We, a family with two young kids, booked an 8-day tailored private tour through the Golden Triangle, including Ranthambore Nat. Park. The service WTX provided was excellent, not to say exceptional. Am (Read More)ong all the offers received, theirs had the best presentation by far. They were always reachable, fast in responding, organized, structured, flexible, and helpful. We made some modifications while already on the trip, and even this didn’t cause any problems. The initial payment was more than fair, with the outstanding balance only payable upon the start of the trip.
We would definitely book with WTX again.
On the downside, we had issues with some of the guides (not the WTX driver; he was great, actually).
As far as I understand, the guides are not employed by WTX; they are either self-employed or under contract with another agency and hired on a daily basis as needed. The Delhi guide, although very friendly and knowledgeable, took us to an okay, yet quite average restaurant (Suribachi) with prices higher than in Europe. A small bottle of sparkling water was R 400, and a plate of plain pasta (without any sauce) for the kids was R 695 each. The total lunch for two adults and 2 young kids was R 7,000, which is insane for India and multiple times more expensive than equivalent food in a 4-5 star hotel. Going through the reviews of that restaurant, it became obvious that it is well known as a tourist trap, and 100% of the guests were westerners. The same guide strongly advised multiple times to buy any souvenirs in Delhi since they would be significantly more expensive anywhere outside of the capital. The exact opposite was the case. We bought 2 small items for the kids. The exact same items of the same quality were offered to us multiple times in Agra and Jaipur for R 600, versus R 2,400 in the market he took us to. The restaurant as well as the market will undoubtedly have paid a decent commission to the guide. Commissions in this business are common and understandable; the guides have to make a living too, but at that extent, it turns into scamming your customers. After this experience, I chose the restaurants myself, which at least one other guide obviously didn’t like at all. They all tried to drag us into overpriced markets for the duration of the trip. Most of the guides were in a constant rush, which often felt like being under pressure and very unpleasant. I had to speak up and tell them that there is only one speed, and that’s our speed, but the slowdown afterward usually only lasted for a couple of minutes. They seem to have forgotten for whom they work and partially treated us like little children on a school excursion.
I assume that these problems are common and occur with other tour operators too since they rely on the same pool of guides. Although not directly employed by WTX, WTX were the ones who hired them and thus can be indirectly held responsible. They should put some effort into getting them under control and advising customers on how to deal with them in order to have a fully pleasant experience.
I can clearly recommend WTX. I would consider booking with them as risk-free. With whoever you end up booking, be firm with the guides, pick decent hotels for lunch and dinner, refuse any offer to visit a certain shop, and don’t let them unnecessarily rush you.
4 out of 5 stars because of the guides; otherwise, it would have been a clear 5 stars.