Question-SRM travel

just a quick check in your spam catcher to be sure none were gobbled up by it?

Perhaps they are all on their own post tour season holiday. Their guides lead the Rick Steves tours, so they have finished that season and will start those again in 2024.

I don't know whether they have any off season administrative staff.

I had a similar experience when booking a pre- RS tour excursion. I sent an email the day before to both Lale and the general SRM email and got an answer back that day. I couldn't get through on the phone either, but assumed that was a problem on my end. It all worked out in the end, but it did make me nervous. Here's an alternate contact page for Lale with different phone numbers, perhaps that will work? http://lalearan.com/contact/

Lale is really an amazing guide and person so I hope it all works out!

I’ve never had this happen with guides in other countries so definitely getting panicked! There have been no responses in my spam either. I’ll try again this week and hope for the best. Appreciate all the responses and will give update on what happens.

Thanks for posting. The post makes me feel slightly better because the same dilemma is happening to me now. My trip is 2 weeks from now and I have not heard back from Lale/SRM. So far, my emails were not responded and the phone number listed in their websites didn’t work. I have decided to call their family-owned hotel in Cappadocia (Cappadocia Estates). The man who answered the phone call was helpful to assist. He told me to email my message to the hotel’s email address then he’ll forward it to Lale/SRM. It’s been 2 days since I emailed and i’m still waiting for a response.

I finally decided to contact the hotel a few days ago. I was instructed to send a email by the man at the hotel. She got back to me yesterday with details of my tour which is in 2 days. Everything is on track now. @ yummykamote, she will get back to you! She mentioned their tighten computer security system was preventing emails from coming through.

I am also concerned. We are going to Istanbul for a few days before a Nile River cruise. We booked with SRM Travel for two days of guided tours in Istanbul on February 23 and 24 with Gokalp Kasim as our guide. He was our guide on a RS Best of Turkey tour in 2012 and it was a fantastic experience. When we booked with Lale last April, we asked if he was available and we were very pleased when she told us that he would be our guide. Recently, I emailed Lale several times to confirm that everything was on track because it had been about eight months since our last contact, but there has been no response. Today, after reading some other comments above, I emailed the hotel and asked them to forward my email to Lale. Lale's reputation is sterling and her association with RS speaks volumes about the quality of her services. But it would be good to get a response before we travel.

Thanks @Sunny for the update. Much appreciated! Enjoy your trip!

I emailed Lale concerning a gullit cruise in September after our Rick Steves Tour. She sent initial information but has not answered follow-up questions. Am waiting to purchase airline tickets pending her response. Comments were helpful on this site.

Please send exact email address that will reach her.

Many thanks Debbie Gammill

@gammill. I called the family owned hotel and spoke to an employee a few weeks before the tour. He advised sending a message to the hotel email address, info@cappadociaestates.com, which was forwarded to her. She got back to me 4 days before my scheduled tour date. Hope this answers your question.

We too have been trying now for over 2 weeks to get in touch with Lale. She was very quick to respond to my initial request for information and costs. However when we emailed to confirm arrangements, we got no response. We have emailed 3 times and have tried calling multiple numbers to reach her. Our trip is coming up in 4 weeks so we have now moved on to contacting other guides listed in Rick Steve’s guidebook. Very disappointing and not sure how a business can operate like this.

Hi

I used the following email and got a reply immediately.
lale@srmtravel.com