FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT KERALA

This is a very crucial and foremost aspect of any holiday plan. ExperienceKerala thrives to give you the best Kerala experience. Therefore we aim at adhering transparent dealing. We would like you to carefully check all options available to you before deciding on the most suitable. However, listed below are important points you should keep in mind while choosing your travel planner.

• Get a clear picture of each individual operator’s rates, destination choices and transportation.
• Carefully tread through the detailed itinerary delivered by other operators, including accommodation options (room type and amenities provided) and their exact location. Do not hesitate to demand this from each tourist agent.
• We encourage you to take some time out and research on hotels/ resorts dealt by the operators.
• Browse through their official websites and check their tariffs and facilities accessible. Also, don’t forget to read reviews on TripAdvisor and of other independent travellers. TripAdvisor posts authentic evaluations. Furthermore, the website also updates pictures shot by tourists of different properties they have been to.

Now compare the rates, options and quality of stay of these operators with ExperienceKerala. We guarantee that you will find a greater difference.

• We deal with farm stays, plantation stays, exclusive jungle resorts, camps and home stays. Most of the conventional tour operators do not promote or recommend these choices because they deal with only such hotels those permit discounts and price negotiation. The profit they earn from these guesthouses might be twice than that of the exclusive stays we offer.
• Excellent traveller reviews weaken the chances of getting a hot deal from home/ plantation/ farm stays. Therefore, general tourist operators avoid recommending such properties.
• If you google our listed properties, you will find that all of them are rated and reviewed high by travellers and tourism communities.
• Our handpicked properties are designed and categorised to suit various budget range. Although, these may not be promoted by conventional touring agents, they are reputed and recognized properties that provide a wholesome Kerala experience.
• We do not promote any place that do not give best value for money, neither do we plan holidays to compete other operators. We spend hours to come up with unique and extensive travel itinerary for our travellers.
• We can easily manipulate our customers by offering cheaper hotels; tied up hotels, through which we can earn better profits. It would be equal to misleading and cheating. However, our main motto is to convey a trip that’s worth a lifetime. Keeping that as our purpose, we devote to offer premium services without losing on the quality.

• We specialise in the following;
  • Farm Stays
  • Plantation Stays
  • Jungle Lodges
  • Mountain Retreats
  • Estate Bungalows
  • Tree houses
  • Home Stays
  • 3/4 /5 Star hotels
  • Budget hotels
• Most of our properties are hidden gems amidst beautiful landscapes so as to offer you a value added tour package. However, we categorise our accommodation choices (economic, deluxe, and luxury stays) to suit various budget ranges.
• Our accommodations may not be recommended by most tourist operators as they are unconventional and elite. However, be rest assured of the quality because we deal with only premium lodgings that are reviewed and suggested by travellers (check TripAdvisor and other travel review communities).
• Our accommodation suggestion is categorised into two;
  • Cost wise and
  • Theme wise
• Why we cater to various themes is because each theme proposes different travel experience to you. For example, if you are looking for a wildlife holiday plan that includes nature walk, elephant or jeep safari, mountain trekking etc., jungle resorts, tree houses or camps will match best with your preference as compared to city hotels or farm stays.
• Similarly, if you prefer a soulful trip comprising of cultivation and plantation of spices or experiencing organic farming, Plantation or farm stays may suit you the best. Our traditional home stays garners an authentic Kerala feel within you through their traditional Malabar cuisines, moral and cultural values and incredible hospitality.
• Theme wise, we not only suggest the top choice but we equally allow our customers to pick from the options laid out by us, matching their taste the closest.
• However, we also plan holidays according to your budget type, completely eliminating the theme option. Here we provide customers a list of hotels lowest to highest rates conforming to transparent dealing. (Economic/ Standard and Deluxe/ Luxury lodgings)
• All of our stays are handpicked after extensive research and based on our one decade of travel experience.

We do not earn profits through our valuable customers. We do not believe in over charging for any kind of service we offer. We aim in delivering 100% transparent deals.

