Very Good Tour plan but some Limitations
The trip specialist was generally very helpful and supportive. However, in several locations the only accommodation offerred was an hours drive or more away from the site of the attractions. Eg. Zion, Monument Valley, Yosemite and Grand Canyon. This would be very inconvenient.
Also, just before our planned visit, Death Valley was flooded. We did not hear any warnings from Authentik until after I contacted them 2 days before our visit and even then they told us we "COULD NOT ACCESS DEATH VALLEY" at all. However, when we rang Death Valley visitor office we found that we COULD ACCESS IT (including our booked accommodation) with a slight detour to a different entrance. So thankfully we did not rely on the advice from Authentik.
Some of the accommodation booked for us by Authentik were below expectations, especially the "Elan Hotel" in Los Angeles. It was a bit run down and tyhe carpets were worn and dirty. On top of that they want $40 per night for parking which seemd excessive even for LA. Then our room was right on the road so even with ear plugs in the noise was totally unbearable. (When we complained they did move us to another room which was much quieter for our next night).
3 responses
Thank you for answering our survey. We are glad that you had a pleasant stay overall.
I would like to mention that we offer different ranges of accommodation, but the economic ones are often located a little further from national parks. Have we known you wanted to be inside the park, we would have suggested other hotels, but the rate would have been at a higher rate.
I'm really sorry you learned late that death valley park was partially closed due to flooding. As we were not in charge of the reservation of your night of the hotel in this destination, your file was not showed in our system. As the situation was changing quickly on the spot, it could have happened that certain section of roads reopened by the time you got there. We always rely to the information that is mentioned on the official website of the national parks.
I still hope that you will keep a good memory of your trip to the USA.
Regards,
Secondly, I was advised that Elan Hotel was a much better hotel than the basic one on your list and was worth the extra cost. If this is true then the basic one must be dreadful.
Finally, the entrance we eventually used to access Death Valley had never closed during the flooding. So you clearly need to access more accurate information.