Travelzoo
Reviews and Complaints

BNE320386

I would like to log a complaint with you.

Hotel we're currently staying at: Radisson Blue Milatos, Crete.

Currently on day 4 of our holiday at this hotel. The marketing of this hotel is completely misleading and it's definitely NOT a 5 star luxury hotel! Hotel is still being built - lots of work going on in parts. No table waiter service, no room service, old tatty furniture in parts of the hotel. Several swimming pools drained and closed. (3 pools actually available for use). One beautiful looking pool with hammocks and beds is only for the use of guests staying in certain rooms. Room is of 3 or 4 star standard - old bathroom and furniture. Several bars & restaurants not even built yet, let alone open. You can eat in the Cretan & Italian (which are also buffets - not al a cart) once per week so you're then left with the very repetitive main buffet every day and night. No adult only bar & pool as advertised! Not enough staff to provide a 5 star level of service. Food and drinks okay - pleasant enough but nothing special. 'Ultra' all inclusive just means all inclusive. I'm sure this hotel will achieve 4 or 5star one day once work has complete. In its current state it's letting Radisson Blue down.

Further to writing this review a few days ago, we have since had no running water in our room for a period of 2 hours and the following day a loss of electricity supply for 1 hour. Staff made no attempt to ensure we were okay during this time. This mornings breakfast was a total nightmare... staff had packed away all tables 1 hour before breakfast closes. We waited 20 minutes for our coffee and had to ask again. We had to find our own cutlery from other tables. And the hot food on the buffet was stone cold.

There are flies all over the buffet food and at no point have we seen staff monitoring the food temperatures. We have also witnessed no monitoring of the swimming pools water. There are no fire alarms in our guest room either.

We have two days left of our holiday and are feeling completely ripped off. We did mention our concerns to the hotels guest relations team and it seems they are now avoiding us and not interested.

I hope you can help?

Regards
Danielle Croset (tricker)

We booked a voucher on travel zoo for a two night stay at the Marton arms, Thornton in Lonsdale. We booked this for 13th - 14th April after ringing the accommodation and we're looking forward to our break away in the Yorkshire Dales for my partners 40th birthday. On arrival the female running the hotel took us to our room where the bathroom was very damp smelling. The hand-wash dispenser was broken and on getting a shower the water started off very lukewarm and soon ran cold. I rang down to speak to the lady who had shown us to our room and told her there was no hot water. She responded very vague stating someone else had mentioned that their heralding wasn't working. She offered no solutions to the problem when asked what we were to do and said she didn't know why as she had checked the boiler and the pilot light was on! My partner had to have a freezing cold shower and we then went down for the evening meal included. We were served drinks in dirty glasses to start with. We enquired re what the desserts were but the lady didn't know, said she'didn't find out and never came back to us. She then went to take someone elses order. We asked again and she found out and took out order. My partner got a starter of garlic mushrooms which came slopped onto a plate looking like it was for a dog. The started plate was never cleared away until our main meals came. These were burgers as we daren't order anything else due to the standard of the place and food. The burgers and chips were edible but not great and we had to keep getting up and down to request sauces etc. We carried on drinking in the pub as the pub was in a remote location and there were no other places to go. My partner drank a real ale and i drank lager. Again the glasses were dirty and the staff were not attentive or welcoming at all. Whilst downstairs we once again asked about the hot water and were give no solutions - the lady started talking to one of the other customers (a male who ran the campsite next door) asking if he had any ideas about the boiler and there being no hot water. This was trivialised and laughed about but still we had no solution other than 'see how the water is in the morning'! We then had to ask where we came for breakfast and what time it was as once again, we had not been told.
We went to bed and my partner was ill with diarrhoea and sickness in the night after going to bed with a stomach ache which we believe was down the the ale as that is the only thing we had had different. This lasted for a few hours during the night and was only a little better by the morning.
In the morning the water was hot again. We went down for breakfast (in with the price) which was edible however the tea was undrinkable as it was full of limescale and smelled and tastes strongly of this. I asked for another pot of tea which they brought but it was just the same so we left and drove to a cafe to have to buy a cup of tea.
We stayed out of the hotel as long as possible, ate out and refused to drink there on the night so had to walk to the nearest village. The breakfast the following morning was the same with limescale ridden tea and we packed and left. On handing in the keys the lady said 'ok, bye then' . We were never asked if our stay had been nice and the lady and male behind the bar seemed clueless, uninterested and not the faintest bit bothered re the service or cleanliness of the place. We were so disappointed with the whole thing, it totally ruined our trip. I have been to the pub a number of years ago and it was lovely so I wanted to take my partner back for a special break. I realise I got this as a good deal on travel zoo butility it still cost over £100 and then money spent whilst there and on travel. I don't expect the standard to be any lower or the service whether it is a deal or not and we were thoroughly disappointed.
I would be grateful if you would offer some feedback on this.

