Client Testimonials - Phil Hoffmann Travel

Dear Sir

A note to say thank you to Phil Hoffmann Travel for organizing my recent tour with Insight Vacations which saw me fly from Melbourne 6^th May 2010 onto a 14 day Highlights of Europe tour and then arrive back to home, 26^th May 2010.

My whole tour was organized by Alicia Wilson out of the Stirling Office and I wanted to compliment Alicia on a job well done. I had to go onto another tour when my original chosen tour was cancelled by Insight Vacations which meant a change in airline flight times and additional accommodation but this did not present a problem to Alicia who rebooked all my changes and produced my new itinerary promptly and was always courteous and gracious answering all my enquiries.

I thank you all at Phil Hoffmann once again…having travelled with you in past years as well on tour.

C K, Eltham VIC, 16 June 2010

Hey Lauren,

Just wanted to drop you a line to say a massive THANK YOU for all your help with organising our Bali trip. We had a fantastic time. The Maya Ubud was gorgeous and the Kartika Discovery Villa was a little slice of heaven in the madness of Kuta. (highly recommend for your trip... if you shared with another couple, there are lots of spaces to have some privacy). The on-ground company you use was terrific - always reliable, friendly tour guides. No problems with them at all.

For anyone else going to Ubud, we would highly recommend the white water rafting with Soebek. That was a definite highlight. Fantastic family activity - would suit kids as young as five or six (they can just sit in the boat and not paddle!) We saw wild monkeys and stood under a waterfall. Brilliant!

We'll certainly be in touch the next time we are planning a holiday.

Thanks again,

Ms V P
Media Manager Monday 3rd May 2010

To: Lucy Bellamy

Subject: Leaving UK!!

Hi Lucy,

We've been caught up in volcanic ash in London. We have managed to extend our stay at Hilton Park Lane and our flight has been changed to Wednesday - hopefully things will be moving by then.

Anyway we have really enjoyed our prolonged stopover in London and did a few things that we wouldn't have got the chance to do otherwise. What would you recommend in the way of documentation for claiming travel insurance (who sounded quite supportive when I spoke to them). Is a letter from Phil Hoffmann sufficient or would we need a letter from Emirates?

Thanks again for your support and understanding. We have both really appreciated it. Best travel agent in the world!! I'll make sure I come in and book the next trip in person!

Cheers

Dr P V, Thursday, 22 April 2010

Dear Sir

My wife and I have just completed 2 consecutive cruises with Princess Cruises arranged by your consultant Claire Korner at your Norwood office. The Cruises were marvellous as usual and the assistance we received again by Claire was excellent making our trip extremely memorable.

Over the past few years we have relied on Claire to organize our travel arrangements and the effort she has put in to making our travels pleasurable is a credit to her and your organisation. At all times we are able to travel knowing that everything has been arranged and we can feel fully confident that our holiday will be enjoyable.

Once again thanks to Claire for her kind assistance and we look forward to our next adventure.

Yours sincerely

Mr G R, Athelstone SA, 6 November 2009

Dear Phil,

I am writing to voice my appreciation for Fiona Potter - of your Norwood office – arranging the most amazing holiday “Cairo – Cape Town” for me and my New Zealand friend, Diane Steele. We arrived back yesterday after 25 days that covered the most dynamic, exciting and diverse range of activities, cultures and landscapes.

We were exclusively driven and guided – just the two of us – staying in first class accommodation, transferred to and from hotels and airports without a hitch. The whole trip was seamless in that although three different companies were involved, everything ran smoothly. Truly we cannot think of a single thing to complain about in any of the countries. We were treated with such respect by the staff involved who were highly skilled and professional.

Dianne and I have traveled extensively for many years so it is hard to find something out of the ordinary – well this was it!! We loved every minute; it truly has been the journey of a lifetime and one that we will always remember. We also think it was great value for money.

I thought I would bring this to your attention as it is a trip that deserves to be promoted for its exclusiveness and diversity. But also to say how much we appreciated Fiona's professionalism and support.

CC of Glenside, Oct 2009

Dear Phil,

I am writing this letter to compliment you on your staff, especially Tanya Donaldson of your Norwood office. We went on an Asian cruise; August 9 to 25^th, 2009.

