This was a very mixed experience
This was a very mixed experience. Some things very good some quite bad.
Booking: We were a husband and wife traveling with a friend. We expected to have two rooms booked, on half our nights the three of us were booked into one room.
Support: Given the “misunderstanding” over room booking, which we only discovered the day before our trek started, we tried to contact Bookatrekking to fix the problem. For two days all we could get was a recorded message in Dutch. A language we don’t speak. We eventually tried their emergency number and got a real person. They told us we should have specified two rooms, but they would try to rectify the problem, a day later told us there were no extra rooms available. This wasn’t true! On two nights we simply contacted the accommodation and independently arranged for a second room, on another we found a room in a guest house 300yds away.
Quality of Accommodation: Most of our accommodation was excellent, but on two nights it fell below minimum quality levels. On one night our rooms were over a campsite laundry. The noise from machinery and campers socializing late into the night meant we got little sleep. On another night there was a large hostel style room housing many individuals directly above us. No sleep again. This particular establishment had pay as you use showers and toilets located on a different floors from the rooms. On each of these nights superior accommodation was available close by.
Information: (a) The information supplied on the app concerning food availability along the trail was very inaccurate. On many stages of the hike we were informed that food would not be available, when there were actually gasthauses and stores along the way. We scrambled to obtain pack lunches unnecessarily, (b) There were places where the trail was unpassable either because it had been washed out, or due to other obstructions such as logging operations. Some of these had been there a while. A warning about this would have been helpful, (c) the trail was well signposted, but the route on the app and via the signposts differed quite frequently. A warning about this would have saved us a few navigational mistakes.
Overall: Much of this hike was wonderful. But we felt that Bookatrekking did a poor job of arranging accommodation, of supplying support when we requested it, and supplying accurate information about the trail.
Reply from Bookatrekking.com
Hi Chris, thank you for taking the time to share such detailed feedback about your Malerweg trek. We're sorry the experience fell short in several key areas. On the room booking, we should have confirmed the setup more clearly from the start, and we understand how frustrating it was to discover the mismatch so close to departure. Our phone support that day clearly let you down, and we're glad you eventually reached someone, though by then options were already limited. Regarding the inaccuracies around food availability and route conditions, we're reviewing the information internally to make sure it's right going forward. We're passing your observations to our team so we can improve both our accommodation standards and the reliability of our app guidance. We're pleased that much of the hike itself was wonderful, and we hope the beauty of the trail still gave you some memorable moments. Wishing you quieter, smoother adventures ahead.
- Bookatrekking.com