Originally Posted by
scented
When was your Sara stay? I am very curious if I understood you correctly... the team was listening in on your conversation and then Astrid made an appearance to inquire if you would like them to get you art? Doesn't sound like the Astrid I know and it seems as we are missing something. Really would love to know more. Thanks!
First it was the "assistant GM" lady (not sure of her proper title, but she seemed very hands on and everywhere while we were there). Only later did Astrid follow up with us about purchasing art (I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she didn't realize how the conversation got started). I think it all started when someone in my party mentioned that they wanted to check out Artisans d'Angkor to specifically see what the locals are crafting, and it spiraled from there where suddenly we were being shown pre-fabricated pieces from importer/exporters at multiple meals in the dining room and pressured to swing by overpriced boutiques at the end of our temple tours. One was particularly hilarious where there were no price tags on any of the crafts and the owner tried to sell us a piece for $1400 that we saw for $150 when out on the town on our own.
This was latter half of 2018. Our tour guide said bookings (Siem Reap generally) were way down for the winter season unexpectedly and everyone was feeling pressure. I wonder if this has something to do with it. Back in 2014 under Sally, the experience was peaceful and ethereal from wall to wall. Not once did we feel like we were at the losing end of someone's referral commission under the table.