24 Jul 2024
Visiting Highclere Castle was a bucket-list event for my wife and me. It was fascinating to experience the history and beauty of this famous location that we've seen so often on TV.
We booked a private car through Viator (not including the Castle admission) and they were very flexible when we had to change the date from the original booking. The driver arrived promptly, was very pleasant and we made it in plenty of time for our scheduled ticket after a 2-hour drive. When she dropped us off she said she'd stay at the same spot and we confirmed we'd be back by 5pm (in 3 hours). It took about an hour for the self-guided tour inside the castle, and we planned to spend the rest of the time outside viewing the beautiful gardens and expansive grounds. It started to rain heavily so we decided to end the tour about 40 minutes early. Based on our understanding that we'd find the car where we left it, we headed out to the parking lot. The car was missing and, since we had already left the castle grounds, our only shelter was our umbrellas and a few trees. We contacted Viator by chat. Kudos to Emanuel Caires at Viator who helped us find out the where our car and driver were. Ultimately, we found that the driver had gone out for a bite to eat, but roads were blocked by an accident on her return and she eventually returned late. The driver was very apologetic, so we still gave her a decent tip, as we understood that the delay wasn't totally the her fault. One last thing: with the rain and humidity, the car's windshield was completely fogged up. The driver did not seem to know how to work the defroster, so she opened her window and occasionally wiped the fog away with her hand for a small viewing window. It was somewhat uncomfortable riding on a busy, high speed road under those circumstances.
In summary, the first two-thirds of the event were outstanding, but the last third was challenging (and wet!), but overall worth the trip. My suggestion to Viator is to provide some additional training for the driver to provide communications proactively to the client when such challenges occur, and also to ensure they fully understand the car's features. We paid a significant price to Viator for the convenience of having door-to-door transportation, and expect better training for the driver.