Darrell
Feedback of WEEKEND A LA CARTE as a travel agent is very poor. Feedback of the ICEHOTEL and TREEHOTEL are excellent. It is a shame the feedback couldn't be left independently. On arrival at Lulea airport, we were the only people off our flight to be left stranded at the airport. WEEKEND A LA CARTE hadn't booked a transfer for us. After a wait, I phoned the contact name and number on the paperwork who fortunately answered the phone on a Sunday night. He said he wasn't the person who should have been contacted as he hadn't performed that role for three years ! Fortunately, he agreed to help us and arranged for a taxi to be called for us. We arrived at the TREEHOTEL very late to be greeted by the very lovely and very apologetic BRITTA. The TREEHOTEL is a old fashioned chalet type home that is extremely welcoming and full of vintage pieces from old sewing machines, to homeware, old fire extinguishers, radiograms etc. After quickly seating us for dinner BRITTA explained that there had been a further issue. We had booked to stay in two of the different tree houses on two consecutive nights. She couldn't understand what had gone wrong but there was no tree house for us that night. She agreed to put us up in the main hotel. Having studied the paperwork after the event it seems that WEEKEND A LA CARTE had booked us on Sunday night and Monday night in the same tree house and then Monday night and Tuesday night in another. I can only assume, in the absence of any further communication, that this cross-over was the root cause of the issue. The rest of our stay at the TREE HOTEL was made special by the owners who in spite of WEEKEND A LA CARTE's incompetence, made us incredibly welcome and looked after us as well as anyone could be expected to under the circumstances. We did one excursion which was husky mushing. This was a brilliant experience. There was just us and our guide. We were told by WEEKEND A LA CARTE that our train tickets to take us to the ICE HOTEL would be at the TREE HOTEL. But the owners knew nothing about it. I cannot help feeling that if I hadn't chased WEEKEND A LA CARTE they would not have been delivered. In summary, I would highly recommend the TREE HOTEL but book it direct with the owners who speak really good English. I am sure they would assist with transfers etc. The train journey to ICE HOTEL was uneventful. I had asked WEEKEND A LA CARTE to do something special for my wife's 40th birthday (which was the day we arrived at the ICE HOTEL). I suggested a bottle of champagne might go some way to compensate for the poor experience we had had from them so far. Alas, there was nothing. Nothing at all. Not even a mention of an apology from their Rep on arrival. The stay at the ICE HOTEL was good. The only complaints there were the fact we were booked into a restaurant called the HOMESTEAD on the second night. There was no mention of this in the itinerary. They booked us a table at 5:30pm. Much earlier than we would normally eat and on arrival at the restaurant, there was no one else there. Some people we befriended came at 7:30pm and they too were the only ones there as we departed. Why we couldn't have eaten at the ICE HOTEL I'll never know! The one excursion we booked here was Snowmobiling. It was generally good apart from the description WEEKEND A LA CARTE provided suggested a stop at a local Sami village to learn something of their culture. This did not happen. The ICE HOTEL is an incredible place. Very magical. And I would highly recommend a room that has sculptures (suites) as the plain rooms are somewhat underwhelming by comparison (and a suite gets you a changing room whereas a normal room only gets you a locker). Take plenty of money with you. Cocktails in the ICE BAR are around £11 each. A beer is around £6.50. Dinner, with a bottle of champagne was £250. Breakfast is included and is plentiful. Upon leaving the ICEHOTEL we had no faith in WEEKEND A LA CARTE's ability to collect us from the hotel, so we took a shuttle bus provided (at a cost) by the hotel. In summary, we were delighted with the TREE HOTEL and the ICE HOTEL. We were thrilled with the husky mushing and pleased with the snowmobiling. However, we were disgusted with WEEKEND A LA CARTE as a travel agent. This was not a budget trip. It was an expensive 4 day break for my wife's 40th birthday and I expected it to be a seamless experience, not one with added unnecessary stress. Would we recommend both Hotels? Absolutely. They should both be on everyone's bucket lists. Would we recommend WEEKEND A LA CARTE? Absolutely Not!
9 years ago
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