Gate 1 Travel
Reviews and Complaints

VERY DISSATIFIED with Gate1. Six members of my family booked a tour of Israel and Egypt with Gate1 before the violence broke out. The trip is scheduled to depart in only three 47f3fweeks and the political situation continues to deteriorate, but Gate1 has not cancelled the trip, nor will it allow its customers to apply the deposit to a different Gate1 trip. It appears that Gate1 is hoping my family will forfeit the $2, 400 deposit rather than go through with a vacation in a war zone. I'll post an updated review of Gate1 if its position changes, but that doesn't appear to be likely.

I recently went on a trip to Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast on a 9 day tour through Gate1 Travel. We paid for a flight from Boston to Florence, connecting in Rome. At the airport we were informed that we were confirmed passengers from Boston to Rome, but not from Rome to Florence. We showed the attendant our itineraries from Gate1 Travel and she told us there was nothing she could do, we were not confirmed. I immediately called Gate1 and they told us to take the train from Rome to Florence. Why would we take a train, when we paid for a flight? They blamed it on the airline and told us to write a letter. The train station was a nightmare and cost me over 100 dollars for us to get to Florence. Upon arriving home in the states, I have tried to get reimbursed from Gate1 for the leg of the flight that I did not use and the train ticket that I had to buy. The customer care center is awful, they are unbelievably rude and not helpful. I conferenced called the airline and Gate1 so that they could figure out who was responsible for reimbursing me and even after it was confirmed that Gate1 was responsible they still refuse to pay me. They are an awful tour operator and if anything goes wrong they will not help you or reimburse you. Be careful!

I'm a parish priest who recently booked a trip to Europe with Gate One after explaining that I have a parishioner who is dying and would have to play it by ear. The agent suggested getting the full insurance coverage which would allow me to cancel without loosing my money. "No problem, " she said.I did so.

A week before my scheduled departure it began to be clear that the person from my church might die during my absense so I called Gate 1 to notify them that I would probably have to cancel. They said that it was no problem as I had the full coverage insurance and to call back on 72 hours prior to departure to cancel.

I called early on the morning of the day I was told to and did not receive a call back for several hours. When the agent returned my call, she informed me that I would receive a travel voucher that would have to be used within one year and that I would have to cancel in writing. She also mentioned that since this person was not immediate family I could not receive my money back and suggested that I take it to the insurance company. Neither the voucher, the fact that it had to be immediate family, nor the cancellation in writing had been mentioned prior to this time. I was away from home at that point and could not get to my computer to receive her email with instructions until after the deadline. I also contacted Travel 1 and left a message for a manager to contact me and did not receive a call back. Doing some research on the net, it appears that the full coverage insurance does not include airfare and that there are all sorts of fees tat will not be covered. What does full coverage mean?

At this time I have already contacted my credit card company to complain and asked both the agent and the manager to contact me. Later today I will attmept to sort this out again but will also contact a lawyer and the state attorney general's office. This is very dishonest and unprofessional.

In June 2009 I took a Gate 1 tour of Spain & Portugal. I paid Gate 1 in advance for an airport transfer ($100) from the Madrid airport to my hotel since I was arriving a day before the tour began. The driver never showed up (was told car trouble), so I took a cab for about $40. My Gate 1 tour guide promptly reimbursed me for the $40 in cash. Upon my return home I contacted Gate 1 to get reimbursed for the rest of the money owed me, $60. I was told by Gate 1 as far as they were concerned I had been reimbursed, case closed. Unacceptable. I will not patronize Gate 1 again!

If you are thinking of booking a trip through Gate 1 Travel, please rethink. They are very quick and very nice in the beginning to take your money but do not deliver what they promise. I recently took a trip with a group of friends to Italy and we all booked our trip through Gate 1 Travel, a deal we found on Travelzoo.com. Upon arriving in Italy, we were told that we did not have reservations at our hotel and had to be moved somewhere else. The hotel we went to was in poor condition and smelly. We managed to make the best of our trip while we were in Italy.
As soon as we came back to the states, we called gate 1 to tell them what had taken place in Italy. Not only their reps (the same people that were extremely nice when they booked our trip and charged our cards) were unhelpful, they were rude, and brushed us off as quick as possible. Needless to say, i will never book another trip through Gate 1 and will never recommend anyone to book one either.

Do NOT use their vacation builder. I asked for assistance on the Vacation Builder. The woman took my phone number, but did not give me an opportunity to get her name and extension. I called the next day and got a man with a French accent. I explained the situation and asked if he could access the information I'd given the woman by entering my name. He said no. I asked his name and he told me that he couldn't help me because I'd wasted 6 minutes of his time and said nothing. I asked what I should do and he said "find another travel agency". I called back and got a woman who took all my information after I explained my experience with the man. She was to call back the next morning. I waited 2 days for her call, left her a message, and she never called back.

