We had TONS of problems with our Hanover Tours vacation (Experience Illinois - August 2019).
Accommodation problems: at our second hotel (where we stayed for 3 nights) we were booked into a room with only a King bed - I was travelling with my father. The hotel was completely booked so the only thing they could offer was a pull-out couch. At our third hotel, there were 2 beds but the hotel room was damp-smelling, had carpet stains, water damage under the window and discoloured ceiling tiles.
There was also a huge programming mess up.
This tour was billed as a tour of Illinois with a focus on John Deere.
When we arrived at the John Deere Combine factory we were turned away at the door because the factory was closed for re-tooling.
We asked our wonderful Tour Director Kathy to find out from Hanover Tours what happened in the planning for this big of a mistake.
This was THE tour that many on our bus had booked the trip for. Many folks who are still farming were missing grain harvest or had to hire folks to look after their livestock because they wanted a chance to tour this factory.
As we left the factory I started to compose a Google Review but then stopped and realized that, in Hanover Tours' shoes I would appreciate a chance to make things right. I then emailed the company (and our travel agent) about our experience.
The VP of Hanover tours, Diane Deibel, contacted me and said that "once I have all the facts, I will be back in touch"
After dinner our Tour Director, Kathy read us an email response to her inquiries to Hanover Tours.
(Diane Deibel, VP of Hanover Tours, has promised, through Kathy, to send me a copy of this email but hasn't followed through on that yet. Nor has she responded to my email, as she said she would)
It said:
- Hanover Tours found out in *JULY* that The JD Combine factory would be on shut-down during our week
- that they did not share this info with the Tour Director or the clients on this trip
- that they were sorry
- that they would buy us lunch at Bob Evans
Of course, I can never know but it sure feels to me that Hanover Tours assumes that because of the age of the clients or because so many on this trip are farmers who will be very busy when they get home, that no one will do anything about the mistakes made and the failure to make things right to the satisfaction of these (now former) Hanover Tours clients.
I feel terrible for my Dad who was so excited for us to do these things on our first vacation together in 30 years.
We've had a lot of fun together and with the great people we've met but I know that everyone is very disappointed with the way this trip has ended. read more
