Viator
Reviews and Complaints

I booked a tour through Viator to De Palm Island in Aruba at a cost of £181. The sent me my ticket with details for where I pick up this excursion. They asked me to contact De Palm Island phone number which I did ahead of my arrival. I asked them to clarify where I was to pick up the trasnportation. I was asked 'What does the ticket say', I answered them, 'Well thats where we pick you [protected]@ was the rude reply. I turned up at the address Renaissance Wind Creek Resort, where we waited for over an hour to be picked up. On asking for help from staff there the answer was they do not have a De Palm Island Desk at their Hotel and if the ticket says pick up there, wait outside.

After an hour, with no reply from the phone number we had for them, we went back to the cruise Port. On returning to the UK I went on to Viator to complain. I spent another two and a half hours on a chat line. After explaining to the agent what happened he first replied, your ticket shows pick up at Renaissance Wind Creek, with the address. Yes, thats where we were waiting we replied. Let me look into this was his answer. While I was waiting for a reply from him, I made some phone calls myself to the Renaissance and De Palm Island Company who advised their pick up for De Palm is acutally the Renassance The Ocean Villas, not Wind Creek. Once the agent came back to me, I told them that, His answer was. Oh Yes, they advised us LAST NIGHT that they changed pick up location. My reply was My excursion was LAST MONTH... He then changed his answer Oh, what I meant was we were told on the 24th (the day before my excursion).

Why were we not told I asked .. after a while he replied I WAS SUPPOSED to call De Palm Island, those were the instructions on the ticket. When I complained I did! and they said the address is the one on the ticket. He then made an excuse that De Palm Island sent us change of pick up date on 24th. Which they did not!

His next answer was... The Rennasance Wind Creek is the same address as the Rennasance Ocean Club. My reply was, after researcing a google map was no it's not, it is about a five to ten minute walk across the other side of the Blvd and down by the water!

He kept saying he will ask De Palm Island to issue a refund. After having had another one of my tours canceled by Viator in St Vincent with no notice to me, I was told by the suppler who I ended up paying cash to for a tour explained Viator suppliers take 25 per cent commission and do not pay until the following month. I then mentioned this that they cannot refund me as they had not even been paid for it yet.

He apologised and said it is their process!

I said my process and contracted agreement was with Viator, not De Palm Island, I paid my money to Viator, I received a ticket with instructions from Viator. I followed those instructions, which was the incorrect information. They failed to supply me with the tour I booked, (through failing to give me correct information), Viator are due to refund me not De Palm Island, it was not their fault Viator sent me the wrong information.

His reply was repeating the fact their process is to go back to De Palm Island.

After two and a half hours I decided to send an email to their Chairman Ben Drew and the customer services email the agent gave me, That evening late at night I received cancellation notices for tours I had booked and due to take LAST MONTH! Despite cancelling the tours, they still attemted to take money from my account! They also lied explaning they had to cancel one of the tours because they company did not do tours on Mondays anymore! They did!

Today I received a reply stating I am not going to get my refund. No reason why!.

There are complaints about this company all over the social media. Unfortunately they are now part of Tripadvisor who it appears refuse to post negative remarks about Viator now they have joined together. How can I get my refund.

Customer Care [Viator]

16:00 (1 hour ago)

to me

Hi Marion,

Thank you for your patience.

We regret to hear about the circumstances surrounding your refund request. Viator strives to make every attempt to address our customers' concerns.

Unfortunately, at this time we are unable to offer a refund.

We apologize that you were not able to fulfill your travel plans, and hope that we may be of service to you in your future travels.

