“Avoid booking with this company at all costs. We went to Malaysia with them. All the hotels are extremely shoddy abd cheapest going. We had to rebook 2 hotels as they were so disgusting.
Trips were mainly second rate and then we weren't picked up for our return to the airport.
Exoticca have been useless at handling this and wont even refund part of it . We were meant to go jungle trekking to see orangutans and got taken to see a captive orangutan in a sanctuary. The whole trip was nothing near as described and they wont sort out complaints. If y0u Google them, there are tonnes of rubbish reviews exactly the same as mine. Wish id have read them before we booked”
"Hi, Suzanne,
We're sorry you had such an unpleasant experience on your recent trip to Malaysia. We strive to deliver an enjoyable, memorable, and high-quality holiday for our customers. In this case, we clearly fell short.
So that one of our representatives can provide additional assistance and try to make this right for you, please submit an inquiry here http://exoticca.com/contact
Once again, we apologize for our failure to serve you well. Thanks so much for letting us know. Your feedback is valuable to us.
Exoticca"
“This company should not be allowed to operate the customer service is appalling we are in turkey at the minute a country we know and love and this tour with exotica is putting people off coming back.”
Hello,
We are sorry that your experience at didn’t quite match your expectations. We would love to know why, so that we can deliver a better experience next time. You may reach us at http://exoticca.com/contact or [Phone Number]. Again, thank you for your feedback!
Regards,
Exoticca
“This company has no customer service. We spent 6-12 hours on the bus a day and only got an hour or two at the destinations because they kept doubling back to stay in the cheapest towns . I always missed either lunch or dinner , and the main stops were at gas stations for junk food meals . They forced us to leave our luggage and passports at a hotel when the rooms weren’t ready to go on a city tour, promising they would be safe . When we got back , our wallet ( with our cash and CC) and IPAD was stolen , and our passports were left on the top of the front desk, unattended . Our guide would not help us make a police report because he “didn’t know the language “ . The hotel nor Exxotica would take any responsibility or help even though over 1,000 was charged and a tracker indicated that the IPAD was in the apartment behind the hotel . Half of the hotels were dirty, stained blankets , walls and moldy showers . One hotel had a broken dryer and iron , but they wouldn’t let us change rooms or give us a new dryer . We parked sometimes 2 blocks from the hotels , and always had to lug our own luggage through busy streets . They make you pay a hotel tax in cash at every hotel , and if you stop at a Church or Mosque, the entrance fee was not included . One day, we went on a long walk to a lake , and when we got back at the correct time , the bus was missing . We waited 15 minutes and then called the guide, who did not answer . It was scary . You get what you pay for . I would use Gate 1 or other companies instead of being lured by what seems like a good deal with the worst customer service ever.”
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your review.
Our sincerest apologies this has happened to you. We are sorry to hear the issues that you experienced during your trip.
We can see that this matter was addressed with our Customer Support team back in August 2025. If you still have any questions, comments or doubt, don't hesitate to let us know by replying the email sent on August 22nd.
Regards,
Exoticca
“We missed our ajoing flight because not enough times between flights .Our meet and great never showed up .missed our half day tour of Lisbon because nobody let us know were the meeting point was .pickup never showed up after train to Porto . no information was given to us on boats name or what pier it was located . Had to cab it all around Porto looking for the right boat .Hotels were changed and nobody told us about that .we had to arrange our own rides . Spent 3.5 days at the pier in Porto it was supposed to be a 7 day cruise . we payed 2.5 times more that what the cruise actually cost . our travel agent gave us no information on the trip details or changes .T he hole trip was a complete disaster to Portugal .”
Hi John,
We're sorry you had such an unpleasant experience on your recent trip to Portugal. We strive to deliver an enjoyable, memorable, and high quality holiday for our customers. In this case, we clearly fell short. So that one of our representatives can provide additional assistance and try to make this right for you, please submit an inquiry here http://exoticca.com/contact
Once again, we apologize for our failure to serve you well. Thanks so much for letting us know. Your feedback is valuable to us.
