Most Inspirational Moment
The weather and scenery was very nice. The last day, walking Pico Arieiro to Pico Ruivo was the highlight for me.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Bruno needs some training or lessons in hospitality.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Madeira has gorgeous scenery and the weather was beautiful. If you are travelling solo and don't mind uncertainty this may work for you.
Reply from Exodus
We’re grateful that Michelle has taken the time to review the experience she had in Madeira, though we’re genuinely sorry to read that it wasn’t as positive as the previous trips she has taken with Exodus.
We expect our tour leaders to hold a meeting on the first day of the trip, to go over the itinerary and introduce themselves and members of the group, so we’re disappointed that Michelle’s leader, Bruno, did not do so until the morning of the first walk. It’s uncommon for this to happen, and we are following up with our local team to see why the welcome briefing didn’t go ahead as usual, and have reminded our leaders of the importance of holding it on the first day.
Similarly, we expect our leaders to make arrangements for group dinners, as we appreciate that especially for solo travellers the social aspect of our trips is really important, and have reminded our local team of this. We’re aware that Bruno’s family lives locally, which is why he returned home instead of eating with and staying with the group; again, this is unusual for an Exodus trip and we have asked Bruno to stay with the group in the evenings on future departures. We would of course cover the cost of rooming for Bruno, as we do with all Exodus tour leaders.
Bruno has received very positive feedback from Exodus customers on previous departures, so we were surprised that Michelle didn’t have the same experience of his leadership; we will certainly be addressing this with Bruno, and are confident he will return to his high standards on future trips.
We understand it will have been surprising that Michelle’s group were split between two hotels in Funchal. Funchal can get extremely busy at peak season, which poses problems for booking groups into a single property. As a result, we book as many group members as possible into the regular hotel we use here, and notify later bookers of the different property they will stay at in Funchal. We’re confident that this system works well, but we recognise that there was somewhat of a mix-up on your trip, for which we do apologise.
Regarding the lunch arrangements on this tour, these are clarified in the trip notes, though we regret Michelle’s disappointment with them and are looking to arrange for groups to be able to put together their lunches in the morning at the hotel.
Again, we’d like to thank Michelle for her feedback and hope that we’re able to welcome her back on another Exodus trip soon.
– Danny Bell, Exodus Product Manager