Regards,

Rogelyn Mae

Viator Customer Service

This was on my ticket

Marion Barnes

De Palm Island with Bus Transportation

De Palm Island

Sat, 25 Feb 2023, 10:00 am

English - Guide

2 Adults

Booking ref.: BR-[protected]

Tour operator: De Palm Tours VBA

Tour operator product code: ri169962

Tour operator confirmation no: [protected]

Need to make chang

Booking ref.: BR-[protected]

Tour operator: De Palm Tours VBA

Tour operator product code: ri169962

Tour operator confirmation no: [protected]

Meeting and pickup

PICKUP POINT

Renaissance Wind Creek Aruba Resort, L. G. Smith Boulevard 82, Oranjestad Aruba(ph: [protected])

START TIME

10:00 AM

This is the time your tour/activity starts. Please contact the local provider to confirm your meeting or pickup time.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

Lobby of the hotel

Pickup point

Before you go

Please visit any De Palm Tours desk to re-confirm your reservation and get your pick-up location and time. De Palm Tours has sales/concierge desks in most hotels on Aruba including Marriott Resort, Marriott Ocean Club, Marriott Surf Club, Radisson Blu, Holiday Inn, Barcelo Aruba (Lobby and Beach Side), Hilton Resort, RIU Palace, RIU Antillas (Main Floor and Downstairs), Marriott Courtyard, Amsterdam Manor, Eagle Resort, Paradise Beach Villas, Costa Linda, Renaissance Marina, and Renaissance Suites. You may also visit De Palm Pier, their Main Office, Atlantis Center, and Port de Palm.

Hotel pickups commence approximately 30 - 60 minutes before listed tour departure time.

Inclusions & exclusions

TOUR OPTION DESCRIPTION

Duration: 6 hours

Pickup included

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Hotel pick-up and drop-off

Lunch Buffet, Snacks, and Open Bar

Regular Beach Beds, Palapas and Other Beach Facilities

Kids Waterpark, Drop Slides, and Daily activities

Banana boat rides (Min. 10 years old and/or 50" tall)

Use of Snorkelling equipment

Six hours to spend on the island

WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED

Gratuities

SeaTrek, Snuba, and Massages

BR-[protected]



This message was sent with High importance.

This message was sent with High importance.

annelie russell

[protected]@viator.com

I'm reaching out to tell you about my terrible experience on one of your tours recently. The worst experience we have every had in a tour.

I've never been a more disorganized, more disappointing tour. We got picked up late. Ok, life happens then taken to a gas station to go on another bus. We waited 30 minutes on a full bus, with no information about why we were waiting. Finally, we left, and our tour guide hardly spoke in English at all. It was mostly Spanish, Portuguese, German, and very minal English.

For most of the trip, we didn't know what was happening. They only serviced rum and coke on the boat, but nothing else. Not even water. Got to the island, and we were drag to different places we could buy cocktails in a coconut and in a pineapple. We were a bit surprised because we thought drinks were included. Next were the bar only served rum and coke. We had to pay if we wanted beer. Lunch was barely anything by the time we got through the line. Not to mention they ran out of utensils, so we had to eat with our hands. Not ok!

Catamaran home was a smaller boat that didn't have room for everyone to sit and was a huge party boat. We couldn't even talk it was so loud. Oh yes and the bathroom on the boat that didn't flush that was overflowing. Disgusting!

Also, our guide was drink rum all day. He was very unprofessional and unpleasant to deal with.

At the marina, there are no bathrooms.. on the bus ride back, I needed to go to the bathroom. They stopped on the side of the road and let me out to go with Derek holding a towel I was shocked

Anyway, we feel we should compensate for such a terrible waste of money and time.

Please contact me ASAP

Annelie Russell

I was given wrong information for the pickup site. On my ticket it specified pickup at my hotel.
I called the day before the tour, to confirm p/u location the phone recording said this mailbox is not set up. The only number specified on my confirmation. I emailed someone. Got a call back very late night before tour. Location pick up is at Red Lobster. First time I was hearing of this on the morning of tour. Very frustrating not knowing at last minute where to go. Seemed like viator didn't care. Just wanted my money. When I said I was going to be at the location said on ticket, they texted I will miss the tour and "Aloha"with a Gipsy saying Aloha... to rub it in. Not cool!

We booked a Glacier Express Tour with Viator out of Zurich. The day before the tour we received an email telling us where to meet, and that our tour included lunch on the train. The morning of the tour we went to the designated place, only to find the local tour company had changed the meeting place. We almost missed the tour had our hotel not alerted us. The guide even admitted to us thatt they had missed some customers the week before, and those people lost their $1000! Additionally the $115 lunch on the train was charged to us because they claimed the tour operator never paid them for the lunch…. We contacted both the tour operator and Viator and they have ignored our complaints… even though we had copies of the documentation….

