Problem with Crillon Tours in Bolivia
Bonnie
portion of this trip was arranged with Crillon Tours. This is an
agency which bills itself as top of the line. We had a few problems
with them which I wrote them about upon our return. I have copied
here verbatim (and with none of the commentary I'd like to insert) the
initial messsage from me and the final message to me from them. (In
between, there was a reply to my message in Spanish. I replied to
their questions about the details of our trip with them and asked them
to reply in English because I had written to them in Miami and in
English.)
TO: Darius Morgan Sr, PRESIDENT Crillon Tours Ent. Inc.
July 17, 2001
Four of us have just returned from what was primarily a wonderful
journey to Bolivia and Peru. I had been looking forward to visiting
Lake Titicaca for many years and was thrilled to finally be there. In
our experience, Crillon Tours failed by far to live up to its
self-proclaimed luxury status. Your Inca Utama Hotel should be rated
as barely a three-star hotel. Only one of the reasons was the
overpowering foul smell in the first room we were shown. Although the
hotel was almost empty, we had to beg to have our rooms switched to
ones more facing the lake. I will not be bothered listing its many
other deficiencies. Further, we had a wonderful country guide provided
by our primary tour company but the guides you imposed suffered
gravely by comparison.
Despite the inferiorities, I would not be bothered writing to you if
it were not for the most egregious of your failings. I am baffled by
the arrogance of a company which charges exorbitant rates and then has
the audacity to alter an itinerary so that primary sites are omitted
without notice, comment, or apology. As we sailed away from the Island
of the Sun at Lake Titicaca, your guide sprinkled the passengers with
water from the "Bolivian national flower" (actually she used the
Peruvian flower). Do you really think that this charade could come
close to compensating us for your failure to show us the highlights of
the Island, including the Fountain, as promised? I can assure you that
it did not; rather it was an insult -- oh, these dumb tourists will
never know the difference! Instead of introducing us properly to this
very significant site, as promised and paid for, we made a 10 minute
stop at the Pilko Kaina Palacio del Inca from where we could see none
of the island and then we promptly sped away. I actually could not
believe what was happening! I asked the guide about, for instance, the
Fountain and she told me lamely that it was not so important to see it
in person because she would perform a ceremony on the boat. My friends
and I were outraged but unable to do anything about it at the time.
Is this any way to treat customers? I am hereby giving you notice that
I intend to pose this question on the Latin America Travel bulletin
boards. Unfortunately, the travel industry has gained some notoriety
for not living up to its contracts. I was quite surprised to learn
that Crillon Tours, which promotes itself as providing such high-class
services, did such a shoddy job in our case! I am certain that
prospective customers will appreciate being warned.
FROM: Hayde Ocampo
Manager Operation Dept.
Crillon Tours S.A. La Paz Bolivia
DATE: July 31at 2001
We have received your two nasty Emails sent to our Information Office
in
Miami and in spite of your offensive expressions; we have ordered a
full
investigation on your claims. You must remember that your services
were
requester by another company, which should know our programs, and as
we run
our operation for over 40 years.
Since you are the first among over 300.000 satisfied clients we served
for
over 40 years, we consider that your reaction on the "Dependable DMC",
our
prices and comments on the of the travel industry, which is no
industry
because we do not manufacture anything, is due to your personal
frustration
and luck of experience within the international travel. For the
mentioned
reasons, for us, you are not qualified to rate our hotels or services.
If you can send us a fax number we will forward you the several
reports we
have received from our hotel manager, guides and people involved on
the
date of your lake trip but they are in Spanish, which is the official
language of Bolivia, and you will have to use a translator. Since you
only
speak English, for us, is completely normal to answer in the same
language.
We can do it in several languages as well; therefore your comment is
again
insulting our company.
Never the less I must point out several facts:
1. As per one of your claims at Inca Utama Hotel your room was changed
and
note that you have been accommodated at the Colonial Tower where rooms
are
more expensive.
2. Your program was granted completely as requested ending in
Copacabana.
We are sorry for the fountain but you have received the Pilcocaina
ruins,
which are more important from the cultural point of view. When
passengers
are programmed to return by hydrofoil we include the fountain on the
returning cruise.
