On the road again! I know... coach travel is for old folks right?! Not necessarily, in fact the…read morefirst time I toured Europe was by coach. While it may take longer, you get to see things you wouldn't normally see or have access to, it is convenient (door-to-door service), and it is a rather inexpensive way to travel. Besides, coach travel is really built for a touring type of getaway.
I book coaches through PC Coaches for our trips as well as for the arrival and departures of our students. They have upgraded a lot of their coaches, adding a 59-seater and five 51-seaters. The coaches that we book are executive, meaning there is a toilet on board (a must if going very long distances). There are also TV and DVD systems as well.
While, I still prefer them to other coach companies, the first year and a half I dealt with them was great. Very cheerful drivers that really went the extra mile to make sure that the students got the most out of their experience. Drivers who really knew the areas and could even give students more information. Even drivers who may not have done the trip before or known much about the area would go the extra step of doing some research before setting off. Some of those drivers still work there, but lately, I have not seen very many of those on our trips.
They set the bar very high, unfortunately in the last year and a half (it will be a total of three years that I have been working with them) there are not a lot of moments where they reached the bar. In fact, there are a couple of instances that really made me cringe for the company and was asked by my employer to research other travel options... an impromptu cigarette break, being lost with no signs of being able to find their way, not reviewing itineraries before setting off, not calling to notify that they'll be late, and as of late, trying to get information like coach mobile numbers, answers to questions, and price quotes has been more difficult. To their credit, whenever there is an issue, they are more than willing to listen and investigate the issue.
They are rapidly expanding, so clearly, they have to be doing something right, but just from the perspective of a customer who has been using their services for a long time, it feels like we are getting pushed to the back burner as many more new clients appear. I understand that they are busy, but maybe they are simply too busy. And it does pain me to say that because I have been very fortunate to get to know many of the staff, the result of doing many trips with many of them, and they are genuinely good people who are capable of great service, because I have seen it... I just wonder where it has now gone to.
While my company has been working with PC Coaches for years, every semester we get a new intake of students. That means new customers every semester looking for a genuinely great experience and it is not really fair to them to not get the high quality of service other students have received and possibly that newer clients are receiving. Sometimes the coach travel does not play a huge role, like a day trip where you spend only an hour and a half on a coach to and from, but on other trips where the coach plays a huge role, like our Ring of Kerry tour, the experience on the coach can make or break the trip for students.
I would still recommend them, but I don't think that they are at a five star rating currently (and in my first year working with them, I would have automatically given them five stars...).
