Creative Tours & Travel

We used this travel agency once a few yrs back since my husband & I were looking for vacation packages to Asia. This review is for back then, so not sure how it is now… but wanted to Unilocal anyways since the international tour agencies associated with Creative Tours & Travel are the ones I want to give my thoughts. Helpful or not, gotta put it out there.
In general, when we were there looking, the owner, I’m assuming was pretty accommodating. We told him of the countries we would like to travel & he gave us some options and costs. We ended up choosing this package that included Thailand (BKK, Pattaya), Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong for $ 1700 pp for a 13 day trip. (But in actuality, it was a 10 day trip since 3 of those days would be travel time)
This was our first time traveling together and on a tour and when reading the itinerary of the places we would go, we really thought this package was a great deal and purchased it.
When we arrived to Thailand, the tour guide, Pinit was so nice. We were in a group of 8 and he really went far and beyond in making sure we see what’s on the itinerary and even more. He got us quick accesses to clubs & bars without waiting in line. He was always making jokes. Of course some of the bars that we went to, I can do without the topless girls, but I was in a group with single guys, along with my hubby, and at that point, I just wanted a drink… apparently I’m the «cool wife». If you ever tour Thailand, I would definitely recommend Pinit. We still have his contact info.
Anyways, we were going to our next leg of the trip (Singapore) and Pinit not only dropped us off, he actually walked us all the way to the check in counter, and while he was helping us check in, he somehow managed to upgrade our ticket to business class for free, which was awesome.
Arriving in Singapore, we were there for a day and a half. The tour guide, which I can’t remember his name felt like he was in a rush, and I could understand since we were there for such a short time, however, with him rushing us from one destination on the itinerary to the next, was exhausting. We just got off our flight, and literally had no time to rest since he wanted to get us to wherever. He was walking so fast, I think at one point, we nearly lost him. He even tried to be funny, but personally his joke dealt with making sure we leave a tip, which is my ultimate pet peeve.
Our next trip was to Malaysia and we had to ride the bus. It wasn’t too bad. At least we were able to get on an air conditioned bus since the weather in Singapore and Malaysia is pretty hot. Our tour guide Dominic was very nice. He’s an elderly gentleman, but managed to do his best to show us around, and even took us to places that isn’t on the itinerary. For meals, he took us to little «hole in the wall» restaurants, and you know how authentic the food is, so it was a definite plus. Even when he took us to the airport so that we can head to our last leg of our trip, he was so nice to make sure the ticket agent upgraded our seats, and again, we got business class.
In Hong Kong, as much as we enjoyed exploring the many street food corners, bargaining in the street market on our own, the tour guide that we had. I think her name is either Judy or Julie, a middle-​aged lady… she was a total bitch since the moment we arrived. On the itinerary sheet, it said to meet at a certain entrance in front of a certain gate, which we did. We waited for nearly 15 – 20 min and we finally decided to call the number on the sheet. They were able to contact the tour guide & she met us where we were at. Instead of being nice, or apologetic… she snapped at us for waiting in the wrong area, and told us she had other tourists on the bus waiting for us.
I was so not having it with her attitude & showed her the sheet and told her if plans were changed, it wasn’t updated on our sheet, and that I didn’t like her being rude to us. She didn’t know what to say and hurried us along. Another thing that got me pissy was her making sure people on the bus leave the recommended 7% tip after the tour is over.
She took us to a couple of sights, but if you want to see more, you have to pay more. Instead, my hubby & I decided to have them drop us off near our hotel & we did our own touring around. On the last day, the tour guide dropped us off at the airport & reminded us about her tip. I told her off saying how she doesn’t even deserve the 7% tip since she gave crappy service, plus it’s unprofessional of her to keep mentioning about it. Seriously, you give shitty service, you get shit back.
Despite this downside, it was a good trip – a little fast (like the Amazing Race). Some of the agencies associated with Creative Tours need better tour guides, or train them to NOT TALK about TIPPING. I don’t know if I’ll ever use this travel agency again, but you never know.

If I could give this place no stars, I would not hesitate to do so!
I came here today to get some tour packages to Asia & Europe for my parents. The manager ‘Sunny’ was so outright rude and I couldn’t believe how poor his customer service is. After all, it IS a travel agency and they DO make money from commission.
He failed to give me any decent price quotes. He demanded I know exact details of when and where I want to go. There are people who know what they want and plenty of people come into an agency not knowing what exactly they are looking for — hence the reason for why the come in! He complained that my needs were too broad and that he could not help in any way.
After I told him my max. /​person was $ 2,500 he got friendlier because the price was so high. He even offered a discount if 10 or more were going but for a total of $ 25,000 I could take those 10 people and make my own tour.
Ugh, I am never coming back here and I do NOT recommend you go to this agency for any travel needs. I almost cried because I was so angry leaving this place.

This place is amazing! After using them a couple of times (and referring friends to them), I have no problem recommending this business to the Unilocal community.
They are located inside the Pacific Rim Center; downstairs from New Hong Kong Restaurant (formerly New Kowloon) & LA Café. The people there speak English, Chinese (Cantonese & Mandarin) & Vietnamese. They specialize in travels to Asia (more specifically SE Asia). They’re fast and have been very pleasant to work with.
I have never gotten plane tickets from there; only used them for visa services. I’ve heard that their airfare prices are very reasonable, though. They’ve helped me get visas to Vietnam. For $ 50, I can get a single entry. For $ 100, I can get a 5-​year multiple entry visa! (These prices are for those who were born in VN, a little higher if you’re not.) This includes having them take a digital picture, make a photocopy of my passport (I get to keep it), and them filling out the form for me.
What happens next is that they send the picture and application to the Vietnam consulate in MEXICO to get the biz done. I got the visa back within the week (applied Monday night and got it back Friday morning). It came in the form of a piece of pink paper with my picture on it, which is then paper clipped onto the passport; very legit, though. :) My brother got his 5-​year multiple entry from here, too, and was very pleased with the quick and friendly service.