Dear Complaint Handler,

My name is Xin Yi Boo, Booking Reg: BR-[protected].

I have make purchase ticket through Viator yesterday for two person for Full guided tour in Oxford University by Alumni, * With Christ Church* visit (13:00 on 29/12/2022)

After finishing the guided tour by an Oxford Alumni, which was great. We proceeded to Christ Church ticket counter to redeem our ticket into the Christ Chuch. However, I showed to the counter that I only have the Ticket issued that I have from Viator after my payment online, they told me that I'll need a seperate e-mail from Christ Church Ticket in order to get in.

I called Viator coustomer service twice, which took very long for them to answer:

1. Answered by a lady, who claimed she emailed me the ticket again, however I did not receive it in my email.

2. Answered by a gentleman, who claimed that the only voucher I need is the one from Viator, I should try again with the Ticket counter however I got rejected again. And he told me to call the alumni helpline.

3. I called the Alumni helpline - answered by Christine. She said there's nothing can be done nor Refund, as the Alumni side did issue the christ church ticket to Viator.

4. Christ Church Ticket counter lady was very rude to me when she rejected me as well.

After standing in the extreme cold weather, calling and waiting multiple times and rejected from the Christ Church ticket counter, the time has gone beyond the last entrance time into the Christ Church and I did not managed to enter after all.

Me and my husband are very unhappy about this experience. The least I can asked for is refund of the change of Christ Church ticket for two person. As I did paid a much higher price to include our visit into the Christ Church.

Please kindly look into this matter and I look forward hearing from you soon. This is a very bad experience from Viator ticket handling, I am very disappointed by it.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

XYBoo

Stay away from booking with this company. I bought a Universal Studios VIP experience from Viator. Upon arriving to universal studios on 12/9/2022 for a 9 am tour time, I was told that my ticket was invalid.

I called Viator and spent 90 minutes on hold with the company while they were trying to figure out what was wrong with my ticket. In the end, they told me that it would take them 24 hours to 48 hours to figure out what was wrong which was unacceptable since I was already there.

I had to buy a brand new ticket directly from universal studios which cost me much more money than the amount I spent with Viator and I lost about an hour and a half of time that I could've been enjoying the rides. I entered the park at 10:30 am.

While the customer service eventually refunded me the ticket price, it was only after I obtained a letter from Universal studios stating that the ticket I had was invalid. They initially didn't even believe me.

After almost a week of back-and-forth with their foreign based customer service department, I finally received $50 in credit for a future trip. However I will still out $100 and 90 minutes of time for which no compensation was received.

In addition, there is no way to speak to anyone senior at VIATOR and for this reason, I urge anyone reading this review to avoid using Viator.

I booked the Marrakech Agafay Desert Dinner In berberkamp & kameelrit tour, under this incorrect link:

https://www.viator.com/nl-NL/tours/Marrakech/Day-experience-and-and-berber-village-to-explore-berber-better-life-and-camel-ride/d5408-173538P6

There were many good reviews, there should be a pool and free softdrinks. So we packed and had a terrible tour with a late pick up, no camels, no sunset, no diner reservation let alone a pool or soda. So I checked and found out that we got was another tour (with another incorrect link):

https://www.viator.com/nl-NL/tours/Marrakech/Mnt-Toubkal-Winter-Climb-2-Days/d5408-101600P24

I have send a complaint to Viator directly too. Terrible company, terrible tour.

Hi. My name is Greg and my Booking Reference number is BR-[protected]. This was for an airport transfer from Charles de Gaulle to a Paris hotel on the 23 August. this pickup did not eventuate after many attempts to contact the driver by your dispatch personal i was told that i would be receiving a full refund but i have no refund. please would you check this for me. regards Greg Oliver

3 day Atlas trekking tour from Marrakech 5-7 October. There were only 2 of us. We did less than half of the trek. It was meant to be a trip to remember - but will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Company saved money by only having a man + mule for only a day & a half.