The tour minibus driver was speeding on a narrow roadwhile going across the Atlas Mountains, when it suddenly broadsided a private car.
There was a heavy impact but, fortunately, nobody was seriously injured.
My wife was thrown forward and fell into the stair well, and I banged both my knees and hands on the seat in front.
Some passangers suffered minor cuts, but my wife and I ended up with a few bruises, and my eye glasses were broken.
After about two hours, another bus came in and we continued the trip, except that it was not possible for us to go on the walking tours for the next two days, on account of our bruised legs.
Upon returning to the USA, we reported the accident to GATE1 TRAVEL and requested that they pay (even in the form of vouchers for future trips) for my eye glasses and my two visits to an orthopedist.
They were very rude, and did not assume any responsibility for the accident.
Beware of GATE1 TRAVEL: they carry our lives on their hands, but they are not responsible for any problems they cause.
No wonder I heard from people in the travel industry that they are on the brink of going out of business, leaving many people's money in limbo.

Turkey is such a wonderful country to visit, with its great cultural and historical assets.

Unfortunately, we chose the wrong company for this trip, because GATE1 TRAVEL delivers tours of very poor quality.
The hotel in Istanbul was old, poorly kept, and located in a seedy part of town.
In Izmir, the hotel was far from everything, so that we wasted a lot of time on public trasportation to go to town.
Some of the other hotels were mediocre at best.

To add insult to injury, we had to endure a tour guide who was anti-American, and spent the long hours on the bus putting down our values, our society, our way of living, and our people.
He even had the gall to make disparaging comments about Christianity.
All 34 passengers on the bus were American.
When we confronted him, the result was interminable arguments that only reinforced his intent to go on with his speeches.

The atmosphere on the bus was very uncomfortable, and some passengers were left with a bitter taste in their mouths at the end of the trip.

That was not what we paid for.
We will never again tour with GATE1 TRAVEL.

GATE1 TRAVEL IS A JOKE
My wife and I are very experienced travelers, having toured all over the world with several tour companies, and never had any significant problems.
However, on a recent tour of Morocco with GATE1 TRAVEL, it did not take us long to realize that the quality of their service is well below par:
1- Four days before the trip, they completely changed the itinerary of the tour, which rendered the airline reservations we had independently made totally unusable.
If it weren't for the actions of our personal travel agent, we would have been in an impossible situation.
Needless to say, we were very stressed when the trip started.

2- When we arrived at the airport in Casablanca, we could not find the person responsible for our hotel transfer.
After looking for him all over the arrivals area, we decided to change enough money to buy a phone card, in order to call the local GATE1 TRAVEL office for instructions.
It took three phone calls, and we were finally told by their incompetent office manager to take a taxi to the hotel.
The whole fiasco wasted about three hours of our time, and when we finally arrived at the hotel, the tour of the city that was included in the package had just left.
The hotel in Casblanca was very dirty and dreary.

3- At the end of the tour, we were supposed to return with the group to Casablanca.
Instead, the tour guide told us that we would be dropped in Marakesh, where we could take a train to Casablanca on our own.
We had bought an all inclusive tour from Casablanca to Casablanca, and warned him during the tour that his paperwork was incorrect.
This cost us several days of arguments with the tour guide, and many calls to the inconpetent office manager.
In the end, we had to wake up at 2:30 in the morning to be able to catch our early morning flight in Casablanca.

Obviously we were wrong in assuming that we would be well cared for when we bought an all inclusive tour.
Not with GATE1 TRAVEL: they drop the ball, and the customers are left holding the bag big time.

Belatedly, we heard from other people that these fiascos are commonplace with GATE1 TRAVEL.
Once they collect your money, you are completely at their mercy.
There are are many good tour companies around, but GATE1 TRAVEL is NOT one of them.

Went on a tour of Jordan and Egypt two weeks ago. Jordan was great, our tour guide there was so informative and friendly and always welcomed questions from us. Our Egypt guide on the other-hand(Ameen) was very rude from the start. Instead of taking control of his group when he wanted to talk about something he would pout and whine that no one listens to him in a very unprofessional way and would get upset if some one would ask him a question, because he felt that questions should be asked after the tour and not during the tour because felt it slowed down the process (whatever).

