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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 21st April 2024

smarTours 5 star review on 21st April 2024

smarTours 5 star review on 13th April 2024

smarTours 5 star review on 13th April 2024

smarTours 5 star review on 8th April 2024

smarTours 5 star review on 7th April 2024

smarTours 4 star review on 1st April 2024

714

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“We experienced the worst guide in my extensive travels on our trip to Greece. SmarTours should change their contract travel agency in Athens. Our first guide, Gina, was disorganized and droned on forever repeating unimportant information, making most of the travelers tune out. Then she was quite upset when someone missed important information. She lost 3 guests, on the way back to the bus, at the initial dinner in Athens and the entire group was delayed an hour while she tried to find them. After returning from the cruise portion we replaced Gina with a second very good guide, Stratos. However, at the final dinner, the agency sent a third guide with whom we had had no previous contact. The cruise and hotels were an excellent value as was the Emerates flight from Newark to Athens. Excellent itinerary, except a listed stop at Epidaurus, one of the sites on the mainland on the way back to Athens was not made. This had the best preserved Greek amphitheater in Europe!”

Posted 1 year ago

Hi Glenn. Thank you for your feedback. We strive to provide wonderful experiences and it sounds as if this tour did not live up to expectations. We will be investigating further regarding the issues reported with the tour guide. We are happy to hear that you enjoyed the cruise and hotels. We will also look into the stop you mentioned. Thank you for joining us!

Posted 1 year ago

“Generally the hotels are first class and well located. In my 10-12 tours only once the hotel was not centrally located and that was in Santiago, Chile, as part of the Patagonia tour.”

Posted 1 year ago

Hi Diego! Thank you for your feedback.

Posted 1 year ago

“I already submitted my "experience" a few days ago.”

Posted 1 year ago

Hi Santo-We're sorry to hear this. If you would like to speak to someone regarding your experience, we would be happy to have a member of our customer care team reach out.

Posted 1 year ago

“Excellent tour director”

Posted 1 year ago

Thank you for your review!

Posted 1 year ago

“This was my 5th SmarTours trip and by far, the most disappointing. The land portion of the trip was fine; the hotels were great and the tour directors very knowledgeable. But, the ship left lots to be desired!!! I understand and sympathize with the strains put on the travel industry due to covid. I also understand that the ship recently underwent a renovation. Someone clearly overlooked the cabins and the quality of the food in the dining room.. Both left much to be desired. First the rooms; I have been on a number of cruises but this one ranks the worst. There was ONE outlet in the cabin and it lacked anywhere to put clothing except that which needed to be hung. Our hair dryer had the fits: it started and stopped repeatedly. My cabin mate and I paid extra for a window which because of heavy condensation and DIRT was nearly impossible to see out of. I honestly think this extra charge should be refunded to those who paid it as having a window view was utterly useless!! Before I go further, I do want to commend the cabin and dining room staff. They were professional and always willing to help. By the way, their service is the reason I rated the trip with 3 stairs and not none! Dining Room: The food, though plentiful, was always lukewarm if not cold. I NEVER had hot coffee, instead I was asked if I wanted and accepted hot milk! I respectfully recommend that officers from Smartours take a trip on the ship to see what I am talking about. I understand that this tip has a monopoly of inter-island travel; in fact ,there was a number of tour groups on it and that this was only its second trip out since the restrictions due to covid were lifted. Certainly, more time/attention should have been given to ensuring its comfortably overall and its attention to detail in particular before it sailed. One last comment: I wish to commend Marina for her attention give to me personally as I was hurt on the trip. She accompanied me to two hospitals and made sure I was well taken care of! Thank you Marina!! I was seriously considering taking the Portugal tour in 2023; now I am not so sure....”

Posted 1 year ago

Thank you for your honest feedback, Judy. We are so sorry to hear you had a disappointing experience and that we failed to live up to what you've come to expect from smarTours. You are right that there have definitely been some bumps in the restart of travel, for us, and the many partners we work with. Still, many of the points you raise are things we should have been out in front of. We are reviewing these issues with the quality of the food and the rooms with our partners to determine what we can change and where we can make improvements, and we thank you for raising them. We are glad to hear that your tour directors and the staff on the ship were strong, and we hope that you were still able to enjoy the beauty, history and culture of the region on your travels. We do hope that you will give us another chance again. Our Portugal tour is wonderful!

