Sonatours Reviews

A fantastic experience and a great

A fantastic experience and a great itinerary packed with lots of sightseeing Ajay handled the big group very well

Very happy with the service

Very happy with the service My holiday was cancelled due to Covid 19 I was kept informed all the time and I was given the full refund without any hassle I did not have to chase them I would recommend Sona Tours

My awful expriance with sonatours

I booked with sona tours twice before that s my third time this experience was so bad they didn t stay with the planned day the driver lost several time took wrong turns we spend the whole day on the coach than the Indian food place was non vegetarian instead of a halal food as I request on the application and it was awful experience than the hotel was good looking the rooms air condition was not working in either of those nights and Tv was not working in my room complaint to Receiption no results and daughter got bitted by bed bugs awfully the bathroom door lock not working none our bedsheets wore changed Than tour guide was not so nice he was busy guiding his native peoples I requested to seat with my family the agent in the office said the tour guide will arrange it than the tours guide also said the once we get all the people than his going to sort out our seats but these 3 day tour he never sorted it out my family we all seat far from each other than the Disneyland day tour guide give out Disney tickets but not my family he keep saying he has my ticket but didn t give it us until I got bit angry my kids wore upset not having the tickets I paid more money as my little one didn t go on the offer so I paid full ticket price for all of us experience this rubbish time it would be much better to take euro star never take this service again in my life I would advise everyone better to us other service than this you don t get full day tour we all stack in the coach for whole first day

Never book with Sona Tours

On 11th February 2022 I booked a package holiday with Sona Tours to go to Alaska We were supposed to go in August 2022 and there were 15 of us going We booked the trip in February and each paid 100 deposit Unfortunately in April I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and would not be able to go on this holiday My husband went to their office immediately to inform them that we would need to cancel our place on the trip and I sent an email on 25th April confirming the cancellation We did not hear anything back from Sona Tours In June we received an email demanding we pay 3250 half the cost of the holiday as a cancellation fee As you can imagine this was a huge shock to us and not something we could afford as we had spent a lot of money on my cancer treatment They also pretended that they could not find our original email informing them of our cancellation but later they found it We hoped under the circumstances they would be more understanding of our situation but they demonstrated no empathy for the toll this was taking on my mental health Meanwhile my husband contacted our travel insurance who were extremely supportive and they thankfully told us that they will pay the amount to Sona Tours directly We informed Sona Tours of this but instead they sent us a court order and a deadline to pay the amount They did not want to deal with our insurance company they only wanted us to pay them In the end our insurance company paid them 3250 but we still had to pay the court fee because it s in their T C s that we need to pay the court fee of 205 They final vulgar act Sona Tours did was they refused to give us back our deposit of 200 after they had received their payment and decided to take this as their court fee I am writing this to highlight what a terrible company Sona Tours is and how disgusting their behaviour has been towards me Their emails particularly from Chetan were extremely rude and threatening Had it not been for my daughters who had to respond to them on my behalf because I was too unwell I should not have had to deal with this stress shortly after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and having to go through chemo and surgery I urge anyone considering booking a holiday via Sona Tours to think twice about it and go through their unfair terms and conditions with a fine tooth comb so you know what to expect in case anything should go wrong I hope this helps prevent someone else from going through what I have had to go through with them

Think twice brfore Booking with Sona Tours

Having booked Mini 4 Day UK Break in December 2023 and paid in full for travel 6 months later In February 2024 one person in our group developed medical condition and is unable to travel In March 2024 I went to the Kingsbury Office to find out if I can cancel as it is more than 12 weeks prior to departure I was told I would lose 30 of cost not deposit or the second option was change of name which will still cost 50 00 to amend which would take less than a minute to do on their system They suggested to wait till May 2024 in case things change I went again in May 2024 which is now 7 weeks prior to departure and the medical condition of the person hasn t improved I asked if they could justify the charge for name change for the Mini UK Break they refused to give any breakdown or details I asked them to provide details of the hotel that we will be staying in I was told they don t have that details either as they only process and finalize the booking 2 weeks prior to departure date I was told that they plan their whole year s holiday in advance but could not provide hotel details If this is the case what are they charging me 50 00 for As I wasn t happy with the explanation given I asked if I could speak with Chetan Shah Director hoping he would understand and reduce the charge I suggested that if we can talk privately as I did not want to discuss in front of his staff or customers This did not happen Anyway I explained my situation but he was still not prepared to understand and was adamant about the charge I queried about his T C with no clarity or transparency he brushed me off saying that T C are approved by ATOL and ABTA Their brochure does not show any cancellation or change of name charges how can this be approved by ABTA or ATOL makes you wonder Cancellation charges are only shown once you are issued with the confirmation of travel The majority of T C only applies to overseas travel and they incorporated these as standard to their Local travel as well During our conversation I was hinted many times that I was wasting his time this is kind of arrogant behaviour attitude and professionalism one would not expect from Company Director No customer care or satisfaction shown just imagine than what would you expect from Sales Staff If you check the responses and replies to other reviewer s comment there is no remorse or empathy from Sona Tours It is always customer s or their third party selection s fault never theirs They even don t add name to their replies so that you cannot hold anyone to be accountable this just shows how arrogant the Company is They are also prepared to take a cancer patient to court and demand legal fees what chance has anyone else got I wouldn t call this as an Exquisite Personal Service neither Outstanding Value ATOL ABTA bonding may be good if the company goes burst not in this case as their T C s are there for their benefit and interest and not for customers Even after so many negative reviews Sona Tours have made no effort to change Questions still arises in one s mind how does ABTA ATOL after their constant monitoring can let Sona Tours get away with their Code of Practice If anyone wants to book their holidays or their mini breaks please think twice as there are many Asian Tour Operators available in the Country As we have no other options left I am just hoping that our forth coming mini break is not as disappointing and stressful as this experience even before it has started hope the hotel and food would be of good standard In their final paragraph of all their reply they audaciously mention about your confidence has not been affected to an extent etc My confidence in Sona Tours is Zero

