Although we booked separate rooms as single people, we have found that in most venues we have been expected to share the same room until we made very strong objections and then we were placed in rooms far apart from each other apparently as some sort of favour. In one hotel three rooms were double booked and, as a result our driver and tour manager were billeted 30 miles away leaving us without the availability of help.

I am writing this on the last night of our holiday in the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas. My brother is on a completely different floor as even this hotel placed us in the same room at first.. I have no idea where he is and rather than wander around this huge and bewildering hotel on my own I have gone to bed. Great last night to a very expensive holiday!

Last night's hotel at Bryce Canyon was ghastly. We were accommodated in different barrack blocks with unsavoury rooms and a quarter mile walk to breakfast. When we got there the queue was so long that we were forced to buy a muffin and coffee from the shop in order to make the coach on time.

I cannot wait to get back to Heathrow and home. Sufficient to say that I will never ever book another holiday with Just You, Travelsphere or Page and Moy.

I’m really sorry that you felt disappointed with your Just You holiday. We want all our travellers to have a wonderful holiday experience, so we are extremely concerned if this is not the case.

We do take all feedback, both positive and negative, on board when planning our holidays and I have spoken to my colleague in our customer services team who will investigate the issues you raised.

Kindest regards,

Julia

The motel in Bryce was a couple of hundred yards from Ruby's Inn where breakfast was served. I arrived there at 7.00am and queued for about ten minutes before being placed at a table. Most of us were in the same boat. A few people arrived a bit later than this and unfortunately by that time the queue was a lot longer and as Valerie had said, a couple of people gave up queueing as time began to run short. The tour manager apologised on the bus afterwards (she wasn't happy with that hotel at all!) and we had an early comfort stop, where people could have something to eat. I see from the new brochure that JY are not using the Bryce View next year, so this situation should not occur again (I imagine for the Oct departure the two hotels would not be so busy). I could imagine that for some of the single ladies on the tour, they might have felt uncomfortable walking back to the Bryce View from Ruby's in the dark, but the walkway was lit and there were plenty of people about when I returned after dinner. My room in Bryce was fine, I couldn't fault it! As I said in my review, many of the hotels/motels were simple in style (the one in Rapid City was slightly shabby) but to my mind they were all acceptable.

I think it is a terrible pity to let the relatively small issue of a mix-up over room allocation to spoil what was a wonderful holiday.

Best wishes,

Bob

Hi I was also on this tour and have just written a very full review of this tour and I have to say that I am very disappointed with the comments made by Valerie. Of course it was unfortunate that for whatever reason she and Ian were booked in the same room at some of the hotels, but Deborah the tour manager sorted this out quickly whenever this or any other glitch occured. The Stratosphere is obviously a very large hotel and we were scattered over different floors, but of course a number of us chose to meet up to eat and explore and had no difficulty arranging to meet.

The motel in Bryce was a couple of hundred yards from Ruby's Inn where breakfast was served. I arrived there at 7.00am and queued for about ten minutes before being placed at a table. Most of us were in the same boat. A few people arrived a bit later than this and unfortunately by that time the queue was a lot longer and as Valerie had said, a couple of people gave up queueing as time began to run short. The tour manager apologised on the bus afterwards (she wasn't happy with that hotel at all!) and we had an early comfort stop, where people could have something to eat. I see from the new brochure that JY are not using the Bryce View next year, so this situation should not occur again (I imagine for the Oct departure the two hotels would not be so busy). I could imagine that for some of the single ladies on the tour, they might have felt uncomfortable walking back to the Bryce View from Ruby's in the dark, but the walkway was lit and there were plenty of people about when I returned after dinner. My room in Bryce was fine, I couldn't fault it! As I said in my review, many of the hotels/motels were simple in style (the one in Rapid City was slightly shabby) but to my mind they were all acceptable.

I think it is a terrible pity to let the relatively small issue of a mix-up over room allocation to spoil what was a wonderful holiday.

Best wishes,

Bob

Bob, thanks very much for addressing the comments made by Valerie. I'm on the LBH trip in October. Have been to the States a lot but never to this part in the middle with lots of small towns. I was expecting the standard of accommodation to be a bit uneven and was prepared for that. On checking the hotels on tripadviser had spotted that the Bryce Canyon hotel was poor (and I'd also noticed that this hotel doesn't feature in 2014 JY holidays). Am also disappointed that JY use the Stratosphere in LV as its so far North on the strip, but I've been to LV many times before (love it) and for one night it wasn't going to ruin my holiday.

My concerns from what Valerie wrote were that it wasn't mentioned that the tour manager was there to sort out the accommodation problems and it seemed to be a big deal to get the issue fixed. The other issues didn't worry me so much - as I'm trying to lose some weight the loss of one breakfast wouldn't be a disaster; the huge hotels in LV do take some navigating but there are plenty of places to arrange to meet up etc.

I was interested to hear the "country" evening you went to was great, I must check that if that is an optional excursion and that I've booked.

Katy

Also if they have to source another room at short notice you cannot expect to be next door to one another. When I travelled on the Florida tour this year my friend and I were lucky to be very close in rooms, this is not always the case. But it's not an issue.

Sometimes early starts and the breakfast can be an issue as in the group size and time but in that case like the rep did I just make sure I eat at the rest break or I normally have some form of nibbles I can take with me..

Sorry to hear Valerie that you are unhappy.

