Travelzoo

I booked a 2 night stay for a birthday present for my husband where you get a drink on arrival and a 2 course dinner included. Which was misleading because although they said you get up to £26 towards the 2 courses the mains were mostly £24 upwards and the only thing you could get as a starter was olives or you paid extra, that aside the meal was ok.

Our room on the other hand was filthy, it had cobwebs hanging all over the bedroom, the bathroom had dust balls and the loo had brown grind on stains in the pan. By the time we realised this we were far too tired so we told them in the morning before breakfast and they said they would get someone to clean it.

Breakfast should have been a menu chose but because it was full of Travelzoo customers they put out a buffet which was luke warm and the scrambled eggs were uneatable. The coffee and tea were cold and so we decided to go home. when we told them they were very sorry and said they would upgrade us but we didn't want another rubbish breakfast to following day to rein his birthday so we came home. I had paid them £20 extra for a Saturday night , they told me to get in touch with you. She did take off £21 off the add on for our food bill.

Hi there

I recently found a great deal on your site advertising an all inclusive 4 night trip to marakesh Morocco. The advertisement stated that this trip included flights accommodation food/ drink for £159 pp. I called the number to book and was told that the prices varied. I asked which dates were available at the advertised price of £159. I was told that there was a flight from London Gatwick on 19th March returning on the evening of 23rd March for that exact price. So my partner proceeded to book this holiday. He was told that confirmation would come through within a few hours of booking…. Nothing! He waited all day and then called them on that evening to chase them up and confirm the booking. They told him that they were waiting fir confirmation from the airline and someone would get Back to him The following day… nothing! He then called them and the excuse was that they were waiting fir the voucher ( whatever that means) 3 days later he was still waiting on the call. Tonight we called them and they said that the deal had sold out. They are basically advertising a product at a price that they clearly cannot honour! In my books that’s false advertising. To say we are really disappointed by this is an understatement! We had booked time off work and sorted childcare out for this holiday to be let down by this company that’s basically offering fake holidays. Please can you call me on [protected] or email me to discuss this further

Regards

S Cornelius ckarke

I used Travelzoo to book a deal which was on their weekly Top 20 in October 2022 (Travelodeal). We had issues from day one including the transfers that did not pick us up. We were sold a completely misrepresented holiday and no aspect was as described or anything included in the advertised deal, all the facilities were closed, the hotel had no staff, no Covid 19 precautions, the hotel was far from an acceptable and clean standard. We had no rep in resort or contact details. We could do nothing until our return luckily only 7 days. Travelzoo will not accept that the company they are promoting charged us unauthorised admin fees as well as deliberately recording our credit card details. I have sent in excess of 100 emails as well as unprecedented amount of telephone calls before our departure. After being a customer of Travelzoo for many years I would categorically never use or recommend them again in the future. I contacted the CEO at Travelzoo and to say I do not think I have ever dealt with such an ignorant, unpleasant and unprofessional individual and seem to care very little about its customers or subsequent complaints.

I bought 2 tickets for a concert advertised as Four Seasons orchestral. I printed the vouchers which said the venue was Leeds Cathedral, Great George street Leeds. We took a taxi there as parking is difficult in that area and we are both disabled. We arrived at the venue at 7 pm and walked all around the cathedral gates and entrances and all was locked and in darkness. There was a Pastoral Hall lit up but also locked. Eventually we gave up and went home again by taxi. What went wrong. You had not sent the right address for the concert certainly. I claim a refund for your error. 2 tickets at £21.50 each.

