Sorry to say, but Hovd Tours is not a good travel agency. I picked Hovd because (1) it promised to get four of us who were traveling together from Moscow to Beijing, (2) it had a great website, (3) the agency seemed to respond well to all questions and, (4) most of all, every other travel group I contacted seemed totally incompetent. But it was a mistake. Hovd made mistake after mistake: no one to meet us for transport or promised tour in Moscow or Kazan, no hotel reservations in Listvyanka, train tickets that cost half the price of the ones promised from Irkutsk to Ulaan Baatar (and put us in a very uncomfortable situation), a totally inexperienced guide in Mongolia who had great English and was very sweet, but didn't know much about what we were seeing and was young and irresponsible (he failed to show up completely one morning so we and our driver had to wait for him for over an hour), promised reservations at the ger camp in Khustain not properly made(the camp was kind enough to set up small tents for us). When we made one change in our itinerary that cost slightly more than the planned itinerary, we were required to pay the extra cost even though many of the services we had actually paid for were never provided (with no refund to us). We declined the offered transportation to the train station when we were leaving on the train for Beijing because we simply couldn't rely on anyone actually showing up. The guy who runs the place, Gankhuyag, seems like a nice guy, but he had no answers when presented with our complaints and eventually simply stopped responding to our emails. We were sad and disappointed, but still we loved our trip. It just could have been so much better if we had been provided the trip we had been led to expect. I have no alternatives to suggest. Most people we encountered were not happy with the quality of their guides, but no one had the types and quantity of problems we encountered using Hovd. Keep that in mind when admiring the great Hovd website.
dear cfp,
While advice on various tour groups is always welcome, when the person posting the advice is a first-time poster to the Thorn Tree, we (forum members) have to wonder why you came here to post when you didn't come here earlier to ask if anyone had any experience with this or other groups?
Even if no one had had specific information/experience, often forum members will recommend a site/blog/book/etc which could hold useful advice.
Did you ask for advice on any other sites before booking?
I'm not saying everyone should always ask for advice before doing anything to do with travel, not at all. But for someone to come here to complain with now way for us to know if your complaints/issues were valid, well it's hard to accept as presented.
I'm not defending the company or anyone involved with it, just interested in a level playing field. It is (unfortunately) too common for people to come here on time only to complain about something, never to return.
Are you an official spokesperson for this forum? I'm not sure what motivates your comments. I'm a bit resentful at your implication that my problems with Hovd were not real and that you cannot accept what I have to say. If this is a typical reception for new participants, I expect many do not bother to come back. I have reviewed this forum many times, especially when planning for my Russia/Mongolia/China trip. I have never had a reason to post, but I do post often on other sites - check Californiaflyingpig on Trip Advisor. I did read negative reviews about Hovd on this forum before we left, but Hovd provided excuses for the complaints that seemed reasonable. This appears to be one of the few forums on which comments about various travel groups can be posted - it was one of the only places I found any comments - positive or negative - about Hovd. However, I felt insufficiently warned as to the quality of Hovd's services even though I searched the internet as best I could. I am simply hoping to advise others as to our problems - I'm not sure how else one could find out. But I'm happy to never return to Thorn Tree Forum if the official Thorn Tree conclusion is that my comments are not appropriate, welcome or believed.
Hi,
I can't see any implication in sfgirl's reply that she does not believe you or thinks that your problems were in fact not real.
Perhaps what she meant to suggest is that thorn tree is something of a traveller's community and that by posting queries, replies and suggestions to multiple threads over a period of time a user builds credibility to the point that their complaints and compliments can be taken more seriously. In this case, it might appear to a few regular posters to this forum that your complaint could be slightly ingenuous - although I am sure that it is in fact justified - given that it is not accompanied by any other involvement in the group.
Anyway, sorry you had a bad experience and hope you get the chance to come back to Mongolia someday!
Chris.
I understand, but I have to interpret the comment by sfgirl that my criticism of Hovd was "hard to accept as presented" at face value - that she simply didn't believe me. And apparently only because I was a newcomer. I see under Forum guidelines that newcomers should be welcomed and that comments should be respectful. I do not feel welcomed and certainly feel disrespected. Thus far, this forum feels a bit like a typical internet free-for-all bashing site.
We are not that bad. And if you were treated badly by this tour company, you have of course every right to complain (how effective it is to complain here is another matter). However, just like in real life, people are more likely to take this sort of advice seriously when they know you. If I would tell you to avoid this company and your best friend says it is great, who would you rather believe?
Don't take it personally, but this forum has a long history of first-time posters who seemingly only joined this forum to post a complaint. In extreme cases, there even have been business owners who posted as disgruntled customers in order to slander their competitors.
You are more than welcome to TT. I just hope you have more to share with other travellers than only this bad review.
P.S. I have read reply #1 again and honestly think you are a bit overreacting. The nicd thing of this forum is that it has a bunch of long-standing users with a critical mind. If people do not immediately fully agree with what you writr, that does not mean they are disrespectful.
I was acting as a devil's advocate.
People post negative reviews for a variety of reasons---this is not just my view, it is one to be found on may travel forums. A hotel is accused of something and it turns out the person posting the complaint worked for a competitor.
I saw several negative posts on a local motel which were funny in that the complaints were not just wrong, they were obviously wrong:
"The air conditioning wasn't working"
The motel website says they don't have air conditioning but ceiling fans.
"The carpeting was filthy and looked like it hadn't been shampooed in years"
Photos of the room show they all have tile floors, no carpeting at all.
And so on.
Why did these people post the same or similar complaints in a week's period? Who knows? The website could have had the bad posts removed (the site allows it) but the owner chose to let them stay--with his responses to show that all criticisms are not just.
I know in the WE forum we continue to get complaints about a variety of problems people have...including asking our assistance with communicating with the police in Spain....all first time posters.
We provide what we hope are positive, productive responses to queries.
Someone has recently posted over a dozen requests for information on what he should consider if he wanted to retire to _______...and each post was for another location.
Thorn Tree isn't the right place for someone with needs like that.
Another recent post was someone who booked a tour from the UK to Tahiti...only to find out the travel agent didn't advise them they would need a transit visa for the US as that is where they'll change planes.
This is a new poster but we are doing what we can to help resolve the problem (getting a refund from the agent) because we already know that some travel agents are clueless and didn't do their job.
A complaint like yours may be valid...we don't know. But since there is nothing we can do except say 'sorry, bad luck'....if someone has questions about Mongolia and/or that specific company then if they'll do a search, your post will be there.
We (as a forum) cannot verify your post so we cannot validate the complaints. You have posted, your post stands without any endorsement from a forum member. If someone reads it and says, yes, that happened to me, then it's two strikes against the company.
I wasn't picking on you personally, but on the 'first poster complaint' issue....
Actually, I read sfgirl42's comments the same way as the OP--the insinuation is that the post is bogus and I don't blame OP for being insulted. I'd also like to point out that far from being an "official spokesperson" for this forum, sfgirl42 has all of about a dozen comments on the NE Asia forum so it's not like she's a regular here. Since she's obviously not helpful on Mongolia per se, parachuting in and crapping all over what IMO was a reasonable post, was poor form. I've seen in my time plenty of suspect first-poster complaints and the OP's complaint did not read as a put-on or a hack job by a competitor--it came across as a true appraisal of an experience.....one just gets a gut feel about these things. Also, sfgirl certainly doesn't speak for me and the "We...." tone of the last post raises my eyebrows and my hackles.
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