smarTours Reviews

Name: smarTours
Address: 500 7TH AVE, 8TH FL, NEW YORK, New York
Rating: 4.41

4.4 Rating 1,665 Reviews

86 %

of reviewers recommend smarTours

4.4

Based on 1,665 reviews

Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	3.8 out of 5

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Phone:

800-337-7773

Email:

info@smartours.com

Location:

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

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smarTours 1 star review on 27th May 2025

Dominion

smarTours 5 star review on 14th December 2024

Diana Potts

smarTours 5 star review on 20th November 2024

Michael And

smarTours 5 star review on 12th October 2024

Michael And Bedelia Sachelari

766

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“The tour and the tour guide in Russia was exceptional. What I was not so happy with is that the flights to Russia was cancelled and we were told not to go to the airport via voice mail and email. Some of the people who did not get the notices went to the airport and was able to get a flight via Swiss Air. Others lost a day waiting for the next day flights, When we got to the airport there was noone to greet us. We took a taxi to the hotel and the guide told us that she cannot reimburse us for the taxi cost even though we had a receipt but that we had to get it back from Smartours and you told us that you would not reimburse that and we would have to file a claim with the insurance company. What a SCAM!!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Once again, two different prices for the same trip. Not GOOD!!! This is the second time that I am aware of this. How many of your VIP customers had a price that wasn’t YOUR best price! NOT RIGHT. I now have to second guess what I should be paying! Trips are terrific, both itinerary and service.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Positive guides, hotels etc. Optional tours absurdly expensive and not necessary. Enjoyed mix of major cities and excursions to beautiful and interesting venues.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Positive: Kenya -Tanzania Lodges, food, game-drives, driver/guides were all good Negative: Tipping for bags, dining room attendants, escorts, etc. was just too much (not dollar-wise, but to have ready cash available). SmarTours should include all tipping in the total price so that customers have a pleasant, cash-free experience throughout. Also, for those of us who took the Tanzania extension, there was no need to hop from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro. We could have gone there in just 4 hours on the road across the border. What a waste of time going through immigration, customs, security, check-ins etc.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Overall was ok. The highlight of the tour was Great Wall. But enough time was not given there.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“3 great vacations; 3 great prices!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“The Smartours representative, Renata, was excellent. Very knowledgeable. The hotel in Budapest I would rate 4/5. Hotels in Vienna and Prague were a little far from town so I’d rate them 3/5. My biggest complaint is with the company, not the tour. I don’t understand why they would not have told me that the tour started in Poland, not Budapest, where I joined the group?? I would definitely have joined the tour at the beginning. But I didn’t even know about that. Before I left I was even trying to arrange to go to Poland as an add on on my own. I went to Germany instead but I really wanted to see Poland. I was very disappointed to hear my group had been there before I arrived.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Great except that the Guiness outing was not what I expected. I thought how beer is made, NOT drinking early in the day...seemed strange.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“We had a great tour leader, a bit of a sergeant major but sure knew his stuff. Could easily have missed the " shopping" at the end of the tour. Didn't buy things along the way as we were told everything we would want would be there at better prices. Not so, sure wish I had bought more along the way. Came home without some things I really would like to have as remembrances of the trip. Most accommodations were good, the hotel in Swaziland was a bit tired and the hotel room in Sandton was very tiny, no room to open a suitcase. Loved the trip.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I enjoyed Columbia, but I feel that I did not have enough free time to explore the cities. In the coffee country we were isolated on a resort with only one restaurant and the grounds for 3 nights. I understand that there isn't much out there, but I would have preferred to cut it short a day. Not any time alone in Bogota and very little in Medellin.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Our tour guide was really knowledgeable and lovely and made the experience so enjoyable! The choices of optional excursions were plentiful and interesting. I would have liked better hotels and the layover we had at the airport coming into Helsinki with nothing planned was not acceptable.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I took the June 19 - July 2nd tour this year. We had a wonderful tour director (Elvis). He has a great sense of humor, patience and his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of the area is admirable. He is quite an asset to SmarTours. The local guides were very good, the hotels good. A wonderful tour all around with great travel companions. The American Airlines flight from Prague to Philadelphia was the worst flight I was ever on in my long history of air travel. Nothing worked and the food was terrible.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Poor customer service. SmarTours received the $300 deposit check and cashed it on November 30, 2018, but claimed that the check was not received on December 6, 2018, and refused to do research. Misleading tour dates. SmarTours advertised tour dates as July 7 to July 19, 2019, but actual travel dates are July 8 to July 18, 2019. Two very tiring early morning departures to the airports. The visit to the World Heritage Site Borobudur Temple is too short. Tour Director Jack is excellent, hotels are great, meals are satisfying.