My name is Maggie Poppa d/b 16/05/42

10 Lombard Street Leeds LS15 0LT

Do not book a trip with this company. My friend and I booked a guided tour to Turkey. During one of our domestic flights that they got for us, our driver was not at the airport. We waited for an hour before calling. They then sent a driver to pick us up and take to our hotel. When calling to complain, they first tried to lie and say that our driver was waiting for us the entire time. Then they said, that they sent a driver as soon as we called and why did we wait so long to call. They never apologized or offered an explanation as to why our driver wasn't there at the airport. We asked to reschedule our hot air balloon experience to the following day since we only had 2 hours before they were to pick us up and we were sleep deprived. They refused to accommodate our request. On the way home, they booked a connecting flight too close together and we missed our flight through no fault of ours. They refused to reimburse us for our night at the hotel and the airline ticket for the next day.

I have been trying to book a Travelzoo deal to Iceland for 3 days including a northern lights tour. It states quite clearly on the Travelzoo website that 3 nights room only on 6th March flying from London Gatwick is £199 per person. When I called the merchant Travelodeal to make a booking, they advised me that it was infact £299 per person despite advertising the deal on their own website as being £199. This is grossly misleading and obviously the deal being advertised on the Travelzoo website doesn't actually exist. I have called and written to Travelzoo last Friday and followed it up by three calls today (I was cut off twice), and they have failed to resolve the issue or indeed tell me why they have been unable to do so. My experience to date has certainly put me off from booking any more deals with Travelzoo in the future. I have been a member for many years but their level of customer service has plummeted.

We booked our first Travelzoo experience October 2021 for a April spring break trip with my children to Costa Rica for a purported 5 star hotel at JW Marriott Guantacaste, As it was advertised to be a 5 star hotel/resort, it definitely fell short of that. The room assignment we received on 4/20 was downright unacceptable. It was located right next to the service closet which made it noisy all evening, throughout the night and into the morning. If was also located on the main lobby floor where guests would constantly walk by and look at us and right into our room (lack of privacy) and while the kids were on the outdoor chairs. That made it very uncomfortable. We were patient but quickly realized this was unbearable. We called and left a message for the manager on duty Jamal Retana at 19:10 about possibly some other room. No call was returned. We visited the lobby several times after calling and they were too busy and we again asked the manager to call our room and for someone to bring us some ice. All of which never happened. We checked out on TV, rented a car on site with Alamo and left the property on 4/21 around 13:00. As a Marriott Bonvoy member, I would have had better luck booking with them. The food service was terrible. The drinks were warm. The beach had a red flag indicating hazardous conditions DO NOT ENTER and no lifeguard on duty. Not a place to take the children for safety reasons or for a vacation if they can't use the beach and as teens, only a child pool existed with an adult pool. Disappointing to say the least. I stayed only 1 of the 3 voucher days and I added 2 extra days with Brayan Barrantes on 1/4/22. Our stay was supposed to be 4/19-4/24. I had to book another hotel on points after our disappointing stay. I would have written sooner but I am going through cancer treatment at that moment which has left me without a voice.

I purchased a twelve day trip to China/Tawain from the travel zoo website that was then forwarded to UTO vacations to be fulfilled.At the time of booking travel was restricted to china from the US so i felt as though a change should happen to allow travel.I contacted TRavel Zoo to check the credibility of UTO and was told by travel zoo UTO was a credible partner of Travel zoo and there was no need to be concerned.The payment terms were three seperate payments which i made on time.Immedieatly after making my final payment i was notified by UTO that the trip was canceled due to virus concerns and that i could apply for a credit. The virus status had remained the same during this entire time,and still remains the same. Their trips are booked full for the remainder of the year and their trip prices have doulbed since i booked so there is no likelyhood of being able to use a worhless credit. This was obviously a calculated scam on UTO's part and Travel zoo's involvement is questionable as well since they continue to offer this partnership touur even after knowing the process. Due to the fact UTO has no investment in this arrangement i believe i am well within my rights torequest a total refund

Hello,

I'm writing to say that I booked a trip through the Travelzoo Website which linked me to vacation express. It seemed to be an incredible deal for 3 to Jamaica staying at the Rui Negril from 4/30/22 - 5/3/22. They had us on a connected flight from Philadelphia to Jamaica on Frontier Airlines going and a straight flight coming back for a 4 day/3 night all inclusive stay for $646 a person. I booked it in February and then the dates finally came but the going flight kept being switched with an 8 hour layover so Vacation Express credited us for the going flight as I found a better deal on American Airlines but I kept the returning flight on Frontier that was booked with vacation express since it wasn't changed.

