It is not kimkim practice to provide their clients/travelers with an itemized list of cost breakdown, so we had no idea how much we paid for things. Kimkim agents would not share the cost of anything when we asked either.
Once the trip is booked through kimkim, no matter how far in advance you cancel and no matter what happens, you cannot get a refund for anything. Unforseen circumstances always arise when traveling, so it is aggravating that kimkim does not have any flexibility on this whatsoever. This also makes the travellers feel taken advantage of by kimkim.
We were unaware that a couple of our hotels recommended and booked by kimkim did not allow flushing of toilet paper down the toilet. We have never been to Thailand before, so this isn't something we even knew we should be aware of. If we knew this, we never would have booked these hotels... It is concerning and upsetting that our travel agent did not let us know about this in advance. To note, it is your job as a travel agent to provide as many details to your clients as possible and to be 100% transparent (which ironically kimkim prides itself for on its website). Although there was supposedly nothing wrong with either hotel per kimkim standards, there was definitely something wrong with both of our hotels chosen by kimkim per our standards. It was entirely kimkim's fault for ill-advising us regarding these hotels, yet my husband and I were the ones who were forced to pay for two additional hotels. This cost us a ton of money unexpectedly and we suffered needlessly at the hands of kimkim. This situation could easily have been avoided if our travel agent Mint had just communicated clearly with us in the first place. Kimkim has done nothing thus far to ameliorate this situation for us.
Google reviews of hotels were seemingly not taken into account. Kimkim books with specific hotels and bases their suggestions off past user experiences rather than booking only with highly rated hotels. (Online ratings are extremely important!!! They provide more of an objective lens as well as a much larger sample size). Our hotel in Phuket that kimkim booked for us had a plethora of poor google reviews, but kimkim's excuse for booking this place was "most of our clients enjoyed their stay here".
There was a major pickup confusion/hassle to which kimkim did nothing. We had switched hotels in Chiang Mai on 10-Mar in early afternoon and were told by our travel agent Mint that all parties were notified of this change. However, come 11-Mar, we were supposed to be picked up at 8am but weren't picked up until 9am because the driver was completely unaware what hotel we were at. He went to 1-2 different hotels before getting the right one. He called me twice because he was so confused, and he thought we had just switched hotels that morning. It was frustrating because we rushed to get ready by 8am and then waited for 60 min in the lobby. We were not given any sort of discount or refund for this inconvenience. Kimkim didn't even apologize.
We are not given contact info for any of the drivers. So, if any issues arise (which they did), we are not able to contact them. We are forced to take a roundabout way of communication by contacting our kimkim specialist who then contacts the driver. This is not time-effective. Also, kimkim has no idea what the situation actually is because they aren't there. It makes no sense why kimkim can contact the driver but we as the travelers cannot.
We dealt with frequent late pick-ups with NO communication from kimkim. For example, 13-Mar in Chiang Mai we are told to be ready for pick up at 9am. We rush through breakfast to be ready and in the lobby by 9am. At 915am, I text the travel agent (since I don't have driver contact info) if the driver is here. Travel agent Mint replies at 916am and says the driver is on their way. 930am rolls around and we are still in the lobby with no updates from anyone. I texted Mint again because the driver still hadn't arrived. Mint said she would call the driver. After several minutes, we hadn't had any updates again, so I texted Mint once again asking what happened with the driver. She replied and said this was, to our surprise, a joint pickup and the driver said there "was traffic" (which we knew to be a lie- kimkim had no idea). Regardless of the excuse and regardless of the situation, this delay should have been communicated with us by either the driver or kimkim ASAP so we were not sitting around waiting for almost an hour, wasting our time.
The kimkim itinerary specifically says pickup at "9am". When it reached 915am and we still hadn't received any updates and the driver hadn't arrived, we texted our kimkim agent who said "pickup is actually 9-930am"... A time range is MUCH different than one set time, so why weren't we notified of this range whatsoever when it directly affected us?
Kimkim randomly springing on us that we are riding with a bunch of random strangers when our itinerary has only included private transfers thus far and only finding that out the day of minutes before we were picked up is extremely inconvenient, not to mention inconsiderate.
We needed passport # for ziplining as well as our passport picture for the elephant sanctuary, but neither one of these were on the kimkim itinierary and kimkim did not warn us about this. Thankfully, we already had our passport pics on our phones by some miracle and were able to participate in the activities without issue (with no thanks to kimkim).