It was great. Tanya made everything so easy. Nothing was too much bother. You have a very good staff member in Tanya.

On leaving Sunday 9th of August, at the airport, two people – I think from your Glenelg office – were there to see us off. It was wonderful.

But the part that really blew us away was on arrival at Adelaide airport at 9.45pm, 25^th August, there were two people from your Glenelg office at the bottom of the escalator to welcome us home with a bag which contained a loaf of bread and a small carton of milk. Unbelievable.

Service, attention to detail; 10/10.

We recommend Phil Hoffmann Travel to all our family and friends and we will always travel with your company.

Thank you once again to Tanya and all your staff.

J&P L of Salisbury East, Oct 2009

Subject: thank you Fleur Brenkley

I have just returned from a wonderful 7 week trip through Europe, London, Canada and Hawaii thanks to the suggestions, advice, planning and help given by Fleur Brenkley

Her assistance enabled us to have a trouble free trip The cruise with Avalon Waterways ( Fleur's suggestion) was just wonderful and I can highly recommend it Fleur's friendly, professional attitude made it a pleasure to consult l with her.

Thank you

Mrs M D - Adelaide, 10 October 2009

Well, I must say that 'Discover Japan' was a trip of a lifetime! I think I can honestly say it is the best trip I've ever been on. It was so well organised. Our Guides were absolutely fantastic! Sandy Pugsley should be commended on her dedication to the group and cared for us the whole time we were away. She was so generous with her time and even in our free time offered suggestions of things to do, often with her which was very kind. She is an excellent guide.

Kaori Adachi - our Japanese Guide was fantastic and also gave us so much time. She has a very pleasant manner and is very caring and knowledgeable.
Mario arranged everything for me and he did an excellent job. He also has a delightful way about him!

Future trips:
I have booked a cruise in March and look forward to that. Also, I have just booked a trip to New Zealand for Ted and myself for next May, and this is being done through Laura who also has been very efficient and friendly.

Well done to you and Phil Hoffmann Travel!

Regards

Mrs B R, West Lakes SA. 6 Oct 2009

We would like to offer a commendation for the services provided to us by Gen Thompson, recently. The four of us first met Gen back in May 2008 to book a 7 week European Holiday in May-June-July this year. Right from the start we were impressed with Gen's bubbly personality and her enthusiasm and genuine excitement for what we were planning to do. She instilled in us from the outset the utmost confidence in her ability to successfully co-ordinate a somewhat complicated itinerary. We met with her on numerous occasions over the past 12 months and always found her to be extremely professional, co-operative and above all, very friendly. She also always went to great lengths to explain everything to us along the way.

The Customer Service Manager

Phil Hoffmann Travel

Dear Sir/Madam

Just a short memo to inform you of the great holiday we have just enjoyed in Fiji. We stayed at the Bedarra Beach Inn for 8 nights and the standard of accommodation was beyond our expectation and so was the service from the Staff and the standard of the welcome and farewell were very special by the Hotel music trio. Our Tours as recommended by the staff were spot on. We found it a little difficult to leave such a lovely place.

Also please pass on our regards to MKs Nicole Baker, your travel consultant who gave us excellent service to make our service very enjoyable.

Yours sincerely

Mr & Mrs A K

Clarendon, SA 5th August 2009

Darling,

Have just been telling a whole group of people at work what a wonderful time we had on the Sun Princess and how smoothly it all went because of Cherylee. What a time we had. She was amazing.. Its just the little things that she did that made it so special. I think she had members from other groups (who didn't have an escort) asking her about things too? I think Phil Hoffmann Travel is the only way to go when planning a holiday...wouldn't use anyone else.

The other thing we had a laugh about was seeing you at the airport with loaves of bread and milk. Truly inspired.....went home with a great big smile and immediately had a vegemite toast and a cup of tea..wonderful!!!

Thank you all so much for our great holiday.. Will see you in a while to book the next one. Think that you might be getting a few queries from people who have never used PHT before.. Very impressed with our holiday stories.

Lots of hugs and kisses

Mr & Mrs D C, Adelaide SA. 30 July 2009

Hi Amanda, we hope that you are well.

