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smarTours Reviews

4.4 Rating 1,658 Reviews

86 %

of reviewers recommend smarTours

Company Reviews

Product Reviews

4.4

Based on 1,658 reviews


Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	3.7 out of 5

About smarTours:

smarTours is a leading provider of direct-to-consumer, affordable travel experiences to exotic global destinations. The Company offers travelers curated, pre-packaged itineraries to over 50 destinations across the globe. By offering tours directly to consumers, the Company provides premium-quality experiences at value prices, and as a result, has cultivated a highly passionate and loyal community of repeat travelers. More than 200,000 travelers have taken a smarTours trip since the founding of the Company in 1996. smarTours is… the smarter way to see the world.

Phone:

800-337-7773

Email:

info@smartours.com

Location:

500 7TH AVE, 8TH FL,
NEW YORK
New York
10018

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smarTours 5 star review on 29th April 2024

smarTours 5 star review on 29th April 2024

smarTours 5 star review on 29th April 2024

smarTours 5 star review on 29th April 2024

smarTours 5 star review on 29th April 2024

smarTours 4 star review on 23rd April 2024

smarTours 5 star review on 21st April 2024

721

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 2 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“The tour director in Egypt is very knowledgeable in ancient Egyptology. However she needs to exercise leadership in taking care of the tour group members from beginning to the final dinner events. She delegated her responsibility to someone who lacks the diligence of head counting before start of activities. There was no follow-up or warning on the wait up calls not happening from the Hotel. The travel flights in Egypt were often too early in the morning and too intense. We all did not receive wake-up calls at 5 am and I almost missed the flight back to th US. The assigned tour director was not present to correct the mishap. I used to have confidence in joining SmartTours in the past. I am sorry to loose such preference after this 10 days Tour to Egypt.”

Posted 5 years ago

“1. the most ill-organized tour we have ever had... 2. egyptair in-flight services from new york to cairo and back was much below standard… 3. the welcome dinner on the first day was not up to the mark... we entered the dining room last and was seated in a corner table and not even supplied all the items that was served to others... quality of the main dish were below standard... 4. on dec 6 our second day in cairo, there was an optional half a day tour to memphis and sakkara but the cairo tour guide decided to add a new tour in the evening to go to the sound and light show in the pyramids... he decided the cost $46.00 per person, although earlier in the bus he said it would be $44.00/person... when we went to pay in the evening before the tour, he denied taking any credit card, he wanted cash $46.00 (not $44.00 as he said before) or 830 egyptian pounds/person that forced us to go to the ATM machine and get some local pounds, the exchange rate was somewhere around 17.5 pounds/dollar plus some fees... so we paid him about $48.00/person (830 pounds), which was not fair... smartour informed us earlier that optional tour payment could be made by credit card... so we tried not to carry heavy cash during the trip... 5. only one optional tour was listed for luxor on dec 11 (luxor musium), but they arranged 3 tours, 1 on dec 10 (evening luxor city tour by horse carriage $15.00 per person and 2 on dec 11 (visit banana island by boat $2400 per person and visit luxor museum $36.00 per person)... we paid luxor tour guide by credit card for these 3 tours... we were never told before about these extra 2 optional tours by smartour... 6. we never had these kind of early morning flight anywhere we visited before with other tour companies... for both cairo to aswan and luxor to cairo flights we had to wake up at 2:30 am to get ready for the flights... 7. the farewell dinner at marriott was awful... dry roasted chicken breast with mashed potato was the main course and there were no other alternative...”

Posted 5 years ago

“The closely scheduled flights resulted in us missing a flight and missing a full day and night of our tour. No one called from Smartours to walk us through what to do when this happened or even express concern. We each fended for ourselves in Shanghai. Given that we missed a day we had to choose between seeing the Mekong Delta or seeing the tunnels used by the North Vietnamese soldiers. Most of us wanted to do both so we were sorely disappointed. Our guide was very good (Tommy) so this rating in no way represents the work he did. The tour was good under his guidance. At the end of the trip we once again had problems. We were told that we could use an airport lounge at a discounted rate. Someone met us at the airport, but she was not able to communicate well with the people in charge. It took us over an hour of standing around arguing with the airport personnel before we were allowed to enter the lounge. They wanted one of us to put the whole bill on one credit card. They finally relented and let us each pay individually. I commend you for the lounge idea, but the poor communication and wait was unbearable in the middle of the night. I took out the trip insurance, and can submit my hotel bill to them. However, that does not make up for the lost day or the added stress of this poor handling of the flight arrangements. I am requesting reimbursement of the value of the missed day and the inconvenience caused me. I have taken nine trips with Smartours and have always raved about the company to my friends. In fact two friends joined me to make this their first Smartours experience. Lucky for them they made their own flight arrangements and had no problems with their air travel. Again, the land portion of the trip was great, and I would give our guide and drivers excellent marks. I am very dissatisfied, however, with the flight arrangements.”