Without giving us any prior notice or heads up, our kimkim contact for 2 weeks (Mint) randomly texted us one day 5 min before one of our flights took off and told us to contact someone else going forward because she's "going to be off for a while"... Is this how kimkim's supposed 100% transparency really works?
Neither travel agent EVER checked in with us. This should be the BARE MINIMUM and common sense as a travel agent... To ensure things are on time, that things are going smoothly, that your clients (us) are having a good time and are alive... Both our travel agents Mint and Tina only responded to texts we sent them; they never once checked in on us independently. The last few days of our trip, they went completely dark- we literally didn't hear from them at all. They didn't even wish us well or safe travels (which, literal strangers did for us, but our own travel agents didn't?!). We don't feel cared for or respected by kimkim whatsoever.
Kimkim specifically said our Day 15 (March 17) activity was a "small group". However, we boarded the boat with well over 20 people which is, by definition, not a small group. Not to mention, our "small" group interacted with a ton of other groups, taking away any perceived or possible intimacy of a small group setting.
Our boat island tour on 17-Mar took us to Bamboo Island for 1.5 hours where there were no functional bathrooms and both the beach and the water were oversaturated with people. Additionally, the fish were extremely aggressive and bit me multiple times even though I was calmly and quietly floating on the surface of the water. This day was the absolute WORST by far and honestly one of the worst travel days I've ever had in my life. How could kimkim recommend such a terrible experience?
Hotel quality seemed to differ quite a bit between cities for no apparent reason... For instance, kimkim's chosen hotel in Bangkok (Valia Hotel) was super new, super fancy, 5-star, and highly rated. However, kimkim's chosen hotel in Phuket (The Charm Resort) was 4-star and not too highly rated.
Overall, my husband and I are quite dissatisfied with kimkim and, as it stands, will not book with kimkim again or recommend them to anyone. I am no travel agent, but I am confident I could have planned a better and cheaper trip for my husband and myself with many less hassles. If anyone with access to Google can plan a successful international trip, what makes kimkim stand out? What can they do specially that I can't just do myself? Communication from our kimkim agents was severely lacking for the entire trip duration- so much so that it was easy to forget we even had travel agents. It seemed pretty evident that they didn't care about us. Kimkim prides themselves on 100% customer satisfaction and 100% transparency, yet neither of these things were true during our trip. Such a major disappointment.
Hotel Reviews
Phka Chan Hotel
Siem Reap
My husband and I had a fantastic stay here. Rooms were clean, food was delicious, staff were extremely kind and accommodating, beautiful balcony overlooking the pool, bathrooms were nice, shower water temperature & pressure good, great location, included breakfast was awesome- the noodle soup here was our favorite breakfast food on our entire trip. Bottled water is complimentary. It did take us a bit to figure out the AC (not self explanatory), but once we did it worked fine. Would definitely recommend and would stay here again!
Authenticity & Character
Beautiful scenery, nice pool, nice rooms.
Location
Right next to the bustling main street with tons of restaurants and shops. However, it is still quiet.
Staff
The staff here went above and beyond to ensure we were comfortable and had everything we needed. For instance, my husband has dietary restrictions and staff were extremely accommodating and made sure he had plenty to eat. They even made edits to menu items to accommodate for him.
Cleanliness & Comfort
Rooms were large and very clean. Beds were comfortable.
Valia Hotel Bangkok
Bangkok
Overall, my husband and I had a good stay here. Clean rooms, amazing large bathrooms, decent food, large breakfast buffet, kind staff, excellent water pressure and temperature, comfy beds, excellent AC, good location. The rooms are a bit small.
Staff
Staff were accommodating and kind.
Cleanliness & Comfort
Very clean. Comfortable beds.
Banthai Village
Chiang Mai
We didn't end up staying here.
Much to our surprise, they do not allow flushing of any toilet paper- this was the biggest issue for us. We only found this out upon our arrival at the hotel. The AC unit blows air directly onto the bed which is uncomfortable. The floors are extremely slippery. The shower water didn't seem like it could get hot enough.
Although it seems quaint, it was not for us. Knowing what we know now, we never would have allowed kimkim to book this place.
Location
Although it was relatively quiet, it is a walk to get to any restaurant or downtown.
I picked this place after doing some research, and I was overall not disappointed in my choice.