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“The tour guide was great. I enjoyed the stuff I saw. He picked great sites to take us to. I enjoyed the food. Did not like Jungle Vilas hotel. We passed so many better looking hotels it was hard to believe it was upscale. It seemed like we were the only guests and the hotel was way down a dusty road in the middle of nowhere. If I had wanted a safari I would have picked a different tour. Some of the places our guide took us to shop seemed a bit pricey. Yes, he was guaranteeing quality. But exploring on our own we found shops which displayed comparable reputation and goods at less expensive pricing. The so called farewell dinner was an absolute disaster. The selection of the restaurant and food was so bad we could have skipped it. In fact, that's the kind of dinner you take your guests to when you want to say "farewell, please don't come back again." If it wasn't for the guide, we'd be bad mouthing that part of the trip all over social media.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Scandinavia Explorer tour guide, Alexander Koutsikopoulos was not at the same level as the other tour guides I've had with SmarTours. My two major complaints were: 1. He would withhold information when I asked him a question about the next days events and then he never posted an itinerary in the hotel lobby. 2. He didn't provide whisper listening devices for guided tours so it was nearly impossible to hear what the local tour guides were telling us. Alex blamed SmarTours for the lack of the listening devices. Also, this was a large group of 44 people and that's a lot of folks to lead around the world. Please consider offering smaller groups at a higher cost like GATE1 does with their DISCOVERY Tours.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“We have participated in 4 SmarTours Trips. The first 2 were to Eastern Europe and China. This past year we went to Israel on May 21, 2018 and then to Great Britain on September 21, 2018. Your tour guides have all been wonderful. In Israel the guide was Dan Ofri. He was wonderful. In Great Britain the guide was Andrew. He too was terrific. He was very professional, very helpful and delightful to be around. In Great Britain one of the optional tours should have been offered as an activity we could do on our own. It was to the Beatles Museum in Liverpool. It was a 5 minute walk from our hotel and as Seniors we could have purchased the activity cheaper on our own. The other complaints were about the hotel in Edinburgh. Porter service was not eagerly offered and rooms on the 1st floor required dragging suitcases up two small staircases. Also dinners offered as part of the package were not as pleasant as they should have been. The first was perfectly awful, presented in a conference room and as we were a small group of eleven was not very celebratory. The second dinner which was supposed to be in a nearby restaurant was an improvement held in the hotel’s restaurant. We have enjoyed traveling with SmarTours. The quality of your tours is excellent as is the value of your pricing. Very truly yours, Diane and Leonard Soifer. Israel May 21, 2018 Great Britain September 21, 2018”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Overall the trip was very good. Felt we saw a lot of Japan. Our tour director, Yoko, was phenomenal and absolutely made the trip. Her knowledge, expertise and warm personality were outstanding. She went above and beyond to assist everyone. Can’t say enough about her. However there are several things that we did not like. We purchased land only and I felt that smarTours was not customer friendly after that. 1) It seemed that since we weren’t doing the whole package their response was “too bad so sad” you’re on your own. There was no help or basic information given on ways to get from airport to hotel. There was no way to see if we could be picked up by bus picking others up even though we landed within 5” of those booking entire trip. Receiving information on confirmed trip with hotel info didn’t help in arranging bus transfers early. 2) We had to prepack overnight clothes etc twice and carry with us as our luggage was sent another way. We had NO warning ahead of the trip regarding this. Not good! 3) we did not like having so many meals on our own. 4) Voice boxes for hearing guide had a lot of static. I’m not sure that we will use smarTours again. We were lucky to have a terrific guide that helped make our trip.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Our tour to Bali and Java with Smartours was very enjoyable and more relaxing than other destinations that we have traveled. Our tour director "Jack" spoke excellent English and was able to answer all of our questions. All of the hotels exceeded our expectations and probably had the best included breakfasts of any of the many guided tours we have taken. After seeing the somewhat chaotic traffic particularly in Java we were thankful to be in a comfortable motor coach with an experienced driver. Two highlights: the worlds largest Buddhist temple, Borobudur, was amazing at sunrise. Shortly after sunup the small crowd disappeared and we stayed long enough to have the massive temple to just the Smartours group to explore in detail. Secondly, the whitewater rafting optional tour near Ubud is not to be missed. Rafting in the tropical waters of Bali is so much more comfortable then the snow melt filled rivers of the Colorado Rockies.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------”

smarTours 4 star review on 17th June 2019

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Posted 6 years ago

“Would have liked more food options than the same "westernized" chinese food for every meal...some of us are more adventurous eaters and would like to experience different foods than we can get in America. The ear pieces worked well when the guide was using the microphone. Frequently though he'd move the microphone away from his mouth then close again. Consequently, we'd hear it too loud or not at all. It was hard to keep the volume adjustment on my ear piece at a comfortable level. Missed a lot of what was being talked about. Also at times the group got realy spread out and those of us at the back were out of range of the guide and didn't hear a thing. China's history is fascinating but only if we can hear it.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“We was rush when it came to shopping.”

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Posted 6 years ago

smarTours is rated 4.4 based on 1,665 reviews