Travelzoo Reviews

I tried to cancel my membership at the end of the trial and because I was 4 minutes after the charge, they refused to do anything which forced me into a paid year membership I won’t use. Sharing this to let you know that the customer service I experienced was not customer friendly and the experience made me glad I have not booked any trips with them. Now reading these reviews I would be highly concerned. There are so many companies out there that are willing to work with customers- I definitely will be giving my business to those companies instead and letting others know I would never recommend Travelzoo for anything.

I recently considered becoming a Travelzoo member but found the entire experience frustrating and not worth the hassle. The $40 membership fee seemed reasonable at first, but after exploring what was actually available, I quickly realized it was a waste of money. Many of the advertised deals were either misleading or had such limited availability that they were nearly impossible to book. The fine print on most offers made it clear that they were only valid during off-peak times or required additional fees that weren’t obvious upfront. Of course, the fee was nonrefundable and nobody was willing to help.

Travelzoo's partner Travelodeal is a scam. DO NOT USE EITHER. When Travelodeal never provided me a full itinerary with confirmation numbers after I paid $2249 for a trip to Cairo, I reported this this Travelzoo who did nothing. 2 days after there were 3 fraudulent charges thru the same airline and Apple Pay on my Visa. Visa allowed this to happen and paid that fraudsters. DO NOT USE!

This is a Scam Company. They had a hotel sign me up for this scam company without my knowledge, when I stayed there a year ago with an automatic renewal. Called immediately and was told that my renewal was cancelled. Then two weeks later Travel Zoo charges for me for the renewal and refuses to remove the charge. I instituted a fraud investigation with my American Express and will also probably end up suing Travel Zoo for fraud with punitive damages of $10,000 at our local Small Claims Court. Scammers everywhere!

Very sneaky with their auto-renewals. They did not send any letter in the mail for the auto-renewal coming up, instead it was just an e-mail a week prior covered under all their other marketing emails they spam you with daily. They refused to refund even though the withdrawal was done that same week. Would not recommend.

If you say anything they dislike they will delete it and then ban your access to say anything. Another lady commented this on a post, so a different member called them attention seeking. I replied to that lady saying her comment could be the same as the same thing so I now have been suspended from posting for “being rude”. Funny how that works. They aren’t worth it. The deals are that that great and now want you to pay them just to see the deals.

I booked a vacation through Travelzoo and less than a week before I was booked to leave it was cancelled. Since I used Travelzoo because NerdWallet and AARP gave them good recommendations, I no longer trust their brands at all either.

We recently traveled for our honeymoon to the The Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort! The experience was unbelievable amazing! The staff: Laurent, Deepak, AJ, Tulsi, Chef Fahdrul, Ida and truly all the staff were superb. Service at this resort is at another level, it's a family affair and they would do whatever is necessary to make you feel at home.

I booked my trip from Infinity Worldwide Vacations recommended by Travelzoo, I trusted this website for many vacations in the past but never had bad experience. I suggest, please don't promote these shady websites. My trip is in 5 days to Italy, but I have no confirmations of flight or hotels or train bookings whatsoever. My wife is calling their office consistently for past 3 days, and every time they are promising to wait until 9pm that night, and expect the confirmation emails. But we are not receiving any emails.

I’ve been a loyal Travelzoo customer for years and have always been happy with their packages. Recently, I booked an all-inclusive package at the same property I visited last year, despite the price being $400 more. However, after checking out, I was shocked to be charged $3,000 for a 4-night stay, despite paying for an all-inclusive plan. It turns out Travelzoo had tacked on $600 (21%) in hidden taxes, buried in the fine print. On top of that, they charged $150 per day for kids, who only ate basic meals like chicken tenders and quesadillas, which felt absurd. There were also additional service fees and taxes that I wasn’t charged for last year. For reference, last year’s total bill was $800, including a $250 massage and gratuities.

I would give 0 if I can. They kept my $897. I purchased a trip to China in 32023. Due to travel restrictions they cancelled my trip and gave me a credit with only 18 months to use it. Super frustrated that I didn't just get my money back, since they were the ones who cancelled it. I wasn't able to rebook within the 18 months, because the price difference between the tour I had booked and their other tours was significant 10-30 X higher) and I just don't have that kind of available funds to increase my budget during those 18 months. So they just kept my money and I got nothing out of it. The tour was highly discounted, so it definitely seems like this is unethical business to lure buyers in with a good deal, cancel on them with only a credit given, that also with expiration date, which would then require them to use that credit on a higher priced deal in the future. Not happy with the way they do business at all. They are scammers, stay away as far as you can.