Regards,
Exoticca
“I booked a vacation package with a travel agent by phone. He booked the wrong vacation package even though I specified which package I wanted. The agency was closed so I sent emails and followed up by phone yesterday. I received a response today saying that they cannot change my vacation package and could only offer a partial refund if I wanted to change it.
https://www.exoticca.com/us/tours/spain/15969-madrid-andalusia-valencia-barcelona - This is the vacation package I wanted.
https://www.exoticca.com/us/tours/spain/14597-self-guided-tour-of-madrid-barcelona - This is the one that was booked for me.
Very different packages considering one is guided with 4 cities and the other is self-guided with only 2 cities. I specifically had the 4 city one in my account and told the agent that's the one I wanted. I know he was able to see it because he could see the flights I picked. I SPECIFICALLY said I did NOT want the self guided vacation package and I asked him to make sure that was not the one he was booking for me. He said it wasn't. When I get the itinerary in my email after paying, it showed the self-guided vacation package. Now they're saying they made no mistake and that was the package I picked and they can only give a partial refund if I would like to change it. This is the first and last time I book with deceitful company. This was supposed to be my honeymoon and now it's a nightmare.”
Hi Ashley,
Thank you for sharing your experience. We are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with our services.
Please note that we have now reviewed the call you had with our agent at the time of booking. Based on the recording, we can confirm that the booking was made accurately according to the information provided during the call.
We can see that a dedicated agent is currently in contact with you via email. In order to provide you with the support you need in a fast and efficient manner, we will continue to communicate with you through that channel.
Regards,
Exoticca
“Been trying to contact this company with a couple of simple queries about our trip but since I paid the deposit unable to get an answer on the phone, I emailed the guy I spoke to when I booked, no reply, chat is just a bot and doesn't work, online help form very restricted to queries - very poor won't use them again!.”
Hi,
We are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with our assistance.
We would like to clarify that once the booking process is completed, the agent who assisted you during the booking is no longer your point of contact. Instead, you are supported by our dedicated post-sales team. You can reach them via email, by phone, online form or through live chat.
One of our agents has already contacted you to double-check if we can still offer assistance with anything. Please check your inbox.
Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Exoticca
“Disappointing experience with Exotica, I do not recommend.
We recently returned from a trip organized by Exotica. We had high expectations for our 9-day trip package to Italy, but it turned out to be a frustrating disaster.
1. Accommodation:
First hotel wasn’t a 4 stars as promised, but the other 2 hotels were nice.
2. Transportation Problems:
The poorly coordinated transportation arrangements left us with a lot of hassle. Everyday, we had to arrange our own transportation back to the hotel, which wasted our time and incurred unexpected expenses due to the poor planning. As a result, we couldn’t explore more areas.
3. Activities and Tours:
Our tour to the Colosseum was a complete disaster. The tour was scheduled in the middle of the day, which completely ruined our entire day and prevented us from doing anything else. To make matters worse, the tour guide took unnecessarily long time to joke in the burning heat, leaving us exhausted. On top of that, they gave us many free time instead of planning more activities to explore more places.
Overall, our experience with Exotica was incredibly disappointing. The lack of professionalism, this trip was more stressful than enjoyable. I would strongly advise potential travelers to think twice before booking with this agency.
**Rating:** ★☆☆☆☆
I wish I could this a half star. The trip was ruined by mismanagement and, making it a trip to forget. I hope this review helps others looking for a better travel experiences”
Hello,
Thank you for your review. We’re sorry to hear that your experience did not meet your expectations.
We’ve sent you a direct message requesting your booking ID so we can look into the matter and follow up with you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Exoticca
“We had a 9 night stay in Peru booked through Exoticca which was then run locally by Condor Travel. Peru was lovely and some of the individual guides we had were brilliant but the organisation and overall experience of the tour were awful from the start.
A brief overview
- inconsistent communication leading to massively stressful errors you have to resolve independently
- bizarre organisation of group transfers with little thought into how early some transfers are which result in feeling like everyone has a different experience of the tour
- new guides and drivers every day/activity
Day 1:
We arrived and were given a two page itinery with pick up times. Our guide told us we could ask her any questions about the trip and then gave us individual times for a transfer to our tour the next day (which was not on the itinery). We asked about when we would receive tickets for internal flights and she told us we needed to check in for that ourselves. This was incorrect information and us trying to check in resulted in a problem with the tickets and Condor travel could not check us in.
