We have previously used Luxury Escapes (LE) to book accommodation and have been very happy with the quality and value for money of the product offered. Based on this, and recommendations of friends who have travelled with LE on (other) tours, we decided to book the Ultimate Japan Tour. Rookie mistake to assume that the ‘Luxury’ in their company name aligns to luxury in their tours. LE promised us ‘handpicked hotels to ensure comfort and rest’ but unfortunately delivered tired, old, dirty tourist standard hotels with poor quality beds and breakfasts, and in locations away from desirable tourist/dining options. This accommodation negatively impacted the whole experience. The shining light on our tour was Miki, our delightful, and extremely helpful guide. Whilst she may have had ‘extensive local knowledge’ it is not always possible to share this with a group of 21 whilst seeing crowded tourist attractions. We expected to learn about the history of the land and its people, but this did not occur (although some limited material was posted on Google drive). Additional information should have been provided by LE (probably prior to tour commencement) regarding how and where to spend free time in each location allowing for a wider discovery of the area. Suggested dining choices provided by the hotels were inaccurate. I understand that Luxury Escapes could not secure seats including luggage on the bullet train, however it was ridiculous that we were without our belongings for 2.5 days. Luggage transfer from Kyoto to Okayama is approximately 3 hours and from Kyoto to Hiroshima 4.5 hours (according to Google Maps). I believe our tour cost should have covered this additional timely transportation expense. I’m sure that Japan ‘specialists’ have done this particular tour but I encourage someone to do it again as time allowances at attractions did not align with participant expectations eg a one-hour-forty-minute bullet train ride was the only activity planned for Day 9 yet the expectation for Day 10 was that we would see the Atomic Bomb Dome, Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Miyajima Island and travel in the bus for 5 hours. Our thanks to Miki for allowing us the flexibility to move activities around. Luxury Escapes has recently launched a new ‘Luxe’ product. Is this just a marketing ploy to get Australians to pay more? Was our tour expectation now considered Luxe? Not good enough.