3. Our cruise includes the best of the lake and we never heard that we
are
"Just ferrying people".
4. Your luck of knowledge is showed with the Kantuta Flower. Perhaps
you
should know that Peru and Bolivia were originally one country, which
had
the Kantuta as a national symbol. Currently only Bolivia maintain this
concept and everybody knows that it is the Bolivian National Flower.
5. About you friends Mr. & Mrs. Thaler you fail to tell the thru
because
looking at their comment card we see that they were satisfied
qualifying
all our services as good and/or excellent.
Bill y Elena Harriman
very accommodating during a January visit to La Paz. The timing of my
trip was such that I was the only person scheduled for their hydrofoil
trip that day. I should mention that early January is not the tourist
season but it was convenient as I was living in Argentina at the time.
When they discovered I was the only passenger, we discussed various
options but they decided that our original agreement (made via e-mail) was
for the hydrofoil tour and that is exactly what I got. I was the only
passenger on their "smallest" hydrofoil; it seats 20. I thought their
staff was very professional and the guide who accompanied me knowledgeable
(and in 4 languages).
Sorry your experience was not as positive.
JohnM
<harr...@ix.netcom.com> writes
I concur. I wanted to travel by hydrofoil on Lake Titicaca, so I took
the (expensive for Bolivia) Crillon tour bus all the way to Puno and I
stopped myself for a few nights in Copacabana; I thought they were fine.
The point is, I booked them in La Paz and they were not billed to me as
'luxury', so it is probably the mistake of the subcontractor at Billie's
original point-of-contact or more likely her expectations. Bolivia is
not Florida, Cancun or Acapulco. If you want to travel by hydrofoil on
Lake Titicaca Crillon are your best option and I would recommend them.
I posted to this very newsgroup three years ago my travel experiences
and this is what I had to say about Crillon tours. This is part of
a longer travelogue, and I have not changed anything. Note the number
of guides provided.
It's from
http://www.scroll.demon.co.uk/satrip/satrip.htm
(Lake Titicaca chapter).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Crillon bus was big and empty. It would drive us to Copacabana where
I would stay for two days. The rest of the passengers (all four of them)
would continue on to Puno changing to a Peruvian bus coming the other
way. Two of the passengers were American, and I started talking to them
from moment dot. It is odd that most of the people who read this in
cyberspace will be Americans, whereas in real space they are much more
rare, outnumbered by the Germans, the French, the British or even the
Swiss. There is an absolute dearth of people from the States in the age
range 21-45. You meet mostly students or retired folk; Richard (a
postman from Fresno) and his mate Paul (a software games programmer from
Oregon) were an exception. They provided me with a partial answer.
Americans work hard on their careers when they are young until late
middle age and they are not helped by an abominably low holiday
entitlement. Whereas for Germans, say, the culture of Wanderlust is well
engrained in their blood with six-weeks holiday the norm in most jobs.
Richard and Paul were making the most of ten days holiday in Peru and
Bolivia; going to as many places as they could in that time. They
observed uncannily that the five of us were being taken care of by four
staff: the driver, the carry-boy, the English tour guide Irena from
Ukraine (who had married a guy from La Paz five years ago - now there's
a good gene pool mix) and another, Spanish-speaking tour guide. All this
and the bus was holding 44 ?
"There is a big party of Germans (there is always a big party of
Germans) coming from Puno whom we are picking up in Copacabana",
explained Irena. "So relax and enjoy the trip".
We drove north through the altiplano passing the magnificent Huayana
Potosi on our right through an increasingly verdant landscape. As we
were drawing nearer to the lake, I saw my first tree since Sucre and the
first signs of large-scale horticulture: haba beans, alfalfa, quinoa and
barley. No underestimating the importance of Lake Titicaca on the Andean
population. It has just under 1% salinity; this allows it to stay
unfrozen all year round and keep a constant temperature of 10-12C. The
effect on the weather of such a large body of water is immense. No
wonder Tiwanaku prospered around its coast and the Inca legends have
their first ancestors - their Adam and Eve - emerging from its waters.
