Analie Tours of Maimi Florida

Subject: Analie Tours, Travel agency

I posted this on Frommer's web site and Analie Tours responded and just about confirmed everything I wrote.

Last year I took a group of 42 people to Buenos Aires. I used Analie Tours of Miami, Florida ( www.analietours.com). It was good and everything went well. So well, in fact that I decided to put together another group from work. This year, 47 people signed up. I again contacted Analie Tours. I first contacted them in April, 2005.

I wanted the group to go direct from JFK to Buenos Aires on American, just as we did last year.

I chose the Lafayette Hotel for the group, which is located one block from Florida St. the shopping area. All the deposits were sent in by June, 2005, and the balance for the group was sent via Fed Ex on Sept. 2, 2005.

So everything was set. Not!

Analie Tours tried to time the airline market and attempted to purchase the tickets from the American very late, in an attempt to purchase tickets at a discount. That may have worked last year, but this year with the fuel surcharge, and the fact that ticket prices DID NOT drop as Analie Tours had hoped.

The result was that Analie Tours was buying tickets for members of the group right up to the morning of November 8, 2005 and we were leaving the very next day. As a result, ten people were NOT ticketed on the direct flight but on a connecting flight through Miami.

Wait, now it really gets good. On November 8th at 11:28 am I received an e-mail from Analie Tours that said, URGENT. CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY.

I called as soon as I saw the e-mail.

I was told that Analie Tours never got the confirmation for the hotel. They knew this for a week put never contacted me. I was assured by agent, Ms. G, that it was not a problem and I should not worry, that they would get us a hotel equal or better than the one we contracted for. All should be resolved by 2 pm.

I immediately called a contact in BA who was arranging our ground transportation etc. and told him that we were not going to be staying at the Lafayette, that Analie Tours had lost our reservation. Analie Tours told me not to worry, but my contact in BA was very concerned. He told me he would call me back after he made some calls. He called back about two hours later and told me the hotel situation in Buenos Aires was just about impossible, that the hotels he contacted told him there were no rooms to be had anywhere in the city.

I called Analie Tours again to find out what was going on and was told they still had no hotel for my group of 47. Analie Tours called me back and asked if I would be willing to stay in Mar del Plata for three nights and then three nights in BA. I asked where Mar Del Plate was and was told it was 40 plus minutes south of BA. In fact it is 240 miles South of BA, about 400 plus minutes South of BA by bus, which is the transportation she was suggesting we were to use.

Keep in mind, Analie Tours was not providing transportation for the group. I told, her it was out of the question.

However, my contact in BA found a ranch resort 48 miles West of Buenos Aires which was not fully open for the season. They were only open for conferences, and day events, but they would open for our group because they only had 26 guest rooms and we would be using all of them. For a full booking for three nights, they would open for us. I told Analie Tours about this resort, and they knew the resort and told me it was a very expensive place, "the kind of place you one stay at for one night." I now mentioned the word cancellation to which she replied, if I did that the people would want all their money back. (Well,YES!) She went on to say that the airline ticket were non-refundable. (Not to mention, if we canceled, she would be liable for everyone's lost vacation time and vacation plans.) She again assured me she would find something else for us and she was sure she would have better news the next day, November 9, the day of our departure.

At 10 am on the 9th, just 9 hours before the first group of ten were to depart for Miami, I called Analie Tours to see how things were progressing. I was told they still had no hotel for us. With so little time left I would not be able to contact everyone by phone. Now there was the prospect of having to go to the airport and meeting everyone as they arrived and tell them to go home. I told my wife, that is what I was going to have to do. But wait, Analie Tours was still assuring me she would find something for us.

At 5 pm, with just about two hours before the first plane was to depart and just before I was going to call JFK and cancel the trip, Analie Tours called me. She got a reservation for us at a Howard Johnsons, in Campana BA 64 miles North of the city. I was not happy with the distance, but it was that or nothing. She also told me she would get us back into the city for the last three days at equal or better accommodations after the first three days outside the city.

Since we had arranged for some optional activities outside the city, I agreed. We could take care of all these optional items and still have three days in the city to shop, tour etc.

