The holiday was better than expected, with an excellent tour guide, HUSHI.
She handled my comfort stops due to my diabetes, and the fact that I was the only member of the party who had a vegetarian diet with allergy issues.
All accommodation was of a good standard, but the food in Hiroshima hotel fell well short of expectations, and the 'Japanese Pub' experience was so bad it was comical. Too few staff being the problem.
My main problem was the due to Iran issue, my flights from Edinburgh changed from my preferred airline Qatar to Finnair, who despite an excellent crew provided VERY meagre FREE inflight catering on a 13 hour long haul flight. Not acceptable for someone with a diabetes condition, followed by an 11 hour wait in Helsinki for my connection to Edinburgh.
Our Response
Thank you for your detailed feedback. I am very pleased to hear that, on the whole, the holiday surpassed your expectations.
Hushi clearly excelled in her role, and I will ensure your kind remarks are passed on to her. Her attentiveness to your dietary requirements and allergy concerns, particularly as the sole vegetarian in the group, as well as her consideration of your comfort stops related to diabetes, reflects exactly the standard of care we aim to provide.
I am, however, sorry to learn that the dining experience at the Hiroshima hotel fell short of your expectations, and that the 'Japanese Pub' evening was disappointing due to insufficient staffing. This is not the quality of experience we wish to deliver, and I have already noted these points for review with our local ground team.
With regard to the flight changes, I would like to address this directly. We were obliged to move you from Qatar to Finnair because the Qatar routing was unavailable owing to the restrictions on Middle Eastern airspace at that time. This was not a decision we took lightly, and it was the only viable means of ensuring your departure on schedule. Nevertheless, I fully appreciate your frustration with the very limited complimentary inflight catering on a 13‑hour sector, a particular concern given your diabetic condition, and the subsequent layover in Helsinki. While we will raise the catering issue with Finnair, I cannot guarantee improvement; however, we will certainly bear this in mind when forced to make alternative carrier arrangements in future. We always endeavour to notify guests of flight changes as early as possible, though I acknowledge that this does little to ease the practical difficulties on the day.
Despite these operational issues, I am delighted that you still consider the tour a success, and we would be very glad to welcome you on another Wendy Wu journey in the future. Please be assured that we will take your comments on board to refine our offering further.
Yours sincerely,
Jimmy
Wendy Wu Tours
