I'm with you, Mike. I also think that the surveys are rather meaningless when hotels are lumped together and I hate the choose a number between 1 and 5 aspect of surveys. For some time I have ignored them while on vacation, come home, and send a thoughtful critique of the trip. It takes me longer to do so but Tauck has thanked me for giving a more meaningful review.
Someone suggested carrying fifties or hundreds. I never carry those cuz they are difficult to cash. I carry dollars that are the latest series, not new bills which are difficult to get even at a bank. If the bills are the latest series and not a crumpled up mess, they normally work just fine.
the Moores: I agree with all the mentioned about the surveys. There is no possible way that Tauck can get an accurate sense when guests such as myself fill them out in a hurry. Most of the time they are handed out on a bus with not enough time to shower and change for dinner or for the farewell dinner for that matter when we all like to put on nicer clothes. I've found myself hurrying through the survey rather than really thinking about what I would like to convey.
Yes and occasional you are given the survey before the end of the tour and asked to give it back and then something happens you wish you could have commented on.
Evaluations using a 1 - 5 scale can be useful to quickly identify aspects of a tour, etc. that were positive and where no follow-up action is needed; and aspects that might have been bad and where further research and or action might be required on their part, especially rapid action is needed when a large number of respondents rate a particular aspect as a 1 and provide negative comments.
Personally, I would prefer more time to really think about a tour before spending a lot of time evaluating it. For that reason I complete the Hope and Trust as requested, then when appropriate, I follow up with an email to customer relations with specifics about anything negative or particularly noteworthy.
Somewhat likewise. I normally call customer relations after each trip. They know me. They actually called one time to schedule a formal interview to get my opinions on the operations and service. I have a great deal of contact with management. Some folks on this website got a friend of mine fired, and I was unable to fix that. He now works for another tour company where another friend works. For obvious reasons I will not name that company. If you do have a problem with a Tauck employee, talk to them about it. If you ‘write them up’ you may be costing someone their job.
MY last comment : we go on 2 to 3 tours a year . Different tour companies . Tauck I like very much . It is in my top two . The other top one ALLOWS tips in advance ! The tour company collects thru credit card and some how gets the tip to TD and bus driver . If this large Company can do it , Tauck should be able to do it . Customer Service is very important - this is important to many customers .
One TD at another company, when some of our group expressed concern about carrying tip money around, he offered to keep our tip envelopes for us, hand them back at the end of the tour and we could add, subtract or whatever.
To be fair to the TDs - I expect they don't want any kind of app or payment through the Tauck website. They want to get all that money in cash.
I'm not pointing fingers, but a lot of people and businesses who are paid in cash don't report all that cash. It's possible that the TDs prefer to get tips in a way that doesn't track how much they receive.
Comments
I'm with you, Mike. I also think that the surveys are rather meaningless when hotels are lumped together and I hate the choose a number between 1 and 5 aspect of surveys. For some time I have ignored them while on vacation, come home, and send a thoughtful critique of the trip. It takes me longer to do so but Tauck has thanked me for giving a more meaningful review.
Someone suggested carrying fifties or hundreds. I never carry those cuz they are difficult to cash. I carry dollars that are the latest series, not new bills which are difficult to get even at a bank. If the bills are the latest series and not a crumpled up mess, they normally work just fine.
The higher denominations I take are not for discretionary use but for the tour directors and coach driver(s).
the Moores: I agree with all the mentioned about the surveys. There is no possible way that Tauck can get an accurate sense when guests such as myself fill them out in a hurry. Most of the time they are handed out on a bus with not enough time to shower and change for dinner or for the farewell dinner for that matter when we all like to put on nicer clothes. I've found myself hurrying through the survey rather than really thinking about what I would like to convey.
Yes and occasional you are given the survey before the end of the tour and asked to give it back and then something happens you wish you could have commented on.
Evaluations using a 1 - 5 scale can be useful to quickly identify aspects of a tour, etc. that were positive and where no follow-up action is needed; and aspects that might have been bad and where further research and or action might be required on their part, especially rapid action is needed when a large number of respondents rate a particular aspect as a 1 and provide negative comments.
Personally, I would prefer more time to really think about a tour before spending a lot of time evaluating it. For that reason I complete the Hope and Trust as requested, then when appropriate, I follow up with an email to customer relations with specifics about anything negative or particularly noteworthy.
Somewhat likewise. I normally call customer relations after each trip. They know me. They actually called one time to schedule a formal interview to get my opinions on the operations and service. I have a great deal of contact with management. Some folks on this website got a friend of mine fired, and I was unable to fix that. He now works for another tour company where another friend works. For obvious reasons I will not name that company. If you do have a problem with a Tauck employee, talk to them about it. If you ‘write them up’ you may be costing someone their job.
MY last comment : we go on 2 to 3 tours a year . Different tour companies . Tauck I like very much . It is in my top two . The other top one ALLOWS tips in advance ! The tour company collects thru credit card and some how gets the tip to TD and bus driver . If this large Company can do it , Tauck should be able to do it . Customer Service is very important - this is important to many customers .
If you tip in advance and the service is terrible is there an option for a tip refund after the tour?
Yeah, that's more like a charge than a tip for recognition of the service.
One TD at another company, when some of our group expressed concern about carrying tip money around, he offered to keep our tip envelopes for us, hand them back at the end of the tour and we could add, subtract or whatever.
A modernized Tauck app could be the answer.
But not likely to happen in my lifetime.
To be fair to the TDs - I expect they don't want any kind of app or payment through the Tauck website. They want to get all that money in cash.
I'm not pointing fingers, but a lot of people and businesses who are paid in cash don't report all that cash. It's possible that the TDs prefer to get tips in a way that doesn't track how much they receive.