Posted 5 years ago

“you have got to be kidding.. 10 characters is an insult.”

Posted 5 years ago

“Racist tour directors, and bus drivers....no water on long bus rides....leaves horrible taste. Hope you shut down.”

Posted 5 years ago

“I've been on many tours with othe companies and was generally pleased with Smartours. However, there were things that could have gone better. Other tour companies were treated as groups at the airports which significantly reduced waiting time . You did not do this. We also had a huge group from one family which overwhelmed our group and our tour guide. We should have known about this when booking because it was a very stressful situation. Also the room for the last night was third class. The experience at the Dead Sea was deplorable. My friend and I did not get to enjoy this because the dressing room and showers were so disgusting that we would not use them. People waited for over 30 minutes for a towel and then a group pulled them out of the wagon!”

Posted 5 years ago

“I have contacted smart to several times a problem I had with the flight to Budapest Which was delayed and then I missed my connection Babe I missing a half day I have my first day on the tour. Smart tours kept giving me the runaround telling me someone would get back to me and I still have not heard back.”

Posted 5 years ago

“I sent a long e-mail review of my trip to Ritu.”

Posted 5 years ago

“We have taken a number of SmarTours packages in the past and have always had a good experience. That was not the case on our recent Australia/New Zealand tour. The major problems are listed below: - Generally there was too much free time allocated with only expensive optional tours to fill in the time. Not enough activities/excursions were included in the basic package - Even when optional excursions were purchased it was often the responsibility of the tour group participants to find there own way to the starting point. - There were only two meals included not counting the Farm Stay meal. - The Farm Stay, which was supposed to be the highlight of the tour, was very disappointing. Our hosts, while very hospitable, did not actually have a farm. It was a very modern, contemporary style house which was nice but there was no farm experience. In addition we were paired with a couple who did not want lamb, or fish so we ended up with the lowest common denominator - what appeared to be a chicken from a "big box" store. We had been hoping for a traditional New Zealand dinner such as lamb. - The tour guide was knowledgeable and enthusiastic but, being younger, he might not have been the best match for the age and interests of the older tour participants.”

Posted 5 years ago

“I recently returned from A Taste of Spain. I was disappointed in several areas. The first night and I think the 4th night Smartours provided the dinners. Both of those nights it was "fish" that was served. Not chicken, not dairy or anything other than fish. How can that be the only one dish served? There were 12 of us out of 40 that would not eat fish. I offered to buy my dinner from the hotel restaurant and was told not allowed. How can a big hotel and tour company handle customers like us this way? I really could not believe this was the way we would be handled. I still sit here as I write this so upset and mad. I was told by the tour guide that he called his office in Madrid Smartours hires ? and they said don’t do anything. I found out you use an agency to staff this. Ask this agency how they can say that to “your” customer. Breakfasts were excellent Every day.. Another area was some of the hotels we had. Most were nice but there were two that needed to be upgraded and was told they would be written up. Example we checked in like 4pm in one night hotels stays and had to have our luggage out by 8am next morning. This is funny, One room had two separate beds night table between. I wanted to sleep with my wife so I called down was told sorry no other room. I then went down to the front desk said I was on my honeymoon and two separate beds, and they found a king room. See if you speak up face to face. On a very positive note the tour guide that we had who ran this trip and was with us was Luis David Zapata Madroñal, He was very knowledgeable polished and so concerned. But he should have figured a way to get me food. I was even willing to pay. But still a guy that was so well respected. He was so pleasurable, and did his job with class and warmth. . He felt so bad that there was no way he was going to be able to substitute the fish, He and the bus driver we had were excellent. After my letter to Smartours they said they would give me a $100 off on my next trip. I had heard OK trips from friends but don't go to Spain with them.and question the other trips, but as I said the other friends were happy on several of the others. We went with 3 other couples that have used them in the past. They were upset with this trip big time. There is my input just a bad way to Start up a trip and review. Someone in management should have said yes get the food they want, don't ever make it fish. 2nd time fish was so bad also my wife took one bite (and she likes fish) and never ate another bit along with other people. Smartours president make that call to the company how hosted it for you. PS what do the questions below refer to, delivery of What, Made the delivery of what, item damaged- what See no one read the proof on this have no idea what they are talking about, do you?”