I booked a room of Stratosphere Casino & Hotel thru Travelzoo (12/18-12/20). I thought I paid all fees to Travelzoo and don't need to pay any to the hotel, but Stratosphere charged me much higher additional resort fee and made the deal not a deal anymore. Travelzoo doesn't do what Expedite does: list and collect all fees, for them and hotel. Expedite lets customer easily compare the price and service, while Travelzoo hides 70% additional fee from website.

This is a warning. They have a refund policy that blatantly states on the voucher that there are no refunds after 7 days however if there are date specific events, there are no refunds whatsoever and it overrides the no refund after 7 days policy. I purchased a voucher to Knotts berry farm 3 weeks ago and there was a tight deadline to use the voucher by Dec 31st. I called them and requested for a refund but they denied my request because of their policy. I said I couldn't make it to the place and requested to have them issue the $39 as a credit to my account so I may apply it towards the purchase of another voucher but they also refused. The manager I spoke to also said that because this being a date specific event means I wouldn't have been able to get a refund regardless of the refund policy within 7 days of purchase. I am now being forced to use this voucher by tomorrow. Its difficult to want to do business with Travelzoo again. You are better off just paying regular price for these things and going whenever you want. Be careful. You've been warned.

I contacted the company Travelzoo And Cruiseabout, which offered a trip to Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua. The price was really attractive, and it wasn’t expensive. I paid them for the cruise in advance, but when I contacted this company 2 weeks before the cruise, they told me that I couldn’t go, because I haven’t paid the full sum. I wonder if there are other people, who had the same experience. Can you provide any good piece of advice?

They don't tell you that they don't offer refunds on vouchers after 7-days even if its a gift! They are stealing from their customers and smiling about it to the bank. Don't ever buy from Travelzoo or you'll regret it.

TravelZoo offered me a job and I was really happy because I was short of money and had many unpaid bills I filled the form they sent me in electronic form. Now they have all my personal info and credit card details. I am afraid it can be a scam. Can anyone tell me if I need to change credit card?

I received vouchesr for two separete rooms half board for 2 people in Gande Hotel Corallaro from 10-17thJuly 2012 and on arrival to a hotel was told that there are no rooms for us after 4 days.
I got in touch with agent from hotelsbooked and was offer transfer to another hotel.
First three days were distressing instead of having a rest (short stay high profile job)
I refused transfer to another hotel. At the end I extended stay by another 3 days to compenate for lost 3 first days and had to rebok flight. we lost transfer by couch to the airport.
This was a nightmare not holidays. I shoul never book again with this company.
I have written an official complaint letter to holidaysbooked on 24th July and not heard anything in response.

TravelZoo advertised a special deal with Icelandair. For 72 hours a 3 night trip to Iceland that included a Glacier Walk, Northern Lights search and hotel accommodations either at Hotel Reykjavik Natura or Hotel Reykjavik Hilton was priced at $697 per person. The deal would end Jan 8 at 11.59pm EST. When I clicked on the link TravelZoo provided, it took me to Icelandair website. It was already laid out. All I had to do to select the deal was select my location, the package auto populated for Northern Lights and Glacier package. Then I just had to select the date. I selected one of the dates as listed by TravelZoo, March 8th. Then I selected 2 travelers.

However, when I clicked continue, the price that would show up was $807 per person. I closed out and went back in the same way. This time the price came back at $875 per person. I closed out and went back in again. The price was $807 again. My wife and I then thought perhaps you had to continue all the way through and the discount would be applied at the end. So we completed our information including our credit card but the final bill came to $1, 614 i.e. $807 each rather than the $697 advertised. Since I was suppose to have booked for another couple that was going to trave with us, I went back into the site immediately after booking my trip. Well, the price came back at $875.

This is false advertising. At no point does TravelZoo's ad points out the the price when you go to book would fluctuate so much. When I called TravelZoo after 40 minutes of helping the TravelZoo consultant try to locate the information of the deal on their own website, she finally came back with you will have to call Icelandair.

