Four to Five Day Itinerary - Would Appreciate Thoughts

Hi all,

Well, I%26#39;ve been in Sri Lanka for five days and it is heaven! Uneventful few days at a hotel in Negombo, then met up with Rodney the tour guide from Kandy, where I am now.

He has proposed the following tour, and I%26#39;d appreciate thoughts about the itinerary and the costs. I%26#39;d be doing it by myself with a car and driver, which would be 3500 a day.

Day 1 - Kandy to Dambulla, then on to Sigiriya. Stay overnight in Sigiriya. Includes car and driver, entrance to Dambulla, dinner, bed and breakfast in Sigiriya. Cost including car and driver 6500 rupees.

Day 2 - Climb Sigiriya, then on to Polonnaruwa, then back to Kandy, stay at his guest house in Kandy, includes breakfast. Cost including car and driver and entrance fees, 8200 rupees.

Day 3 - Kandy to Neura Elya, visting Tea Factory, tea plantations, etc, stay in Nuera Elya, including dinner, room and breakfast, and car and driver, 6000 rupees.

Day 4 - I would take early morning train to Ella, have my driver meet me there, and then on to Thissa, stopping at natural sights, etc. Stay in Thissa, dinner, room and breakfast, cost including car and driver, 6000 rupees plus train fare.

Day 5 - Yala - (I am unsure about this, is it worth it?) - transport from Thissa to the park, cost of park safari, car and driver, and then evening drop off somewhere on the coast (I haven%26#39;t decided where yet), Yala 6000 rupees, car and driver 3500 rupees, and then 2000 rupees for driver petrol to return to Kandy. Day cost 11,500 rupees.

So the total cost for the five day, four night tour would be 37,200 rupees.

Any thoughts? Getting to these places on my own, especially with a decent sized suitcase, would seem to be rather difficult.

Thanks,

Laurie

Four to Five Day Itinerary - Would Appreciate Thoughts

Hi Laurie,

Just been through your itinery and it seems ok to me depending on the quality of the hotels you%26#39;re staying in.

I know Rodney personally and believe know him to be fair.

The only thing I%26#39;d change would be the day visiting Yala.

I%26#39;ve visited three national parks in Sri Lanka, hoping each would be better than the last. Unfortunately they were not.

Too many jeeps charging around with the drivers trying to look like they know what they%26#39;re doing and frantically checking with other jeep drivers if they%26#39;ve seen any animals.

You may be lucky and see many animals but I suspect not.

I love Sri Lanka but to me the parks are vastly over rated and vastly over priced.

Couple of recomendations.

If you want a lively beach then Hikkaduwa fits the bill.

Sunils beach Hotel is good, set on a lovely stretch of beach. Tel; 91-2277186

Lots of restaurants, small beach bars, cycle %26amp; motor bike hire, glass bottom boats on the reef, etc

If you want a quiet beach, with a beautiful guest house, then try;

The Kadolana Beach Resort,

Nilwella. ( Between Tangalle and Dikwella).

Tel; 41-2256140

Beautiful , long, empty,clean flat beach and lots of palm trees,

Rod.

Four to Five Day Itinerary - Would Appreciate Thoughts

Thanks Rodney, I had come to the same conclusion that Yala would not be worth it. So I will move on to the beach instead. I hope to stay at Sunil%26#39;s, have to give them a call.

Laurie

Hi again Laurie,

Just a thought as I was browsing. If you miss the park you%26#39;ll have a day you hadn%26#39;t allocated.

If you wanna enjoy it in a different way, why not stop at Haputale on the way down through the hill country. Then take a packed lunch, a bottle of water and walk up to Liptons seat. Fabulous walk up into the mountains through the tea plantations. The views all the way are great and at the top, absolutely amazing.

Good place to stay in Haputale is ';The Sri Lak Guest house'; in Sherwood Road.

Like i say,, just a thought,

Rod.

Hi Rod,

I%26#39;m sorry to report that I have had a huge problem with Rodney. He had offered to confirm a reservation I had for a two week stay at the Barberyn Reef in Beruwala starting on Dec 20. (as I had not followed up directly with the hotel.) He called the hotel last Thur or Fri and told me the booking was fine, but that I needed to pay the full amount before arrival as the stay was so close. He offered to write a check and send it out within a a few days if I gave him the money.

So I gave him a very large sum of money, and went off for a two day tour to Sigirya, etc. When I came back, he told me there was a problem. I eventually talked directly to the hotel. Last Thur or Fri the hotel told him that since I had not confirmed the booking, they had cancelled my room and that the hotel was totally full with no possibility of any rooms before January.