Day 2: We got up early due to the time the guide had told us the day before only to learn this was an orientation meeting and we had the opportunity to get breakfast between that and out tour. During the orientation the guide tried to upsell several other excursions through condor travel. Our tour for this day was adapted due to a strike in Lima (unavoidable but not communicated before) which meant we missed out on seeing Lima’s historical landmarks.
Day 3: 2.30 am transfer to the airport for Cusco where we had to resolve our own ticket issues at the airport. We were provided no reassurance by Condor travel that this would be sorted and were informed that the guide would help us once all other travellers were checked in. The rest of the day went smoothly but the whole group was put on different transfers. The hotel additionally was mis advertised as having a pool.
Day 4: Machu Picchu – mostly went okay. We had learnt the day before that the breakfast boxes provided by the hotels we were booked in were awful (a small cheese sandwich on stale bread with bruised fruit and a juice box) so we had managed to buy our own lunch. Our guide Alicia was excellent and very informative, we really enjoyed the visit. The only difficult part of the day was waiting around in the town for the later train when others in our group had an early train. We didn’t get back to the hotel until 10pm with a 7am transfer the next day.
Day 5: Sacred valley tour. We got our first and only breakfast at the hotel which was not very good and not what you would consider a continental breakfast. The sacred Valley tour run by Ruth was lovely she was another excellent guide, very patient with our group and we actually had an excellent buffet lunch that day. Unfortunately when we arrived in Cusco we were presented with a twin room, the hotel were apologetic but had no doubles available. Exoticca/Condor travel were not helpful and we learnt they had requested the change for this and subsequent hotels.
Day 6: We spent in Cusco which was lovely. Breakfast continued to be bad but that meant we were able to enjoy the food in the city. We had to contact Condor travel/Exoticca again about our room for the next night and they seemed unaware of previous communication or that they were supposed to contact us. Instead I contacted the next hotel myself.
Day 7: Touristic bus to puno – long drive though lovely scenery so well worth it. Lunch was below our expectations. Arrived to the hotel to find that our room had only been changed to a double because of our communications with the hotel.
Day 8: Boat tout of Lake Tititacca – this was excellent and was the only day that nothing went wrong.
Day 9: transfer back to Lima – we arrived at the airport (with only two airlines) several hours early so felt like we missed out on time in either Puno or Lima
Day 10: We were supposed to have a 1.30am transfer to the airport (which was disappointing as some people got to spend a morning or even the whole day in lima), we were awoken at 12.50am by the front desk to inform us our Spanish only speaking driver was here. This turned out to be a private transfer and we were checked in, through security, and at out gate 3 hours before our flight so again felt this was unnecessarily early.
Overall would strongly discourage anyone from taking tours with Exoticca or Condor travel whilst also adding that Peru is a lovely country to visit with friendly people and excellent cuisine.
”
Hi,
We appreciate you sharing your experience. We understand your frustration regarding the transfer communication, flight assistance response time, and the hop-on-hop-off tour guidance. We're sorry the Cape Diamond Hotel did not meet expectations and for the inconvenience caused. We'll review these issues to improve our service and one of our agents will contact you shortly to gather more details about your experience.
Regards,
Exoticca
“When I was booking my trip, they misspelled my last name. When I attempted to get them to correct the issue a few hours later, they asked me to send my passport which I did. After a week, I did not receive any communication from them. It was very frustrating to communicate with them and I feel their customer service was extremely lacking. There were long waits on the phone attempting to reach customer service. I felt like they took my money and didn’t even try to communicate until a week before the trip.”
Hello,
Thank you for your review, We are sorry to hear that you experienced service issues after making your booking. Making changes to tickets can take time and the team will always try their best to get this done as quickly as possible for you.
We are going to have a dedicated agent reach out to you to address your concerns.