As a travel writer, I have had the pleasure of visiting many international destinations. My last trip to Europe was a real eye-opener though. If you are traveling to Europe, I would strongly advise against using any outfit that utilizes MSC Musica cruise ships. We traveled through Gate 1 Travel, and had a very disappointing experience. In summer, this cruise line is dense with Italians, who make it very difficult for other nationalities to have a good time. There's alot of shoving, crowding and other examples of rude behavior that quite frankly surprised me, especially since we're all on vacation and trying to have a good time.

Food on this cruise through Greece was below par, with the Italian fare being mediocre at best, and very little Greek cuisine. Lines to get on and off the ship were very long, with many people not adhering to their place in line.

In retrospect, we should have known that this cruise line charged for many incidentals, including coffee, tea, juice and other beverages that are usually included on many other cruises. In comparing our dismal experience with other American travelers, we found that other cruise lines like Princess, NCL, etc. didn't charge for all these ancillary items. What a shocker when we went to the dining room for meals. Factor in the euro, and you can see how costs can rapidly escalate if you're not careful.

I thought most cruise lines were pretty much the same, but obviously, I'll do alot more homework before I take another cruise. Gate 1 did very little to keep our loyalty, and after taking 3 trips with them to Europe in the past, it's very doubtful that we'll be doing this again. How hard would it be to give us a real incentive to travel with this company in the future, especially with the economy being in such a sorry state.

I wanted to give my wife a surprise birthday gift---a trip to Buenos Aires. I booked with gate1 two months earlier, paid for the trip and they told me that I was locked at that price. The day of my wife's surprise party she was happy when I gave her the news that we were going to Buenos Aires, a place she have been wanting to go. We were scheduled to leave 10 days after the party. 5 days prior to the departure I get a phone call from gate 1 saying that the flight departing Texas via Mexicana was canceled and that they can get me on a different airline carrier American but I had to pay an addition $600. I told them that I booked two months ago at that price and that was not my fault that Mexicana canceled. They said then if I didn't go then i would loose the money I already had. Even it was their mistake they didn't want to refund my money. To make a long story short after several phone calls back in forth they finally give me the money and never apologize. This is the worst travel company. I use the internet to book my trips and never had problems until I used Gate 1. I don't RECOMMEND this travel company. If you want to avoid head right before your trip. DON'T BOOK WITH GATE 1.

NEVER USE GATE 1 TRAVEL!

We were interested in the "independent" travel package for Costa Rica which included the aifare, transfers, hotel & rental car because we thought it was a good deal for less than $1000/per person. We weren't sure if it was sold out or not so we also reserved flights on Delta airlines which allows you to cancel within 24 hrs without charge.

When we called the Gate 1 agent said the package was available and the only thing "on request" meaning they could not confirm was 1 of the hotels at one of the cities we would be staying at. However, the travel agent assured us that the policy is that they look into another hotel of equal or better status and give us the option to accept.

So, happy with being able to book 2 wks of our travel date for a good deal I put down a deposit and told the bf to cancel the Delta tickets since everything was taken care of. Later that week getting worried about the "on request" hotel I checked the invoice online and it said they had upgraded us to a better hotel that was "on request"as well. When I called in they said they were waiting to hear back on the "upgraded" hotel that would cost us $94 more to see if they had room & would get back to us.

So a couple days pass and about 1 wk before our departure - I check online to find that the ENTIRE RESERVATION WAS CANCELLED!

I received no e-mail, no call, there was no explanation on the website. We call in the next day to have the supervisor tell us that they couldn't confirm the upgraded hotel and then that the airfare had expired. But then he goes to check the hotel and finds that he can now offer us the exact same package because now suddenly the hotel has room..but the flights will cost us $400. Which is ridiculous - the same package - is now $400 more due to them prematurely cancelling.

Then we tried to explain that no one told us that the flight would "expire" or that the whole package would suddenly be cancelled just because they couldn't confirm a hotel.

The supervisor then tells us it is "common" that when the air is reserved he can't get the land or when the land is reserved air is on request. He then tell us that the "whole" package was "on request"

When we told him that;

1.) On the invoice it only said the hotel was on request NOT the entire package
2.) It was never explained to us or written anywhere that the entire reservation would be unilaterally cancelled
3.) It was never explained that the "reserved" airline flights would expire at a certain time

His only response was that it was OUR fault for booking so close to the date. Which doesn't make sense because if they knew this would happen why would they still offer the package.

So in then end my bf & I who are left w/o a vacation only days before I fly out to NYC just so we could leave for costa rica and ticked beyond belief.

Oh a day later I get a call from the travel agent letting me know that they cancelled my reservation because they couldn't confirm the hotel. Funny - how the supervisor could find us one a day after they cancelled our entire package.

