“I will never use another company again.”

It is with great pleasure that I recommend e.e. tours as the #1 tour company to plan your next NYC group trip. My experience with them this past year has been nothing but pleasurable.

In the past 11 years, I’ve taken six trips with approximately100 high school students and parents on a custom dance/theatre tour of New York City, and I’ve handled the planning differently each time. I’ve gone from having tour companies plan the entire trip to purchasing and planning every aspect of the trip myself. Each time, prior to planning the trip, I always look for a company that can “make my life easier”. This year I sent out inquiries to several companies and got an immediate reply from e.e. tours. Not only did they respond quickly, but prior to contacting me they researched my high school and my high school dance website; they even watched video clips of my students dancing! I was surprised and impressed that they took the time to find out so much about me BEFORE I was even a client.

Matt and Nora took care of all the trip details before I even boarded our plane to New York, and they made everything seem easy. Because I had had some bad experiences with other tour companies, I was cautious about “letting go” and letting e.e.tours take care of everything. Both Matt and Nora were patient with my calls and emails to “check the details”. They were always happy to answer questions, investigate ideas, and follow up with me. Communication between us was always quick and concise.

They were also quick to remedy any issues that arose on my end…issues that included adding people to the group AFTER theatre tickets had been purchased and changing a name with the airlines just two days before the trip. And when an airline cancelled our San Francisco to NYC flight, e.e. tours was quick to be sure that the new flight met all of the needs of our group. This level of service is simply remarkable, and is something I learned is the norm for e.e.tours.

Upon meeting Matt at JFK International Airport, I confidently heaved a sigh of relief within the first 15 minutes of meeting him. I could tell that he was on top of every detail and not only had a plan “B” for every situation, he had a plan “C’, “D” and “E”! He made the trip fun and easy and to be honest, this was the first time that I could actually relax on the trip and fully enjoy seeing my students discover dance in New York City.

As an experienced leader of large group educational trips, I’m completely sold on e.e. tours. I will never use another company again.

Sincerely,

Robyn Tribuzi

Director of Dance

San Mateo High School

California

“the best tour guide that I have ever had”

I have been traveling to New York City for about 10 years and have traveled with different traveling companies and many different tour guides.  Without a doubt, Matt Koke has been the best tour guide that I have ever had.  He is personable, upbeat, enthusiastic, and motivated.  He is extremely organized and gives great attention to detail.  He is very knowledgeable, informative, and will give you a good understanding of the city in a very short time frame.  You can tell that Matt enjoys working with students and helping them learn.  As a result, he encourages you and your students to ask questions.  He will go out of his way to help you and give advice on all of your options, while at the same time, help you to cover all aspects of your tour objectives.  While giving the tour, he is flexible and is able to make changes when any problems may arise. 

James Craley

Kennard-Dale High School

“knowledge... maturity... sense of fun”

It is with unabashed pride that I write this testimonial for Matt.  I am honored that he asked me, of the many teachers he has worked with through the years, to endorse his new venture.

The rapport established by Matt on each of our tours was genuine, instantaneous, and delightful.  Matt's knowledge, his maturity, and his sense of fun appeal to the students, the parents, and the teachers who take his tours.  Visiting the many and varied sights with Matt will immediately assure one of his in-depth research, his passion for the city, and his devotion to offering his best to his group.  I am thrilled that he has worked with us; it is a relationship that I will relish for many years to come.

Amy Dunagan

Teacher

Cornerstone Christian, TX

“attention to detail is his greatest asset.”

I have had the pleasure of chaperoning three trips to New York City with Matt Koke as our tour guide over the past seven years. As a high school administrator, there are certain aspects of these types of trips that create a level of uneasiness. When taking 55 high school students to New York City for a weekend, thoughts of what could happen are endless. From the first meeting with Matt, you are quickly put at ease. His professionalism, attention to detail and knowledge of the city are second to none.

Matt quickly emphasized the importance of what our students needed to do to maintain their own personal safety. Matt’s attention to detail is his greatest asset. Matt clearly communicates to the bus quite frequently about safety concerns and things to be cautious about. Over my sixteen years in the high school setting, I have never chaperoned a trip where more care about student safety have been demonstrated. Matt is exceptional at what he does and the steps he takes to ensure things are run smoothly. As a high school administrator, I have never been more at ease than I have on these trips with Matt Koke guiding our way.