Lake Titicaca is one of the place names with most resonance in our
universal culture: up there with Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, the
Sahara, the Himalayas, Siberia or Jerusalem. Seeing Titicaca for the
first time has the same effect of bumping into a famous movie star;
everyone thinks they know him personally and everyone is stunned when
proof of his existence is finally provided through a face-to-face
encounter. I was thrilled to bits.
The lake is divided between Peru and Bolivia (the latter joke that they
have the Titi and Peruvians have the Caca) and it means 'wildcat rock'
after its shape. Indeed, if you look at it from above, it resembles a
kind of local wildcat stretching its paws. This is a pattern throughout
the area : the Incas and other civilisations (most notably the Nazca
with their lines) seemed to be concerned, if not know, how natural or
man-made features looked from above. There is no evidence they practised
hang-gliding, but with all the hallucinogens they took, I don't think
they needed much mechanical help for lift-off.
We got off at Huatajata where a five-star hotel (and a Very Hearty
Breakfast) awaited us with a huge porcelain bowl of high quality coca
leaves for tea (by now I was an expert). I stashed half the bowl in my
pocket for further mastication. Around the hotel Crillon tours had built
an eco-village where llamas were ready to be photographed next to women
in full regalia, ponchos were being weaved and boats were being
constructed from totoro reeds for the sake of tourists. I should remind
you that Thør Heyerdahl built his Kon-Tiki boats here in order to try
and justify his thesis that Easter Island was colonised by the Tiwanaku
culture. Yes, there are some retaining walls on the island that look
like Andean walls and one ancient 'moai' which looks like the monoliths
in Tiwanaku (but frankly I think it looks like a Tahitian 'tiki'), but
modern DNA testing has proved without a doubt that the indigenous
population and all skeletons found on the island are of Polynesian
origin.
Anyway, where was I ? Oh, the Crillon eco-village for people who dare
not venture in the countryside and want the countryside brought to them.
Nuff said.
Still, the trip on the catamaran was magical and not-quite but sort-of
worth the extortionate price of the tour. Titicaca, not unlike Lake
Tahoe, is at a high altitude (yes, yes, the highest navigable lake in
the world at 3800m) and causes low clouds with strange formations to
overhang. The crystal clear atmosphere turns the sky cyan and the waters
of the lake deep blue; it is however, beyond the straits of Tiguina,
between the twin villages of San Pedro and San Pablo, where the full
enormity of the lake becomes evident. At the straits I watched in
disbelief, as a peasant on a raft carried a whole bus across from San
Pedro to San Pablo with a paddle; there was also an outpost of the
Bolivian Third Navy ("NO PICTURES" our captain said with comic
seriousness). Beyond the straits, the horizon diffuses and the landscape
looks blurred in blue like a Seurat painting. Villas dot the coastline,
a kind of Malibu Andino.
We first approached the Isla de la Luna where the Inca virgins kept the
fire of the Sun going - and weaved the vestments of the great Inca. In
the 1940s a military regime and Bolivia has had its fair share) turned
the main temple into an open prison and destroyed it to use the stones
for building houses for the guards. As it happens there was a football
match between the guards and the prisoners. The guards won and got so
pissed celebrating, the prisoners nicked their boats and escaped to
Peru. No prisoners - no reason for a prison left; but the temple (one of
the most complete from Inca times) was lost to the world forever.
The Isla del Sol is inhabited by Aymara Indians who have certainly
caught on that tourists like to take pictures. They pose in their
clothes and their llamas and demand $1 for a picture. They have even
wisened up to the zoom lens and they know that you are not taking a
picture of the landscape if you are pointing your long lens in their
general direction. Children demand sweets; as a result, teeth cavities
have started appearing amongst the children living closest to the small
harbour servicing the tourist boats, a phenomenon unknown before. The
commercial savvy of the Indians on the Isla del Sol was a shock to the
system - and an indication of things to come in Peru.
Richard and I climbed to the top of the of the mountain, to the Fountain
of the Eternal Youth. Irena collected some water and afterwards she
sprinkled it on us while we were chanting the Inca magic words. Well, it
didn't work. Back to mud masks I'm afraid.