Beds could be a bit comfier but they were fine. Rooms were relatively large with beautiful views and wildlife abundant. Huge and awesome balcony. AC worked fine. Water temperature was good. Water pressure in shower was severely lacking at times, but only momentarily. Breakfast was lacking- very small and not many options. Staff were kind and accommodating. Food was delicious. We loved that you can book excursions through the hotel- we did the half-day jungle trek at Khao Sok National Park and it was one of our favorite experiences on this entire trip. The biggest con was that the window shades don't close all the way. They do have a pool but it is small.
Would recommend and would stay here again!
Authenticity & Character
Beautiful scenery and wildlife abundant. Most of the walls of the rooms are huge windows. Really feels like a jungle resort.
Location
Very quaint and quiet location surrounded by jungle and wildlife. 5 min drive from Khao Sok National Park and ~10 min walk into small town with cafes, restaurants, and shops.
Staff
Staff were kind and accommodating.
We didn't end up staying here.
This hotel does not allow flushing of any toilet paper- this was a huge issue for us. In addition, multiple Google ratings mention dirty rooms, poor water pressure, and poor water temperature.
Knowing what we know now, we would not have allowed kimkim to book this hotel for us.
Activity Reviews
Phi Phi island, Bamboo Island, Pi Leh lagoon & Maya bay by speedboat
Phuket
If we could rate this 0 stars, we would. This was one of the worst travel experiences we've ever had (and we are long-time world travelers).
Kimkim had on the itinerary that this was a "small group" activity; however, it turns out that this was actually a large group of well over 20 people. Not to mention, our group interacted with countless other large groups so there was no intimacy whatsoever.
Every single place we went was absolutely packed full of tourists. At Maya Bay, you could barely walk because there were so many people. We were given the option to go swimming at Pi Leh Lagoon, but there were so many boats and so many people that you barely had any room to swim. Bamboo Island was no different- the snorkeling area was overwhelmed with bodies. It was absolutely horrible.
It took an entire hour via boat one way to get anywhere. Not only is this travel time excessive, but it wasn't worth the experiences.
The fish at Bamboo Island were extremely aggressive. I was bit multiple times even though I was quietly and peacefully floating at the water's surface.
The bathroom situation for this excursion was horrible. There were literally no functional bathrooms on Bamboo Island and we were stuck there for 1.5 hours (and no soap/hand sani or toilet paper). Maya Bay bathrooms were overcrowded and had no soap or hand sanitizer. The boat did not have any bathrooms.
Snorkeling was a major let down for so many reasons. Note: We've been snorkeling before at world-class snorkel sites and are not beginners. Firstly, the equipment sucked. The mouthpiece was faulty and water kept filling your mouth and the snorkeling tube. They didn't use any defogging material either so after about 5 seconds your goggles would fog up and you couldn't see anything. They didn't supply you with flippers. They didn't give a snorkeling lesson whatsoever, so most people were splashing around and swimming loudly and scaring the fish away.
Quality of Experience
The worst day by far of our entire trip and one of the worst travel experiences I've ever had. Nothing about this entire day/excursion was positive. I have literally nothing good to say. It was terrible.
Food
The food at the very end was disappointing. Not a lot of options and it didn't taste great.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
The guide was clearly just some guy without any real expertise. He didn't give snorkeling lessons or tips. He didn't warn us about no soap on Maya Bay. When we arrived at Maya Bay, he specifically told us to "only bring your phone" without even mentioning there were food & drinks available for purchase (cash only) and we couldn't get back on the boat once we left.
Transport
No bathroom on the boat. For the number of people on this trip, the boat was relatively small with limited seating. It took an entire hour to travel one way.
Chiang Mai Cooking Class Experience-Small Group
Chiang Mai
My husband and I had a magnificent time at this cooking class. It was just me and him which was SO nice. We traveled with our instructor to a local market to pick out fresh ingredients. My husband has dietary restrictions and our instructor was more than willing to accommodate. We were shocked that our class included so many meals- we made one appetizer, two main courses, and dessert. Our instructor explained things very clearly and was very funny and kind. The food tasted so delicious and you get a cookbook at the end. Highly recommend!
Quality of Experience
Intimate and educational experience.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Our instructor was amazing. She was so funny and nice and knowledgeable.
Transport
Our instructor picked us up and dropped us off.
Half-day Experience Zipline at Maetonluang Village
Chiang Mai
This is an activity we specifically requested that kimkim include in our itinerary (and I picked the specific location/company after doing my own research).
