

Poor

We used this company for a trip to Sri Lanka and we were very satisfied with the service and itinerary provided. This prompted us to come back to them for our annual Christmas Holiday. We feel they did not consider our requirements seriously and before we booked we asked for clarification after reviewing comments on Trip Advisor about the mosquito activity at the resort. We were assured it was the dry season and the mosquitoes would be minimal...

We used this company for a trip to Sri Lanka and we were very satisfied with the service and itinerary provided. This prompted us to come back to them for our annual Christmas Holiday. We feel they did not consider our requirements seriously and before we booked we asked for clarification after reviewing comments on Trip Advisor about the mosquito activity at the resort. We were assured it was the dry season and the mosquitoes would be minimal. The mosquitoes were out of control at this resort. Their partners at the destination recommended a tour that we went on which was both distressing and unethical.

Rating for tour operator:

Please see above. We can provide a copy of email sent to them.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 12 Jan 2015:

Dear Mark,

We were so sorry to hear about this and, as you know, we are looking into this matter at the moment. We want every holiday to fully live up to expectations and were so disappointed to hear that yours had not. Although you did not book that tour with us directly, it is unacceptable for our local partners to be offering an unethical tour and we shall of course refund you the cost of that. I'd also like to thank you very much for bringing it to our attention.

Kind regards,

Sam Clark
Managing Director