So on the day of our departure 5/2/22, I tried checking into the flight but nothing came up or it was an error message so I contacted Vacation Express while on vacation and they guaranteed me that the flight was active and to get on transportation to make it to my flight on time. On the day to leave I went to find out what time transportation was picking us up and they said they couldn't because we didn't have a returning flight booked. I then called vacation express again the they assured me to get on the transportation cause the flight was still active. So we convinced transportation to let us on and once getting to the airport Frontier was gone and we were informed that our flight been canceled and there were no more flights leaving from Jamaica to Philadelphia on Frontier until Thursday, 2 days later! We were devastated!

That's when we ran over to American Airlines and had to book a rush flight that came to $1,300.00 for 3 tickets when our entire trip cost $1,900.00. We had to book it cause we were out of options and our dream vacation turned into a nightmare that quick. Then someone from Vacation Express called back and said they made a horrible mistake and now notice that the flight was cancelled but Frontier didn't contact them or me so they are not at fault?!?! Frontier stated that since I didn't book with them directly they couldn't help us so we are out of $1,300.00 and someone has to pay and it won't be them. When I returned home I contacted Vacation Express to get a credit and they kept disconnecting the line so I had to put in a dispute with my credit card but they can only dispute a portion of the money. We want all of our flight money back. At this point it seems like fraud because we did everything right and the vacation of our dreams was a nightmare all due to Travel Zoo and Vacation Express! I will never book with either again in life and I will tell eveyrone I know to do the same unless we get all of our money back and some for our pain and suffering.

is this above company whose number is on your advert on facebook a legitimate part your company the telephone number shows as [protected] which i tried to book a holiday to Mallorca yesterday on this company only to have my HSBC bank fraud division messaging me saying fraud alert i immediately contacted my bank and cancelled the card payment that they asking for.

Alan Barty

We found a TravelZoo Deal for Egypt, which we booked directly with Exoticca in May 2021 (60% deposit paid on 1 May 2021 of $1620.) The original cost was $1599 for departures from Orlando, but we decided to book the Luxury/Premium upgrade (Economy Premium flight, luxury hotel, better cruise room).

1. The booking agent took our passport and personal information at that time, and most of it was entered incorrectly. Thankfully we doubled checked them. Birth dates were wrong, our names were wrong, passport numbers were wrong. We made several attempts to get them fixed, however, my name was never corrected on the flight reservation (Connie Furmanhayes vs Connie Furman Hayes) but British Airways confirmed to me that I would be allowed to travel.

2. The same booking agent refused to book our excursions – and the rates increased when they showed up online to book them. Not a good deal for us, but I guess it works for them. (This was resolved by Exoticca after we complained.)

3. In October, we decided to fly 1 day earlier. After several phone calls, they confirmed that it was possible. We would pay any flight difference to leave on March 7th instead of the 8th, and we would pay an extra night for the hotel. We agreed.

4. On Dec 27, 2021, we made our final payment of $1472. Of this amount, $1299 was the extra charge for the Economy Premium upgrade (the remainder was the extra night in the hotel).

5. On Jan 7, 2022, we received an email stating that “…as the departure date for your trip was changed, the flight upgrade is not (sic) longer possible as there is not (sic) Premium Economy option for the new dates.” However, when Theresa called in, she was told that the ticket prices had increased. The stories did not match up.

a. Neither are truthful as I checked the airlines (I have screenshots from British Airways) and yes there were plenty of Economy Premium seats available. And there was no price increase from changing our departure from March 7 or March 8: the rates were the same.

b. We did not change the return date of March 16, we only wanted to depart 1 day earlier.

c. They took almost 2 weeks to book our airfare from the time we paid the final amount until the email was sent, alerting us to a problem.