Posted 5 years ago

“The cruise portion was awful - very old boat and not well kept, food awful and one fellow passenger got bug bites most likely from mattress. Bus was old with broken seats. The crew was very nice and did the best with what was there. Granville and other tour leader were terrific as well as bus driver.”

Posted 5 years ago

“Traveling with friends, I wanted to be close to in lodge bookings. Smar tours had no ability you sais to do this before hand and was left up to the tour guide to handle the logistics and he was not thrilled to say the least! We had to remind him with each destination. Also my very good traveling friend has a dietary restriction which not a choice but a medical need was never addressed by our guide at each food venue unless we inquired before hand. Needless to say he was made to feel very uncomfortable and made to feel that he was complaining at every meal. The guide diffentely was not looking out for his needs during the trip! We were constantly in need of bottled water, one would have thought that Smar Tours could have provided at least 1 bottle each day on the bus when we traveled to another venue! Also written communication on each days agenda....times,location and departure info etc. Posted somewhere, not having to be committed to memory only !!”

Posted 5 years ago

“Local tour guides were not competent and limited in their guiding the tour. More time given to go on our own without guide. Some of the hotels were not good. Worst of all we had to handle our luggage from hotel to bus, bus to Airpot and everywhere.Few extra dollar charges would have taken care for convenience and comfort. Best stay and place was ULLENSVANG HOTEL”

Posted 5 years ago

“We have been on many tours with Smartours, but the Rhine River cruise was simply unacceptable for us. The river boat was so short-handed, that meals often last two to three hours. The breakfast buffet was in such a tiny area that it was often impossible to work our way through the crowd to get an adequate breakfast. All the tours were walking tours, which would not have been so bad, but long distances were covered without potty breaks. It is such a shame, because the cities that we visited were very nice, but we couldn't enjoy them much will all the problems we had.”

Posted 5 years ago

“We have been on many tours with Smartours, but the Rhine River cruise was simply unacceptable for us. The river boat was so short-handed, that meals often last two to three hours. The breakfast buffet was in such a tiny area that it was often impossible to work our way through the crowd to get an adequate breakfast. All the tours were walking tours, which would not have been so bad, but long distances were covered without potty breaks. It is such a shame, because the cities that we visited were very nice, but we couldn't enjoy them much will all the problems we had.”

Posted 5 years ago

“The tour guide was not acceptable. He was about 40 minutes meeting us at the airport in Porto. On one optional tour, he left a patron behind (we had left our meeting point 5 minutes early. Eventually, we had to turn around and get her). Also, he never apologized to her. He continually talked about himself, his sister, and family. Seemed like he had diarrhea of the mouth. Of all the Smartours trips we have been on, he was the worst.”

Posted 5 years ago

“Most of the guided tours were done on the day we arrived on a new city - before we checked in a hotel - that meant the tours were done after a long flight or bus ride. Also, no "Tour Guide System" was available for a group of 43 tourists meaning when soft speaking Tour Guides were talking only a few closest to the Guide could hear anything. Our last tour using SmarTour to Croatia was Excellent. It appears since then the quality of service has gone down. So no more SmarTours for us in future.”

Posted 5 years ago

“Have been on many tours and Smart Tours treats sole travelers terribly. Solo travelers all received sub par rooms in the back of hotels over looking parking lots and construction sites DESPITE PAYING A SINGLE SUPPLEMENT. When we asked the tour guide for help, he refused to intervene stating "single travelers always get bad rooms, that's the travel business." Been traveling solo for years and never encountered this level of bad treatment. We emailed the main office while on the trip to complain and didn't get the courtesy of a response.”

Posted 5 years ago

“I have no issue with smartours, my issue was with river cruise that I give 3 on the review, they have american passengers but they don’t speak English, tour director had attitude and prejudice, food very poor quality, half of the ship got sick because of food but only thing they did , they put gloves on, fruit was cut in pieces so was exposed, milk and yogurt was served in the pitcher, sometimes they had yogurt in container, and they were not kept in ice that’s why people got sick.”

Posted 5 years ago

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smarTours is rated 4.4 based on 1,658 reviews