I have received TravelZoo's "top 20" trips for years. I have occasionally used their recommendations, and felt I could trust their vetting of the tour companies. Travelzoo has promoted UTOVacation tours, even after it became apparent that this company is a scam. I have lost thousands of dollars by prepaying for a "sponsored trip" that was continually cancelled, only to get UTOVacation's "bait and switch" marketing to go on a considerable more expensive tour. They refuse to refund my money and now state that my account "expires" on 9/7/24.

Updated on 09/25/2024: Time for me to write another review, it seems that, although slowly, things are moving when I post. Travelzoo(R) says that has nothing to do with the Travelzoo optimization platform. However, after going through all platform's pages, again, I realized that at the "about Us tab the name is written as original (see att. below)

It saddens me that Travelzoo supports vendors such as Exoticca! Twelve people in my tour group were left stranded at the Lima airport all day with the in country travel agent not able to assist because Exoticca would not approve the travel plans. We arrived for a 5:00Am flight and were in the airport with promises that Exoticca was working on it. They could have at least told us they were doing nothing so we could leave the airport and enjoy the day. We ended up having to book our own hotel and transportation to and from the airport at 8:00PM! This delay caused a cancellation for another tour. I have used Travelzoo for many years, but I too will NOT be paying a membership. PLEASE screen your vendors! Exoticca is NOT Better Business approved!

My wife and I used Travelzoo in 2008: Venice, Florence, and Rome. We had trepidation because the price was amazing. The trip was fantastic. All was as promised. The hotels were "European" but excellent. Now we have used Travelzoo many times; Paris 3 times, Galopgas, Prague, Ireland, Scottland, Peru, Iceland, Thailand and more. We have learned to screen the travel agencies and hotel's ratings and their location. We have never been disappointed. We love Travelzoo.

I have used TravelZoo's recommended trips and vendors for years and for this reason felt that UTO VACATIONS was a trusted supplier. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you've learned by now, they are a complete SCAM. They cancelled my "Bargain Trip" due to COVID promising a credit to book a future trip. But has never had any trip available that would allow me to use this credit without giving them a considerable greater amount. They refuse just to refund despite their claim to have added insurance to the package and they initiated the cancellation. Have you been successful in helping your customers get resolution from them? It has impacted my willing to trust your recommendations in the future. They are unable to even reach at this point and refuse to provide true customer service.

After reading all of the horror stories that clients had experienced on their trips and seeing that Travelzoo decided to start charging for their membership that they offered for FREE for decades, and asking for $40. Really! With the type of service that is being provided, I bet you guys are going to have a lot of your loyal customers actually leave and go elsewhere, because I am one of them. There is a reason you pay for a membership, it’s so that you provide professional service. Look at all your 1 and 2 stars reviews. You guys need to have a board meeting and “clean house” or come up with a new strategy or company policy. So sad to see Travelzoo has come to this… Just utterly sad.

We did their Costa Rica package and the first stop was at Montana de Fuego near Arenal. What a dump!!! Air conditioner didn’t work when we got to our room, they wouldn’t put us in another casita or throw us a bone for having to spend the night in a sauna. Other than breakfast, the food was pretty bad too. Ordered a margarita pizza and got something that tasted like it came out of a box, red, not white sauce and tomatoes, no basil. Wife’s thicken tasted ok but was pretty tough. The restaurant had a leak in the roof and the ceiling had black mold all over it. We ate at different restaurants after that. I would run from this deal, you get what you pay for.

Wanted to warn others in case you fall for this company's scam, they took $4,300 from us. We (my brother, his wife and my wife) noticed a post on TravelZoo and bought a China tour package for four ($1,984) on 07-Dec-2021 from UTO Vacation to depart on 29-Oct-2022. UTO advised us about canceling the trip due to COVID-19 and that the $1,984 would be credited toward a future tour with them. We then reserved a China/Thailand tour package for four ($4,300) on 07-Sep-2022 from UTO Vacation to depart on 06-Mar-2024. Then, we received an email warning of travel restrictions to China in July 2023 with possible cancellation of the trip by UTOvacation.

Purchased a trip to Iceland. I understood it was non refundable. Iceland is in a State of Emergency, some of our excursions are closed, roads are closed, and yet I’m being told this is not a valid reason to cancel or receive a refund. Stay away from Travelzoo.

Like another reviewer, in late 2022 we booked & paid for UTO China/Thailand March 2023 trip w/ 3-day Phuket extension. We expected that the $499 pp “bare-bones deal” would actually wind-up to $1,500 pp. Operator chose to cancel trip due to Covid issues w/ China, and pressured us to take travel credit reassuring us same tour would come available soon and we would be notified so we could rebook. Well, other somewhat similar trips have been advertised for about $500 more, but UTO never communicates with us and always responds that they are sold out even though UTO continues to advertise on their website as a TravelZoo member deal. Here it is 12 months later, they have had our $6,000 and we have not been able to book using our credit, even though we have sadly accepted that it will be about $500 pp more.