6. We paid for the base trip (which included airfare) and an additional $1299 each for airfare upgrade, only to be told that we are out the $1299 each and we had to stay in Economy.

We want to protest their booking practices of taking $1299 each from us and not delivering our upgrade that we paid for.

We did not change the return flight, only the departure flight and those rates were the same. It was Exoticca’s fault for delaying booking our flights by 2 weeks after our final payment if the price increased.

Per their 2021 Bookings Governance Terms and Conditions, 4th paragraph, page 1 states:

“…If any of the costs increase, Exoticca may increase the price of any item. Exoticca reserves the right to increase or decrease prices and will make all efforts to advise of price increases at least 15 days prior to departure date. If the cost increase is more than 7% (excluding government tax), you may cancel your booking and receive a complete refund.”

We were never offered a refund of our paid package. We were only offered 2 flight options: the original promised flight with a loss of our prepaid Premium upgrade, or a terrible set of flight times/connections and substantial increase of flying time. We are two sisters in our mid-60’s and the reason that we booked this tour was because we could get good connections and more comfortable seats. Travelling for 20+ hrs is hard for young people, much less at our age. Since our $1299 (each) loss in airline fee is much more than their 7% increase; we would have cancelled this package and gotten all of our money back had it been offered.

Thanks,

Connie Furman Hayes

Theresa Furman Clifton

HI
I booked a tirp to be taken on the 5th of December with Barcelo hotels through a' fully refundable voucher' with travel zoo as advertised on thier site.
As covid rules changed we were unable to make the trip and cancelled it before.
Both the hotel and Travel zoo will not refund.
Initially travel zoo said they would as it was their vouchers now they state they will not and I have lost £300

On the 5 November 2021 we arrived at San Antonio Hotel in St.Pauls Bay, Malta. This was a booking promoted on your website. On the following Monday 8 November 2021, the whole of the patio areas were cordoned off along with all the swimming pools. Then the contractors moved in and started removing all the tile edges around the pools along with some tiles on the patio area. Having waited a very long time to take a holiday we were extremely upset at not being able to use all the facilities as advertised. At no time did anyone mention anything about building work being started. The noise started at 7am so our balcony was also unusable. We left on Friday 12 November and the renovation was still going on. It is my opinion that such a drastic event such as this should be notified to your customers. We have been a customer of Travelzoo for many years and on the whole have been satisfied with your recommendations. On this occasion you have failed in your duty to advise customers of the building work and the description is misleading. The hotel was still advertising on their website with no mention of any building work. I have video and photo evidence to support my complaint which I will forward.

PIN -4089 Voucher [protected]. When we attended the sloane square hotel we were told the deal had been cancelled and the room booked out to a private function. I had travelled from Norwich to London with my wife for her birthday. The hotel stated Travelzoo had been made aware. Neither Travelzoo or the Hotel (who had confirmed the date to me by e mail) bothered to advise us of the cancellation. We are both very upset about the way we were treated, and although I have applied for a refund this does not cover the additional costs we incurred. This is in my view blatant profiteering, the hotel offers deals to travlezoo, but when a more profitable option comes along they cancel and neither you or the hotel advise us. this is really poor and I hope you will do something to recifify the matter. We booked our hotel for this 2 day visit through travelzoo which was fine.

