TravelLocal

Negative experience: BAD EXPERIENCE WITH TRAVEL LOCAL My experience and review is specific to booking a Croatia trip through Ingrid, a representative at TravelLocal. When I first contacted Ingrid, she was more than happy to help us. However, her tone in email exchanges became more curt as we asked her clarifying questions. We were 1 month away from our trip and she made us feel like we were inconveniencing her with our questions about transportation logistics and excursions we wanted to book. We found a few excursions that were a little cheaper but decided to go with her so we had one point of contact vs several companies. We should have booked separately since Ingrid hardly helped us after we paid her. We booked 2 boat excursions (one in Dubrovnik, one in Hvar), and only Dubrovnik boat mentioned providing towels and water. We asked her to confirm if Hvar would have water/towel and she confirmed it would via email. When we got to Dubrovnik boat excursion, the captain thought there were only 4 vs 5 of us (had no life jackets for us, just 4 noodles) so I sent Ingrid a note to remind the captain there’s 5 of us and to have 5 noodles for the Hvar boat. Her response was: This is up to the boat .they know but sometimes they do not have it. Please send him message in the morning around 9 am….then she followed up saying she’d send him a note so I assumed she handled it. When we got to Hvar, the boat captain didn’t have any towels for us but snorkeling masks (which we never asked for) and life jackets. I told him we specifically asked and he said he was never made aware of the request. Regardless of this oversight, we had a good time and gave Ingrid the feedback (below). Her response was appalling: Ingrid: Hi. I did not ask for towels neither you did. Usually they have water, juices, and masks. I am sorry if you did not ask me. You could return to apartment to pick it up. he would wait as it is private trip. I am really sorry now but it should be asked earlier. I gave you his contact earlier to ask as some boat trips have towels and some no. You did not ask me yesterday, only for masks. Me: I actually asked you via email and you confirmed on 8/21 they will have towels, water, and non-alcoholic beverages so I didn't think I needed to ask again. She proceeded to send messages that I’m the first customer in 4 years that did not bring a towel and I should’ve asked. I forwarded her the email where she confirmed and instead of apologizing, she continued to blame someone else at her company and me for not reminding the boat coordinator (email response posted below). Hello Thank you for this reminder. As I see here masks are not confirmed at all. And you got them, 5 pieces, right ? I just spoke with Mr.K and he told me thar towells supposed to be on board but as he took masks he forgot towels in the office and he was embarrassed to admit. Now We solved it. I am sorry you did not ask him or me upon embarkation today, as in this case, you could return to apartment and pick it up or I would call Kristian, his boss again. Despite this small issue, I hope you had a great day there. Warm regards I stopped responding to her emails so she followed up on WhatsApp that during our Dubrovnik excursion, we ran over our time and she won’t charge us. This was due to bad traffic on the road so the driver should have planned to pick us up earlier or tell us we need to shorten our excursion to account for the traffic. After returning from this trip, I emailed TraveLocal customer service to provide this feedback and they apologized for the inconveniences of the boat excursions and said they'll take this feedback for future improvement. However, they ended the note saying they spoke to Ingrid and she indicated she made efforts to accommodate our requests, and decided not to charge us for extended trip in Ston. I would have appreciated if they just apologized but adding this last sentence shows me they don't understand customer service.

Fantastic experience: Perfect. Superlative. Beyond expectations. Unsurpassed. These are just some of the words that come to mind to describe our experience with Travellocal’s agent Viare Travel in our 24 day trip around Brazil. We have visited almost 60 countries, often using travel providers in the destination country; we know excellent service when we see it, and that was our experience with Viare. We congratulate Polyana, Nathalia, and team on the level of service they work so hard to achieve. As customers, we felt truly special. Nathalia took our “wish list “ and developed it into a customized itinerary. All communications (and there were many) were handled promptly and efficiently. No request seemed to be too much. The trip fell within the budget we had provided. Our accommodations all pleased us; some elated us! Any drivers, guides, transfer services contracted by Viare were very reliable and of a good quality. Polyana obviously has chosen well. The “booking confirmation “ document that we had access to was a very comprehensive guide to our trip, going so far as to even include tips like when you might need motion sickness tablets! During the trip, through the use of Whatsapp, Polyana and team were with us whenever we needed them. Most service providers appear good when things are going well; the true measure is how they respond when there is a problem. We had two problems (you don’t travel the world not expecting some hiccups). In the first instance, we can honestly say it would not have been resolved the way it was without Polyana’s guidance. In the second instance, Polyana was so involved she said we could call her in the middle of the night if necessary! (We didn’t, but this will tell you the level of care they provide to their clients.) We are pretty independent and experienced travelers, but any requests made to Viare during the trip were handled with seeming ease (better known as hard work on their end). We are so thankful we discovered TravelLocal, and got to use Viare for our Brazil trip. We have been spoiled; we have seen perfection of service. We can not recommend Viare highly enough!!! There is no need for a reader of this review to look further!!!

Positive experience: Our trip to Sri Lanka was planned by an excellent local representative. We had a very good knowledgeable driver for our stay. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, wonderful people, excellent food and very clean, well worth a visit. Thank you.

Fantastic experience: Came back from a tour in South America organised by Chaska Tours via TravelLocal. It was a great trip. The tour agent was friendly and always at hand to answer questions. The trip was tailored carefully according to what we wanted and our budget. The tour guides were knowledgeable and friendly. Everyone we encountered was helpful and friendly. We will definitely use TravelLocal again for our trips.