Travelzoo advertised an 11 day 10 night visit to Portugal via Exoticca quoted at $3798 per couple. We talked with an Exoticca customer service rep who put a hold on this trip for 24 hours so we could discuss it among ourselves, and would call us back, which he did. This was when he said we wanted reservations for a more expensive tour on an earlier date than the original quote, and that the tour we requested was no longer available. We, of course, declined. All 4 of us were on the original call, so there was no mis-understanding which tour was to be put on hold. Typical bait and switch tactic by Exoticca. Travelzoo should never have been involved with this company, and should never advertise Exoticca vacation packages in the future.

We booked a trip through Exoticca, as advertised on Travelzoo, for a trip to Portugal. Exoticca's customer service was excellent while we were in the process of purchasing the trip. However, as soon as the trip was secured and the money was deposited, Exoticca ghosted us. We called numerous times over many days and were on hold for over 4 hours with no answer. We emailed 3 times begging for someone from Exoticca to call us since no one would answer the phone and never received a call or a reply. At this point, red flags were seriously popping up. What if we were in another country and needed to contact them and had the same experience? Why does Travelzoo promote a company like Exoticca with such horrendous customer service??? So very disappointed.

This website used to be actually interesting. Now they want you to pay a membership just to view their advertisements. Really? I'll never visit their website again. Sad to see them circle the toilet like that.

I purchased a tour from UTO Vacation through TravelZoo scheduled to take place in March 2023. This tour included airfare, hotel, plus additional extras for China and Thailand for 10 days plus a 3 night extension. Due to COVID concerns, operator decided to cancel the tour for these dates. Travel company has applied pressure for us to accept travel credit but this is unacceptable as none of the current offers provide anything close to similar value originally advertised and contracted. They had agreed to provide alternate dates per terms and conditions, but have not been responsive or provided any confirmation for over 12 months.

Travelodeal a London UK based travel agency did not send the itinerary nor the list of hotels that we were staying! In the last minute we were able to obtain the name of the hotel in Casablanca which was needed to check in on Royal Air Maroc. The customer service and the accounting departments did not communicate with each other and were very unprofessional in their dealings. For using Amex a 3.5% surcharge was levied. The agency refused to issue a receipt. The Moroccan tour operator Atlas Voyager made up for all the transgressions of Travelodeal. Travelzoo should do a better job vetting travel agencies that they recommend.

I booked a trip with UTO Vacations from the Travelzoo top 20, it turns out that UTO has been gaging in fraud for year. They take tour money, cancel the trip and will, at best, offer you a credit you will never be able to use. UTO has terrible reviews all over the internet, but Travelzoo still stands by them and despite their responses to contact them for help, they do nothing.

I reached out to customer service at Travelzoo on 10/20 about a resort not honoring our travel voucher. Travelzoo never contacted me. They did contact the resort to report that they had spoken with me and that I was in agreement about how they were unable to honor the travel voucher. The resort forwarded me these emails. This company lies and is misrepresenting services and deals. Don't do business with them. There was no attempt at customer service or acknowledgement of the issues. I'm really bothered that they represented to the resort that I was spoken with and in agreement.

I joined Travelzoo when it first began operations and I have used their referrals many times and always had good experiences. However, they promoted a company UTO Vacations which sold a very inexpensive China/Thailand trip. Payment was required up front even for a trip that was two years away. Several times the company cancelled our reservation and would only offer credit not a refund. Every time I demanded a refund, they would reinstate the trip. The trip was scheduled for next week and they cancelled it yet again. They offered to delay it for another two years or provide credit. It's obvious that this company is selling services and pocketing the cash and not honoring their commitments. Travelzoo should screen the companies which they recommend better, or stand behind the vacations booked through their site.

BUYER BEWARE. I purchased a Travelzoo voucher with a daily $100 F&B Credit & a daily $100 SPA credit. Upon arrival at the hotel, the hotel informs me that the credits have restrictions on how they are to be used and applied. There was no restrictions listed on the Travelzoo website prior to purchasing and no restrictions on the voucher I received from Travelzoo, nothing even in the fineprint. Travelzoo customer service says the hotel is still providing the credit (no matter what type of restriction the hotel throws on top). Classic case of Bait & Switch. So do no trust what Travelzoo advertises, ever. I left the hotel immediately and Travelzoo customer service has been slow to respond and of no help and will not provide any type of recourse. They have lost a long time customer and I hope this helps you in your decision to consider using them.