Last Oct. 2020, I purchased for two a trip to Machu Picchu in Peru. I was not told about any need for a visa (found to be not required) or any type of needed vaccinations. Upon researching, I found that yellow fever, malaria, typhoid types of vaccinations were required. My wife is not able to get those types of vaccines, so I tried today to cancel the trip. They, UTO, claims that it is not there policy to refund money collected, but offer the cost of the trip as a voucher (good for 30 months) for a future trip. I find this unacceptable and would like to know if you can assist me in recovering the cost of the trip. The trip was a total of $1796.00 of which $99 (X2) was trip insurance. would never had purchased this type of trip knowingly, if I new of the vaccines required. I think that the agent either TravelZoo or UTO would have included this in the advertisement before one would purchase this trip. Thank You, Clark Froelich [protected]@sbcglobal.net

We have a trip with Exoticca to Cambodia/Vietnam in March of this year purchased through TravelZoo. Early on there were people to converse with if you needed to add excursions or do other things. In the last two weeks since the problem of traveling through China has become an issue, they have not answered their phones one time. There is not a way of contacting them. They do not respond to e-mails or to phone calls. They do not return phone calls. You may want to revisit listing them as a provider because it reflects poorly on TravelZoo. We have booked 20+ trips through TravelZoo and this is the first time with a serious issue.

The hotel were not interested in our complaints - that is the biggest issue. The room has a sink that fills with brownish water - so not used (very inconvenient) the meal was lunch not dinner as advertised & the breakfast had a ceiling of £13 - not advertised by either Travelzoo or hotel. They advertised the meal 2 courses for £15, 3 for £18 no mention of time of day but when asked they said it was lunchtime only - I have a photograph of the unaltered sign.

Between the 16th - 20th October we booked this hotel, 2 rooms 2 couples, room 223 and 227.
I need to point out that due to the facts below this hotel SHOULD NEVER be in the 5 star category. One could say that Italy has a different star system that that of UK however we have stayed at the Parco de Principi in Sorrento some years ago as a 4 * and this certainly was so much better than La Pace. Also we happened to visit the Royal Hotel in Sorrento which was a 5 * and oh my word this was definitely a 5 * compared to the hotel we were in.
Let me start, the hotel itself was fine in decoration, location and the breakfasts were good BUT there is no doubt that this hotel was doing everything " on the cheap" the coffee each morning was awful and tasted like heated up mud and the wine in the evening was obviously quite cheap and at times had a slight fizz to it indicating that it had fermented. The beer was good as were the gin and tonics but I would of thought that the 2 items Italy would have excelled at would be coffee and wine but this was clearly not the case.
The soup in the evening was often luke warm and one evening it was mushroom soup which had run out and was topped up with soup that had not been mixed properly as you could see the white lumps of the mixture and again luke warm.
The sweets were often creamy type cakes and although there was fruit, again one would have thought ice cream or sorbet would have been available especially being Italy! the sweet was the same every night.
One evening my husband found a dead fly in his dinner. We pointed this out to the waitress who said " oh " and took it away. I'm not sure what I expected but and apology would have been accepted response - but nothing!

As far as the rooms were concerned these were cleaned every day to a good standard. However the hotel needs to invest in more pillows and the ones they supply were lumpy and/or hard.
We did not expect our towels to be changed every day and hung them up but unfortunately the housemaid did not take any notice of the environmental notice and did change them which seems a waste of time having the notice in the first place.
It seems strange not to have a mattress cover on beds which room 227 didn't, purely for hygiene reasons.
One day we returned to our room having been out for the day and found our door wide open. Luckily nothing was missing or disturbed. We did mention this to reception and again no response was made only that they will have a word with the maid. The possible implications of this action could have been much worse.
In room 223 the bed was made of 2 singles ( which is quite common and accepted). However these singles were not joined in the middle and were on castors which meant each time you sat on the bd they would separate. This would not have been too bad if the sheet fitted and could help keep the two beds together but this was not the case. There was never a sheet that fitted over the two singles properly which resulted in the sheet falling between the two beds on the slightest movement as the beds separated.
This room as also very damp as the air conditioner didn't work properly. After a day or two this caused a smell and affected clothes to become damp.
Again there was not a mattress cover on one of the single beds but there was one on the other!
In room 223 the toilet system kept jamming so you had to keep pressing it till it worked in order to stop the water flowing continuously.
There was also one light not working in the bathroom.

