Travelzoo

Please stop posting Exoticca Vacation Deals. They have the worst customer service in which I've dealt with in 15 years. They either do not return your calls after many messages left since they indicate they are too busy to receive your call therefore the automated message requests you enter a call back number for exoticca to Return your call within 24 hours (never happened) or they don't help or guide with needing more information about the tour companies they subcontract with. I feel they are negligent with their clients and do not care about your needs or issues. They placed us In a hotel one block from the protests in Santiago... graffiti everywhere, told to stay in our rooms after 5 pm when all the protests occur, subways closed, government building barricaded with military guards w/rifles, roads closed, trash everywhere, parks destroyed, fires set by protesters in the forests, drums and loudspeakers sounds through the evening, etc. Why didn't they move us to a SAFER location?! Shame on Exoticca. I feel their profit outweighed our safety and our experience on our tour.

Oh, and by the way... if you don't book your tours prior to making final payment your are SOL (so outta luck). Exoticca's attitude is so sorry. They should've explained it immediately when making final payment.

Travel zoo sold me a voucher but do not honor the deals. It is not a good practice. The voucher says weekend availability is limited yet, we called and attempted to use it twice. None of which was available. This is a scam.

Discrepancy price in site to price in the place. Ordered $80 and was charged sales tax on $180. They said our policy is to charge tax on the full retail value. Not a ton of money but when I tried to cancel the order they refused.

I was planning to take my mother to China and my friend advised me to look at Travelzoo deals. I had been a Travelzoo member for several years, but never really opened their emails b/c I've heard rumors of customers running into booking issues with Travelzoo's partners and I haven't had the urge to travel in MANY years.

Anyhow, I found a great deal on Travelzoo from Sinorama Travel in February 2018. The price was ~$2400 for 2 ppl including hotel, airfare, and some "optional" activities, for visit to 4 cities in China over 10 days. Awesome deal, right?! I jumped on the deal and booked the trip for October 2018. Well...

Fast forward to August 2018 and I find out that Sinorama lost it's travel licence so turns out the trip was, indeed, too good to be true. Luckily, I purchased travel insurance...

Nice site, but deals are not always correct. I wish that they woud be better updated.

I bought a local deal (Fandango middleman company called Digital Doorstep) and the company went bankrupt. I paid $24. Travelzoo refused to offer a refund or even a credit but instead offered me 2 $10 vouchers in recognition of me being a "good customer". Rep specifically said it was not a refund or credit for them selling me a product from a bankrupt and defunct company. And, again, it was $4 less than what I paid Travelzoo.

I guess if I were them and I wanted to retain a customer I would have done better than what they ended up doing, but at least they did something.

You have to be VERY careful when you buy Travelzoo. Do your homework online, NO purchases after midnight or drunksurfing.

Sometimes they are deal, sometimes they are NOT. I recently bought an after midnight ten course tasting menu at iNG (owner hung himself, RIP) a restaurant I had always wanted to go to. I recently realized I had saved $6,3%, and locked myself into Travelzoo's boilerplate when the restaurant dramatically dropped the A menu to a C, and then closed for remodeling for 3-4 months. Be VERY careful, READ the fine print or you will almost certainly regret it eventually. Check ALL the limitations and exclusions for menu, expiration date, holidays, and then imagine the worst that could happen to you that you might have to fight with Travelzoo about whether it met their boilerplate or not, and reconsider if it's still a deal. And they will try and pay you off in travelzoo credit, not credit card credit.

$#*! happens, and in my experience Groupon is the best at fixing it. We NEVER buy Living Social, WAY too many limitations and fine print, and it took me months correcting my Travelzoo ten course tasting menu mistake, doing a lot of customer service training at Travelzoo along the way. So be really careful or you will wind up spending some online time with many semi-unempowered people at Travelzoo until you finally will hook up with Cortni. Thanks Cortni, you weren't the first but you were the best.

Travelzoo is NOT a member of BBB, has a lousy B- rating and has 49 complaints closed with BBB in the last 3 years | 27 closed in last 12 months... THAT is very bad.
FILE a BBB complaint if you cannot resolve your issue with Travelzoo.
You can do it online or over the phone. NO cost.
BBB WILL try and help you. Good luck.

They have a lot of great information and offers, but their information (at least on local deals) isn't always accurate.

They currently have a deal for "$45 - Whale Watching off San Juan Islands, Reg. $89"

The deal is false, As mentioned elsewhere on this site, always check the facts before purchasing.

The Island Mariner Corp site at http://www.orcawatch.com/ states that the normal cost is only $69.

They have an $89 offer, but it includes a dinner voutcher. I confirmed with the company that the subject offer does not include the dinner vouched, so it is really $45 for a $69 retail deal.

I don't know who provided the false information, but Travelzoo owes all current purchasers (over 2000) an explanation and an offer to cancel if desired. I've emailed and phoned Travelzoo with this information, as well as explaining the error to the Travel Company, Island Mariner Corp.