I brought a flight and hotel package from Travelzoo and it was really bad (the experience at the airport was actually bordering on dangerous). I emailed their support team outlining the complaint and they said they would look into it. It's now been over 6 months and they have not looked into and are not answering my emails asking for an update. Regarding the holiday, I understand that sometimes things go wrong but it is absolutely unbelievable that their customer support just refuses to respond to my request for an update on my refund request. Terrible customer service.

Outline of the holiday package
- When we got to the hotel, our room was freezing. We informed the front desk staff and they said it was probably because the window was open. The actual reason was that the heater was broken. We froze the night and hardly slept.
- The next day we complained that the heating must be defective. They said they would send a technician to fix the heater. But the room stayed very cold and we spent a second sleepless night freezing there.
- The next day we complained to the front desk again. The lady said, "Well, it's a big room and it's cold outside." Completely unacceptable. She then told us we could take a key to another room and see if the heating works there. We had booked a tour and had to leave so we told her that it was the hotel's job to make sure our room was warm and asked them to find an extra heater for our room. They did so and our last night there was reasonably ok but by no means of the expected standard as only the area near the mobile heater got really warm. Either way, even two nights in a freezing room is not okay, especially when we kept telling them the room was freezing.

Then came the return flight:
- The flight was delayed an hour while we sat on the runway on the plane with no information
- They then said the plane was broken and they would transfer us to another plane
- We then had to stand in a bus with the bus doors wide open in the freezing cold for half an hour, without any information or communication
- Eventually we got on the plane. Then they told us that we still couldn't fly because everything had taken too long and the Berlin airport was now closed. They told us to go back to the airport and someone would be waiting there to tell us where to go
- No one was waiting there, so the whole plane full of people was wandering around the airport, trying to figure out where to go and what to do
- Eventually another person from the airline told us where to go
- We waited at the counter from 20:00 to 21:00 with no information or communication from the staff
- By then we had not received any food or water (so far 3 hours without water)
- They ended up giving us a hotel voucher and saying there would be a shuttle outside to pick us up. They said we would have dinner at the hotel.
- There was no shuttle waiting outside. We spent from 9pm to 10:20pm outside waiting for our shuttle in freezing temperatures, still without food or water. We also had to wait for the shuttle to go back and forth once because it was too small and there was no seat available for us. It was absolutely freezing and people were really worried. Even small children were among the passengers, outrageous.
- We end up going to the hotel at 11pm and they told us the kitchen was closed and we wouldn't get dinner and it was the airline's fault, not theirs. We then had to go to a pizzeria and pay for it ourselves. Only after midnight could we get into a bed then we had to get up again at 2:30am to go back to the airport
- And last but not least, we were also charged for water that we had taken from the minibar after we hadn't received any water for 6 hours!

I made a Travelzoo booking for 2 nights at a Montreal hotel for late October. I later called TRAVELZOO to cancel while within the "no penalty time. I was CHARGED (booked, later cancelled) 1 night by the hotel despite documented PROOF from TRAVELZOO that they had PROPERLY cancelled the reservation in time for there to be NO CHARGE. However, I was still billed by Mastercard for 1 night by the hotel. I advised Travelzoo of the error and they "forwarded" my complaint to the hotel. The hotel denied I was charged so I provided a copy of my Mastercard statement showing the improper charge to Travelzoo, which "forwarded" the documentation to the hotel. NO ADVOCACY DESPITE DOCUMENTATION- just "forwarded". The hotel then told both Travelzoo and me that that there WAS NO RECORD IN THEIR SYSTEM OF MY CREDIT CARD BEING CHARGED (WHICH WAS INCORRECT and Travelzoo SHOULD HAVE known that after reviewing my credit card statement). UNDENIABLE PROOF POSITIVE yet Travelzoo CHOSE to accept WRONG INFORMATION from their business partner rather than the ABSOLUTELY CORRECT AND DOCUMENTED INFORMATION from BOTH your customer AND MASTERCARD. SHAME ON TRAVELZOO AND MORE SHAME for pretending Travelzoo was ADVOCATING for me (which is what Travelzoo called "forwarding". There was no advocating from Travelzoo. All they did was forward my issue to the hotel and then NOTHING HELPFUL. How could a reasonable business not confront the hotel demanding how the $$ were shown billed to the customer by Mastercard with that hotel making the charges and receiving the $$? Travelzoo certainly did not advocate for me AT ANY TIME! Eventually, after I made a Formal Mastercard Dispute, the Hotel ADMITTED I had been charged and refunded the $$ TWO MONTHS AFTER THEY TOOK IT! TRAVELZOO DID NOTHING THAN "FORWARD