Given the propensity of Inca temples in Lake Titicaca and the mystery of
the lost Inca gold, it's an even greater mystery why no archaeological
dives in a grand scale have ever been actioned. Yes, Cousteau in
1968-1973 organised an expedition after rumours of an underground city
were spread, but he only found walls that would have served as
breakwaters when the level dropped. In 1977, an illegal underwater
investigation by a Japanese team was caught red-handed. Stone boxes with
ritual Inca offerings were found in their possession, but the Japanese
never told the authorities where they located them. They, too, however,
spoke of an underground city with rows of columns and walls. In 1988
another, legal Japanese team started investigations by the small island
of Koa where a ridge and an underground cave were known to exist - and
bingo! more stone boxes and more figurines were found. And that, ten
years ago was the most successful underwater expedition in the lake - we
have only just started. This is one of the interesting points about
South and Central America. Investigation is still going on. Finds in
Tiwanaku in the mid 80s, Titicaca in the late 80s and Chinchorro in
Arica in the early 90s plus the research on Easter Island have turned
archaeology exciting. To give you an idea: the first place I went to in
Latin America was Mexico in 1987, as I was interested (and still am) in
the Maya culture above all. I saw what there was to see, but now I have
to go back. The excavations at Copan and elsewhere have unearthed much
which did not exist ten years ago.
--
JohnM More Football Delights #10
"David O' Leary's poker face betrays his emothions.." ITV
Web site http://www.scroll.demon.co.uk/spaver.htm
Brazil 500 travelogue http://www.scroll.demon.co.uk/brazil/index.htm
Bonnie
a couple of John's statements -- as to our trip. Our trip was
DEFINITELY billed as luxury and was DEFINITELY expensive by any
standards (not just Bolivia). (In La Paz, we were actually warned
that we were seriously over-paying.) We are all 50-somethings who
travel extensively (despite Crillon's assertion that we do not), we
speak sufficient Spanish and French to get around, and we understand
quite well about travel standards in various parts of the world. We
DID NOT take a Crillon bus; we DID take the Crillon hydrofoil. In
fact, we stayed at Crillon's Inca Utama Hotel in Huatajata for 2
nights from which we took their hydrofoil for a day on Kalahuta
Island. We then took the larger hydrofoil from Huatajata to
Copacabana. We were scheduled to have tours along the way on the
Islands of the Moon and of the Sun. It was the Island of the Sun
which was not explored as promised. There were several other problems
with Crillon. There's no need to go into them. I think their letter
speaks for itself. Why anyone would want to risk traveling with a
company which has the potential to treat its customers with such
disdain is a mystery. I only posted the initial messages as a warning
to others who may be considering travel with Crillon. Unfortunately,
it seems like they think (possibly correctly) that they have a lock on
upper-end travel in this part of the world and they can treat people
however they like.
JohnM
<medi...@earthlink.net> writes
>I am not interested in carrying on a diatribe here but I must correct
>a couple of John's statements -- as to our trip. Our trip was
>DEFINITELY billed as luxury and was DEFINITELY expensive by any
>standards (not just Bolivia). (In La Paz, we were actually warned
>that we were seriously over-paying.)
Where did you book the tour ? In La Paz or before you reached Bolivia ?
>We are all 50-somethings who
>travel extensively (despite Crillon's assertion that we do not), we
>speak sufficient Spanish and French to get around, and we understand
>quite well about travel standards in various parts of the world.
Where else have you been in Latin America outside this tour ? I think
this is a key question. On the way from Copacabana to Puno I met
a Swiss couple in their 50s (who adopted me ) and they also seemed
to enjoy the tour - but they were living in Bogota .
>We
>DID NOT take a Crillon bus; we DID take the Crillon hydrofoil. In
>fact, we stayed at Crillon's Inca Utama Hotel in Huatajata for 2
>nights from which we took their hydrofoil for a day on Kalahuta
>Island.
OK. I know where you've been - I described it in my post. That frankly
is one of the best hotels I have seen in Bolivia, although there is a
Radisson in La Paz. I do not stay in luxury hotels or have luxury tours
but I had just been robbed on the way to La Paz and I did not want to
use public transport. I can't remember how much I paid,
but yes it was expensive. However, I had already been in Bolivia
for 3 weeks and Crillon was certainly the most professional
company I came across.