We would like to sincerely thank you for all your efforts in making our recent overseas trip a wonderful success. We appreciated your efficiency in organising our trip and in particular, your prompt attention in dealing with our SOS from London, requesting an extension to our stay at the Crowne Plaza, Shoreditch.

It was a pleasure each time we visited you for holiday updates to be greeted by you, your beautiful smile and lovely welcoming personality.

We would have no hesitation in recommending you.

With our kindest regards,

Mr & Mrs P B, Norwood, SA. 10 August 2009

Hi Amanda,

Thank you so much for the post card and,YES we did have a wonderful holiday! We enjoyed the company of Cherylee Harris and had a lot of fun.

Thank you for all the organising you did on our behalf, it was very much appreciated! We were most impressed with the extras that we received on behalf of Phil Hoffmann Travel. Very nice to receive but most unexpected! We were the envy of other travellers as we were ushered off quickly while they all were left standing, not knowing where to go and no-one to show them.

This is our first experience of travelling with Phil Hoffmann Travel and I am sure it won't be our last. We will most certainly refer our friends to you as we already have.

Thank you again for all that you have done for us!

Regards,

Mr & Mrs K, Adelaide SA, 21 July 09

Hi there Carol

Just wanted to say thank you for the welcome home card – it was a lovely thought. The girls from Glenelg (I think) met us at the airport (approx 10.30 pm) with some bread & milk – that was a great way to end a fantastic 16 days – a finishing touch.

We have been very impressed with the service afforded by all of the Phil Hoffman staff that we have been associated with since we made our first contact in regard to the Treasures of Asia cruise. The cruise was fantastic (which we expected anyway, since we had already been on a Princess Cruise). It was made even better by having Cherylee Harris as our host.

We can't wait to go on our next trip – you can be assured that it will definitely be booked through Phil Hoffmann Travel, wherever we decide to go!!

Kind Regards & Many Thanks

Mr A & Mrs R F, Adelaide, 29 July 2009

Although we got back nearly 2 weeks ago, it has taken me this long to let you know how things went. Firstly, we had a brilliant time!!!! So often, we were caught saying to each other – “Thank goodness Dean organized this for us”

Trafalgar was brilliant – we had a wonderful tour director (Kevin) who had masses of experience – for us novices running around Europe with no idea what we were doing, he was an angel! I would thoroughly recommend Trafalgar and in particular, the Grand European to anyone. We sure all of the magnificent, romantic, well known historical places and experienced as much as we could. We took up all of the optional excursions (the tour director had tailored it down from the large number shown in the book to about a dozen very special events. Had we been on our own, we would not have fitted in half of all that we experienced – it was extreamly well run and he made sure we got to all the different places at just the right time (before the crowds or when something amazing was going on) The Grand European also had fantastic hotels – very luxurious and in very nice locations. I am not sure if we would have enjoyed it as much had we taken up a budget option. Choosing Trafalgar was partly due to the event PHT invited us to (the woman was very informative) and partly due to favorable comments by numerous people.

There are lots of other places we would like to visit now knowing that a tour will shield us from difficulties.

Really loved London – and in particular BritRail. Thank you for first class and the passes – they were excellent! Also, thank you for the reservations – I can not think of a time when we didn't need them – and we felt sorry for those that had first class tickets only to board a carriage that was full! It really is a lovely way of unwinding and watching the beautiful scenery go past.

The Hop on Hop off buses were essential – we would have been literally lost without them!! York was stunning, really amazing while Edinburgh was brilliant – we saw as much as we could in a short space of time. Ambelside in the Lakes District was a fantastic surprise – lots of lovely walking trails etc – perfect for stretching out our legs after 3 weeks in the Trafalgar Bus!!

Oyster card and the tube in general worked very well – we used it all the time and thank you for the advice on taxis!

You were right about the zigzagging that we did – we could have saved ourselves a day had we tackled one end of UK in the beginning and the lower side at the end – but we did appreciate the down time that the train gave us. A million thank you's for your excellent instructions on the itinerary – these train stations are huge and quite overwhelming but we had your itinerary to keep us on track. You got the horrid task of fitting it all together for us and we really appreciated it!