So, the hotel gave us WRONG INFORMATION about my being charged, I gave you CORRECT INFORMATION and Travelzoo essentially washed its hands and said "NOT OUR PROBLEM"! I spent over a month getting it fixed while TRAVELZOO DID NOTHING OTHER THAN FORWARD MY COMPLAINT AND LEFT ME (AND MASTERCARD) TO TAKE THE TIME AND EFFORT TO RESOLVE a Travelzoo's customer's issue.

AND I got the Travelzoo's customary response from Lisa Oswald (VP Travelzoo) how I would rate my dealings with their Customer Service. As soon as I hit UNHAPPY and UNRESOLVED, I got a page saying no sense completing. Travelzoo (Lisa Oswald?) would follow up with me. NEVER HAPPENED - NO TRAVELZOO FOLLOWUP.

So, I have used Travelzoo before and yes, you may get a good product and a good price. HOWEVER, if you run into any issue, don't expect help. In my case, they ignored my DOCUMENTED PROOF I was wrongly charged and accepted WRONG INFORMATION From their business partner. So, enjoy your Travelzoo. Just PRAY nothing goes wrong because I could not count on TRAVELZOO for support when I was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT (and Mastercard and later the hotel agreed I was> WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THEY'LL SUPPORT YOU?
PS. LISA OSWALD, VP TRAVELZOO. I'm still waiting to hear from you.

My husband booked a trip to Ischia, Italy with Travelzoo to celebrate our 30th anniv. I wish I had read the reviews before we booked! We really had booked our trip with Jetline Holidays out of the UK as all of our communication was with them. We were supposed to have a boat tour of the island on our 2nd day which was canceled without any notice. We arrived at the port and were simply told that it was canceled, we had cut our sightseeing short in order to make it to the port on time and were quite frustrated to be simply told that we weren't going out. We had to take a covid test less than 24 hours before our flight home and I unfortunately tested positive. My husband had to get back to the US so he flew home as planned. This is where my frustration with Travelzoo/Jetline really increased. I immediately got in touch with Roger who had been helping us with our travel arrangements, he was suddenly not available. A woman told me that it was up to me to get in touch with the airlines, hotel, tranfer arrangements, etc. Terrible customer service! I made arrangements with the hotel, was able to successfully make my flight home an open ticket (after many phone calls and lots of time spent on hold). My biggest complaint is - working with this company is fine until you have a problem, than they disappear and won't help at all! Which is really hard when in another country and you don't speak the language. I wasn't able to take the scheduled shuttle/ferry/shuttle to the airport due to covid and Travelzoo/Jetline refused to reimburse me approx $77. I was shocked, especially when the hotel and airlines worked with me and they were not whom I had originally booked with. I had paid for the transfer and they should've been rescheduled at no extra cost just like my flight.

I rarely say this but TravelZoo is a scamming company and I mean it. I'm not tooting my own horn but my SiteJabber profile will vouch for my experience and word as this was one of the worst experiences I've ever had being a consumer.

I booked a trip for 2 adults in March 2021 (for November 2021) that said it was FULLY REFUNDABLE. I emphasize FULLY REFUNDABLE because I only booked because of that. If something were to happen, at least I could cancel right? NOPE. It wasn't until months passed that the country I was traveling to, changed their COVID-19 rules making it restrictive therefore there was no way to vacation there unless I was quarantining the entire trip.

TravelZoo works with a merchant called Jetline Holidays. I contacted Jetline Holidays for a refund and they ignored me for 3 months. Then they offered me only a credit note or voucher. If you're reading this, DO NOT ACCEPT THIS. Eventually, it will expire without notice, you have to wait in a queue to use it, it won't be a full credit of what you paid for your original vacation AND/OR your next trip will cost you 2x-3x what you paid.

