smarTours Reviews

In March 2023 we took a SmarTours package to Morocco. I was a little afraid to travel there, but my husband was super excited to go. Now I look back at my fear as naivety, because I absolutely fell in love with Morocco and its people. Our guide was named Madani and he shared so much about the lives of his people and their rich history. We traveled in comfort and stayed in amazing hotels in six different cities. We went on daily adventures that I never knew were possible. This was not what I call a "vacation", but rather "educational traveling". Every day I learned...every day I experienced this exciting country and culture...and best of all...every day I smiled. Our first adventure with SmarTours was to Peru. That adventure got us hooked on this company, because we realized how much of the world, we knew nothing of, but could learn about with SmarTours. Live for today...because tomorrow is not promised

The agent wasn’t interested in giving me more information about the tour. All he kept saying was Ok ok ok. Then he blocked me from talking to anyone else. Hung up on him. Called back 3x and got the same person. All he wanted was my credit card which I did give. I called back the next day and the other person said he’ll send me a receipt and I’m still waiting. Had I seen the reviews before I’d never use Smartours.

Unauthorized removal of over 3,000$ from my bank account and I cannot get an answer to get my money back. I made a payment of 1,000 and they took 3200.00. Unauthorized. I have called many times all without resolve. There is no one to speak to. Only a customer service person. This is absolutely awful and I will never ever book another trip.

At least that way we had safety.

Customer Service is horrible. Call six times and you will either get no answer or all different answers. They cheated me out of $349 and gave me the run around. DO Not use them, Spoke with many people on the tour and most said they are done with SmarTours.

We booked the Magical Ireland Tour. It had to be cancelled and rebooked twice, due to covid. I received an email from Smartours saying I have a $150 credit. When I called to use it for the payment due on the trip we are finally taking, I was told I can't use it, even though it's a COVID credit, because I have another small credit I'm using from the original deposit I paid. I can only use it by booking a 2nd trip to a different destination. I consider this misleading advertising and don't understand why, if the credit is mine, I can't use it for the trip I've been trying to take for over 2 years. I was told to "read the fine print" at the bottom of the page.

Here's my experience with the Smart Tour agency: 1) I had one reservation for 2021 (i.e., Germany Christmas Market), This trip was cancelled due to the rise of COVID by the trade agency. And this Tavel agency provided options to either receive credit for future travels or getting refund. I requested refund and I did receive two different emails from their payroll management (Mr Chis ** & Tyrell **) that I will be receiving my refund by 1/19/2022, not only I did not receive my refund they are not responding to my emails anymore. I would suggest to anyone be really careful if you are planning to book a travel with this agency because they are not reliable plus they have lots a bad reviews with YELP.

We were sold a "land only" South Africa tour in June, 2020. Smartours reversed the schedule on us shortly before we were to leave Aug, 2021. They informed us they would reimburse us the cost of fees incurred to rearrange hotels, flights that we had to change in order to accommodate their change in schedule. This amount was $796.64. We have not received anything in spite of their manager telling us that we would be reimbursed.

I was never refunded for my trip to Vietnam and lost $2552.00 I cancelled my February 4th trip on January 27th due to my Covid concerns. Our trip was on Air China with a very long layover in Shanghai. I had insurance but of course they said it did not cover a Pandemic. I had travel solely with Smartours for years and had brought many other travelers with me. To me it was disgraceful as this was a huge decision to make. I was not unaware enough to think I could travel through China and not be exposed to the Corona Virus. I was truly disappointed with them and realized that I did not count as a human trying not to bring this awful thing back to the USA. Obviously my life and the life of others was less important then the money they kept.

Booked a tour to Ireland along with 4 other people in my party. The tour scheduled for May 2020 was cancelled. Operator refused to refund our money ($4900 for myself and my husband) and gave us a credit for a future tour in May 2021. Now they have filed for bankruptcy so it is unlikely that we'll ever see the money. Fortunately, we had booked our airfare separately with Delta and they did refund our money as they are trustworthy. We had a positive experience with SmarTours on 2019, which is why we had booked again. I agree that a class action suit is in order and if anyone knows how to proceed, please post. There are thousands of us in this situation and as retirees on a fixed income we cannot afford to write off nearly $5000.

SmarTours filed for Chapter 11 on 10/19/20. Chances of getting a refund is slim to none. We had nothing but good experiences under prior management, having gone on a dozen or so trips over the years. However, our efforts to obtain a refund upon our cancellation PRIOR to their Covid cancellation was unsuccessful. Perhaps a class action is in order.