You were also right about Hotel Re! in Singapore – it was out from the main part and although they had their own bus and taxis were cheap, it would have been easier had we been in the centre. We also realized why most hotels in Singapore have pools – it was sooooo hot and sticky! Still, Hotel Re! was the cheapest option and it was very clean and comfortable. We only got single beds (I think that is an SIA thing) which was odd (we later discovered that lots of places had single king size beds that are pushed together but Hotel Re!'s couldn't be). Some of the SIA deals were a little confusing but we managed to get on a boat cruise and utilize the hop on bus quite effectively. SIA organized a night zoo tour as well as a Santosa tour but we realized later we may have been able to do both trips cheaper – still at least we didn't have to run around trying to organize it ourselves!

The trains from both Milano Centrale (wow, isn't that an amazing station!!) and Como to Firenze were great – we did not have any trouble with these at all and yet again, the scenery was brilliant!! Bellagio on Lake Como was perfect for our 30^th wedding anniversary, the best part of the trip. If you have not gone to Lake Como yet, make sure you do!!

Meridianna was very comfortable with no problems at all – any easy and cheap way to get from Firenze to London.

So, once again, thank you for everything – itinerary, bookings, advice and recommendations and in particular, holding our hands through the planning process. Looking forward to more travel in a year or two – Canada or Croacia/Greek Islands with perhaps a small trip (Hawaii or Bali) in-between. Tony is even keen for the 4 of us to do a small cruise! I get the PHT newsletter so I will keep my eye out for deals and no doubt we will see you at the next travel expo.

Here we are back in good old cold and wet Birdwood after our 6 weeks holiday overseas. A bit of a shock to the system I must say. We arrived home Thursday via Singapore and still suffering today a bit from the dreaded jet lag. We had four days in Singapore to break the journey from London which wasn't to bad, but the flight from Singapore to Adelaide, leaving at midnight and arriving back here in the morning took its toll as we did not get much sleep. (Might have something to do with our age also!)

We had a really fantastic 6 weeks away with heaps of highlights too numerous to mention. The boat cruise down the Rivers of Europe (Budapest to Amsterdam) was just fantastic. It is great to have a place for two weeks that you don't have to pack and unpack all the time and yet the scenery was constantly changing. I can recommend that to anyone who wants to relax. Of course there was plenty to see and do if you wanted to, but that was up to the individual person so that was great. One of our highlights was probably dinner on the Eiffel Tower in Paris and also our week in Italy but once again there was so many beautiful places that it is hard to pick out just one special place, although I must say Sorrento in Italy and our visit to the Blue Grotto was a stand out. The man who rowed our boat into the Grotto had the most magnificent voice and sang while we were in the Grotto. It may the hairs on your neck stand out.

Les and I would like to say how much we appreciated your patience and help in organising our trip Dean, because it was a bit of a trial trying to get Les' health insurance and then in a short space of time trying to co-ordinate the trip with the one that John and Edna had already booked. Thank you so much. Everything went really smoothly, all bookings were confirmed without any problems whatsoever and that only helped to make our holiday so much more relaxed and enjoyable. You and your staff were fantastic.

I must also say a huge thank you to our tour leader, Phillip Styles and his wife Robyn. What an outstanding down to earth couple they are. Their understanding and patience has to be highly commended especially when Les had trouble with the high salt content of the food on the ship. With his heart condition he of course should not have salt and Phillip went out of his way to make sure Les had a separate menu each night with a low salt content. Nothing was too much trouble for both Phillip and Robyn and we would like to make sure that "the boss" Phil Hoffmann knows how much we appreciated every effort that you Dean, Phillip and Robyn contributed towards making our holiday an outstanding event.. (Of course it did help when Phillip and Robyn turned out to be Crows supporters and we had a footy tipping competition for some entertainment - Not that Les or I won anything!)

I think I can speak for John and Edna also in thanking everyone Dean, and once again to all those hard working office staff that contributed towards making our once in a lifetime trip to Europe an outstanding success and Phillip and Robyn for their part in making sure that everyone on the tour was well looked after and any problems resolved (not that I think there were any) without as little fuss as possible. What more can I say outstanding.

p.s. Dean, Les has opened the 2007 Yalumba Bush Vine Grenache and reckons its a top drop!