They kept bullcrapping me back and forth to the point I got desperate and contacted TravelZoo. I wrote a review for them on ConsumerAffairs and they kindly responded to me. I emailed TravelZoo with evidence of my situation and they basically told me "sorry but it was a no-change fee policy, not a fully refundable one. Deal with Jetline Holidays yourself". Are you guys seriously telling me that I was dumb enough to not see what is fully refundable? Are you able to show proof of this after almost a whole year? Because like many other reviewers, I can guarantee TravelZoo's website advertises deals that aren't wha they claim them to be. I'm the type of person to read terms and conditions before signing up for any service, so I'm pretty sure I read fully refundable correctly as I don't even know what the hell a "no change fee policy" means. At this rate, TravelZoo could be telling me ANYTHING they want and then blame Jetline Holidays for it yet they still do business with them.

Also, Jetline Holidays charged me much more later on, then cancelled a hotel (even though I already asked to cancel the trip overall) and they're the most difficult company I ever dealt with. I wish I never paid with my Visa card because Jetline claimed they didn't accept Discover or AMEX. Had I paid with my AMEX, I would've had my money back within days. Now, I'm out $1500 (plus I had to give back $750 out of my own pocket because the other traveler wanted her money back). TravelZoo claims I was the one in error and refused to take responsibility of their merchant who made the change (just like another reviewer said). Their Trustpilot reviews are also oddly positive compared to here in SiteJabber. TravelZoo, I've already attempted to reach out for your help but you've proven to me that you simply don't care. If you choose to respond to this, then let be but I won't be reaching out to such a horrible company ever again.

I booked a 11 days trip to Lisbon and Italy for 2 with Jetline vacations before pandemic, original basic price was $2800, after i requested to upgrade to 5 star hotels and non stop flights i agreed to paid $3850, i paid half at that point unfortunately pandemic happened and our travel postponed for year later (October 2021) i requested for refund but they insisted that my money will be safe and i don't have to be concerned. After a year i was contacted by a salesman, he told me flights and hotels are more expensive and he told me he cant get me direct flights and 5 star hotels for that amount, he included budget air lines and cheap trains thru out the those countries and completely rearranged our original itinerary for $5260 we received our itinerary after he got paid in full at this point we realized most of the transfers from airports to hotel and from the hotels to airports and train stations are not included, hotels were basics we had to pay extra for upgrade, 1 hotel in Rome (HOTEL GAMBRINUS) was completely filthy and disgusting they claimed it was 4 star maybe during1940 before world war 2 not in 2021, no computer, they were checking in their guests with pen and papers, the guy in front desk gave us a key we took this antic elevator from 1st floor to 2nd floor that took 3 minutes to a wrong room we opened the door the room was already occupied by others, after we came down they gave us a new key, the new room was filthy as well and with no electricity we realized that this hotel wasn't what it supposed to be at this point my wife took our luggage and left the hotel, we had to book another hotel for that night and we had to pay for a new hotel and a taxi to take us there, every day 3 or 4 times a day we were on the phone with Jetline customer service but they had all the excuses that you can imagine, they gave us a train from Rome to Napoli 2nd class that cost 12 Euro and would take 3.5 hours to get there, we paid 40 Euro for fast train that took only 1 hour at this time we stop contacting them and we did our own itinerary, the bottom line we spent over $9000 for 11 days trip if i would arranged it by myself it would cost me half that amount with better hotels, food and no aggravation, DO NOT AND I REPEAT DO NOT BOOK ANY TOURS WITH JETLINE TRVEL TOUR COMPANY. THEY ARE SCAM. Travelzoo should review these companies to make sure they are reliable and honest.