When we challenged the 'manager' about his plan to complete less than half of the itinerary, we were told we were having a great time, weren't missing anything, etc. We challenged him again & he came up with a ridiculous story about killer bees!

Reported all this to Viator who responded that we had done the tour and there was nothing else to discuss!

Customer service at its finest! They really don't care at all.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Experience on July 21, 2022 with Aloha Sunshine Tours with guide Jeffrey, license plate #NP54C.

You need to know how poorly your company is being represented. I am writing this letter to express my dissatisfaction, misrepresentation, anxiety, potential health compromises, and stress, I experienced on this tour. Cost $279.00 - name on my visa bill is Viator TripAdvisor US 702-749-5744CA dated July 20, 2022.

Areas of DISSATISFACTION include:

Upon the van’s arrival, the guides appearance was quite disturbing. The van itself had an odor and the windows were dirty.

The driver had his dog with him—not a service or guide dog - and the animal sat on the guests’ seats in the van, plus there was no concern for those with allergies. Said he brought his dog as the animal was not feeling well showing no care for the health, wellbeing or allergies of others.

The guide never left his seat to open the door and assist people from the van—he asked one of the guests to do this for him. He only left his driver’s seat at the end of the trip in order to receive tips.

The tour was advertised with water, juice, soda and snacks provided. None were available. He had a dirty cooler for himself. When I asked for water, he offered me a half full bottle already opened from his cooler. Later in the day, at a lunch stop, he got some tepid water from the Home Depot and put it in his own contaminated cooler -containing dog food as well—disgusting! For a snack he offered me some of his own cheese along with a chuckle. To go over 12 hours touring, without only a break for lunch, was dangerous for a 76-year-old woman, like me.

When we reached the Hawaiian Volcano National Park, he stated that we should leave the van and walk by the guard to gain entry to the park as he was not going to pay the fee charges. The guard stopped us and refused us entry. We then proceeded down some back road arriving at a location called Two Step. He was reprimanded by people on site that he was entering illegally - very stressful scenario for the guests.

At Painted Church there was a small refrigerator of water and we were instructed to take as much as we wanted and he would be making a donation-no donation was seen.

All of this behavior caused me great anxiety and stress and also denied me the full tour of the Volcano Nation Park as advertised –depriving me of a once in a life time experience that I will be unable to recreate.

Bought a 4 day pass for next week nascent book the Eiffel Tower as no availability yet if I go direct to the Eiffel Tower i can book from tomorrow! One of the main reasons i bought the city pass so extremely upset. Can't phone anyone to discuss! Poor service.

Booked 9th Sept

Booking no. [protected]

We booked a tour to Capri with an itinerary and the promise that there would be 20 people or less. A potion of the itinerary was not offered and there were over 30 people on the tour. This large of a group made it take longer to mobilize between locations, took more buses, and made it difficult for the guide to communicate to all

of us well. I think that may be why the Villa visit was not offered but I am unsure. The loss of time, information, and visit resulted in us getting bless than we paid for. We contacted Viator immediately when we returned about the problem. They failed to offer a discount or acknowledge this problem and or explain why they would allow a tour to be so much larger than promised. Ultimately they are a middle man/broker profiting off selling bad tours to people that they don’t stand behind.

The company your website partners with San Jose Costa RicaS are not professional and customer service is horrible.I have book a zip lining excursion with one of the companies through your site and the driver claim he came to pick me and my friends up and that was not true ,Me and my friend was waiting at the lobby since 12Pm for a 12:40 pick and the driver claim he came and we didn’t show but he didn’t call or text or say anything to anyone. I reach out to them several times to reschedule and no one reach out until days later when I was leaving the country.now they refusing to refund me my money .this is my first time having issues with your site I normally booked all my excursion through your site I need help from you guys or I have to consult a lawyer

A trip was Mia sold to me and I was told that a specific trip

Would pick up from our hotel, I then and went and made arrangement to purpose during this trip and then 3 days before going we were told that the trip does not pick up from your hotel and we had to get to Luxor for the morning of by ourselves

The trip was supposed to on 11th July 2022 from Hurghada Aqua Blu resort, to Luxor And then return to Hurghada

But we then found out we had to get to Luxor ourselves as the trip did not cover our hotel. Why wasn’t it told this 2 months prior when I booked these trips and paid for them?

