I have used Kim Kim twice for planning trips....
Portugal
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Sep 26 - Oct 5, 2025
I have used Kim Kim twice for planning trips. My experience could not have been more different for each trip.
The reason is that Kim Kim simply assigns your trip to a local travel agent for each trip. They do little quality control or monitoring or supervising to see if planning or execution of the trip is proceeding well. So it’s the luck of the draw as to whether or not things work out.
My first trip to Portugal was spectacular. Our trip was assigned to an agency who carefully listened to what we wanted to do, found the perfect guide, transportation and accommodations based on what we said we wanted and stayed in touch with us throughout the planning process and the actual trip.
Our second trip to Portugal was assigned by Kim Kim to a different travel agent, located in another country. That trip turned out to be a miserable experience. Among the problems:
1. The transfers provided by that agency were hit and miss. One transfer did not have a child seat as we requested. One transfer didn’t show up at the airport when it was supposed to. One transfer dropped our party off at the wrong hotel, leaving the party to walk in the pouring rain to the correct hotel in the middle of the night. Another transfer was given the wrong address by the travel agent, miles away from the right villa in the Algarve.
2. This travel agent demanded full payment early on in the process but would not turn over travel documents until a few days before the trip. When I finally received the documents (accommodations and transfer details), the booked tours and transfers were still incomplete.
I asked for a preliminary itinerary with details a month before the trip (three months after I had paid for the trip) so that our three families could get together to discuss them. Not only was it not provided, but no one even replied to me from the assigned travel agency. The agent simply ignored me.
3. The travel details provided days before
the trip included very problematic issues. For instance, the details said that often flights that time of year were full and it took longer than an hour to go through customs and immigration. It ALSO said that your transfer companies would not wait longer than an hour and, if that happened, you were on your own. Had I known this way back before I was made to pay the bill in full, I would have foregone the transfers and just gotten Ubers at the airport. What a racket. They make you pay for the transfers then, right before the trip, tell you that you will probably be too late to get the transfers and have to get an Uber anyway.
4. When we experienced the many issues with this trip, often the travel agency was closed and you had to solve the problem yourself.
5. Early in the planning process, I asked for private tours. I got drivers with varying degrees of knowledge. Only one of several was a tour guide with substantial knowledge and information.
I loved Kim Kim after my first trip to Portugal but I will not use them again. Kim Kim’s success is only as good as the random agency they assign you to.
Hotel Review
The hotel was okay but the location in Lisbon was different from the area I initially requested.
Activity Reviews
The driver/guide knew little about the destinations and left us to ferret out information in each location.
This guide was excellent along with the provided coach.