So Rodney knew this but took my money anyway. In other words, he lied, as he has on a number of other matters. (On the tour, he doublecharged me the admission price of Dambulla, for example). He has promised to return the full amount to me this afternoon. I have not yet decided how to proceed if he does not. Fortunately, I have a receipt from him and witnesses.

I am now here with no booking over the holiday period. The man has effectively ruined my stay in Sri Lanka by his attitude and actions. If he had told me the truth I would have had five more days to sort out an alternative.

To be honest, I am ready to change my flight and try to get out of Sri Lanka as soon as possible.

A very disappointed Laurie

Hi Laurie,

I%26#39;m really sorry to hear that you%26#39;re having problems. I%26#39;ve sent an email to Rodney saying that I%26#39;d posted his name as Ok for a tour and that I felt guilty if things didn%26#39;t go right.

Having read your letter through a few times, it seems that it%26#39;s not Rodney%26#39;s fault that the hotel are not honoring you%26#39;re booking.

You say that you%26#39;d made a reservation, then they should honor it . I can%26#39;t see how a tour guide in Kandy, who had nothing to do with the booking can be to blame if the hotel has over booked or something. Thats definitely the fault of the hotel.

Regarding taking your money, I would think that Rodney was genuinely trying to sort the problem with the hotel.

Anyway, I%26#39;ve Emailed him, asking him to please return your money, so you feel safer about that and also to do whatever he can to help you get a booking in a good hotel . One that satisfies you.

I know things do go wrong quite often through misunderstandings due to the language.I%26#39;ve been in situations where I thought I%26#39;d made myself clear to a Sri Lankan and it turned out later that we were on completely different tacks but obviously that doesn,t make you feel any better when you%26#39;re stuck in a strange place with strange people.

Rodney is not a dishonest man so I%26#39;m sure he%26#39;ll do everything he can to help.

Rod.

Thanks sending emaill.you no srilanka hotel people .she arrange all before she coming to the srilanka.she didnt confarm to the hotel.when she arrivels she told me.she want to do this with the hotel.then i try to help her.i call more tham 10 times to arrange this the hotel told me send a chek to confirm booking.after 1 day they told me there are no rooms.that day i want to give her back 900 euros and 56000 rs but she is in sigiriya i call her too.didnt contact.so when she come back from sigiriya iexplain all about

THEN SHE IS GETTING VERY ANGRY .START TOSHOUT TO THE HOTEL

After hotel get upset, now cant help .i give her all money back straight away

Another thing is this is special offer.you have to book meny days ago. 1 day free and 1 day charge

i didnt do enithing wrong.i respect to you all people you send to me and who want to travel to srilanka too.

I all so paid her changing differnce.i lost 2000 rs onliy going to help this women

THANKS

Rodney

HI Laurie,

would you believe this is the third time I%26#39;ve typed this. Everytime I try to send it, nothing happens except my post vanishes.

I%26#39;ve recieved an email from Rodney in Kandy and what he%26#39;s told me confirms what I suspected earlier.

He says, that originally you asked him to help by phoning through to confirm your booking at the hotel.

Which he did and they told him that as the confirmation was late , they%26#39;d need paying immediately.

Thats what he told you and thats when he asked for the money so he could send them a cheque.

You then went of on tour . Next day, they hotal told him, that as the confirmation wasn%26#39;t done on time the booking was cancelled.

Probably they%26#39;d had someone else requirung a room and as you hadn%26#39;t confirmed when you were supposed to they%26#39;d relet your room.

Not uncommon with bigger hotels.

He tells me that all together he made 10 phone calls to the hotel trying to sort it out and trying to get them to give you the room.

They told him, it had originally been booked as a special offer. Which makes sense. If they then had someone contact them ready to pay the full price, then they%26#39;d happily ditch a special deal customer, ( ie, you ), and give the room to a full paying guest.

They , evidently, also told him, that the special dea required early booking confirmation , which you didn%26#39;t do.

Rodney said , that when the hotel told him they would not honor the booking, he tried to contact you in Sigirrya but was unable to.

He reckons, when you returned to Kandy, he explained everything to you and you went off on one, shouting and screaming at him.

Hardly fair , when all he%26#39;d done was tried to help you.

He did admit that he%26#39;d made a mistake over the Dambulla entrance fee. He counted it as two people instead of one. I should think, when you%26#39;re regularly arranging tours for couples, thats an easy mistake to make and an easy one to rectify.

