The worst holiday ever!
This was our first and the last tour with Wendy Wu. What was supposed to be the holiday of a lifetime turned out to be such a huge disappointment and a stressful time and money wasting experience. I have never felt so discriminated and disrespected in my life! The tour lasted 14 days. We visited many interesting and beautiful places. However, visiting sites were rushed, spending no more than 1-1.5 hours on a spot. The guide Mina was disorganised, unwilling to resolve issues, mean, passive-aggressive and unable to give clear instructions which often led to confusion, upset and conflict. She managed to have lost one elderly lady twice within two days. She made us feel unwelcome, discriminated, often ignoring our questions or requests, turning her back on us or walking away or ghosting us. We were the only Asians amongst people of white ethnic background, which probably explains her attitude towards us and unfair treatment. The food was terrible - the same cold or reheated pre-cooked meal or buffet at the hotel. Whilst others were served with food first and brought their second drink, we would be sitting there and waiting for our meal or drink. We wanted to exit the tour twice because of the unfair and appalling treatment, made complaints about inadequate food supplement due to special meal requirements because of allergies and religious aspects of not eating pork and beef. I clearly advised Wendy Wu of the fish allergy and a non-pork-or-beef diet months before the tour and all communications implied our needs would be catered for. We eat poultry and dairy products though, but as a replacement of beef or pork that a regular meal would include, they provided a small portion of bland salad, hot water with mushrooms they call a soup or steamed onions with rice. For three days we went without food other than breakfast. To my requests to provide an adequate nutritious meal, the guide responded that it was a chef’s choice, meals were prepared in advance and no replacement or supplements were allowed. After my written complaint to the Wendy Wu’s UK office, things with the food slightly improved, but the treatment had worsened. We were fed cold chicken almost every meal and even if there was fish, they would have refused to give it to me. It would rather go to the rubbish bin than swapped with my chicken. Towards the end of the tour, we bought our own lunch or dinner and did not attend the farewell cruise dinner. I found out that making complaints in Japan, even if reasonable, are seen as disrespect and a violation of a public or social harmony. For making complaints for inadequate food for which we paid a lot, we were punished by being discriminated, segregated, isolated or cancelled. Further, only the reasonably fit members of the group of 23 made it to see what was on offer due to the time restriction and their mobility issues. There was no time to explore Tokyo, Kyoto and other beautiful places. We spent more time on a coach than on sightseeing and excursions, which was detrimental to our enjoyment of the country. The scheduling of the tour was unreasonable, in which we would get to the hotel 2-3 hours before dinner which could have been spent on allowing us more time on sites. Once we decided to stay in the Fushimi Inari shrine longer and returned to the hotel by taxi. When we went to the dinner later that evening, the local guide refused to let us in to the restaurant stating that we left the group and gave up our right for a dinner. That was so shocking to hear from her. She would explicitly welcome other members of the group and ghost us completely. This embarrassing “fight” for food took place almost every day, which seemed to be a deliberate action to punish us for complaining. I later opted for buying my own meal.
I give one star for our stay in Tokyo separate from the Japan Uncovered tour, which was great - the hotel and transfer were both organised very well with a fantastic location. We visited a lot of places which we organised by ourselves. I would have given one star for most of the hotel accommodations and one to the coach driver, but I take them away because of the local tour guide and a discriminatory and appalling treatment. I would not recommend this tour to people of colour, with mobility issues or food intolerance, unless you are prepared to waste money and end-up being disappointed.
Our Response
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We are genuinely sorry that parts of your Japan Uncovered tour did not meet your expectations, particularly in relation to the meals provided for you and your daughter.
We have carefully reviewed the concerns raised during the tour, the correspondence we had at the time, and the reports provided by our team in Japan, along with other customer feedback. Your daughter’s dietary requirements were communicated to us before the tour, including her fish and seafood allergy, her avoidance of pork, beef and other red meat, and that she could eat chicken and poultry. Having reviewed the arrangements made during the tour, we recognise that some of the alternative meals provided were not as suitable or comparable as they should have been. We are sorry for the frustration and disappointment this caused and have raised this with our local team in Japan so that improvements can be made.
We have also carefully considered the wider concerns contained within your review, particularly those relating to your guide, Mina, and your belief that you and your daughter were treated differently because of your ethnicity. We take any allegation of discrimination extremely seriously.
Following the tour, we reviewed our correspondence with you at the time, the information provided by our local team and feedback received from other customers travelling within the group. Having considered all of this, we have not found anything to indicate that you or your daughter were treated differently because of your ethnicity. Discrimination of any kind is not something we would accept or condone, and we are genuinely saddened that your experience led you to feel this was the case. Our tours are enjoyed by customers globally from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures.
We recognise that the relationship between you and Mina became increasingly difficult as the tour progressed. While we fully appreciate your perspective on the interactions described in your review, the information and feedback we received presented a different and more complex picture of what took place. In particular, we received feedback from several other members of the group who had witnessed interactions during the tour and expressed their own concerns and the impact they were having on the experience of the wider group. In light of this, we do not believe it would be fair to conclude that Mina deliberately chose to treat you differently from other members of the group..
That does not mean that we consider every aspect of the situation to have been perfect. Our local team have reflected on what happened and recognises that there may have been occasions when a different approach could have managed a situation more effectively. We have taken this feedback on board. Equally, we believe it is important to recognise that communication and interactions on all sides contributed to the difficult relationship that developed during the tour.
We are particularly disappointed by the suggestion that people of colour, or customers with dietary requirements, should avoid travelling with Wendy Wu Tours. We welcome customers globally from many different backgrounds and cultures and make every effort to accommodate dietary requirements when these are advised to us in advance.
We are also sorry that you found the pace of Japan Uncovered challenging. It is an extensive touring itinerary designed to visit a considerable number of destinations and attractions, and this inevitably means that some days involve significant travelling and scheduled sightseeing. We appreciate that this style and pace of touring will not suit everybody, and we are sorry that you felt you were not able to spend as much time as you would have liked at some of the places visited.
We are pleased that you enjoyed your separately arranged stay in Tokyo and were happy with your hotel, transfers and location. It is unfortunate that the difficulties experienced during the escorted portion of your holiday overshadowed those positive aspects.
We have listened carefully to the concerns you have raised and shared the relevant feedback with our teams in both the UK and Japan. There are certainly elements of your experience that we recognise could have been better, particularly around the alternative meals provided, and we are sorry for those shortcomings. At the same time, having considered all of the information available to us, including feedback from other members of the group, we feel it is important that our response reflects the wider context of what occurred during the tour.
Wendy Wu Tours
