Hi Everyone,
Just a quick question. My partner and I are going travelling on the 1st March and I'm just in the process of booking a few tours. We would love to go to Khao Sok National Park in Thailand for a few days doing different activites and so forth. There doesn't appear to be too much info on the net about this. We found a tour operator called Greenwood Travel, they are a netherlands based company that organise trips to the national park in Thailand.
I've been sending emails back and forth to them over the past couple of weeks trying to organise a 5 day / 4 night packadge with them, they have been emailing back wanting confirmation of names and dates of birth, but half the email is in Dutch. We have confirmed booking with them but they are now asking for payment into their dutch bank account, we would prefer to pay on our credit card but they say they don't accept them,
Call it women's intiution but I just don't feel right about this, its about £500 so a lot of money we don't want to lose.
Has anybody ever heard of them? Ever been on a tour with them? Or sent money for a tour direct into a bank account? Don't know if I'm just being paranoid.
Thanks,
Clare
Reply to this I'm not familiar with this agent.
My motto has always been -----When in doubt don't.
Trust your gut.....sounds a bit fishy.
Reply to this It may be OK, but you are right to check it out. First, look at the website, is there an address, phone etc? Is the company registered in Hollad? Is it a member of a travel agent organization? Do they have reviews from other travelers? Do they mention anything on insurance (they should provide insurance cover if the trip is cancelled due to their fault)? I don't know about Holland but there may be a registration site listing companies, from a bureau of commerce or similar (or the tax authority). I have used tour agents with similar deals but I have always checked their credentials carefully, it has always worked.
What does seem suspicious is that you can't pay with a credit card, I don't know any travel related business nowadays that doesn't take credit cards - and in Holland - it is a highly developed country and these things should be smooth, if they are a serious business. The good thing with credit cards is that you have some control of where your money goes, but less so if you pay to bank account (I think at least).
Reply to this My question is why are you booking tours in Thailand before you get there?
£500 is a LOT of money for 5 days in Thailand, is this a 'luxury' tour? I tried to check their website but couldn't get it in English.
There will be agents literally tripping over each other to get to you once in the country, and it will cost considerably less!
Mike
Reply to this Totally agree with Mike, it will be easier and cheaper to book it once you're in Thailand. You could live for a month with £500 in Thailand!!
Try to book as little as possible from home, do it when you get to the place you're going; we normally only book the tickets to get there and then, we improvise... it's not as difficult as it may look! :o)
Reply to this I think there is some misunderstanding here. Green Wood Travel is not a Dutch but a Thai touroperator though the management is partly Dutch and most of their customers come from Holland and Belgium. They are based in Bangkok and have a 20 year long experience with tailor made journeys through South East Asia.
Most customers come with two people or bit more but anyway no busloads though instead individual travelling making use of the wide choice of hotels, tours and excursions they developed often themselves.
There is a price guerentee so on the whole you are cheaper to book with them. Khao Sok is a popular, though not touristic destination with GWT travellers where over the years many people had their great jungle experiences. Expensive? compare and you will see they are not. Service? Sure and in fact very good service according to the many regular clients coming back year after year. You can see their website at <snip> Good Luck!
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