Cindy

Regarding the Stratosphere, its location wasn't really a problem as there are two excursions - the Vegas by night and then the morning tour the next day (as you might have seen from my review, unfortunately the night tour didn't happen as the brand new coach broke down!), but you can ask to be left in the middle of the strip after either excursion and make your own way back. A number did this after the morning tour as we had a good bit of free time (if your flight is the same time as ours, we didn't have to leave for the airport until 5.45pm).

Any other questions, ask away!

All the best,

Bob

Hi Katy, thanks for your comments. The cowboy evening wasn't on our list of excursions, the TM mentioned it to us the evening before and I thihnk almost everyone did it. It cost $25 for the show and the bbq style dinner. It started around 6pm and was over before 8pm, as the mother had to get her little ones to bed! Their big brother minded them, while the parents and the other performer went to another venue in the town to carry on singing/playing! I found this out from some other members of the group who went up the town later on. If I'd have known that, I'd have gone too as they were really great. I bought a couple of their cds for $15 each.

Regarding the Stratosphere, its location wasn't really a problem as there are two excursions - the Vegas by night and then the morning tour the next day (as you might have seen from my review, unfortunately the night tour didn't happen as the brand new coach broke down!), but you can ask to be left in the middle of the strip after either excursion and make your own way back. A number did this after the morning tour as we had a good bit of free time (if your flight is the same time as ours, we didn't have to leave for the airport until 5.45pm).

Any other questions, ask away!

All the best,

Bob

Hi Bob, have noted in my diary that Cody has this bbq evening and cowboy show, in case the TM with our group is not as clued in to this, can you tell me the venue so I can follow up myself. There may be some info online that I can look up this week before I go a week from today - really looking forward to it.

Thanks, Katy

All the best,

Bob

Hi Katy, they are called the Triple C Cowboys and they play at the Cody Cattle Company (triple C - get it?!!) which is across the road from the hotel! I hope you get the chance to see them, as someone mentioned it was near the end of their season. If the show is not on, I suggest that you ask at hotel reception and they might be able to tell you the name of the other bar where they perform. They could, of course, be touring or in a competition somewhere - they are all multi award winning!

All the best,

Bob

Thanks Bob, should be easy to see if they are on when we get to Cody, I can also google them and see what that throws up.

Katy

When I travelled with my Mother in law on a USA tour which had various hotels only in ONE hotel had they got both of us sharing one room, after I politely informed the rep I loved my Ma in Law but would NOT be sharing there was no problem and another room was found. I have never had the problem travelling with my friend on many tours. It could be that the brother and sister had same surnames, like me and the Ma in law.

Also if they have to source another room at short notice you cannot expect to be next door to one another. When I travelled on the Florida tour this year my friend and I were lucky to be very close in rooms, this is not always the case. But it's not an issue.

Sometimes early starts and the breakfast can be an issue as in the group size and time but in that case like the rep did I just make sure I eat at the rest break or I normally have some form of nibbles I can take with me..

Sorry to hear Valerie that you are unhappy.

Cindy

My brother and I do not share the same surname or anything like it, so there was no excuse for the hotels to book us into the same room.

If we had booked into the hotel at the last minute, as one sometimes does as independent travelers, we would have been content with rooms distant from one another. Just You knew we wanted rooms near one another months in advance of the trip. There was no excuse.

If the breakfasts were going to be an issue because of the group size and itinerary, we should have been told in advance.

Valerie

All reviews are valuable, both positive and critical, as thats how we get things improved, so please, stop being 'dissappointed' with other peoples reviews, you have no right to, as the review is their own personal experience, NOT YOURS.

I just hope that this kind od sanitised 'political correctness' of what people say they experienced is not creeping onto this forum, because if it is, it's not worth posting or reading.

Valerie, what you personally experienced obviously upset yourself and your brother, for the most part Just You does do things right, although there are other reviews where holidays and Tour Managers are letting the 'brand' down. Let's hope that Just You takes your concerns seriously and addresses them, as this is where organisations show their real character.

My brother and I booked this holiday as one of a lifetime. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. The places we have visited have been great and our coach driver first class. As to the hotels and organisation one can only say that most of the hotels were less than satisfactory and the organisation inept.

Although we booked separate rooms as single people, we have found that in most venues we have been expected to share the same room until we made very strong objections and then we were placed in rooms far apart from each other apparently as some sort of favour. In one hotel three rooms were double booked and, as a result our driver and tour manager were billeted 30 miles away leaving us without the availability of help.

I am writing this on the last night of our holiday in the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas. My brother is on a completely different floor as even this hotel placed us in the same room at first.. I have no idea where he is and rather than wander around this huge and bewildering hotel on my own I have gone to bed. Great last night to a very expensive holiday!

Last night's hotel at Bryce Canyon was ghastly. We were accommodated in different barrack blocks with unsavoury rooms and a quarter mile walk to breakfast. When we got there the queue was so long that we were forced to buy a muffin and coffee from the shop in order to make the coach on time.

I cannot wait to get back to Heathrow and home. Sufficient to say that I will never ever book another holiday with Just You, Travelsphere or Page and Moy.

Valerie,

Sounds to me that the fact rooms were doubled booked seems to be something JY need to get sorted i've no experience of this happening myself but one of the reasons we use the company is because we want our own space.

Just done the same holiday (2 weeks after you) and to be honest the hotels are what i expected (touring motels) but will add some of the breakfasts were very poor. Also in Cortez there was something wrong with the water and a few of our group didn't have hot water for the two days we were there, despite promises it would be fixed.

The Sratosphere is what it is and I personally think its acceptable and certainly the best breakfast on the holiday.

We missed Bryce (extra night in Vegas) because of the American government shutdown so really cant comment.

Mick