Karen Hoch

I had a great experience, I enjoyed the excursions and the marathon, of course! I also loved the run on Friday with Karen and some of the runners from the group. All the runners and companions were great! I made lifetime friends and can’t wait to join another race destination with Marathon Tours & Travel.

Karen is great! She is very patient and knowledgeable about the Athens trip. The shakeout run was great. The hotel is in excellent location, and walking distance to everything. Thank you Karen for a nice trip. Will be with Marathon Tours & Travel in the future.

Marathon Tours & Travel did an outstanding job from the time we began planning this trip until the day the tour ended. There was never a question we were in good hands. Karen and Christine did a great job in making the trip both enjoyable and memorable. They are the best! Thank you, MTT!

Karen and Hannah were fantastic. Kept everything well organized and great communication.

My favorite day was when we went to Bethlehem and Yad Vashem. I also enjoyed the tour of Old Jaffe in Tel Aviv, but the entire trip was incredible. We definitely had full days, but I felt like I had enough downtime. The group dinners were decadent, and it was a great way to meet the others and get to know them. Karen was outstanding and kept us well informed before and during the trip. Our Israeli guide, Mira, was excellent and informative. I learned so much history from her.

We had a wonderful time and experience. We feel Karen is definitely top notch as far as tour planner and guide! Thank you so much!

Karen was amazing! She really helped answer any and all questions. I am excited to tour with her again soon!

Karen, Please accept my most sincere appreciation for your absolute commitment for masterfully addressing our each and every need during our Athens adventure from start to finish! You were always available to make sure every item and/or detail move smoothly. This Athens' trip moves to the top of the list of trips I've taken with MTT followed by Tokyo and Cuba (which you lead also)! I imagine, the trip was enriched by your kind, thoughtful, patient disposition. Many Thanks Unto You!

Karen, Covered all the bases. She was always available to tackle/address whatever came up! She was always at the READY! Thorough, attentive, spontaneous, patient, warm, friendly, courteous and absolutely professional. Of all the trips I've taken with MMT, this was the BEST, due to Karen. It topped Tokyo. Karen's calm, collected disposition set the stage for everyone to undoubtedly have an enjoyable experience and feel comfortable like a group of old friends gathering. Rather than a group of unknowns! All of it done, and due to her quality of leadership and skill!

An amazing, unexpected, brilliant trip. Traveling with in the shadow of COVID-19 made everything more challenging, but MT & our guides Karen & Laura made everything so much easier. Would travel with MT again and again.

The Athens Marathon was a great experience, with a tough, uphill course and spectacular finish in the Panathenaic Stadium. Athens is a fascinating, ancient city with so much to see and do. Karen was a fantastic, enthusiastic trip leader who was so helpful with all my questions.

Thank you to you and your staff members for providing a very memorable weekend for Thierry and me!  In particular, Allyson and Karen were meticulous in their keen attention to detail and in always being helpful, cheerful, and displaying a positive attitude despite their many operational demands.  Definitely a great weekend memory for my 250th marathon.

Oh what an experience with COVID - we all now know more about testing than we ever wanted! Seriously though this is where I felt the service was OUTSTANDING. I had so many questions and I know there were many others. Yet Karen took the time to check, confirm and respond kindly to the many emails and uncertainties. Five negative tests later, I'm positive that we made the right choice in booking this trip of a lifetime with Marathon Tours & Travel.

This was our first trip with Marathon Tours and we were very happy with the entire trip. The communication prior to, during, and after has been excellent. Karen was an excellent coordinator of this trip and I would definitely travel with Marathon Tours again on another running adventure. The planned events and free time were well balanced and provided enough time to enjoy all of the sites. Most of the meals and restaurants were excellent and provided us with a safe way to experience the local culinary options.

Karen and Christine were EXCELLENT. Both of these ladies are strong in communication, amiable, organized, willing to assist and answer questions, and provide support for race participants. I would love to travel with either of them again!!

I thought the trip was well planned with scheduled activities and time to explore on your own. I thought the scheduled activities were fantastic and the guides as well. I appreciated the communication by Jeff and Karen as well. I was traveling alone and felt I always knew what to expect and when.

Hotel in Edinburgh was excellently situated - lots to see and do within walking distance. Rooms were great - clean, moderately spacious, and well-appointed; breakfast was well done in the downstairs dining room. All of the local guides were knowledgeable and entertaining - a terrific way to learn about the history, culture, and people of Scotland. The trip between Edinburgh and Inverness was packed with activities - well worth the time in the coach and the drives between (which were broken up nicely by all the excursions). I know that anyone who comes along to host or help with a MTT trip is going to be super. Jeff and Karen worked tirelessly to make sure that everyone on the trip got the most out of it - food recommendations, music, excellent experiences. Kelly and Kit backed them up and were friendly and welcoming. Like traveling with family (that you like ;).