Fantastic experience: Thanks again for your help with our trip to Georgia. It was amazing! What a lovely country: such interesting history, lovely people and scenery and delicious food! I was also particularly impressed with the logistics for our trip. We had packed the itinerary full and so I'm sure that it was quite complicated but everything ran completely smoothly and invisibly to us. I'm sure that behind the scenes there was a lot of work involved. Anyway thank you and your local agent again from all of us

Fantastic experience: Just back from an amazingly well organised trip to Costa Rica with my family. All arranged through Travel Local and one of their local agents (Ecole Travel) who were fantastic. Their recommendations were spot on and they were accommodating with any changes and tweaks we needed before, during and even after the trip. A great way to travel!

Fantastic experience: Excellent service ,all trips and flights as promised ,they even went to the trouble of contacting us to inform us that one of our internal flights was delayed for 1hr and that the driver would pick us up 1hr later for the airport transfer. We are in the travel industry and could not fault the service.

Fantastic experience: Great people and very professional. Good ideas and great adventure planners

Fantastic experience: Had a fantastic trip to Thailand which exceeded our expectations. Being put in contact with a local travel agent who was then able to tailor the trip to precisely what we wanted (and to the budget we had) was great. They changed things several times for us & kept within budget - there was no pressure to exceed what we had to spend. Being the first time we had done anything like this we were slightly nervous as to how it would turn out but everything was organised brilliantly.

Fantastic experience: Travel Local have booked three trips for us, China, Mongolia and Uganda. All have been great and I love the fact that the money is going to local operators not to some big corporation. The trips are more authentic and great value. We will be travelling with Travel Local again in 2018.

Fantastic experience: Used Travel Local in Costa Rica for a family holiday. The itinerary was excellent, kept us moving in easy to consume trips. We self drove and it was excellent. All the hotels were excellent, all the connections worked seamlessly, all the queries were answered quickly (they even recommended an excellent shop for binoculars at the other end of Costa Rica). My wife managed to forget her iPad in a remote hotel, but it was returned to Travel Local and sent home expeditiously. Very good service. Early in the booking process I was worried that we weren't getting a minor thing we asked for (my worry that sometimes in the Caribbean the service can slip). Immediately I was reassured, an explanation provided (they were right) and some monitoring to make sure I was happy was volunteered. You really can't fault the service. Of course its made easier by the fact that Costa Rica is an amazing destination, with variety, activity, relaxation and fascinating trips by some of the warmest and friendliest people I have met. Go to Costa Rica, and use Travel Local.

Fantastic experience: We have recently had an amazing trip to Flores in Indonesia. We contacted Travel Local who put us in touch with a travel company in Indonesia. They helped us put together a fantastic itinerary with all the things we wanted, including a lovely driver and local guides. The information we were sent was really helpful and comprehensive and I am happy to recommend them highly.

Fantastic experience: We are just back from a fantastic holiday in Costa Rica and would highly recommend Travel Local and the ground agents Ecole Travel. We cannot find any fault in the service that Local & Ecole Travel provided us and we would recommend them in the highest terms to anyone who wishes to visit Costa Rica. They listened to the kind of holiday we were looking for and found us outstanding places to visit that we would not have found if we travelled independently as we normally do. Superb service, excellent information, terrific local knowledge, quick responses to queries- we would rate them with 6 stars if we could. Thank you for helping us have one of the most amazing holidays we've ever had!

Fantastic experience: I was very pleased to be put in touch with TravelLocal because I was trying to organise a trip to Armenia (with Georgia thrown in as we were going all that way anyway). TravelLocal put us in touch with a local travel agency in Yerevan (Armenian Travel Bureau) who prepared a a wonderful (if challenging) itinerary for us. Since they knew (a) what we should see on a first trip to the region and (b) all of the places we stayed in and ate at from personal experience, we could not have had a better first experience of both countries. The trip to Armenia was special for us because of Armenian family connections and we delighted with the way in which TravelLocal and Armenian Travel Bureau delivered a very special experience for us. It could not have been better (although our next trip to Armenia will be at a slightly gentler pace!) I would not hesitate to recommend both TravelLocal and Armenian Travel Bureau (especially Inga) to anyone thinking of planning a trip.

Fantastic experience: Very helpful arranging tour of Laos which went very smoothly and was very enjoyable. Learnt a lot about the country. Using local travel companies is a great idea as they obviously know what they are talking about and it helps the local economy. Will certainly use Travellocal again and recommend anyone else to give them a go.

Fantastic experience: We first encountered Travel Local when we won a trip to Myanmar from the Wanderlust magazine in February 2017. They were sponsors of the competition and their initial phone call to us was truly infectious with their enthusiasm. Travel Local put us in touch with Expeditions Myanmar (also sponsors) who generated an itinerary which was eventually agreed. They also put us in touch with Flight Centre who arranged the flights. The trip was made at the end of September and throughout the intervening period Travel Local maintained contact with all the helpful details which we needed. Their local knowledge, along with that of Expeditions Myanmar, was invaluable. We recommend their service most highly.

Fantastic experience: We have gone to India, Burma, Ecuador and Galapagos through TravelLocal on three occasions and will not hesitate to book through TL again. Fabulous destinations, unforgettable experiences, efficient, knowledgeable, friendly, helpful, and great value! Why go to anyone else?

Fantastic experience: My wife and I used TravelLocal for our travels through parts of West Africa. They use local agents based in the countries visited. Every part of the itinerary could be tailor-made to our exact requirements. The journey went extremely well and we had an absolutely fabulous time. From the moment we touched down to our departure we were looked after well. The journey involved participating in local festivals, interacting with local people and immersing ourselves in their culture. It was wonderful. Thanks to TravelLocal and their local agents for making that happen.