@威伯 Surprise findings on Misr (they own Ritz Carlton)

After a couple months on and off exchanges of emails on the details of our 10 days full-service itinerary, we reach the finalization of the booking, and ready to make reservation.

I request an itinerary in an official document format,  plus the infoice on the total price with details on what are included in the program.

My rep sent me the program document and a proforma invoice in the morning EST.  I notice at the bottom of the program document, 2 websites shown side by side - one I am not aware, next to the Misr Travel.  It is a clickable link -  it opens a Misr Travel site that is DIFFERENT from the one I have been using all along. 

I then search the other website's domain and get this

http://hotac-eg.com/english/

See the Affiliate Companies listed at the bottom of the home page.

Then see the holding company's hotel assets - the group own 3 top BonVoy hotels, and several top Sofitel hotels.

Marriott Mena House is listed under Historic Hotels, Cairo Marriott and The Casino,  plus the Iconic Sofitel Old Cataract House at Aswan, among others.  They are owned by one of the affiliate companies. 

http://hotac-eg.com/english/?page_id=4254

Under the Modern Hotels, there is The Nile Ritz Carlton, which is owned by Misr Travel. 

To be honest, I know Misr Travel is among the reputable local travel agencies in Egype, and there are always talks about they have backing from Egypt government, but I have no clue about the company and the holding company,  has owned some of the finer assets in the Egypt tourism industry.

I am surprised our package does not use any of the hotels listed at Aswan and Luxor.  Since we do not use them for our Cairo hotel, they do not incl Cairo lodging information.  But online they show Sheraton and Le Meridien being used in Cairo.  Le Meridien is not the one by CAI terminal but the one 20min from CAI.

By the way,  below are their policies on payment and cancellation

Their Payment Policy

25% deposit of the total tour price is required at booking,  balance is due 30 days before program start date.  Payment can be made by Visa or Mastercard, thru a 3rd party secured payment site, called "Payfort".

Their Cancellation Policy

Cancellation fees.

• 45 days before your arrival, 6% of the total tour price will be charged as a bank transaction fee.
• From 40 to 30 days before your arrival date, 25% of the entire tour price will be charged.
• From 29 to 15 days before your arrival date, 50% of the entire tour price will be charged.
• From 14 to 7 days before your arrival date, 75% of the entire tour price will be charged.
• From 7 to 1 day before your arrival date, 100% of the entire tour price will be charged.

所有跟帖： 

• No wonder Misr travel is rated #1 in Egypt -威伯- ♂ (1187 bytes) () 08/09/2022 postreply 11:16:49

• Ritz does NOT give Marriott elite benefits, only to Ritz own -goingplaces- ♀ (8849 bytes) () 08/09/2022 postreply 13:42:01

• Good point! -威伯- ♂ (1380 bytes) () 08/09/2022 postreply 15:05:12

• you sure foreigner can buy the cheap train ticket? -goingplaces- ♀ (3143 bytes) () 08/09/2022 postreply 16:55:28

• 无机呀，还在看… -威伯- ♂ (0 bytes) () 08/09/2022 postreply 18:41:28

• Lipstick on a pig The Nile Ritz Carlton -goingplaces- ♀ (4318 bytes) () 08/10/2022 postreply 17:11:41

• That’s so funny. I’ll go with Regis, it’s a newer property. -威伯- ♂ (0 bytes) () 08/10/2022 postreply 18:45:34

• One more thing -威伯- ♂ (377 bytes) () 08/10/2022 postreply 21:46:22

• Trip Advisor posters said permit is required to go 但是具体情况我不知 -goingplaces- ♀ (429 bytes) () 08/11/2022 postreply 08:17:39

• 付deposit 环节卡壳了 Terms and Conditions lead to 404! 笑死人了 -goingplaces- ♀ (5421 bytes) () 08/11/2022 postreply 18:43:24

• English version not working is not surprising -威伯- ♂ (1453 bytes) () 08/11/2022 postreply 22:00:53

• 和語言無关和redirect link有关 something is missing in the redirect -goingplaces- ♀ (3819 bytes) () 08/12/2022 postreply 07:03:11

• The terms and conditions probably refer to its duty and -goingplaces- ♀ (1112 bytes) () 08/12/2022 postreply 07:16:19