Over all, it seems, that either the hotel didn%26#39;t give you all the info regarding booking confirmation, or you didn%26#39;t notice it. Either way, It doesn%26#39;t seem like Rodneys fault.

I sincerely hope you find an alternate hotel and the rest of your holiday goes well.

Rod

Hi Rod,

Let me clarify a few matters.

First and foremost, yes, my shouting behaviour, which I freely admit, was incorrect. Given the circumstances explained below, please understand this did not suddenly happen because of a single mistake.

I do not blame Rodney because the hotel cancelled my booking. I told him and the hotel exactly that. I did not follow thru as I was meant to before I came to Sri Lanka. I decided to wait until I arrived in Sri Lanka and decide then. If no rooms were available, that was my tough luck.

The problem is that he offered to contact the hotel for me and see what the situation was. He called the hotel and then he came to me and said that the hotel had said that the booking was still fine, as long as I paid the full amount before arrival. All weekend long, he said that there would be no problem. I gave him the full amount of money, and he said over and over that he would mail the check on Monday. In fact, when I arrived back on the Tues night, he said 1) that he had e-mailed the hotel that Tues morning to ask for the exact amount of rupees due, 2) that he had received a reply that they would get back to him and let him know later that day and 3) that they had then e-mailed him that afternoon to say that no rooms were available.

I asked to see the e-mails and he would not show me them, I believe because they never existed.

I then asked if I could call the hotel directly and he at first said no, that they were closed, not answering the phone. When I then said I would go into Kandy and try to call myself, he suddenly said ok, give me 15 minutes.

15 minutes later, I went downstairs and he was on the phone to the hotel. I spoke to the hotel and here is where the problem comes. The hotel told me that 1) they had told Rodney on Thur that they had cancelled my reservation because I had not followed up, and that 2) there were NO rooms available at all until January. 3) I could book in at their other property, but it would be much more expensive and 4) that they would put me on a waiting list if I desired, but it was unlikely that a room would open up.

So here we have the first problem. Did the hotel tell Rodney on Thur no rooms were available? Either the hotel or Rodney were lying. I chose to believe the hotel. (Another curious coincidence, since I was set on Beruwala, why would Rodney ask me several tims over that weekend if I would rather go to the other property, that yes, it was more money, but that the treatments were different and more personalized? The treatments are exactly the same)

And if he had my money, why did he not send the check on Mon as he had promised?

All I am saying is that when he told me on Thur that the hotel had said there was no problem, he was not telling the truth. In truth, there was a problem ... THERE WERE NO ROOMS. He should have told me that on Thur night. I would have been sad and mostly mad at myself for not following thru when I should have. I would have then had the weekend to make alternative plans.

Yes, I got extremely angry and yes, I did shout (I know, not the best way of dealing with it) but the man kept insisting that the hotel was lying. So why would he not show me the e-mails? And why did he not send the check as he said he would, if, as according to him, everything was fine up until Tues aft when the hotel ';suddenly'; had no more rooms.

In terms of his other actions:

1) He says he is a certified CTB guide, and yes, he is. But that implies that on Rodney%26#39;s Tours, his guides are certified. None of them are. He only spends the first day with a guest, and then sends them off with his drivers. (the one I had was excellent, BTW)

2) Funny how the Dambulla overcharge was suddenly due to him thinking it was two people. He told me it was due to me saying I wanted to go elephant riding, which was not true.

3) He said that I would have a good van for my tour, and showed me the van. He drove me into Kandy the first night I arrived in an older van, which he told me was not in good shape, and would not be used for tours. Funny how both my tours were in the older more uncomfortable van.

4) The itinerary for my tour said I would stay in Sigirya. He instead at first made reservations for Polonurra, again insisting that was the original plan, and becoming quite annoyed when I insisted (and showed him in writing) that the plan was to stay in Sigirya.

5) I did not experience this directly, but was told this by two guests at the guest house. One guest who was a graphic designer had designed a flyer for him. He told them that when they returned to Kandy at the end of their travels, they could stay in the guest house for free as thanks for their help. Instead, he conveniently forgot his promise and he tried to charge them 200 rupees a night more than they had paid during their first visit!

6) I gave him rupees for a train ticket to Ella before I left on the trip, as he insisted if I didn%26#39;t, the trains would be sold out otherwise but that if I gave him the money there would be no problem. He did not even try to get the ticket.

7) When I was checking my e-mail on his computer, he asked (more demanded) that I write a review of his guest house on tripadvisor while he was standing right there.

8) Even though he had quoted me a price of 2000 rupees for a guesthouse in Ella, he suddenly told me that it would be 3500 rupees, but would not give me the name of the guesthouse.