Karen and Jeff (and Kelly and Kit) did a fantastic job moving us around and getting us where we needed to be for events, activities, and the race. The local guides are amazing - they are knowledgeable, engaging, and friendly. The tours are definitely worth going on as many as you can. Basically can't go wrong. I wish we'd been able to do all three, since I wanted to see more of the highlands (obviously, the 26 miles running it wasn't enough!) Thanks again for the poncho - it came in handy at the start of the race with the sideways rain. Love the buff and I use those all the time. Congrats on 40 years!

The destinations and selection of specific tours were wonderful. Lea, docent for Israel portion of touring was outstanding, knowledgeable funny and a pleasure to be with. Camaraderie among fellow travelers was great. Karen Hoch was an excellent tour facilitator overall and oversaw the daily planning and scheduling of events extremely well.

Nomi was a WONDERFUL local guide! I had been to Israel twice before and she let us know everything; some things I didn't even know from my two prior tours. She had us laughing, crying, and always engaged. And of course Karen and Jacqui, whom I had as tour leaders on previous tours, were both fantastic as always. They are pleasant, detail oriented, and great leaders.

Thanks so much for organizing the Cuba Marabana trip.  It was an absolutely amazing experience, and you made all my experiences absolutely wonderful!  I really enjoyed all of the cultural experiences, and all the support for the Cuban people!

I was very happy with my Big Sur Marathon experience through Marathon Tours & Travel. Every aspect of the package was superb from the accommodations to the dinners and the event transportation. Thank you to Allyson, Karen, and Christine for making this a memorable event.

Karen did a great job before and during the trip. She is very organized, extremely responsive, and very nice to be around - the perfect host.

That was one of the best trip that we ever had. Thank you Jacqui and Karen. Everything was so wonderful and memorable for us. We couldn’t ask for anything better. They did magic. 

I had a great time. This was one of the best Marathon tour experiences. There are challenges in a developing country and it was an AMAZING experience beginning to end. Thank you MTT and especially Jacquie and Karen for an experience well done.

I can't say enough about how well Jacqui and Karen managed this trip. They worked very hard to meet everyone's needs, and quickly worked to address any unexpected issue. Their knowledge and experience were evident. 

I would like to commend our hosts Allyson, Karen and Christine. They made the experience seamless and enjoyable. They were friendly and helpful and created very positive atmosphere .

Your welcome is warm; your enthusiasm and joie de vivre is felt and is greatly appreciated.

The Holy Land...a trip to the Holy Land. Also, I've been on tours with both Jacqui and Karen, so when I saw they were the tour leaders, I didn't hesitate to sign up.

Travel to Cuba is unique, and more complex that most of my past international travel. Karen's patience and knowledge was greatly appreciated.

Karen was on top of everything ... fielding questions, comments and requests very quickly. I felt like I was in good hands.

Karen was an excellent "tour guide" and problem solver during the Havana portion of the trip as we did not extend beyond Havana. During the pretrial planning and preparation, Karen was totally on top of the logistics, and was most responsive and timely to all our questions. Since I am an author, I was most impressed with her writing and communication ability. I would highly recommend Karen and give her a 6 star rating. ( on a scale of 1 to 5)

I have nothing but praise for you all. This was so well organized from the emails we started to receive well before the trip to the outstanding hospitality provided at the hotel and at the social events. I enjoyed the reserved tables for us SCC members. The attention to detail and the personal touch that Marathon Tours and Travel gives us is the reason I keep coming back to your company. Thank you Karen, Allyson, Jeff and Thom. See you on my next trip.

A big thank you to you and your staff for making such a memorable weekend possible. The race couldn’t have went better and I greatly appreciate your planning and good nature in pulling together all the details that I didn’t have to worry about. Thank you and Marathon Tours and good luck in the future!

The hosts of marathon tours were excellent. The prerace communication exceeded my expectations. Thank you!. The hotel was a pleasant surprise. It was much nicer than I expected and the location was very good. The bus to the start line was excellent. Well done. Karen and Anna were amazing!! Thank you ladies for all your hard work. I plan to travel with Marathon tours to London and would highly recommend you as a tour group. 

Great job. Trip of a lifetime. Karen Hoch was awesome.

We loved traveling with Karen again -- she's smart, patient, funny and fun!

Thanks to Karen for all the great service..NYC marathon was a great trip

Quality of support from Karen Hoch. Top notch!

Communications and responsiveness...Karen was super quick to respond regardless of day or time.

HOW WELL ORGANISED IT WAS. The location was great close to everything.Karen and Anna excellant staff tour.

Karen is awesome. She answered all questions promptly and thoroughly. She has a calm, but incredibly organized demeanor that made the trip both for fun and efficient.

There were a lot of moving parts to this trip but all went according to plan. Jacqui and Karen were awesome! Also, I was very impressed with the quality and quantity of food throughout the trip and all the accommodations. The people of Kenya (and Rwanda) were all extremely welcoming and just plain wonderful. The service provided everywhere we went was exceptional.

The organization was excellent. Everything went smoothly and the day trips were great.