Etape du tour 2009 - beware of sports tours international

cyclopath

Sports Tours Internationa wrote:

Dear Sports Tours International Customer,

Firstly, I would like to thank many of you who have taken the time to post well-balanced views and constructive comments on bike radar regarding our service at the Etape this year.

As many of you are aware, we are one of Europe’s leading operators in cycling, running and training camps.

This year we had approximately 800 cyclists travel with us to the Etape du Tour. Once our team arrived back, I carried out a full debrief with them and distributed a customer questionnaire via email for direct feedback on our offer, service and possible improvements for 2010.

I was alerted to the Bike Radar comments as soon as postings came through and made contact with a number of customers to understand fully the issues they had experienced.

Following direct conversations with customers and staff, it became very clear to me that we had not delivered the standards we expect, and our customers deserve, in a few areas of our offer.

It was also clear to me that the changing profile of our customer requires a more varied level of offer in price, content and delivery of the Etape experience.

For those who have posted comments questioning our pricing, integrity and operations I would like to be very clear that Sports Tours International has been trading successfully for over 3 decades and has only remained at the forefront of sports travel due to our customer focus, value for money offer, professional reputation and continued investment.

I will not hide from the fact that on this occasion we have fallen short of some of our customers’ expectations when it came to service delivery. However, we have listened and we will address the isolated points highlighted to us.

We have communicated with customers, hotels, the ASO and our staff and I can assure you that the Bike Radar activity, as well as our own research, will be a major part of our thinking as we prepare to launch our 2010 Etape du Tour packages in the coming weeks.

For those of you (and there are many) who enjoyed this year, I hope you will notice more customer choice in 2010. For those who have been disappointed, I realise I cannot expect your support but I do hope you will recognise that Sport Tours International takes its responsibilities seriously and respects the needs of its customers, and values their support.

Once again thank you all for your feedback and wherever you go, and whoever you go with, enjoy your cycling!

Chris Bird
Chief Executive
Sports Tours International

Hang on, I'm getting that 'deja vu' thing, all over again.
This sounds like the response I got last year. So what happened in the year since. Just what steps where taken to improve the situation, because to describe last year's debacle as 'professional' would be very close to breaching the Trades Descriptions Act (1968). And I get the impression from my fellow sufferers that this year has been just as bad.
I suspect that the only reason that they get 800 or so, is the limited optiions imposed upon US by the ASO.

Kléber

Fair do for someone to come here but there's no explanation of what went wrong and why, just a promise that things will be ok for 2010. But people have been complaining about them for years. I remember years ago being on a trip in the Pyrenees and we were due to head back home but the coach driver took a detour into Spain so he could buy crates of cigarettes for himself. Never again!

If you're shelling out money for a big trip, well I'd either look to do it myself with entry-only or I'd go with a company that attracts praise, not complaints.

bahzob

As per my earlier post I got a call from Chris Bird yesterday.

I must say that my impression was positive. He didnt beat around the bush in acknowledging that he had a problem, seems willing to listen to constructive criticism and has views on what needs to change for the future.

There's a degree of mutuality involved in helping Sports Tours improve for future events, not everyone will be confident enough to do self organised tours. Many of these will be first timers in terms of big cycle events (separate discussion as to whether this is good or bad I know).

And even those of us sufficiently experienced to do it ourselves would benefit if Sports Tours improve. (e.g. in terms of hotel, this year they offered one 200m from start/registration. May or may not be able get this solo but would like backup in case not.).

So my view is that rather than reiterating how bad Baxters were in the past it would be better to
- Thank Spindrift for starting this thread in the first place.
- Recognise that the guy in charge of Sports Tours has put his name behind the fact that 2010 will see a step change.
- Hope for all our sakes that this happens

niedermeyer

I don't think Sports Tours can get significantly better - they simply have too many places. Their 'normal' tours have maybe 20-30 people on them - where do you suddenly find the experienced staff to deal with 800? By its very nature it becomes a matter of roping in 'mates of mates' who are paid peanuts if anything and have no 'investment' in the trip running to everyone's satisfaction. With that many people you are forced to have hotels all over the place with the resulting chaos that is almost inevitable. Also, with multi locations, coaches have to be allocated to hotels, so at the end everyone has to wait til everyone is back.

niedermeyer

Was googling etape du tour and came back across this thread. In light of the chief exec's statement last year, have things improved?