9) Another guest and I had planned a trip to the Tea Factory (hotel) on his last day, afterwards he would be dropped at the airport in Colombo. (This was today, btw). We even went over it on the map. Suddenly, today, after we had paid for the car, the driver took us to a tea factory about half an hour from Kandy. Rodney insisted this was the plan all along, and that we had never asked to go to the Tea Factory in Nuera Ella.

10) He complained about having to buy a fan for my room, telling me over and over that he had to spend 10,000 rupees for it and did I really need it.

11) My first night he asked if I might want to get some brandy or something. I bought a bottle of brandy, and I said we would have a few drinks later. When we got back to the guest house, he decided it was perfectly appropriate to open the bottle and pour drinks for his entire staff. I had two drinks out of the bottle. I do not begrudge the bottle, I would have been glad to share, IF I HAD BEEN ASKED.

12) It%26#39;s none of my business, but in my opinion, he treats his staff appallingly. While I stayed there, he was constantly shouting at almost every one of them, even in front of guests.

So there you have my end of it. As I said, I know getting so angry was not the best way to behave. Maybe others have had ok experiences with Rodney, but I found him to be manipulative and dishonest.

Laurie

Posted on: 11:45 am, today Report inappropriate post

we are travellers for long time in srilanka.we stayed long time and lot of time with rodneys.

1)Rodney is a owner from the rodney tours and his guest house

We know he have a very friendliy tour drivers and his guest house staff

He have to cntroll his tours and his guest house

he is a cheepast tour operator in kandy very well known everyone so dont try to bleam rodney .we find out what happen from your hotel about booking and this is your lise.if you meet rodny at negombo and you come to stay in kandy 1st day you very happy with ridny and the staff.all weys you sey to them or they want to marry me and try laugh to them.than you met some one who stay with rodney you try to make a special frend ship and try stay upper rooms.

than we was there too,you want to arrange the tour with riodny about 5 days.rodney is very busy tour operator he gets lot of tours.but any wey we show you and rodney have a chat about 5 day tours.

Then you sey you want make some kind of treatmat yoga massage some where in down south hotel.then he try to help you calling to the hotel try to arrange we show he try his best.then hotel sey him unsure booking ,therte for they want the full amount money.then rodney come to you asked the money you give him 900 euros the nest day56000 rs then you went to tour to sigiriya. we think rodney call to the hotel more then 12 times arrange this for you .but be fore you come to srilanka you allready have some arrengemts with hotel,you never confarm to the hotel there for they cancelled your booking they cannot trust you . if onliy think is hotel need some one from srilanka to paid,then your money he have to put in his account to give a chek,same day hotel says booking is canceiied cant open the hotel on there hope,then rodney want to give you all money back and try to call you meny times to sigiriya but cant cantact you ones you say to the room boy you are in a some where dont call,he is not very rich man there for he cant give a chek with out money in account.so when you come back to kandy we show you have a few problam with the rodny about dabulla ticket 500 rs we tink he get that another 500 for if you want to visit any other temples,

After rodney come to sey your booking from down south hotel is difficult to do you get very angry still rodny try to arrange day and niggt call to the hotel soll the problem.but when you shouting frount of us hotel realy upset .no more chance to help you hotel decided not to take you in to the hotel becouse if you are there other guest all so up set,we show still rodny trying to arrenge somthing,but you jump out to rodney and shouted very badliy,then we think he decided not to help you any more.he took his time and calls to help you he didnt get anithing for him.

The nest day rodney give all youir money back 57500 rs and 900 euros then you happy with the staff rodny, (before you think rodney didnt give your money) you knoe he never do that we knoew he is very gentlaman.

then you want to go to the another tour with roney but rodney dont want it,you sey to another guest to go and arrange another tour to go tea plantation via nuwaraeliya to cross airport,but rodney dont want to make any tour with you you jump to the car and seys to the driver to do what you want ,rodneytours is not yours,is rodneys. as a traveller you must not to do thease things,other guest pay 3500 rs for rodney for his tour arrenmants not for you

ANY WAY YOU DIDNOT PAID RODNEYS 2500 RS FOR YOUR ROOMBILLS AND YOUR FOOD

You jump out to manager and whent away.you are lucky you do all the things for rodney he didnt care about these matters. but if you do this some one eles you be in a very bad situwation ,we hope as a travellres you do not do this again in any where

Nice try, Rodney. It is obvious that the post before this is from you, not from some travellers. Use a different log in name if you are pretending you are someone else. The only travellers there when this happened were an Austrian couple, who speak and write much better English than you do.

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