Sadly A Mixed Review
Thailand
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Mar 3 - Mar 16, 2026
i've traveled before with kimkim to Bali and had an amazing experience. Every hotel was beautiful and unique. Every tour guide was fabulous and our overall experience and itinerary were amazing. On this trip, it was mostly positive. but there were a few issues and disappointments. Our hotel in Hanoi was really nothing special, but our Ha Long Bay trip was extraordinary.
Unfortunately, the next day we were supposed to leave for the airport flying out at 2 PM. We were done at 11:30 and if they had sent a driver to take us directly to the airport, we would have made our flight and been there mid afternoon. However, Kien arranged it so that we would return toward Hanoi with the other passengers and then meet another driver to take us to the airport. I was concerned about making the flight when we were waiting for more than half an hour for our first driver to leave then when we got to a stop along the way I found out our driver had no idea about meeting this other driver and he laughed when I told him that our flight was at too. He said there's no way you're going to make it. Kien had promised us it would be no problem. He ended up booking us on a later flight and we had several hours wait in the airport. And instead of reaching. Hoi A mid afternoon and exploring the town. We ended up getting there after 8 PM when it was dark and we had no idea where to go. I told.Kien my frustrations, thinking he was with kimkim and not exotic voyages, the local tour company, and he proceeded to get defensive. He blamed it on our budget and that it would cost more to put a driver in a hotel and pick us up directly as opposed to doing it the way he arranged it. I told him that made little sense and was poor planning because he could've hired a local driver to how long Bay and they could've taken us directly. But instead, we ended up traveling for over eight hours that day, and it could have been avoided. He then made more excuses in broken English before apologizing in Ai perfect English. It felt insincere and like he didn't take accountability for the huge inconvenience he'd created for us. We loved our Cambodian tour guides as well out Namgkok guide but even she had to admit our hotel was in b a random area that was not attractive and far from b everything. The hotel itself was move. Our Phuket hotel was beautiful but far from everything. It would have been nice to know that so we could have decided if that worked for us. Overall, we had a great trip but there were some bumpy patches and it didn't compare to our previous experience with Kimkim.
Hotel Reviews
Nothing special here.
This was an excellent experience and the highlight of our trip. The surroundings were breathtaking.
This was a big, very nice hotel.
The location was nice on the river and the hotel was pleasant. There were prettier spots though on b the river where the boats go and it would have seemed magical.
The hotel was very nice but the area was far away from everything and not so nice.
This is a gorgeous hotel with beautiful jews. It is far away from everything though.
Activity Reviews
We enjoyed the tour v and the wishes on the river but didn't like our pushy guide. He made people mad and caused our rickshaw drivers to refuse us. He also took us to a crafts place beforehand where there was high pressure sales on embroidery item. Felt like a cheap tour at that point where the guides profit by visiting certain shops. He also used a friend of his on the boat tour and he took us v away from all the other boats releasing wishes, which would have been magical. We topped the driver and then I saw our guide take his payment to the man back.
This was not a great experience. it was my ourselves in a non impressive location. it felt dirty and impersonal. We would have enjoyed a group experience in a nicer location.
Loved our guide and dining on the river view from his home. Loved his mom who took us on a separate boat tour.
We spent eight hours of travel to get to Hoi An because of poor planning by Kien and Exotic Voyages.
beautiful.
We loved our guide Set. The tour was interesting and our guide was adaptable.
loved our guide v Annie and the foot massage was awesome!
So interesting and fun.
We loved this.
