After a couple months on and off exchanges of emails on the details of our 10 days full-service itinerary, we reach the finalization of the booking, and ready to make reservation.
I request an itinerary in an official document format, plus the infoice on the total price with details on what are included in the program.
My rep sent me the program document and a proforma invoice in the morning EST. I notice at the bottom of the program document, 2 websites shown side by side - one I am not aware, next to the Misr Travel. It is a clickable link - it opens a Misr Travel site that is DIFFERENT from the one I have been using all along.
I then search the other website's domain and get this
http://hotac-eg.com/english/
See the Affiliate Companies listed at the bottom of the home page.
Then see the holding company's hotel assets - the group own 3 top BonVoy hotels, and several top Sofitel hotels.
Marriott Mena House is listed under Historic Hotels, Cairo Marriott and The Casino, plus the Iconic Sofitel Old Cataract House at Aswan, among others. They are owned by one of the affiliate companies.
http://hotac-eg.com/english/?page_id=4254
Under the Modern Hotels, there is The Nile Ritz Carlton, which is owned by Misr Travel.
To be honest, I know Misr Travel is among the reputable local travel agencies in Egype, and there are always talks about they have backing from Egypt government, but I have no clue about the company and the holding company, has owned some of the finer assets in the Egypt tourism industry.
I am surprised our package does not use any of the hotels listed at Aswan and Luxor. Since we do not use them for our Cairo hotel, they do not incl Cairo lodging information. But online they show Sheraton and Le Meridien being used in Cairo. Le Meridien is not the one by CAI terminal but the one 20min from CAI.
By the way, below are their policies on payment and cancellation
Their Payment Policy
25% deposit of the total tour price is required at booking, balance is due 30 days before program start date. Payment can be made by Visa or Mastercard, thru a 3rd party secured payment site, called "Payfort".
Their Cancellation Policy
Cancellation fees.