This describes my evaluation of Gate1's "11 Day Athenian with 3-Day Cruise" package in June 2008. Gate1"s contract hotels are not anywhere close to 5 or 4 stars, as advertised. The best, the Royal Olympic in Athens, which is billed as 5 stars, had a single restaurant, not two as advertised, and it was closed for dinner on 2 of the 3 nights I stayed there; so I had to have dinner "poolside, " which, because of the temperature, was definitely not my choice. Dinner selections were extremely limited, to essentially one entree per type (chicken, beef, veal, fish, etc.), hardly the mark of a 5-star hotel, and the prices were, in a word, outrageous ... Dinner with house wine for two came in at over 100 Euros in one case and nearly that amount in the other! The remaining hotels are worth perhaps 2 stars for the Europa in Olympia and Amalia in Delphi, and a bare 3 for the Divani in Kalambaka.

The Athens city tour was brief and rushed, included entirely too much "lecturing" by the tour guide in the hot Athens sun and the ferocious wind atop the Acropolis, while not allowing enough time for unhurried photographs, did not include a visit to the fabled National Archaeological Museum, and the afternoon of the second day in Athens was basically wasted, because there would have been ample "at leisure" opportunities to explore the city on the previous (arrival) day, if our flight had arrived as scheduled (see below). However, the first really serious turn-off came when, on June 23, we had to wait in the hot sun for 30 minutes after being dropped off by the hotel pick-up bus at a so-called bus "transfer point" waiting for the tour bus to Olympia ... No seats, no shade, only standing room in the direct sun ... Unacceptable!

The overland bus trips of up to 8 hours were incredibly long and boring, with few stops for sightseeing, and some of those included disguised "shopping" opportunities. Once at a major sightseeing destination, visits often seemed too short and hurried, and were scheduled during the midday heat, rather than early mornings or late afternoons. In the case of Olympia and Delphi, visits to air-conditioned museums were scheduled in the morning, while the heat was still bearable, and before the visits to the outdoor archaeological sites, which were scheduled in the full midday heat. It would seem intelligent, considerate, and feasible to reverse the sequence in both cases.

The cruise ship M/V Aquamarine was yet another story. It was billed as 3 stars, yet it was far inferior to ships on which I had taken multi-day river cruises on the Yang Tse in China and the Nile in Egypt. Although I paid for a cabin upgrade and thought I was getting a "superior" outside cabin, I have never been forced to live in anything so small, so sparse, so cheap-looking, and so inconvenient. The tiny portholes were partially painted over! The worst part was the bathroom ... The shower stall was almost too small to turn around in (and I am a quite "normal" 5'10", 172 lbs) ... Flimsy, shabby, without even any bath soap or other amenities. The in-cabin safe didn't work, or at least it didn't work for me. For the first two nights on the ship, there were diesel fumes in the cabin. After I complained to the tour director, they seemed no longer to be present on the 3d night. The restaurants were also not satisfactory to me. The main restaurant, while attractively decorated and featuring white linens and formal place settings, served lukewarm food, and it was almost impossible to get the wine steward's attention. The "Bistro/Pub" looked like a cheap version of a McDonald's, the food on the serving line was habitually cold, one orange juice dispenser did not work, and the only reason we used that facility rather than the main restaurant for breakfast was the ease and speed of self-service versus the incredibly slow service and directed seating in the main restaurant. Then came the shore excursions sold through the cruise ship! First, they were vastly overpriced, even though the tour guides were generally competent and knowledgeable. But up to 59.95 Euros per person for a less than a half-day tour is simply too much for the experience, especially when that experience includes more disguised solicitations/opportunities to shop. In general, the escorted portions of the shore excursions were also limited and brief, with passengers left to "explore" on their own afterwards. This was especially true on Rhodes, where we were literally rushed through the old city/citadel in about one hour. At least another hour should have been allotted for a guided tour of this World Heritage site.

Finally, our experience with Gate1's contract airline, Olympic Airlines! Our outbound flight (OA 412) was originally scheduled to leave JFK at 4:30 PM, on June 20. It finally took to the air at about 1:00 AM, on June 21 ... 8-1/2 hours late, causing us to miss at least a full afternoon of "at leisure" activities in Athens! Similarly, our return flight (OA 411) was scheduled to leave Athens at 11:25 AM, on June 30. It took off over 2 hours late, at about 1:35 PM, almost causing us to miss our connecting flight at JFK. In fairness to the airline, I will note that we were provided a room at the JFK Holiday Inn and two meals on June 20. A word about our connecting flight at JFK (Delta 5619): The plane's air conditioning did not work, and we sat on the tarmac at JFK sweating for over 1 hour because the flight also was late taking off. To add insult to injury, the stewardess served lukewarm water; on request, she added some ice cubes!