Must do and Must Don't Do Tours

I hope that opening line makes sense. We (My adult daughter, my sister and me) just returned from 4 days in Washington D.C. and I feel compelled to write about a terrific tour and a perfectly horrible tour we took.

The Old Town Trolley Tour was super!! Even though it was 110 degrees, we enjoyed a cool breeze and got off at many stops. Our tour drivers were well informed, witty, and enjoyable. The trolleys were all very clean. We could see everything we wanted from the trolleys. I would recommend this tour to any visitor who would like to learn about the city, the memorials, Federal buildings, Embassy Row, Georgetown, Arlington Cemetary........just about everything. It was well worth the cost of about 30.00 for an entire day of sightseeing.

On the other hand, we took a night tour through Zarouphy%26#39;s (sp?) that was so awful that we left in the middle of the tour and took a taxi back to our hotel. We paid 32.00 for a tour that was overbooked to the point of having to change buses several times before we began the tour. When we finally landed a seat, we were put in the back next to the toilet. So, all we could see was the wall of the john. We could not see out the windows! We were told that we could not move or change seats, either. Ok, as if that wasn%26#39;t bad enough the tour guide spoke what I think was English, but none of us could understand a single word he said. So, after an hour and a half we took a taxi back to the hotel. I have visited many large cities and have taken many tours. THIS WAS THE WORST TOUR I HAVE EVER TAKEN!!! NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD SHOULD TAKE A TOUR WITH THIS COMPANY.

Must do and Must Don't Do Tours

Could you be a little more specific about the tour you didn%26#39;t like? I can%26#39;t seem to find anything on it.

Where did it go?

What did you (try to) see?

I think if it is that bad, people will want to be sure to stay away.

Glad the Trolley did you right, even in our nice little sauna of a heat wave.

Must do and Must Don't Do Tours

This isn%26#39;t the Zohery Tour company, is it? Somebody asked about the company earlier this summer and none of us local experts were familiar with it. I think it%26#39;s run by an Egyptian tour guide who uprooted himself and moved to DC - is that the same guy?

Yes, Yes, Yes, it is the Zohery Tour Company. When I called the day after our tour I spoke to ';Mr. Zohery himself'; (according to the first woman I spoke with) and he did have an accent that was difficult to understand. I asked for a refund and was basically told too bad.......After at least 10 minutes of this man yelling at me for complaining and attempting to get some money back. In fact, he put the curse of bad karma on me!

We booked the tour through the concierge at our hotel. We did have a flyer telling about the tour, so I know they are out there. I, too have not been able to find them on the Internet.

Yes, this tour was so bad that no one should take it. What is the best way to get the word out?

I would inform the hotel so that other unsuspecting people don%26#39;t fall prey. If the hotel was pushing their services, you may want to see if you can extract something from them.

In the least, they should know that this isn%26#39;t a well-run operation.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did talk to the concierge to let him know how disappointed we were in the tour. The hotel very nicely comped the breakfast buffet for us the next morning.

emjay

emjay --

Thanks for this excellent and informative post. Just recently I have seen several people asking about the Zohery (sp?) tours. As a local I don%26#39;t need to do tours, but knowing this info in extremely helpful to help guide new visitors. I loved that you didn%26#39;t just bash Zohery%26#39;s or praisedOld Town Trolley without specific examples of what you like and did not like.

Thanks again for the post!!!

Not only it is important to post here, but please tell us what hotel referred you! You may or may not know that concierges usually get a ';referral fee'; for tours booked, i.e. they will get $X for tours booked. It is a hustle and if they refer you to good tours, no harm done, if terrible, the General Manager should be informed in writing. Comping breakfast is nice, but doesn%26#39;t add up to $96 you paid out.

Thank you for the advice about writing to the General Manager. I%26#39;ll do that today. We stayed at the Marriot Metro Center and generally were very, very pleased with the hotel. We only saw the concierge who booked the Zorofy%26#39;s tour on the first day we were there. After that there was a wonderful gentleman named Erick Mendizabal who helped us tremendously. Perhaps the woman was filling in for him on his day off. We did talk to Erick about the poor tour and asked him to discuss it with his co-workers. I did post a review of the Marriott Metro if anyone is interested. Again, thank you and have a wonderful day.

emjay

I suspect the only reason Zohery Tours is still in business is that hotel concierges refer unsuspecting tourists to them. A co-worker and I received a referral from the Arlington Doubletree in October of 2003 when we were at a business meeting.

When the Zohery Tours van arrived to pick up people from our hotel, it smelled of urine. The tour bus had tinted windows, which made it very difficult to see outdoors at night. When my co-worker and I tried to move to a seat on the bus where we could see better, we were informed (in a very rude tone of voice) that we had to remain in the same seats for the entire tour.

The tour guide%26#39;s accent was very difficult to understand. He wasn%26#39;t able to clearly describe where to look for the various sites, so we would pass them before we were able to spot them. At each site, he%26#39;d give directions for walking from the bus to the monument and tell us to be back in 20 minutes. His directions to view the White House were so unclear that it took us about 5 minutes to spot it.

There is another company out there that sends a guide with tour guests when they leave the bus. I observed these tour guides giving very informative tours while taking our hurried 15-minute look at the various monuments. Before I take another tour of Washington, I will find out the name of the good company AND AVOID ZOHERY TOURS!!!

I%26#39;m sorry you had the same experience that we did......however it makes me feel better that we were not the only ones. Sometimes one wonders if one is being too critical, but this was simply awful. I agree that this was the worst tour I have ever taken, too. emjay

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