Most of the room complaints should have been noticed and easily rectified by the cleaner but obviously were not.

There was no tea/coffee facilities in the rooms.

The list above indicates quite clearly that this hotel should not be given a 5* status.
Undoubtedly the drinks served were the cheapest and although some of food in the evening was good there was too much that wasn't and again does not fit with a 5 * category hotel

We paid a good price for our 4 night stay at La Pace but was expecting " what it says on the tin" and therefore were disappointed in what we received.

Mrs Annette Nash

RE TRAVELZOO booking Number [protected] booked through Alexander Ruiz (not trying to get him in trouble ; I need a viable, not made up answer)
FLYBE MMCZG9
16/10/2019
I went to book seats as I am travelling with my disabled father. As I went to pay for the seats a different address was accredited to my booking information (Lake Alice) ; I changed the address .
Unfortunately I paid before I realised that the email address and phone number was wrong as well.
I have my printed out confirmation saying " an email containing your itinery and receipt has been sent to 67031503@wutyvuri.fun" (looks like a virus or hoax to me)
This must be bogus
the phone number didn't work either.
I am afraid that that this is not just a mistake but fraudulent somehow.
Travelzoo did not want to know although that is who I booked with. I was given an email address to 'send ' the proof too.But I cant download what I had ! so how to send it! The choice was only to print.I have printed it. I called someone else who said they would send the receipts (I wanted the entire booking confirmation sent) The receipts sent dont even include the details of where the first email confirmation was sent, so absolutely useless. They are not the same document layout.
No one has been able to reassure me either; they all just denied responsibility.
No one sounded surprised either.
Then I went on to book the assisstance for my father. This chap at Flybe was very helpful and added the correct address, e mail and phone number for my booking.
I had to remind him to remove the incorrect number . But he was the only person who was vagely interested. Dont come back and tell me that I am mistaken because obviously my details have been updated.
I am afraid that I need to cancel my credit and debit card now.
Also I have only recieved the one email about the holiday on the 17/09/2019. This was from the company you used which is holidays.ch GMbH.
I have not received requests to finalise payment, nothing. I guess this is because the wrong email was attributed to my booking.I haven't finished paying by the way.
How do I even do that?
THE INCORRECT DETAILS (not shouting just concerned someone will put these back on )on my (printed out )booking confirmation ; for which I require reassurance are;

67031503@wutyvuviri.fun(took me to TNT deliveries)
service.ihh@hix.com(another hotel company name?)
+72219690333
+[protected]

I need reassurance about this,
I need reassurance that my details have not been sold to another company and then the perpetrator mistakenly left them on my account.
I need reassurance even if this is just main office details instead of mine (but why are the phone numbers or emails not in use then?)
I need to know why I have had only one email and no requests for final payment.
I require an apology as to why no one except the assistance person actually tried to rectify anything.
I wont be trusting Travelzoo or flybe again.
Jet2 service is full on but makes you feel safe.
I will expect to see financial compensation; especially if I discover that someone has tried to accessed my credit, debit card or email address etc.
Thank you for your attention to this matter

We recently booked a trip on the tenterden railway with an afternoon cream tea onboard, this was a day out for a friend visiting from Australia, I had booked this online through travelzoo a month before our intended trip, the time stated on the invoice was for 3-20 pm when we got to the station at 2-45, we were told the train had already left, we were late, and the next train was leaving at 4-15, but there would be no cream tea,
Unfortunately the spa valley railway had changed the timetable in July, but were still selling trips from the old timetable in June, at the last minute they managed to get a cream tea together .
A very poor service, , I did try to complain to virgin as I understand it is one of their events, but, was unable to get any help or information from them .
Be interesting to hear your opinion,
Regards
Maureen Field .