Scotland Highlights

I am disappointed to learn that you have edited your reply to my review posted on 18 May 2024 You have added positive comments stating they are from clients that I had booked for I can assure you those comments are not from my group 05 07 24 In your original reply you said that I did not once mention about my Travel Insurance arrangement I wasn t aware that it was necessary or obligation for me to inform or discuss my Travel Insurance with you Secondly your T C states any changes made before 28 days customer losses 30 of deposit but it does not clarify if the cost of holiday is paid in full or is discounted yet you claim it is verified You have not shown any gesture of goodwill nor commented on any other issues that I had raised in my review Having posted my experience of inconvenience and disappointment with Sona Tours on 18 05 24 and we were hoping our mini break to Scotland would be pleasant and not disappointing Unfortunately with regards to Food and Hotel On the first evening the food in Firangi was disappointing Everyone in the tour complained about the food The tables were sticky the bar area was filthy the crockery were all wet we were worried if we were going to be ill The restrooms were not clean and had an awful foul smell When the tour guide said to us that we will be going to the same restaurant Firangi on the third evening we were all disappointed and insisted that the guide should take us to another restaurant and suggested that he should contact Sona Tours to change the Venue but this was out of his hand The tour guide said that he cannot contact Sona Tours for authorisation and said that we have no choice but to go to Firangi on the third evening On the second evening the food in Mr Basrai s was good as there were many verities and choices Holiday Inn where we were staying would not be counted as 3 Stars because the housekeeping was very poor No cleaning was done even the beds in the morning were not made up Glasses and Cups were not washed and left where they were after use The toilet floor and the shower was not cleaned at all Please do not blame on the level of service your third party provides I believe it s your responsibility to check that venues offer good level of service Couple of items on the itinerary was not visited as they were closed which is understandable On the positive side the Tour Manager Guide was friendly and knowledgeable The driver of the coach in Scotland was very good

Cornwall tour 25 05 2024

We went in a group of 14 by Sona tours to Devon and Cornwall dated 25 5 24 Following recent excellent tour to Scotland this tour started with a great disappointment with late start substandard small coach and less efficient driver However it was rectified on day 2 by replacement with large coach and new driver Tour guide was not very friendly and at times sounded rude and insulting as well by citing unpleasant examples and directly targetting Indians for hotel theft picks which was too insulting Never did he have any introduction talks to know that he was talking to a bunch of highly learned and affluent doctors and professionals He needs to be told that politeness and courtesy are basics for direct public jobs like these Hotel selection was very nice and comfortable except for very limited choices for vegetarian breakfast Eggs are not to be considered as vegetarian breakfast and there should be an alternate option for it as all vegetarians are not eggetarians Sorry for adverse but honest comments

We had a very bad experience with Sona

We had a very bad experience with Sona tours We booked a trip to Scotland with Sona tours on 25th July 2024 We were a group of 5 members On the 1st day itself our seat numbers were allocated to us from 42 to 46 The tour manager Neema Gohil requested us to sit one seat row behind because she wanted to accommodate other passengers All members in our group were over the age of 75 yet that was not taken into account and we were made to sit in the last row On the last row we could hardly hear the announcements on the mic On the frist day dinner was at 9 15 pm on the 1st floor Every one was extremely tired The quality of food was very poor On the second day as well the dinner was horrible the cutlery was wet the quality was bad and the service was appauling It was only on the last day thay dinner was served on time and the quality was good The tour manager is not capable to handle group an timings Every time we waited to take photos our group takes the longest to get out of the coach cos we are right at the end hence we do not get enough time anywhere I was stuck in lift one of the days the experience was traumatising I pressed emergency button an security guard came after 15 min I called manager but she just said that Ramada reception will help But no one came only the bus driver came Last day on the way back we reached lecister and the tour manager forgot her biscuits box So bus had to drive back to lecister Waisted 40 min we reached London at sona tours office at 11pm Every one was upset I traveled lot with different tours With sona tours I am not happy at all I will not be recommending sona travels to anyone and I will be posting this review on social media to raise awareness