Don't waste your time trying to find and actually book travel deals through this company. For over a decade I've received and read the multiple offers sent to my email every week by Travelzoo. I have found travel deals and packages that looked enticing. In the past, we purchased event tickets, packages, and even booked a cruise using Travelzoo. The last two offers I tried to book ended up being bogus. My most recent bad experience happened this week. Travelzoo's "Top 20 List" included a 5 night package to Paris from several US cities. The package included r/t air and hotel for $599 per person. I followed the booking directions provided by Travelzoo, which connected me with the vendor, Fleetway Travel. I went through all the steps, answering all the questions, selecting the available dates, airports, upgrades, and options. I completed the required documentation and registration. At the conclusion of this process, Fleetway's online booking told me my travel reservation had been submitted and that someone would contact me the next day for payment processing. Three days passed and I had not been contacted. I tried to call Fleetway Travel and couldn't get through (number I had went to The UK). I contacted Travelzoo customer service and they told me they would look into my reservation. The next day Travelzoo Customer Rep., Lisa called me and said Fleetway had my reservation and would be calling me shortly. Later that day, I finally got a call from Fleetway Travel. They denied having a record of my reservation and the Fleetway Rep. Told me they have not been able to process or even read the reservations submitted via their website due to the heavy volume of calls they had been receiving. The Fleetway Rep would not honor my reservation, look for my reservation, or even acknowledge that they had received a submission from me. I told the Fleetway Rep. My exact submission dates and that I had followed the directions provided by their and Travelzoo's websites, and that I was supposed to receive a call to process payment. She said "we can't be chasing people down who booked vacations online" and "I have booked over 20 vacations for customers who called in today alone, I don't have time to check online reservation requests". The advertised travel deal I signed up for 5 days earlier via Fleetway Travels own website was not available, if it ever really existed. I immediately called Travelzoo Customer Service to inquire why they told me Fleetway had my reservation, to ask why online bookings weren't being honored, and finally ask why Travelzoo would partner with a vendor of this poor of caliber. Doesn't Travelzoo check out the businesses it promotes? Travelzoo Customer Rep. Apologized for my experience, said they would note my complaint for future reference when working with Fleetway Travel, but that Travelzoo couldn't make Fleetway Travel honor the promoted travel deal. The other bad experience with Travelzoo occurred last month when I tried to book a hotel room package. The Guy Harvey Outrigger Motel in St. Petersburg, FL offered a special rate for a 3 night stay over Labor Day. When I called them (Guy Harvey Reservations) and mentioned the Travelzoo Package, the price with hidden charges and required extras went up nearly $500. Based on these two back-to-back bad experiences, I can no longer use Travelzoo and would highly recommend others save themselves the time and trouble of using this online service.

Highly recommeded

UPDATE: I know nobody has posted on this board lately, but I am finally fed up with this ordeal. On March 8th I spoke with 'veronica' from apple who promised to follow-up on why I have been unable to book a room since Feb 12th, and why nobody from apple has ever followed through and returned my calls. It has been 6 days with no return call, I left her another message today.

To make matters worse, I emailed Mr. Stitt from Travelzoo on March 9th, 5 days ago. I have received NO response from anyone there either. So because of some major confusion at Apple when trying to book this replacement deal offered at apple, lack of communication, and no desire for anyone at both Apple and Travelzoo to followup on my issues, I'm now out $2800 bucks for flights and no room.

Below is the letter I emailed to Mr. Stitt at Travelzoo.

Dear Mr. Stitt:
I would like to thank you for your efforts on behalf of myself and other fellow Travelzoo Members that are left without unfullfilled accomodations from Fresh Trips. However, in my personal situation I have been left with no resolve after multiple and repeated attempts to make a booking with Apple Vacations at the Grand Sunset Princess.

I originally contacted them to make a booking on or about February 12,2016. Originally, although I called the 'dedicated' line, I was transferred around for just under an hour as nobody knew what I was talking about.
Finally, I spoke with an agent that AGAIN said there were no rooms available for my dates, but promised to research it and call me back. I received no call back as of Feb. 15. I called again, this time the agent I did speak with had no idea what I was talking about, but promised to find someone who was familiar with this ordeal and return my call. I called several more times (Feb 17, 20, 22, 23, 27, March 2,3, and 8) to attempt to make the booking with the same outcomes as above, not once did an Apple Vacations member return my call after calling repeatedly just trying to make the booking per your email.

I will tell you there was once I was actually able to speak with the "dedicated agent" (which by the way even though I called the 'dedicated number' again took 3 phone transfers and being on hold for 1 hour 20 minutes).
This agent told me there were no "project Travelzoo" rooms, but the representative actually made a booking for me this time at their listed rates, then she was to 'try to get the rooms approved and price adjusted'. Of course she stated she would finish looking into the matter and contact me within 2 days.
Of course, as predicted she did not contact me back. I called the agents direct line several times over 2 days asking her to return my call. She did not call. Instead, she emailed me back after my latest message saying " the travelzoo project ended 2/23/16, sorry".

As you can imagine her response made me very angry as I had spent the previous 3 weeks attempting to make the booking your email said I would be able to book.

So, of course I spent this past week or so trying to talk to supervisor at Apple Vacations, more phone calls, more promises to return my call which AGAIN never happened. Yesterday, I called again. I spoke with someone that actually followed up and had supervisor Daniel return my call. Once he did, he realized I needed to speak with Veronica, who also called me back as promised. Anyhow, she stated Apple is trying to secure me a room and would contact me in a day or two.