• Since we (you and us) plan together each aspect of your holiday, we try to provide all significant details relating to your trip.
• When we suggest an accommodation to you, we include the hotel/ stay’s address, official website, contact details, images and road maps in the suggestion list. Furthermore, we also include links to traveller’s reviews of the preferred property posted by independent travellers or by TripAdvisor.
• We request our customers to cross check the details furnished by us with the hotels’ by officially contacting them.
• So to answer your question, we do have bilateral tie ups with many reputed cab dealers, hotels, resorts and camps. The rates they offer to us totally rely on the volume of business we generate for them. Therefore the prices they provide to us is different to what they offer to general public.
• The difference of rate that is generated comprises our operating cost.
• The profit we earn does not largely come from our customers but rather it is incurred from these operators who share their profits with us for providing them business.
• However, we do charge a nominal amount as a token for the service of planning, implementing and executing your Holiday in a seamless manner.

Well, of course you can plan and execute a perfect holiday plan all by yourself, provided you have adequate time to invest in extensive research. In our initial days as tourists, we have had many successful excursions, confidently charted out by ourselves. During our earlier researches we found that our personalised itineraries were far better and promising than conventional tour packages and moreover you may come upon best experience at a more cost effective price.

A holiday planning comprises of 3 stages;

1. Research

• Fix a budget and date
• Explore and short list destination choices on the basis of activities, sites to visit, accommodations, rates and peak season.
• How? Talk to local people, post questions on travel community forums, check extensively for reviews, traveller photographs and blogs.
• Prepare a rough draft and come up with various possibilities you can include such as distances between places, period of stay in each destination, time calculation etc.
• Make a note on safety precautions you need to adhere in your entire trip. Ensure to go through and contact in advance reliable and proficient transport service, taxi drivers and other local transportation amenities.

2. Booking

• This phase includes booking and reserving hotels/ resorts/ boat houses,facilities, sights to visit (wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, museums and other historical places), activities(trekking, safari, camping, water sports etc.), transportation and tickets.
• Booking is a crucial and tedious phase. Although most of the bookings can be done online now, there are many cases of overbooking (especially when multiple websites/ options are involved) and ‘bait and switch’ (what you booked for is not what you get) scenarios tourists have encountered.
• Make sure you confirm and follow up time and again with the respective service providers to avoid last minute confusions.
• Ensure to go through your booking contract, terms and conditions of the companies and refund policies so as to be on the safer side.
• Don’t forget to go through your itinerary to ensure seamless and on time arrangements.
• While booking do ask elaborate details about safety for children and elders, food, medical aids, nearby hospitals etc.

3. Execution

• Comes the period of the actual trip; an experience you would like to freeze for a life. However, be alert of glitches and pot holes that you may face during your excursion.
• Unless you are the recipient, you will have to face different kinds of trivial snags in the journey. Try to look past them and enjoy the trip as it comes to you.
• It is always advised to prepare in advance to deal with unexpected situations. Therefore, have a contingency plan or a fellow traveller who can be a guide to take you out from worst case scenarios.
• In most cases you may discover at the end of the trip that the expenses you met were more than the initial plan and more than what a proficient holiday planner have had offered.
• But what you gained was a valuable experience which you can pass on to your future trips or to other fellow travellers.

When it comes to customizing a well planned trip, we assure you that our experience and exposure to so many assortments of journeys have made us an adept. We know where glitches can root and where back up is needed. We also know the less pleasant facts of each destination, stays and activities, which you, as a normal traveller may not run into.

That’s why we ask you to turn to us and sit back and relax. With your budget, time and preference we would craft a delightful and unequalled vacation, which a skilled google research may fail to provide.

Sometimes, what we see is not what we get. What is pleasant and scenic for a fellow traveller may not look the same to you. That’s why we give options, choices and preferences. The knowledge and the exposure which we incur by visiting are much deeper and realistic than internet articles.

ExperienceKerala Team has 10 years of extensive travelling experience and has stumbled upon the best and worst sides of travelling. Hence we are here to guide you and simplify your vacation and provide a wholesome entertainment as we present Kerala to you.