Regards,
Exoticca
“As an update to my earlier post regarding a planned visit to Asia where Exoticca changed the flight details without telling me which means I don't have the early check in that I now require. I note that Exoticca have responded on here by once again basically calling me a liar (hence my reduced rating)and saying that they didn't change the flights. Well they absolutely did, and I have provided proof to them in the form of the original itinerary. They have totally ignored that and have not bothered responding to me, preferring to cover their tracks on here I see by providing yet more mis-information. BE WARNED. Yes they are cheap, and they are all over you like a rash when they are selling, but once you have paid it's a completely different story. All I have had in response to my simple request for help is a complete stonewall rejection and advice to sort the problem out myself when I get to Vietnam. Their response says that "several agents have responded to me". Not true. The first (who I had to wait 45 mins on the help line to speak to) just said "no" but up-lined it when I pushed the issue. Then the senior team wrote to me and also said flat no. They tell you they are "completely committed to providing outstanding services". But I'm afraid that is total BS. If you ever really need these guys in an emergency then God help you. They couldn't care less. I will now await the next BS response on here from them where they will probably call me a liar again. But I have the proof and they know it.”
Hi Steve,
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with our services.
We can see that you have made a request with our team which has been investigated, from our system we do not see that flights were allocated other than a morning flight since the start of your booking and flight times were communicated during your booking call.
Our team has contacted you directly and we will help in any further way we can.
Regards,
Exoticca
“Ich bin zutiefst enttäuscht von meinem Erlebnis mit Exoticca. Nachdem ich die Reise meines Reisepartners umbuchen wollte, wurde auf insgesamt vier Emails nicht reagiert. Zweimal habe ich 90 Minuten in der Warteschleife verbracht, nur um am Ende einfach aus der Leitung geworfen zu werden. Als ich endlich jemanden erreichen konnte, wurde mir mitgeteilt, dass es weder möglich sei, den Reisepartner zu ändern (auch nicht gegen Aufpreis), noch eine Lösung wie die Übernahme der Hotels, während ich die Flüge für meinen neuen Reisepartner selbst nochmals neu organisiere.
Es sind noch 8 Wochen bis zur geplanten Reise – dies ist also kein Last-Minute-Anliegen, sondern ein berechtigtes und machbares Anliegen eines Kunden. Ich reise regelmäßig und habe bereits viele Reiseveranstalter genutzt, doch ein derartiger Mangel an Flexibilität und Entgegenkommen ist mir noch nie begegnet.
Ich kann Exoticca daher leider nicht weiterempfehlen und hoffe, dass dieser Veranstalter zukünftig seine Kundenorientierung überdenkt.”
Hallo Vanessa,
vielen Dank für Ihr Feedback.
Unser Support hat sich bereits mit Ihnen bezüglich der Passagieränderung in Verbindung gesetzt, die akzeptiert wurde. Eine E-Mail mit weiteren Details zum neuen Passagier wurde Ihnen bereits zugesendet. Bitte überprüfen Sie Ihren Posteingang.
Wir hoffen, dass diese Lösung Ihren Erwartungen entspricht, und wünschen Ihnen eine tolle bevorstehende Reise!
Beste Grüße,
Exoticca
“We are currently in China on our 5th and last holiday with Exoticca.
The company we really appreciated and showed great loyalty to over the past 4+ years appears to have stopped giving a damn about their customers.
Firstly, with less than a week to our leaving the UK our direct return flights from Chengdu to Heathrow were changed to indirect return flights via Beijing with a 3+hr layover there. No compensation or lounges offered for the inconvenience. When asked if they could either compensate us for this inconvenience or arrange lounge access for us,
they would not take any responsibility, telling us to contact AirChina instead. Since our booking was made by Exoticca agency AirChina will not correspond with us and Exoticca do not want to know.
Then today we find out fellow guests on our two weeks trip are ‘piggybacking’ on our excursions for a rate much cheaper than we prepaid Exoticca before travelling. Our local guide offered our fellow travellers to join our excursions for around half of what we prepaid Exoticca for the same trip. The rep told them because she was doing the trip with us having paid more than double (we paid £65 each for a trip that she is offering them to join us for £30 each), then she could offer them to join in at less than half of what we paid as we had paid her full, therefore already covering the cost of supplying a guide and transport! So I contacted Exoticca and explained how unethical this appeared and they don’t want to know. They stated that they “do not manage the prices charged by our partners in destination”……bearing in mind I let Exoticca know the only reason their partner in destination can offer our fellow travellers this price is due to us two loyal Exoticca customers paying the full whack!