As you can imagine, I don't have much faith despite the recent efforts from Apple by finally returning a call. While I understand this situation was not created directly by Travelzoo or Apple, you did offer a potential resolution, which for some reason I have been dealing with roadblocks. I am reaching out to you to get a resolution to getting an accommodation. Because, as it currently stands I have nearly $3000 in airfare I stand to lose which had already been booked. I want to book my 2 rooms at the price paid for the base room $798 each (with fresh trips I upgraded one room for a larger unit for $180). It doesn't necessarily have to be at the Grand Sunset Princess, I would consider less costly options.

I purchased the damson dene hotel through travel zoo for 2 nights and the pictures shown were not accurate in the slightest as when we arrived it was a run down cottage with two very rude receptionists, I explained to them that it does not look like the photos and shown them and they replied "erm well there was a lake at the back " we then asked to see the room anyway we were given the key not shown where it was at all and as walking up heard the receptionist speaking about me for not being happy with what was advertised and what I actually saw and when I opened the door it stunk of smoke and had damp walks and cigarette burns in the bath and curtain placed on the bed, it was freezing as it wasn't double glazed, it was not in the slightest what I paid for, I'm very appalled with travel zoo and the hotel on how I was treated when I arrived and how they wrongly advertised the hotel completely I wouldn't allow anyone to stay there in those conditions, they were not suitable for residents as they didn't even have a lock on the doors and when I tried to contact travel zoo there is no phone number to contact someone directly and explain which I also find appalling as iam now unable to get a refund, so I have now had to pay another 300 pound to stay elsewhere for 2 nights as we traveled from afar and the service I got was fantastic at the hotel we found driving around frantically trying to find somewhere, it had boutique rooms and had complementry wine and drinks and the staff were very friendly and welcoming unlike the damson dene, I would strongly advise not to stay at this hotel and NOT to book through travel zoo.

I wish I can make this review short but the multiple errors and lack of service by TZ has made it difficult to do so. Due to a Travel Zoo technical glitch, we were booked at the wrong hotel and now we're stranded in Miami, FL. They booked us for Atlanta, GA.?! The confirmation email AND 'pre-arrival alert' email indicates the Miami hotel info. Offices were closed and we couldn't contact anyone. We are two girls who were stranded until 1am in Miami. Called Travel Zoo next morning (today 12/30) and the agent was incompetent and gave us the run around. First told us it was a glitch and they're fully responsible. Told me she will refund me completely and re book me near the original booking location and can cover $300-$600/night. She then says "We have a Hilton in Princeton for $75/night. Oh, and this will be in New Jersey." Excuse me?! New Jersey?! She then apologizes and offered me few options, I selected the hotel and she asked if I was ready to head there. After placing me on a 15 min hold (I was on phone for 45 mins at this point), she comes back on the line and asks "Did you decide on a hotel? I was taking notes about our convo." Are you kidding me?! She then searches for the hotel and now tells me that I will need to pay for the hotel and they can't guarantee that the hotel costs would be reimbursed. Now I'm waiting at a random hotel lobby looking to book a hotel, which are triple the original price. Current rates are $550 for a 1 star hotel so you have an idea about what I'm facing here.

UPDATE: (12/30) After hopping from hotel to hotel and waiting until 7pm daily for a last minute deal to arise, we found another hotel (higher than the original booking price). Haven't heard back from TZ yet.

On 12/31, a Travel Zoo agent called me and told me they'll only cover up to $100. Ridiculous. We once again didn't have anywhere to go. At this time, due to NYE, hotel prices had nearly quadrupled. We ended up booking a hotel away from the main area which cost us $400 for the night. We were so tired of running around for 3 days, our entire trip was ruined and we ended up sleeping into the new year due to exhaustion. Thank you Travel Zoo for completely ruining our entire vacation.

After going back and forth for hours and hours, Travel Zoo said they will only cover up to our original booking amount and didn't even accommodate us due to their crystal clear mistake. Again, prices had nearly quadrupled and we had to cover the extra charges, which was several hundred dollars. PLEASE do yourselves a favor and go with other established travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, Booking) who have a 24 hr support system and are reputable. The agents at TZ are rude, incompetent and have no regard to customer service and safety.

I have shared this terrible experience with my combined 900k Instagram and FB followers.