citizen3453

I went on my first ever trip to do the etape with this company.
They were absolutely useless to be honest. It felt very much "every man for himself" while out there.
The hotel I stayed in was great but there was a complete lack of information given out during the trip by the reps.
All the information that we needed such as where you register for the race, directions from the cycle store, what happens at the finish etc etc was all sent to us via e mail and using links to google maps etc. Whilst this was fine reading them in the uk, if you had not printed it out and taken it, it was not given to you out there. Nearly everybody got lost.
Coaches left the hotel without a headcount ever being done. If you were late or didn't know the times the coaches left, they went without you.
Had 4 coach journeys with them, but not once did they check who was on the coach, including at 5am on the morning of the race. They left without 2 guys who almost missed the race!
This even included after the "pasta party" at the end. Not one rep checked with the people packing bikes etc whether they needed transport back to their hotels.
What a joke the party was as well, 2 tiny plastic glasses of beer compliments of sports tours, then 2 euros a glass! No thanks what a joke.
I think Mr Bird is only interested in the bottom line to be honest which would be fair enough if he delivered a decent service.
Unfortunately his company does not.

Kléber

An old colleague got in touch with me as he's taken up cycling in the past couple of years and rode the Etape this year. He loved the Etape but not Sports Tours.

After riding the Etape he rode down the Tourmalet and stopped for a drink and something to eat before returning to the hotel, where he was "ordered" to pack his bike into its bike bag before he could have a shower and many others were in a similar position, being harried into packing their bikes so the staff could load them away. I understand bikes need to be loaded away but bossing people to do this before they are allowed a shower is ridiculous, the people have paid plenty. Maybe he just met a shirty member of staff but he certainly didn't like the tone and as he put it, he'll go with La Fuga next time even if it bankrupts him.

My advice would be the opposite, to use a tour company but for the minimal level possible, eg entry only. Paying through the nose for a hotel or coach travel is something you can avoid, and booking a hotel or renting a car in France is easy, you don't even need to understand a word of French.

Hugh A

My friends and I have had very varied - and not so good experience - with Baxters in the past at the etape, and have decided to organize it ourselves after a particularly poor experience involving complete chaos, sharing too-small rooms with strangers, etc.

The problem for those going it alone is more to do with logistics than entries. Generally all the hotel rooms within half an hours drive of the start, and quite possibly the finish too, will have been hoovered up long before the date and route is announced. The day before the etape is therefore taken up with a long driving day getting vehicles into position so you can get home after the event.

If you have a driving non-riding partner then the whole process could be mush easier, as is doing almost any other sportive with a circular route. It is just the nature of the event. I think STI do try, but their 'reps.' usually seem to be keen cyclists there for a free biking holiday with the annoyance of having to deal with their clients in between, and do not have the experience or ability to cope with what people often expect or when things go wrong.

magicmjk

As someone who has done the Etape with one of the main UK operators in the past, I resolved not to ride it again unless I could do it through a 'local' outfit with local knowledge and better organisation. As it was, an opportunity arose for me to ride the 2010 edition in just this way and I have to say it was a real joy. There is no substitute for personal care and attention as well as local knowledge and the fact that we were but a handful meant that there was no danger of anyone getting left behind, or being neglected in any way. We were dropped on the outskirts of Pau in plenty of time to ride casually down to the start, had a great day riding the stage, and then got picked up down at the bottom of the Tourmalet. Mobile phone contact meant everyone was able to keep our 'operator' apparised of our position once we finished and, apart from the heavy traffic leaving the Etape, all went off wonderfully smoothly. Everyone seemed to enjoy the experience. Memo to self - I was right, it's the only way to do the Etape

clanton

With reference to the post above, we used a French tour operator this year and they were pretty useless too. In 2007 I used a British based company who were equally useless. Next time I go it will be ONLY if I get entry only.

magicmjk

I think the key is not to use tour operators who are perhaps not particularly experienced or specialist at this type of event. Pyractif (whom I used) have a reputation for what I would call sportive-type cyclists. The sort of cycling they offer and support is more hard core than, say Baxters or French Cycling Holidays. By approaching someone like tist I think you're more likely to get a good experience

antikythera

I did the etape this year with STI, and as a self-proclaimed cheapskate - yes I'd like to see it being cheaper.

But was it such a bad experience from a tour holiday perspective? I don't think so. Yes there were one or two logistic issues that could be improved. Reading through the historical posts in this thread it seems to me that they have improved. So it seems that they are listening and taking note of constructive criticism to improve their service.

The bottom line is (I think) that this thread allowed constructive criticism to be collected and filtered through to STI. Who seem to have may some efforts to improve on the basis of those comments. So those people that did the 2010 etape should add to this thread in the same way.

My own experiences were:

1/ Lucy (our rep) was attentive and helpful, making a point of waiting and watching for everyone as they turned up at the hotel and then proceeded to give a detailed itinerary for the next few days.