>We then took the larger hydrofoil from Huatajata to
>Copacabana. We were scheduled to have tours along the way on the
>Islands of the Moon and of the Sun. It was the Island of the Sun
>which was not explored as promised.
As I described, I walked up to the fountain with one of the guides.
Did you not stop at all ?
>There were several other problems
>with Crillon. There's no need to go into them. I think their letter
>speaks for itself. Why anyone would want to risk traveling with a
>company which has the potential to treat its customers with such
>disdain is a mystery. I only posted the initial messages as a warning
>to others who may be considering travel with Crillon. Unfortunately,
>it seems like they think (possibly correctly) that they have a lock on
>upper-end travel in this part of the world and they can treat people
>however they like.
Well, it's sad your experience was bad but it was different than mine.
Ultimately it comes down to the guides and your luck of the draw.
I am also posting my experiences with another tour operator in La Paz
for you to compare. I thought THEY were bad :-) but we nearly died :-)
This was also posted in this ng three years ago.
As you can see, there are worse operators in La Paz. Do read the
last para - this is what I recommend you should have done on the spot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Up at 8:00am with a hangover and a Bad Mood. The bus didn't arrive 'till
much later trying to pick up people from all four corners of the city.
Amongst the passengers were two English guys, Stephen and Glen who I
spoke to immediately. Then there were two Swedes who sat next to me: the
first was called Bjørn - so I couldn't resist the quip: "No, don't tell
me, the other one's Benny". Amazingly everyone got the joke and laughed
- but the other Swede was called Rainer. Well, I called him Benny like
it or not. The guide, Wendy, was cool, too and so was also a German guy
called Lothar next to whom I sat.
I was the star storyteller with my tale of robbery in Oruro which
everyone heard with rapt attention. Stephen shook his head and revealed
that he, too, had his passport stolen in Quito market one month before.
He had to wait three days for a replacement. It's amazing how many
people admitted to me that they had also been robbed after I told them
my story. But since I lost everything, I outshone them all. I never
realized I could get so many kudos amongst travellers for having been so
comprehensively fleeced.
Before we went to Chacaltaya, we had a glimpse of the Valle de la Luna.
It is not that impressive, especially since we did not visit the
cactarium, with all the various types of cactus which looked brilliant
from high up. Dazzling views from El Alto again which sweep you off your
feet, especially if there are some photogenic clouds, (remember, now I
had a camera!) as we headed to the valley of Zongo and the winding dirt
forks that make up the road to Chacaltaya. There the photogenic clouds
turned suddenly into fog and eventually, after 4500m, into hail and
snow. When we reached 5000m, visibility was nil. Still, we plodded on
until the driver (who was new and inexperienced) lost command of the car
and we skidded back - thankfully not on a precipice.
Lothar became nervous and so was I. We were in a mini van and were
clearly in need of a 4WD. We couldn't see anything and hoped that the
driver could. We gave him the benefit of the doubt. However, when he
stalled the engine on a steep crooked curve, and we rolled
uncontrollably backwards some 6 feet or so, I jumped out. Lothar came
out with me. We both refused to enter the car again.
"How far to the top ?", I asked Wendy.
"About 300m", she said.
"In that case", I said, "I will climb myself to the ski lift". Lothar
nodded in agreement.
To her credit, Wendy decided to accompany us herself.
And so it came to pass that I climbed to 5300m in the wind and snow,
following a high tension cable that hung and swayed dangerously close
above our heads, wheezing from the altitude and cursing everyone and no
one in particular. Truth is, I was scared. Only the other week, a bus
had fallen in Sorata killing 36 people. In Bolivia with its stony steep
and narrow Andes roads, a bus falls off a cliff every two weeks. And if
they continue to drive with no visibility and no chains, one can
understand why.
I arrived at the top breathless and cold. When Wendy asked me for $2 for
the entrance fee, I exploded. Not only did I not pay, but I also wrote a
denuncia which I threatened to pass on to my friends in the tourist
police. A fellow Chilean passenger, agreed with me, drafted a complaint
of his and gave it to me.
The conditions improved (people were snow boarding in the storm, living
life to the Max just like a Pepsi advert) and at about 1:30pm we started
descending. Still hair-raising but less so. I closed my eyes in the most
dangerous bends.