I called Icelandair two times. Each time the Icelandair consultant didn't know about the deal. They both time also thought the difference could be the taxes but I pointed out TravelZoo specifically stated taxes were included. They both couldn't understand how it could have been advertised at a lock price for 72 hours. They each time indicated that it would be unusual for Icelandair to lock in a $697 price for that long of a period.

I feel this is very deceptive advertising. Below is the email sent to subscribers. Buyers beware.

SEATTLE--JANUARY 06, 2012-- For the next 72 hours, Iceland
4-star getaways from Seattle, including a guided glacier
walk tour and Northern Lights hunt, are reduced to $697 per
person, including taxes -- a savings of $300 on packaging
components of the deal individually.

This winter is a prime time to visit Iceland, as NASA
scientists believe that the Northern Lights will shine its
brightest in more than 50 years in 2012.

The offer includes:
- Roundtrip nonstop flights to Reykjavik from Seattle
- Three nights at Icelandair Hotel Reykjavik Natura
- Guided glacier walk then a traditional lobster soup dinner
- Nighttime hunt to glimpse the famed Northern Lights
- Additional nights for $41 per person

This package is available on the following Thursday and
Friday departures -- ideal for a long-weekend getaway: Feb.
9, 23; March 1, 8, 22. Weekday departures are also
available.

Horrible company. I bought a restaurant voucher but the restaurant wouldn't honor it. I contacted Travelzoo for a refund but they refused! I am disputing the charges with my credit card company and if not successful I am taking them to small claims court. I will never deal with these crooks again.

A little while back I purchased 2 vouchers from travel zoo for a manicure and pedicure from dorjon salon & spa in boca raton. As required, I contacted the establishment in order to schedule an appointment. I spoke with "jeannie" who indicated that there are no more appointments available to use my voucher. She stated that "I should've used it by now." I told her that the voucher expiration date is not until october 18, 2011. "jeannie" then advised that she "didn't know what to tell me, but they don't have any appointments available to honor my travel zoo voucher."

I then contacted travel zoo at [protected] and spoke to "anselme." after explaining the issue to him, and advising him that I wanted my money refunded, he told me that I would have to speak to a supervisor. I then asked him to transfer me to a supervisor; he then advised that not a single manager or supervisor was available to speak with me. He indicated that the best he could do was to "put a note in my file and the issue would be investigated." he then proceeded to tell me that at the conclusion of the investigation, "someone would contact me with the outcome." I asked him how someone would contact me if he ("anselme") did not even inquire about the best number to reach me at. "anselme" then told me that he did not say that; that if no one contacted me within 48 hours regarding the issue, at that point I am then to call back. I asked him, "well, am I supposed to call back, or will someone contact me because you are providing two conflicting answers?" at the conclusion of the conversation I still had no answers.

I am very disappointed in the voucher redeeming process. And the customer service via travel zoo was very poor. I have already paid my money for a service that the establishment refuses to honor, and travel zoo is negligent in handling. This is my first experience with travel zoo, and thought this was a legitimate and reputable company.

Please be advised that you take your purchase at your own risk with travelzoo as they do not back their vendor’s offers. I utilize groupons, living social, bloomspot and similar offers. The only organization that I have ever had trouble with is travelzoo. I bought a voucher in march of this year for uncorked tours of temecula, have not been able to get a hold of them. Nearly impossible for us to reach anyone to confirm details for reservation. The majority of our calls went to voicemail. * highly disorganized reservation system. I could write an essay about this, but I will just sum it up by saying we spent way too many hours just trying to just get ahold of someone on the phone. I understand they may be overwhelmed by the amount of business, but 6 months later they are still unreachable. This made it really stressful to book/plan/etc. By the time I did get ahold of somebody, they were frazzled and told me incorrect information and never contacted me back. When a vendor refuses to honor an offer within the alloted time, the coupon should be refunded in full. Travelzoo refuses to do so, and their call center agents merely recite a script that they will not refund within a 7-day window of purchase (even if a vendor refuses to honor a voucher.) I had a similar experience with groupon and they refunded immediately. Be aware of travelzoo purchases. I believe the merchant’s conduct doesn't live up to what was offered, please beware before purchasing any travelzoo local deal vouchers. They come with a litany of fine print that unscrupulous merchants often use to get out of honoring the voucher - and travelzoo will do absolutely nothing if you contact them regarding a voucher that was not honored despite your abiding by the rules.
This is the e-mail response I got from travelzoo: we would like to thank you for your patience in this matter. Unfortunately, travelzoo local deals will not be able to able to accommodate a refund. Management has reviewed your issue and your reauest fall out of our 7 day refund policy. We have contacted uncorked tours on your behalf and they will contact you directly to assist you in making a reservation. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Hope this helps and please feel free to contact us for further assistance.