Staff were incredible. Views and scenery were incredible. Ziplining was so fun! I felt very safe and taken care of. The lunch buffet at the end was decent. There are bathrooms at the beginning. You traverse the ziplines with a small group. You have the option of paying a photographer to take pics & videos of you ziplining which was well worth it. They have small free storage lockers.
I would highly recommend this activity and would suggest that kimkim add this into potential activities.
Quality of Experience
Such an amazing and fun experience.
Food
Lunch was included and buffet style. It was decent.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Staff were hilarious, friendly, and very knowledgeable.
Transport
Unbeknownst to us, this was a joint pick-up. Kimkim did not inform us of this. We didn't like being crammed into a van with a bunch of strangers. Not to mention, the driver came 1 hour later than scheduled/planned so we were forced to wait in the lobby for that entire duration.
Discover Angkor Wat and Floating Village - Day 1
Cambodia
Overall, this was an awesome experience. It was so cool to see a world wonder (angkor wat). Ta Prohm was probably my favorite part of this day - seeing the massive trees enveloping ancient temples was magical.
However, this was an extremely long day in the heat & humidity and with direct sun exposure. I suffered from heat exhaustion.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. He was very excited to share his culture and country with us.
Transport
Our driver was amazing. He was so friendly and prompt and provided us with a seemingly unlimited supply of cold water bottles.
Exploring Bangkok by local transfers and walking tour
Bangkok
My husband and I had a good day exploring Bangkok with our lovely tour guide. We saw several temples, all of which were cool to see.
Traditional Thai Massage!
Bangkok
This activity was specifically requested by my husband and I. We really enjoyed it! Everyone was very professional and it was quite relaxing.
A visit to Mae Klong Railway market and Damnoen Saduak Floating Market!
Bangkok
This experience was so awesome! We started out at the Mae Klong Railway market. We got there right in time to see the train come in. There were a ton of stalls/vendors and we did quite a bit of shopping. Next, we went to a coconut sugar processing facility which my husband and I thought was really cool. The people there were very nice. Finally, we did the Damnoen floating market. This was our favorite! It was so beautiful. It felt like the Venice of Thailand. There were tons of vendors and really delicious foods. A very unique experience.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Enjoy Food Tasting in Chinatown!
Bangkok
Note: Not recommended for vegans or vegetarians.
Our guide took me to Chinatown where I tried a wide array of unique food items (including jellyfish!). There were SO many food vendors selling so many different kinds of food- mostly items containing meat. I ate so much! The guide paid for everything which was nice. I had a good time.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Elephant Jungle Expedition at Chai Lai Orchid Ecolodge!
Chiang Mai
A life-changing experience. My husband and I did a private tour. Note: This particular sanctuary strives for the ethical treatment of its elephants.
We started off by feeding three adult female elephants sugar cane. We were instructed by staff how to properly do this. Next, we mixed and crushed together an array of medicinal herbs to feed to the elephants for their wellbeing. Then, we took a small stroll with one of the elephants to a mother and her calf. The baby was so playful and cute and fun to watch. It kicked around a soccer ball! We then headed to the river where an elephant was bathing and we helped bathe and splash it. The water was ice cold! Our guide then made us lunch over an open fire and served it to us in a section of bamboo tree trunk. It was delicious! (Note: My husband has dietary restrictions and our guide asked about this prior to making food. He was very accommodating). We next walked a short distance to a waterfall. Finally, we took a ride on a long bamboo raft down the river. You will get wet! This was beautiful and serene. Overall, we had an amazing experience here and would highly recommend!
Quality of Experience
Elephants are such majestic creatures. Spending a day with them was truly remarkable.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Our guide at the sanctuary was humorous, knowledgeable, and friendly.
Transport
Kimkim did not inform us that this would be a group / joint transfer, which was inconsiderate and rather annoying. We didn't enjoy riding with a bunch of strangers.
In addition, there was a major transport mixup due to kimkim's lack of communication. My husband and I had switched hotels the previous morning and were told by our kimkim agent that all parties were notified of this change. The kimkim itinerary said pickup was 8am. However, we weren't picked up until 9am because the driver was completely unaware of what hotel we were at. He went to 1-2 different hotels before he got the right one. He also called me twice because he was so confused, and he had thought we had just switched hotels that morning (when we had actually switched one full day ago). It was extremely frustrating because we rushed through breakfast to get to the lobby by 8am, only to have to wait for an entire hour. Kimkim's communication during this ordeal was severely lacking, and we were not given any sort of discount, refund, or even an apology for this hassle.