I called my contact in BA to tell him the good news.

He did not believe it! I mean, he did not believe it AT ALL. He said, let me call that hotel. He called me back and said they did not have a reservation for us. I called Analie Tours. I was told by Ms. G that she did have a confirmed reservation from Howard Johnsons and she gave me the reservation number. I again called BA and my contact again called the hotel. Same result. They had no reservation and no rooms available.

It was now 6:30 pm and I called Analie Tours. While I was on the phone with Ms. G., I was on another phone talking to one of the people in my group who was already on the plane.

I asked Ms. G., should I tell the people to go or to stay. She said that was only something I could decide. I said no, if we had no place to stay then we could not go! She said she had a reservation and told me to tell the people to go.

I told her if we got there and the reservation was no good, we would be going to the resort ranch that my contact in BA had located. Ms. G. agreed. With that, I told the people to go.

About one hour later, I was called by Ms. G. She said, "Ray, I don't want you to have to worry, I want to to go on this trip and have a good time. I want you to go to the resort ranch that Gabriel, (my contact in Buenos Aires) had found and stay there the first three nights" I was very relieved. The trip was saved. She again assured me that after the first three days she would get the group back into the city at equal or better hotel(s) than we contracted for. I again called BA to tell Gabriel. He had made a reservation for the ranch, but did not confirm it because ANALIE TOUR'S, Ms. G. said it was too costly. He would call to get the reservation confirmed. With that my daughter and I left for our fight.

The next morning we arrived in Beautiful BA and met Gabriel.

As we were headed for the resort ranch, Elevage, Gabriel informed me that he got the confirmed reservation only 45 minutes before we arrived. He also informed me that the resort wanted to be paid for the three nights in advance.

When we got there, I paid for the group using my credit card. Maybe I should have just called Miami and had Ms. G. pay for the three nights using her credit card. But, I trusted her. We had done business before and I was sure she would contact this resort and arrange for payment of the charge and my charge would be voided. If not, then when we arrived back and I got the conversion of the charge from my credit card company, she would send me the funds to cover the cost. Ms. G. was not just simple agent with Analie Tours, she is the principle, so I had every reason to trust her.

The first three days were just OK. We could not go anywhere unless it was by bus on one of our optional tours. There was nothing around us for miles. Yes, you could go horse back riding everyday, or bike the ranch roads, sit by the pool, but you could not get so much as a cup of coffee at 11 am. Breakfast and dinner were included, but they were just so-so. Any three star hotel or better in the city could have provided much much better. Then, of course, we were not in the city which is why we were there in the first place. On the last day we were at the resort, they were setting up for a day event at the ranch. My group was scheduled to go to the Tigre Delta for a boat ride and lunch on one of the Islands. That was very nice. When we got back, our dinner appeared to be the left overs from the day event. That would have been fine, except while we were still there in the morning they were preparing the out door grill. The meat for was already placed out. They had chicken, sausage, steaks and those beef short ribs. We got nothing but the short ribs. The dessert was excellent. Left over from the day event. I was not the only one to realize this.

The next morning we packed up and headed out for our last optional event, a gaucho show and luncheon at a Argentine ranch. Very nice and all the good food, beer, wine you could want.

After the ranch, we headed back to the city for the last three nights.

Gabriel was now working with and for Analie Tours on our behalf. He was to get us hotel space in the city. Gabriel had told me that getting rooms in the city after Saturday night was possible, before then it would have been impossible. Gabriel never made any promises, and in fact told me twice before we left the U.S. that maybe I should just cancel the trip.

Ms. G. told me time and time again before we left that she could get equal or better rooms for the last three days in the city. This was not possible and I think she knew it all along.

Five singles went to the Castelar, on Mayo, an old 4 star hotel with a much better past and the best of the hotels we would see. Twenty-two people, including my daughter and myself ended up in the Normandie, a hotel I would rate at best, a 1 1/2 star hotel. Seven people refused to stay there and found a few hotel rooms at different hotels; three of them at their own expense. The remaining 20 people ended up at the Constitution Palace. A transient hotel in a very bad section of the city next to a train and bus terminal. This hotel is also used by a local hospital as an out patient facility. The rooms were terrible.