Stephen and Glen were scathing about my complaints:
"You should not come to Bolivia if you expect that things are done as in
Europe. You should expect some rough", they said.
I found this line of argument annoying.
"So how are things going to change if we, who have some clout, do not
make any noise? You are leaving tomorrow; Wendy is staying and we are
compromising HER life as well. Or are you saying that life is cheaper in
the developing countries and we shouldn't bother?".
The Swedes found a compromise:
"Scare the agency but not go to the police - the driver might lose his
licence and his livelihood", they suggested.
Which is what I did and I got my money back.
Bonnie
and standards that subjectively affect our impressions and our
descriptions of our travels, Crillon's letter speaks for itself
without our own filters. It seems to me that the details of my issues
with Crillon are not really as important as the official response of
Crillon to my concerns. Whereas a simple "We're sorry that you were
disappointed"; would have sufficed, they thought it was perfectly
acceptable to attack me in a manner which seems to prove my point.
What kind of a company in a service "industry" thinks it's just fine
to attack its customers--especially when the customer has put them on
notice that she will share this information on this bulletin board?
Clearly, one that is arrogant enough to believe that it is far
superior to its customers, one that doesn't care at all about
customers who are too stupid to get along without them, one which
believes it is the only game in the whole country. Unfortunately, they
may be right. I'm not sure that my specific answers make much
difference but I don't want to ignore your sincere attempt to parse
this situation so I will embed my replies after your questions below.
> Where did you book the tour ? In La Paz or before you reached Bolivia ?
extensively (despite Crillon's assertion that we do not), we
> Where else have you been in Latin America outside this tour ? I think
> this is a key question. On the way from Copacabana to Puno I met
> a Swiss couple in their 50s (who adopted me ) and they also seemed
> to enjoy the tour - but they were living in Bogota .
We have traveled to Ecuador, Chile, Argentina (including the
Malvinas), Bolivia, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico and you might even
include (geographically, though perhaps not culturally) Trinidad &
Tabago since it’s only 11 miles from Venezuela
>
> >We
> >DID NOT take a Crillon bus; we DID take the Crillon hydrofoil. In
> >fact, we stayed at Crillon's Inca Utama Hotel in Huatajata for 2
> >nights from which we took their hydrofoil for a day on Kalahuta
> >Island.
>
> OK. I know where you've been - I described it in my post. That frankly
> is one of the best hotels I have seen in Bolivia, although there is a
> Radisson in La Paz.

In La Paz, we stayed at the Europa, the hotel which had been
recommended by Elena, and we liked it very much. We also had a
country guide provided by a wonderful Bolivian tour company, APA APA
TREK. I cannot recommend them more highly!!! We found them to be
superior in every way. They were knowledgeable, thorough, hospitable,
friendly.
>
> Did you not stop at all ?
Yes, we stopped. We climbed the steps from the dock to the
Pilko Kaino Palace which is fully visible from the water. There is a
chain link fence there which prevents people from going any further or
even seeing any other part of the island. It was fairly clear that
the guide knew we were being short-changed and that is why she tried
to placate us with the charade of sprinkling us with water from the
flower as if that could take the place of seeing more of the island,
including but not limited to the fountain. After all, the Island of
the Sun is the most important Inca site on Lake Titicaca; but,
apparently, dumb tourists are not supposed to care about such details.
> Well, it's sad your experience was bad but it was different than mine.
> Ultimately it comes down to the guides and your luck of the draw.
> I am also posting my experiences with another tour operator in La Paz
> for you to compare. I thought THEY were bad :-) but we nearly died :-)
> This was also posted in this ng three years ago.
To some extent, of course, you are correct. There can be
random differences between guides. Unfortunately, that does not appear
to be the problem here. The problem with Crillon seems to be one
which permeates the whole company from the top down. After all, this
letter to me was not from a random guide but an official letter from
management confirming their attitude toward their customers, including
one who has made it clear of her intent to post her concerns on this
very bulletin board. THEY COULD CARE LESS.
In addition to the fact that I did advise the guide at the time, I
believe that these postings are precisely in keeping with how you
handled your problem with the other tour operator.