When I made the local rep aware of our dissatisfaction she has given us a cash offering but this falls far short of taking us in line to the much cheaper price our fellow travellers are getting THE EXACT SAME EXCURSIONS WITH THE EXACT SAME GUIDE as we have prepaid Exoticca.
We will never travel with this dishonest and unhelpful company again…..they used to be such a wonderful company but now appear to have massively gone in the wrong direction with customer satisfaction being very low on their list of priorities”
Hello,
Thank you for posting a review and we’re sorry to hear that your experience was not up to standards regarding your excursions.
When excursions are booked with Exoticca we guarantee availability and waiting until the destination can be a risk, if the excursion is full you will not be able to take part or in some cases, excursions may be more expensive in price.
We appreciate that your experience with the cost being lower offered by the local agent is upsetting, and we have received your direct feedback to our team.
We are able to see that our team has communicated to you the difference in cost as compensation.
We hope we can restore your faith in Exoticca and will continue to help you via the email channel.
Regards,
Exoticca
“I have just got back from Sri Lanka. I booked a group holiday to be safe and secure. When I arrived at Colombo airport I found I was the only one in the group. Solo traveller literally meant solo traveller. I had asked Exoticca three time how many in the group and each time they said they didn't have the information. Had I known I would have changed the date. I had to eat alone in the evening and it made what should have been a great experience an ordeal. So far they have offered me a credit. To add to that my driver/guide had a heart attack and passed away half way up Sigiriya Rock. I was not offered a flight home or asked if I wanted to continue on the trip. I was very upset and hardly slept for 3 nights.”
Hello Ros,
We apologize on behalf of everyone at Exoticca. Please know that your situation was an exception. As you can see on other reviews, we are known for taking ownership and caring deeply about our customers. We can’t fix the past but you have our personal commitment to improve our service. We are very sorry to hear about the events during your time in Sri Lanka.
We can see that you are already in communication with a dedicated member of our team, who is assisting you with your feedback. We hope to come to a suitable solution for you soon.
Regards,
Exoticca
“Too much wasted time commuting, arguing and waiting…
This was a disastrous trip with them to Greece and Turkey. They subcontract all their tours who babuzzle travellers into buying extra 3x’s more expensive extra excursions otherwise you get left without transportation back to the hotels (which most are quite far away from the centre of action ie. Istanbul). The reps are inexperienced and for the most part unreachable. They were subcontractors who again combined 3 groups together 65 people on the first day - terrible sooo much wasted time we almost missed our transfer flight to Greece as there was no confirmation or pick up time sent to us! The hotels were substandard in I Stan up La Quinta had to request multiple times cleaners and amenities - see hotel review! Long drives in Turkey to each and every location for short times at highlights, no chance to go back and always waiting in lines or for other people! Free time limited and rest time minimal except in the buses or ferries - but due to extremely large groups and extended travels times due to distances from things (hotel Into the city and between cities) leaving times were FAR TOO EARLY! In Santorini got put in a dungeon room in the basement with no natural Light and wasn’t even hotel from original booking which we did manage to get changed to - El Greco way better than deadalus - 6 pools vs 1, weight room vs. None, unobstructed view vs. View of pharmacy in dangerous corner of street, open air restaurant va. Basement restaurant respectively! Also deadalus had awful staff rock hard beds pillows and headboards and at 5.1ft my feet were hanging over the bed (see hotel Review)! Tour company in Greece also put several groups together including air Canada vacations to maximize profits. Hotel in Athens great location but very sketchy area to the point that the concierge came running out to tell us to stick to the main road - also old outdated with small elevators and dangerous stairs - I was called to help a lady who fell down them and sprain her ankle as I am a healthcare professional, I almost fell down them myself! It should be noted I have complained twice since the trip and in multiple emails and what’s app conversations with no reply from Exoticca - once you pay they don’t care! I have been given credits but cannot use them unless I book with them again - highly unlikely!”
Hi Dan,
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We are sorry to hear that the trip did not meet your expectations.
We would like to know more about your trip to check if we can do anything else for you. We sent you a DM requesting your booking ID.
Once that we have, we will contact you regarding this matter.
Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Exoticca
“We have been dispute with exottica and Amex on a cancellation of a trip which we soon initiated day after booking to go to Equador. Obviously there was uproar in the country next day where it was advised not to travel. To date exottica are adding they have refunded our money, however they cannot prove it. We have been left with a large sum of money to pay Amex who will not accept crediting unless exottica provides some form of credit note from the merchant. This has been ongoing for 10months and over 100emails/ phone calls between the two to resolve. Still have no responses.”
Hi Rick,
Thank you for your review.
Please update your review to include your booking number as, under the email address from which we received your review, it did not match any bookings in our system.
We would love the opportunity to check the status of your open requests with us and see how we can expedite them for you.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
Exoticca
“Very disappointed with Exoticca. I had a lovely trip to Egypt and decided to go on a trip to Guatemala. Had a terrible time with your on the ground travel partner. I got significantly ill and no one seemed to care. Not from Exoticca and not from Maya Sky. No one followed up once I returned home either. You'd think that a woman traveling on her own would receive follow up after getting very ill from the food at the hotel your travel partner booked. But nothing. My conversation with your customer service was long and tedious but I followed up. I was offered a $100 credit on another trip. That's it. I plan to contact ASTA and USA based government agencies that police things like this. Exoticca deflected any responsibility in the final email I was sent. What an incredible joke. I've asked to be put in contact with the grievance redress officer. Very disappointed. I planned to go to Egypt again but I will book directly with Planet Tours in Egypt.”
Hello Lisa,
We are truly sorry to hear about your experience in Guatemala.
We have carefully reviewed the issues you raised, including the challenges on the bus journey and your concerns with the hotel. We are addressing these with our local partners to improve service and support for our travelers.
An expert is already handling your case and is in direct communication with you. For any further questions, please continue to respond to the same thread.
Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Regards,
Exoticca
“the website is terrible. dates of trip didnt match with flights. I called and operator didnt know the city - halifax, i was leaving from and was no help.
Couldnt book optional activities and cant tell if I need early check in and the one i talked to knew even less.”
Hello Truis,
Thank you for sharing your feedback.
We are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with the services provided.
We understand your request to add excursions to your upcoming trip. However, our terms and conditions, which are highlighted at the time of booking, require that excursion requests be made at least 30 days before the departure date.
As your departure is now less than 30 days away, we regret that we cannot accommodate your request. That said, we recommend reaching out to our team at your destination, as many of our travelers are often able to book excursions upon arrival, subject to availability.
Thank you for your understanding, and we wish you an amazing trip ahead!
Regards,
Exoticca
“Awful/non-existent customer service
Little/no suport when on a trip.
Hit & miss whether the local guide is any good....we went to India and ended up telling the guide about his own country!”
Hi Nigel,
We are sorry to know that your trip to India did not meet your expectations.
Following the call with one of our agents, we have carried out an investigation to understand what happened and to be able to find solutions. Please check your inbox to have all the details about the outcome.
If you need anything else, please let us know.
Regards,
Exoticca
“Be careful of this company's advertisement, they said that they would give me $3000 as a result of my next booking.
While booking new trip, I asked them to use $500 reward I have received from my Greece trip. Agent told me that we will give you 10% discount which is $1290 so pick one. I ended up choosing 10% discount and let $500 expired.
month later, I was given on $1710 reward money instead of $3000. After so many calls, holding on phone, explaining different customer service agents all over again, opening service tickets, still they are saying that we substract $1290 discount form your $3000 reward. How can you take money from something was going to show up as a result of booking?????
I stop promoting this company until I see what are they gong to do with my opent case.
I was stupide to book trip six months in advance to get $3000 reward which is still being offered.
Be careful, be careful, be careful!!
So many better companies out there.”
Hello,
Thank you for your review and we are sorry to hear that you have experienced issues with your booking. We can see that you made a booking during our Mad Money promotion, which after making a booking entitles customers to a $3k reward to be used at 10% of future bookings for the next 3 years.
We can see you also had a $500 booking reward in your account. On your initial booking, your agent has applied 10% discount from your £3k instead of the $500 as it is a higher value.
We apologize if there has been some miscommunication and if you would have preferred to use only the $500.
Your case is already open with our team who are investigating your booking call to determine the issue and as soon as we have more information we will contact you.
We thank you for your patience while we work towards a solution.
Regards,
Exoticca
