We stayed here for 3 nights last November, flying in/out via Santiago as part of a 6-week trip around S. America. We were excited to visit Easter Island &, after doing our research, thought this would be the ideal place to stay to get a combination of luxury accommodation & quality cultural insights from the guides. We were very wrong.
The hotel facilities themselves are alright. The public areas are nice, with a luxury lodge type of decor. At this price, I would have expected to have individual villas instead of rooms right next to each other along corridors, but our room itself was great. It was spacious, comfortable, bright - with huge windows overlooking a stunning view with horses grazing on the grass down to the water & a comfortable window seat, had high ceilings, a nice natural wood decor, & a spacious bathroom with window, large soaking tub & powerful shower.
The problems lay with the guide services & the excursions. There is a decent range of excursions to choose from, but the excursions are all group tours (unless no one else happens to have chosen your tour). This means that we had to compromise on the activities because not everyone wanted to do the same things; for example, we missed out on some beautiful hikes because not everyone in our groups wanted to do them (the age range at the hotel ran from 20s to 70s). At this price, I can't believe they cannot manage to run private tours, or at least smaller ones where the groups are prearranged based on similar interests. In addition, the vans they use are old, beat-up & uncomfortable; we felt like we were staying at a motor lodge, instead of at a US$1,500/night hotel, especially when we were packed in for the tours & airport transfers.
Even worse, the guides had terrible attitude problems; even the ones who tried could barely manage to disguise their disdain at having to deal with us. We became friendly with a couple of them, who confided to us that they literally "hated" most of the hotel guests, because they felt they just wanted an island holiday & didn't care about the local history & culture. We got a strong feeling of "island vs mainland" mentality. Furthermore, only one of our guides - a young woman who had studied local history - could explain any real bit of the history or culture to us. This was the primary reason we had come to Easter Island, & to not gain any additional insight while we were there was incredibly disappointing. We would have been better served to stay at home & rent a documentary on the subject.
The rest of the service was ok, but not up to scratch. The dining staff were friendly but tended to be slow & forget parts of our order. The food was not bad, but not amazing; it wasn't particularly creative, & the variety wasn't great. I have to commend the laundry service though - our clothing & shoes became very dirty & muddy each day, & they were always returned promptly & in great condition.
It is really unfortunate that we had this experience, because Easter Island is an absolutely beautiful place, with breathtaking scenery, some of which we only saw by doing some strenuous hikes we convinced our guides do when we were on our own. The natural beauty & cultural artifacts on the island are amazing, but we felt like we did not get the most out of them at the Explora.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
10 April 2011
Thank you for your lengthy review and for letting us know how we failed to meet your expectations. We take customer feedback very serious and swiftly act upon their comments.
Our staff is largely composed of local Rapa Nui people and they take a lot of pride on their island, heritage and what they do. Our guides are mainly local with great knowledge of their history, deep seeded roots on traditions and effusive in their way they communicate and express themselves. In your case, it is hard to discern what went wrong and why standard operating procedures were not followed in terms of refusing to communicate with you. We have since them re-train all of our staff to ensure matters of this nature does not happen again and have been monitoring very closely our customer surveys to verify compliance.
Our guides are well-trained; however, they are not expert archaeologist or anthropologist, but rather a group of individuals that are or should be able to carry on the strong oral traditions of the Rapa Nui culture, a key element of the mysticism of this remote paradise. Nevertheless, new history education has been added to their training.
In terms of the hikes or explorations, an important element of what we do is to always match expectations to those activities offered and understand how we need to operate on a daily basis when travelers many not be up to something or travelers have different needs. Unfortunately, this was not the case here and would like to apologize for this.
At the time of your visit, the oldest vehicle we had was 14 month old and our company policy is to replace the fleet every 24 months or soon depending on the circumstances. We recognize that the tear and wear caused by dirt roads is a problem for our fleet; however, it is still beyond our comprehension that you found them old and beat up as preventive maintenance is a top priority for the company.
All the clients that we welcome at explora are very discerning, well-read and well-traveled that come to Easter Island, Atacama or Patagonia with high expectations. We have an outstanding track record that stretches over 18 years. During these many years we have surpassed many clients´ expectations, and in some isolated cases we have disappointed some travelers like you; for which we are extremely sorry and the source of collective shame.
We would like to contact us directly so we can better understand how we can remedy your situation.
Again, our deepest apologies for failing to meet your expectations and look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
