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What our customers have to say...
The most important thing we can do to improve our service is listen to what our customers have to say, which is why you can now read their comments unedited on our website.
Upon returning from Japan all our clients are sent a review form and this is where you can see what they are saying about their experience of Japan and of our service.
Search the reviews, check the image gallery and see for yourself how our clients rate the InsideJapan experience.
How are we doing? (3 year average rating)
4.85/5 calculated from 2884 reviews submitted in the last 3 years
Cassandra (Australia) - Independent Travel, Nov 2024
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1. How would you describe your overall level of satisfaction with us as your tour operator?
Overall happy with the service we received in Japan, but we had a number of issues with our consultant (after paying a deposit, otherwise we would not have proceeded).
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2. Consultant name and satisfaction rating:
We felt our consultant didn't listen to requests (i.e. booking us into a hotel which was a 50 taxi ride from the town we wanted to stay in. Noting this was not highlighted to us, or discussed e.g. if our budget was an issue, we would have liked to know. Poor advice on locations - recommending Kyoto, even though it was not included in my initial list of 'must visit' locations (having visited once before, and not really enjoyed it), I accepted the consultants suggestion (as my partner had not been) - I wish we hadn't because it was so incredibly over-touristed, it was difficult to get around, and too busy (for us) to enjoy. Our consultant also recommended Kanazawa, which we also accepted, but we weren't told (and didn't realise) it would be wet season. We've lived in the tropics before, and we would never have knowingly chosen to visit a city in wet season. There was an error made on a train journey (we requested to travel to Nakatsugawa station in order to walk from Magome to Tsumago - our consultant booked our train to Nagiso). When I raised the error, our consultant refused to acknowledge it (told me Nagiso was the correct station to arrive at), and only changed it after further contact when our final itinerary was issued (though she was still argumentative at that point, claiming we were making a late request, and telling me it could not be changed. Even though the ticket was eventually changed, the time was too early (we'd requested a ~midday departure, and our tickets were for ~10am) so we ended up paying for a fare adjustment to travel at the time we wanted. There were some other critical details that we really needed prior to departure such as information on oversized luggage - had we known about the oversized luggage policy for trains earlier, we would have flagged this/requested tickets for the relevant seats. There was insufficient information/instructions provided for a day of travel from Miyajima to Kanazawa also - fortunately we looked up details online for guidance because of the tight transfer times, but it was the kind of information I expected to be provided by a specialist travel agent. Lastly, insufficient information was provided about the Insider Day Tours - the initial itinerary indicated times were flexible, but we weren't asked for preferences on start/finish times - when I followed this up after our final itinerary was issued (with times), I was told I should have made requests earlier.
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3. How would you rate your package in terms of value for money?
Poor
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4. How would you rate the accommodation against your expectations?
Generally met expectations, with the exception of Hanasarasa - this hotel was a 50 taxi ride away from where we'd requested to stay, and the standard of accommodation was average (the food was very poor - the Trip Advisor reviews are accurate).
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5. Please give us your comments on the transport included in your package.
No Answer Given
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6. Please comment on any professional guiding included in your package?
Our guide in Tokyo was great. We had two guides cancel for our Insider Day in Kyoto (due to illness, which is fine), the final replacement guide was not a good fit for us and we ended up finishing the tour a couple of hours early. Ideally we would have preferred to be given the option of cancelling the tour altogether.
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7. How do you rate the usefulness and standard of information in the Info-Pack?
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8. Would you consider travelling to Japan again?
Yes
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9. Would you travel again with InsideJapan Tours?
No
The two main reasons we engaged Inside Japan were to reduce planning time (specifically booking trains and hotels), and to access 'insider' tips/specialist advice. By the end, particularly due to the significant effort required to resolve the Nakatsugawa/Nagiso issue, and the poor accommodation Hanasarasa - I think we would have done better to organise everything ourselves (i.e. it would have taken less time and been significantly cheaper). In terms of specialist advice - this expectation was not met either, due to recommendations to visit Kyoto (over-touristed) and Kanazawa (in wet season) mainly, but also Nikko (our main hope for this trip was to see Autumn folliage, and the season was well past in Nikko by the time we arrived), the lack of details on luggage, train transfers and also the large amount of outdated detail in the destination guides (i.e. restaurants closed, incorrect entrance fees).
Hi Cassandra,
It was great to have the chance to speak with you regarding your feedback and I'm grateful to recieve those valuable details and context. We will be taking the feedback onboard to improve our service for future travellers. Happy to hear that we were able to come to a conclusion that left things more satisfactorily for you.
Kind regards,
Lachlan Miller (Sales Team Leader AU)
Inside Japan UK office
Inside Japan US office
Inside Japan Australia office
Inside Japan - Japan office
