I was assaulted and publicly humiliated by the Owner and the Owner's son of HLP TOURS while in Israel.
HLP Tours is the tour provider for McLean Bible Church's Israel tours. During the October tour, I asked the tour company owner Motti and his son Ressa if I could extend my trip for few days to visit Jordan and Egypt with part of the tour group. They answered yes and vaguely told me how much it would cost. The explanation was it was $399 to Petra and $599 to Egypt. I told them I did not want to go to Egypt because I wanted to go diving in the Red Sea. They said ok.
I also asked him if he took credit cards and he said no but I could get a cash advance in Israel which I was unable to do while there. My master card would not advance me cash overseas for some reason so I told him I would pay him when we returned. I did not go to Egypt and therefore owed him $399 and tried to present him with a cash payment. He went berserk over this. When it was time to leave for the airport, he told me there was no ticket for me to leave and I his son threatened to hit me and to lock me up in an Israeli jail. All of this took place the evening we were packing up to go back to the United States in front of 100 or so people.
Not only did I not go to Egypt but the 5 star accommodations were inadequate and became even worse when they DOWN GRADED our rooms for a night.in the middle of the trip, we were asked to move to the renovated rooms in one of the hotels which was dark and dingy.
Not only was the trip expensive, but it was ended up being a disaster. My final moments in Israel ruined the trip for me.
I do not recommend HLP TOURS in FALLS CHURCH to anyone who wishes to go to Israel. They charm you into believing they are doing you a favor every step of the way but really what they do is take you to markets where stuff is actually marked up so they can get their profit (I was told tour providers make up to 35% when they take the tour group in to the stores they visit) and down grade you from an semi adequate room to one that is sub par.
Trust me, they are not your friends.
The bad part about this is that it ride on the coat tails of McLean Bible Church's Holy Land Tour which is run by Lon Solomon who seems to be a charismatic pastor.
HLP Tours in Falls Church Virginia gets a 1 star rating for customer service. Be careful they don't assault you or threaten you too.
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