Dave Jagels

Assistant Principal

Westfield High School

“This wasn’t just a paycheck or hobby, this was a passion”

My name is Chris Flores and I have been in Law Enforcement since July of 1999. During my career I have worked as a detention officer, a patrol officer, a plain clothes detective, and am currently assigned to bicycle patrol. During the last seven years of my career I have worked part time for Cornerstone Christian Schools (CCS) coordinating all their security needs on and off campus. One of my duties for CCS is to travel with the students whenever they travel out of state. I have had the opportunity to travel to places such as Puerto Rico; Hawaii; New York and Washington, DC to name a few. During all of our trips we always hire a tour guide or a tour company to ensure we receive the full experience of the location we are visiting. Since we have worked with many different tour guides I have learned that the tour guide is the one who makes the trip safe.

Although every tour guide’s plan should be reviewed to ensure they have the safety of the group is in mind we have had some less than desirable experiences.

In Law Enforcement we have a saying “The best defense is a better offense”, planning is everything. The first time I ever met Matt Koke was when the CCS drama department was taking a trip to The Big Apple. I was very skeptical about this trip because of all the dangers a city like New York has to offer a group of secondary school students. I very impressed with the way Matt was able to coral our group as quickly as he did. Once we got on the bus I witnessed something that I had not yet seen in a tour guide. He grabbed the bus microphone and in his own way of direct communication he introduced himself and gave his personal cell phone number out to everyone, just incase. He then explained that he was going to change our schedule around because of traffic and crowds. He went on to explain how you should carry your bag, where to carry your wallet and how to have your money split up so you don’t pull out all your money when your paying. He made it clear that it was not acceptable for students to be without their chaperones and continued with his safety briefing. Although I was impressed with his introduction and safety briefing I wanted to see if this guy talked the talk or walked the walk. Throughout the rest of our trip I saw Matt constantly taking head counts and treating everyone in our group as if they were his own family. If a homeless, pan handler or vendor tried to penetrate our group Matt was there to keep them out. What I saw in our tour guide that first day was that our tour guide actually cared about the safety and security of all of us in his group. This wasn’t just a paycheck or hobby, this was a passion.

Since that visit to the Big Apple we have been repeat customers of Matt’s and would not think about visiting the city unless Matt was our tour guide. Matt Koke is not just the best tour guide; he is the model tour guide.

Sincerely,

Chris Flores

Bandera Police Department

San Antonio, TX

“courteous, professional, entertaining, and extremely knowledgeable”

I have known Matt Koke both personally and professionally for the last eleven years.  He has served as my NYC tour guide for my annual student travel trips to Broadway.  I always bring 44 very eager high school Theatre students and a dozen adults on these trips.  Matt does an amazing job of playing stage manager to my director role in organizing the itinerary and events associated with the tour.

Over the years, we have created a very good routine of working with one another to provide a jam packed tour of Broadway shows, acting workshops, and behind the scenes tours of Radio City Music Hall and NBC studios.  Every year we work hard to give these young Thespians the best New York City experience they could have on a tour.  Matt is a key player in making that happen and I always request him.

Matt is courteous, professional, entertaining, and extremely knowledgeable of the city and the inner workings of the performing arts community within Broadway.  I highly recommend Matt’s service as a tour guide for NYC, and have often told my colleagues to request him when they travel with their students.  I would never imagine taking my students up to New York without including Matt as part of the package.

My next venture is to get him out to Chicago as my tour guide for the times I take my theatre students there.  For me, Matt is not just a tour guide who gives us useful facts about the city, but rather a leader who takes a lot of the stress off of the teacher who likes to travel to far away cities with their students.  He solves all the problems, no matter how big or small, that come about with hotels, workshop leaders, and restaurant bookings.  And best of all, he does it with grace and professionalism that is the epitome for what you would expect from the perfect tour guide.

Scott P - Fairfax County VA.

President, Theater Arts Directors Association