I am another customer who paid in full for a tour that was canceled due to Covid-19--the total is nearly $3,000. SmarTours is refusing to refund any money--and they have not responded to my many emails, letters, or phone calls about this matter. I, too, was given the run-around by supervisor Tyrell: they were reviewing my request, they were not issuing any more refunds for 6 - 8 weeks, I would get a call/email back with an answer, etc. Nothing ever happened; they never responded.

My tour to Morocco was cancelled, due to Coronavirus. The country of Morocco closed its doors to travellers. Smartours has not refunded any of my payment (almost $4000). They cannot be reached. Phone calls and emails are not.

We had booked the Smartours trip to Portugal for 6/1/2020 and paid ($4558) for it in early March. The trip was canceled due to COVID and we requested a refund per the advice of their phone agents. Finally we reached the head of Customer Service Tyrell ** who informed us 2 weeks ago that we would get our Full refund shortly. Today on 9/3020 we now hear sorry no refunds just a credit. We like many are up in years and may not have the time to wait for safe travel to resume. Other tour companies like OAT and Gate One have returned the money. These crooks at Smartours have played games and hide behind the poor phone staff. We have travel under the old ownership and they were always good to us now this! I guess they are only interested in pulling in money now from new trips booked and screw the ones that they have already gotten paid from. Yes a class action suit would be good but not sure they will survive this pandemic anyway.

I paid $3,500 last February, for a trip to Eastern Europe that was canceled due to the pandemic, I have an email stating that I would receive a check... That was 7 months ago, every time I call they say that they aren’t issuing any checks for 6-8 more weeks. How is taking thousands of dollars from a customers and not giving them anything in return not theft? We need a class action suit!

SmarTours owes me my $1,200 deposit for two trips that I booked, $600 per trip. The first was a trip to Budapest, Vienna and Prague May 6-16, 2020. Smartours cancelled it on March 14, 2020. The second trip was to Cape Town Dec 9-17, 2020. Given the Covid-19 outbreak, that trip will not be running. On March 9, Smartours sent an email stating: “Your health and safety is our number one priority. Therefore, effective today, we are modifying our cancellation policy for all tours departing March 14-June 30. We want you to have peace of mind when you travel and trust that smartours will guide you safely through your must-see destinations. If you wish to cancel your trip, we will provide a full credit on what you paid (minus trip insurance and airline fees) if you wish to book a different tour or date to depart before the end of 2021. If you wish to cancel a tour departing after June 30, our normal Terms & conditions apply.”

I booked a tour to Italy, over $5k. Smartours canceled it. Cannot get an answer about a refund. Insurance for travel with Tripmate is slow to respond also. I have a bad feeling about this. We need a class action lawsuit.

My trip was scheduled for April 2020. SmarTours cancelled the trip due to Covid-19. Spain's border was closed and travel restrictions in place. SmarTours' policy states they offer refunds or rescheduled trips. I requested a refund, they are insured through USTOA, however, they are still unempathetic to the consumer. Suzanne ** is adamant that the customer is wrong.

Despicable company policy. Obviously they have canceled my May 2020 trip to Greece and have forced me to accept rebooking next May. Whoa to anyone in my group next year because I will be very unhappy to have to travel with this company next year or ever. I called, I emailed, I wrote the president a letter asking for a refund. How dare they continue to have the use of my money – full payment – when they failed to provide services I contracted for? I have also requested info re travel insurance for the 2021 trip and, no surprise, no response. Horrible company. So many more trustworthy brands out there that care about their long time biz - I suspect this company is destined to go bankrupt and that is why they are keeping the money.

Booked a trip to Italy for 9/20. Wanted to reschedule to 9/21 due to Covid19. Company is not at all willing to negotiate anything. In fact they asked us to make our next $600 ($300/person) deposit by 4/20/20 or we would lose our original $600 deposit. We figured we’d rather lose our deposit than our lives. Company totally unresponsive. Everyone else we know who has had trips booked with different companies have found flexibility in rescheduling for a future date. Smartours is dumb.

I took the SmarTours Splendors of Egypt trip on 2/18-3/1. It was just so-so because the trip leader and day guides were so-so. The hotels were nice, but I won't travel with this company again because of the lack of organization. When I arrived at the Marriott Cairo, SmarTours left no information on where we were to met. I'm used to a welcoming e-mail ahead to give us information like I get from Overseas Adventure Travel. Yes, you get what you pay for!

We booked a tour to Croatia and Slovenia scheduled to depart 5/13/2020. They cancelled the tour due to the Coronavirus pandemic and have refused to refund our money. They are offering a credit towards a future trip, who knows if or when this will ever happen or if Smartours will still be in business after the pandemic. I used them several times in the past, but this had taught me that they are unscrupulous company! To be forewarned is to forarmed!