Gabriel tried to find to hotel rooms for some of the older people in that hotel and in fact found two rooms at a much better place, but they refused to leave the others, so they stayed.

Because we were so far apart, group activities were not possible. We all had to make the best of it. I only saw the people at my hotel. Everyone was basically on there own.

Three days later we were on our way back home.

I, who had put together such great trips to Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Scotland, and Italy sat with Gabriel in the front of the bus on the way to the airport. I was completely burned out. I did nothing but worry about the older people in the "hospital hotel."

In a show of hands, about twenty people said it was better to make the trip than to cancel. But, the ones who indicated it would have been better to have canceled were really angry and dissatisfied.

I believe Ms. G. manipulated me. She should told me as soon as she knew the hotel reservation was lost. She told me so late that I could not contact everyone and explain what was going on. and she kept on assuring me that she WOULD get us hotel space in the city. Finally, when it became apparent that it was just impossible, I would have been able to contact just a few people, if they were home.

I now believe, Ms. G. knew that the hotel reservation at the Howard Johnsons was not worth the paper it was written on. But, she did have a valid confirmation. I called Howard Johnsons and was told that if we went there and found no rooms, that the Howard Johnsons in Campana would have been responsible to find us some place to stay. It may have been many more miles from the city, but Howard Johnsons would have been responsible.

I think that is what Ms. G. intended to do. Shift responsibility for the hotel accommodations to Howard Johnson for the entire six nights, not just three nights. She told one of the group members who called about the trip after she returned, that she made the reservation for all SIX NIGHTS. This way she could say she did her job, it was Howard Johnsons fault.

The undoing of this plan was my contact, Gabriel, who called the hotel and found out that even if Howard Johnsons in the U.S. had given Analie Tours the confirmed reservation, it was not valid.

It may be that Ms. G. finally found out that the reservation was not good and that is when she called me to tell me to go the the Elevage ranch resort.

Now for the really good part of this trip. When I returned home, I called my credit card company and got the conversion for the charge at the Elevage. It came to $10,830.15. I then called Ms. G. of Analie Tours about payment for this charge. She then told me that she did not think she should be responsible for the entire amount since "the group stayed at a much better place than they had the right to expect"

I was stunned. Here I was doing my best to make the trip possible and avoid for her a tremendous liability claim, which would have come about if this trip was canceled, and now she was telling me we stayed at a place much better than we had the "right to expect."

I guess we had the right to expect 10 hours at the airport before we all returned home.

I have protested the charge with my credit card company, contacted the Miami Better Business Bureau, and the State of Florida's Consumer Services.

When a trip goes well, the travel agent is quick to step up and take all credit. The true test of a travel agent is when a trip goes badly. This trip was a "Challenger disaster" and I salvaged it to make it an "Apollo 13" where, a least, no one died. That was my fear, as we had three people in their eighties and couple who were in their seventies. (Yes, these people I did contact before we left, and they said they still wanted to go, if at all possible.) But, had I known how dire the hotel situation was going to be once we returned to BA, I would have canceled. Ms. G. knew or should have known. She knew she had no reservation a full week or more before she called me, and yet she was not even able to get reservations for the last three nights before we left the U.S. Maybe, if I had time to sit down and analysis this situation, I would have realized this myself. I was deceived and outright lied to and had other things on my mind the last 30 hours before the first group was to depart.

Ms. G. did everything in her power to induce me to agree to go because the consequences for her would be too much to handle if we did not go. We went and therefore used the airfare. No matter how bad the trip went after we arrived, at least she would be off the hook for the airfare,(unless we had to take the next flight home) as she said to me when I talked to her by phone on November 14th from BA. The group really has little to complain about. She got their airfare and arranged for there hotels for the six nights. She admitted that the "hospital hotel" was terrible, but she would deal with that on a case by case basis.(By the way, she then told me her husband was a lawyer)

So if things don't go well and Analie Tours is your travel agent, beware.

I want to be paid the $10,830.15 I charged on my credit card for the ranch resort.

Thank you, Ray

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