Have a great day,
Mariana
Travelzoo local deals support
[protected]
[protected]@travelzoo.com

On August 10th, I sent the following email to TrazelZoo:

Hi,

I write in regards to Travelzoo Local Deals voucher #715484 for Zocalo.

Your own website promised "[t]his deal includes guacamole prepared tableside," and it wasn't. On researching the restaurant on Yelp!, I found many complaints stating that the guacamole wasn't made at the table for many of the diners. Since this was advertised as part of the deal, the restaurant should be consistant about doing this.

(See your own URL: http://www.travelzoo.com/local-deals/deal/2473, where this is promised.)

I believe the merchant’s conduct doesn't live up to what was offered, and i'd like you to please contact the merchant on my behalf and urge the merchant to honor what is advertised as noted above. The guacamole WAS excellent, but it was advertised as being made at the table, so I would like a refund of half my purchase price of $29 on the deal — of $16.50 — refunded to my credit card used.

Thanks,
name and email redacted

Two days later, I got this reply from TravelZoo:

Hi [name redacted],

I am writing in regards to your voucher for Zocalo Back Bay. We sincerely appreciate your patience while we look into your concern. As soon as we have a resolution we will contact you via email.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to respond to this email or give us a call.

We appreciate your business and look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,
Mariana
Travelzoo Local Deals Support
[protected]@travelzoo.com
[protected]

On Aug 17, I replied that I hadn't heard anything more, and have yet to hear back.

I think 8 days is far too long to take to respond to this simple, clear request.

Please beware before purchasing any Travelzoo Local deal vouchers. They come with a litany of fine print that unscrupulous merchants often use to get out of honoring the voucher - and Travelzoo will do absolutely nothing if you contact them regarding a voucher that was not honored despite your abiding by the rules.

Recently I purchased a voucher to Hudson Terrace bar in NYC that was to be honored for entry anytime between 8-11 pm. We arrived there at 10:50 and were told that since according to their clock it was already 11 pm we would not be allowed to use the voucher - however we would be allowed to pay full price to enter for the privledge of driving 45 minutes.

We immediately left and the next day I contacted the merchant and Travelzoo regarding this experience and demanded a refund. The merchant (Hudson Terrace) acknowledged I had a bad experience and should be issued a refund. The customer service geniuses at Travelzoo gave me the run-around over several days (via phone and e-mail) until they finally sent me an e-mail claiming that I was due a full refund within 7-10 business days and they apologized for my bad experience. After waiting 10 days I received an email today claiming that no refund is warranted because I had not abided by the fine print on the voucher (which I had).

So the situation is this: the merchant refused to honor a voucher they sold through Travelzoo, acknowledged their mistake, claimed I should be due a refund, Travelzoo accepted and promised me a refund, and then reneged on their promise for no good reason. I am putting this issue up for dispute with my credit card company but wanted to warn anyone who purchases a voucher through Travelzoo that you have absolutely no protection from unscrupolous merchants - and that Travelzoo is the most unscrupulous of all.

Travelzoo shouldn't try to be something they aren't. They do no quality control on their offerings or on the people they are associating with. Geordie's Restaurant at the Wrigley Mansion was a complete and utter rip-off through the Travelzoo prepaid voucher program.

The "regular price" of $120 was completely fictitious, made up for the promotion. This was $50 worth of food, total, in a "$120 regular price" fraudulent offer from Travelzoo.

It was, according to the manager, a "Tastings menu"... NO WHERE IN THE VOUCHER PROMOTION DID IT STATE that the offer was for three very tiny "tastings" items. A tiny one or two bite "appetizer", a tiny cup of soup, and an ultra small serving of salmon. This was, at its most, a meal of $25-28 in any restaurant in town. These were "tastings to entice you to come back to our restaurant" according to the manager, but they USED A MADE UP REGULAR RETAIL PRICE OF $120 to base the tip and the tax. We ended up paying over $50 additional, after the coupon!

We want a response from a senior management person at Travelzoo. Read the reviews of this restaurant and some of them are now mentioning this Travelzoo ripoff. We will no longer trust Travelzoo. I have over 60 Groupon's currently in my inventory and we use daily deals all the time. BUT WE WILL NEVER TRUST TRAVELZOO AGAIN.

Purchased half price vouchers for a dinner cruise and couldn't redeem them. Red & White Fleet rep claimed that the cruises were sold out...