I recently returned from a 21 day Around the World Tour to London, Cairo, Bangkok, Bali, Sydney, and Fiji. It was my first trip with smarTours. The price of the tour was so reasonably priced that I did not have high expectations. I was so wrong. The hotels were wonderful. I’m sure I gained 5 pounds from the breakfast buffets. At each destination we were given a driving overview of the city. The included excursions were educational and enlightening, usually about their specific unique culture. The guides each brought their unique perspective and background demonstrating their love of their country.

If I could give smarTours zero stars I would. I have been in a dispute with smarTours for four months now. smarTours made a mistake on my last name and never fixed it! Luckily, the day before the trip I called to ensure my name was correct on my ticket. It wasnt! The day of the trip I was calling back and forth with smarTours until they came to the conclusion that they needed me to pay 150$ to fix a mistake they made or I can chose to not go on the cruise and wastes thousands! With months of calling and filing complaints on the BBB they promised me a refund and lied to my credit card company saying they did give me a check. They never did. They never call you back when they say they will. The customer service here is the WORST EVER. The stress smarTours has given me the day of my trip really set a horrible mood for my trip I was planning for a year. When putting so much money into a trip like I did you want to make sure you have good customer service and a fast response in case there are problems. Go to a different company and be stress free!

Went on Best of the Orient tour. The travel time was very exhausting. Flight from LAX to Hong Kong was 14 hours and 20 minutes. Waited at Hong Kong Airport for Three hours, then took a flight to Thailand. The flight time was 2 hours 30 minutes. Arrived at Bangkok airport and waited two hours to tour guide to collect everyone, then over one hour ride to hotel! My wife and I became ill in Hong Kong along with other passengers. Our guide contact the hotel manager requesting a doctor. The doctor gave us antibiotics. The hotel charged a $100 concierge fee to attend with the doctor. The medical doctor charged $1,074 U. S. Dollars for his services!!

Tour was not as advertised when we paid for it. Many cities, shore excursions, additional land tours were deleted from the itinerary last minute without explanation. Shore excursions were cut short by up to 2 hrs without explanation.. The riverboat was changed to a lesser vessel with very small, cramped, accommodations. We had issues with a public bathroom flooding into our cabin. We were not told our trip was booked during a German Religious Holiday, consequently most cities visited were shut down..

My wife and I went on a Scandinavian tour with an add on for St. Petersburg, Russia. I found that the guides for Sweden, Norway and Denmark were adequate but there were too many free days where we were left on our own. The hotel rooms were good for backpackers but not for senior citizens. Most of the time we had to carry our own luggage which on other tours it was always done for us. Many of the hotels did not have porters. We found that the guide in Finland was horrible. She changed the political history of her country to favorable. After googling what she said, we found out she lied. The nicest part of our trip was to St. Petersburg. The hotel was very nice and the guide that we had was extremely knowledgeable and helped us with all of our needs. Also the tour booked all the air flights for the tour my wife and I were never seated together, how absurd. This was my first tour with smarTours and also my last.

This may look like a reasonably priced tour, but be aware that many highlights such as the 4 famous piazzas of Rome and the Uffizi in Florence are OPTIONAL tours! Many of the travelers had traveled with smarTours before and were not happy with this one. The accommodations were average. Some of the guides were excellent; others were fair. The company requests feedback, but I waited 19 days before I received a perfunctory response and that only after I contacted them numerous times. I will not travel with smarTours again!

I recently visited India’s Golden Triangle—Delhi, Agra and Jaipur with a stop at Ranthambore to see the Bengal tigers. Though India did not disappoint me, the accommodations chosen by smarTours and especially our farewell dinner did. I must say one thing remained consistently above excellence, our tour-guide Jasvir **. He more than made up for all the deficiencies in the hotels and the heat. Our Delhi hotel was good but every accommodation after that went in decline—faulty AC, noise, quality of food and service in restaurants. Our farewell dinner was practically inedible. Because of Jasvir’s knowledge of the history, geography, politics, culture, his personal experience, his clear English, wonderful humor, charismatic personality, caring ways and professional but interesting and engaging presentation of his knowledge, the journey through a piece of India’s heart was truly an incredible learning experience.

My experience was great until we were coming back home. We were all on stand by when we got our tickets. We all started to panic. There were 10 in our party and 33 overall on this trip. A few did get assigned seats but the rest of us had to wait until a ticket agent came. This should not have happened. We paid for our trip and expected full service all the way.