We were due to go on our tour this coming Tuesday 5th July. We booked and paid for this well in advance as we are going to Rome for our honeymoon and wanted to make sure we saw everything we could. I received an email this morning Wednesday 29th June telling us they had cancelled the tour because there was no availability but like I said you were happy to book the tickets and take our money several months ago. As you can imagine at such short notice there is no longer availability. Absolutely disgusting customer service appalled! We used you again because your service was amazing for our NYE New York trips and we were going to use you again for our trip to Iceland in March 2023. You have till we go to Rome to resolve this and reactivate our booking or we will be bad mouthing your company on every travel website available.

Absolutely fuming and disgusted

Mike kendall

I had been waiting for years to visit the Smithsonian African American Museum in Washington, DC. I’ve had experience with Viator in the past so, didn’t hesitate to book through them again.

Previously, I had received reminder Emil’s, text messages and finally, phone calls when transportation was on the way. This time, didn’t happen. So, I took an Uber from my hotel.

When I arrived at the museum, I waited in line, like everyone else. Still no guide and no contact information for the guide. Even worse, when I got to the entrance to go in. I showed my Viator pass to the person checking tickets and was told that our tickets were invalid. Then security was called. The security person checked our tickets and informed us that these were UNAUTHORIZED and unacceptable. I have never been more embarrassed.

I explained to security and the person who spoke to us originally, that I had traveled hundreds of miles to be here and thought that I was purchasing valid tickets. Luckily, the two of them sympathized with us and granted us entrance.

Afterwards, I contacted Viator, told them of my experience and requested a refund. I was denied. Never again.

g.I booked a trip stating hotelpick up I was not picked up from my hotel got a txt from driver stating collection from "59"txt driver my details still no collection. Checkd email and had received email stating collection from an hour from where I was staying NO REFUND given as obviously I couldn't get to collection point an hour away when I initial gave hotel details they should have cancelled my booking if it was outside their pick up not take my money and leave us waiting

June 7th, 2022

Booked and paid for a car to take my daughter and friend (on their first trip to the USA) from Midtown NYC to LGA.

When they arrived at LGA the driver demanded they pay an additional $10+ by credit card and a tip (in cash). I had already paid Viator in full and they owed noting.

They were intimidated into paying.

There's no way this would have happened had I been with them.

I feel like they were mugged

I am sorry for needing to contact you and I realise you may be unable to help but I placed an order for Heathrow lounge access to the Premium Plaza through Viator yesterday. I was at work so a little rushed and during the process I pressed the back button. I didn’t realise this reset the date automatically and assuming I was still booking for the 5 Jul 22 I completed the process. When I saw the confirmation email it had the 26 May 22 on it. I immediately phoned Viator with 5 minutes of making the purchase to explain my error but they said their was nothing they could do because it was within 24 hours. They told me to contact Premium Plaza, which I did, and they said Viator were responsible for the date change and that they only get paid once we use the voucher. I am disappointed, all I wanted was a date change, not a refund. I would be grateful if you could help by looking in to this matter for me. I can’t afford to throw away in excess of £140 due to a stupid error on my part.

Viator claims to have 24 hour support. It doesn’t work! Viator failed to provide adequate location and/or meeting place information on website to Discover Valpolicella Vineyards. I had no way to use the service as I could not ascertain a location, meeting place or relevant information to Discover Valpolicella Vineyards. No one answered the Customer Service phone number provided by Viator nor respond to my email. Customer support is paramount and Viator failed. I could not visit Discover Valpolicella Vineyards without a location, directions or a meeting place. Viator failed to provide me with that pertinent information. I am very disappointed in Viator website and service. I am disappointed I was unable to visit Discover Valpolicella Vineyards because of Viator failure. I am from the USA and was visiting in Italy. I am a senior citizen. Now Viator is attempting to get money from me for a service they did not give support information and for a tour I could not attend due to lack of information. Greatly disappointed.