2/ The personal itinerary was e-mail, but I missed parts of it so had a few frantic phones calls the few days before. As mentioned some of the important details were links to google maps. They weren't duplicated on the day when we needed them. I though it was poor to be told I should have printed them myself!

3/ The directions from the finish to STI site were vague (non-existant) with no on route directions. I was lucky enough to find some equally confused (STI) cyclists to share my angst with. If its going to be that far away requiring us to meander through bumper to bumper traffic it would have been nice to have a better idea of where to go. Or have a STI rep at the summit to give directions.

4 I was aware that we'd have to break down the bikes and pack them at the STI finish site thanks to our rep, so it wasn't a surprise. missing this fact could come down to individual rep's? But it was a stressful part of the day more so for those folks that didn't get back till near 10pm - just before the coaches were to leave! - I could understand their frustration.

5 I'd opted for the bike transfer, but was frustrated by the (late?) change to make the pick-up 9am on the following Tuesday - when I was supposed to be back at work!

None of this is a catastrophe and if the circumstances dictate then I'd do another package tour. Having said that, a few folks have talked about "ticket only" entrance - how 'bout some advice about how to get those?

cougie

I've done Alpine trips with STI yeeears back and it was always a bit chaotic then.

I guess with the etape its always a supply and demand thing. Resources will be stretched with so many riders over there so I'd rather just do a smaller event.

Alan Chaffee

magicmjk wrote:

I think the key is not to use tour operators who are perhaps not particularly experienced or specialist at this type of event. Pyractif (whom I used) have a reputation for what I would call sportive-type cyclists. The sort of cycling they offer and support is more hard core than, say Baxters or French Cycling Holidays. By approaching someone like tist I think you're more likely to get a good experience

I think you are being a bit unfair on French Cycling Holidays - I did the Etape this year and the Raid Alpine last year (you can't get a lot more hardcore than the Raid), and I had no problems on eithrer trip. Transfers were all very efficient, hotels were reasonable, food okay (plentiful at least - mass catering is never going to be cordon bleu and when you have to feed 50 cyclists at the same time....) A few guys at our hotel had their bikes left behind by easyjet - one of the FCH reps drove back to Toulouse on Saturday night to retrieve the bikes that were put on a later flight, and sorted out company bikes for those that didn't turn up at all. They also found a derailleur hanger for a Pinarello Prince in Tarbes for another guy at the hotel (why aren't these things a standard design????? :evil: .)

Only problem we had was the coaches at the end were a long way away on the road into Bagneres (closer than the STI camp mind) - that said, it was probably better to cycle it than be stuck in the traffic in a coach on the Tourmalet- but this was made better by the private cafe they had arranged plus free beers and cokes.

vorsprung

I used Sports Tour International for my Paris-Brest-Paris trip in 2007

The only real problem was that the promised coach via Bristol did not run in the end as there were not enough people going from the West Country. So I had to travel to London by train and spend a night in a YHA to get the coach from there the next day. Apart from that it was fine.

People are saying that their etape trips were expensive but I note that the only people that were claiming to have done it cheaper had local knowledge, spoke the language etc etc.

I must admit that stories like this do put me off from ever entering the etape. It seems to be a bland mass consumer event

bahzob

vorsprung wrote:

I used Sports Tour International for my Paris-Brest-Paris trip in 2007
I must admit that stories like this do put me off from ever entering the etape. It seems to be a bland mass consumer event

LOL. Others have said the same about the PBP...

avoidingmyphd

vorsprung wrote:

The only real problem was that the promised coach via Bristol did not run in the end as there were not enough people going from the West Country. So I had to travel to London by train and spend a night in a YHA to get the coach from there the next day. Apart from that it was fine.

So the only real problem with your travel agent was that they didn't provide the travel you paid them for. Apart from that it was fine.
WTF?

Kléber

vorsprung wrote:

People are saying that their etape trips were expensive but I note that the only people that were claiming to have done it cheaper had local knowledge, spoke the language etc etc.

No, no. You can book hotels in France in English and the internet's made it all so much easier, it's not like you're organising a travel odyssey across Mongolia. Of course you can pay a tour company to take the hassle away but it seems you end up paying a massive premium to get shite service, and often just as much hassle.

pbraun

Did the 2005 Etape with Sports Tours and it was basically unguided. The support was minimal and that's being charitable. We had to ride 40K in the pitch dark from Pau to the start in Morenx. STI provided the hotel and the entry, but otherwise we were on our own including airport transfers etc.

Did the nextt 3 etapes with Custom Getaways and felt like I had moved up to the first class section. They did a very nice job all around. Good people and good organization.