Posted 1 year ago

“We did the Baltic States tour. The tour itself and the director were fine. Our unhappiness is with the booking process, customer support, and overall fairness. We had also booked a back-to-back trip to Russia, which was canceled. Can you believe that because it was "suspended" we did not get our money back. And, because I made the whole payment for me and my son, only I can get a credit for future travel unless I pay a $199 transfer fee. I wrote the one check but he paid me for his share. Avoid these people.”

Posted 1 year ago

Dear Cynthia, thank you for sharing your feedback and we are sorry you had such a frustrating experience. The war involving Ukraine and Russia was unforeseen, so we hope you understand the need for us to suspend any travel to Russia at this time. Please reach out to our customer service team and we will be happy to split your credit between you and your son, or transfer it to your son entirely, if that is your desire. There will be no fee for this transfer. We hope that you were able to enjoy the beauty, history and culture of the Baltic States on your tour, and hope that you will use your credit to give us another chance in exploring a bucketlist destination around the world. Safe travels! The smarTours team

Posted 1 year ago

“Price was a good value, but things were not smooth. I was disallusioned during my booking process. Greece is a beautiful country and I would recommend seeing it, might be better with a different company.”

Posted 1 year ago

“GOOD STUFF: We covered a lot of ground that we would not have been able to cover on our own. The coordination of transportation and accommodations is good. The value is good. CHALLEGES: The pre-travel communication was terrible. Customer service provided textbook answers that were already located on the web-site. The final itinerary was provided VERY late leaving little to no opportunity for seat upgrades for such a long flight. The tour guides that I have had lacked diversity and sensitivity to nonwhite audiences. The cultural experiences highlighted on the agenda for South Africa were canceled and sufficient alternatives were not provided. There seemed to be a disconnect between our guide and SmarTours because he did not have most recent agenda and opportunities were missed. And we had a lot of unnecessary downtime, especially given our stop to highlight destinations were often rushed and cut short. These are once in a lifetime opportunities and I cannot trust SmarTours with my experiences again. I missed too many opportunities on this last trip that I can never get back because of lack of organization and proper communication.”

smarTours 3 star review on 26th May 2022

Posted 1 year ago

Dear Anonymous, thank you for sharing your honest feedback. We are sorry we did not live up to your expectations either prior to or during the trip. Making our tour documentation available earlier has been challenging during these covid times, as guidance changes frequently, so we have pushed our timing back on making these available. We are always looking for ways to improve our tours, so we will follow up on your feedback about the tour guide's lack of sensitivity as well as the itinerary shortcomings to see where we can make improvements for future travelers. We hope to regain your trust for a future trip with us.

Posted 1 year ago

“While Ireland is still a beautiful country, the long days of travel by bus were extremely tiring. Not enough time was given at most stops to enjoy them.”

Posted 1 year ago

Thank you for this feedback, Linda. We appreciate feedback, both positive and constructive, as we are always looking for ways to improve. We've noted this feedback about the pacing and will keep that in mind as we review and update this itinerary.

Posted 1 year ago

“the magical ireland tour was indeed magical. the place is gorgeous. however the drawbacks were two: lack of a true tour director with updated postings and the truly poor administration of the returning covid tests have caused me to rate this tour 3 out of 5”

Posted 1 year ago

Thank you for your feedback, James. We've historically had great success with our driver guides in Ireland, but your feedback is noted and we are reviewing our setup. We're sorry for the poor experience with the covid return tests. This has been challenging to organize as things keep changing, but we will note your experience with our local partners to see what we can do better.

Posted 1 year ago

“As a company doing business in the time of Covid-19 Smartours did very well. I traveled "Land Only" so not a typical trip. The tour to the UAE was modified two weeks prior to departure and required that I make hotel and ground transportation changes. My trip was Oct-Nov 2021 and I am still awaiting a refund for tours that were cancelled by Smartours. My family and I learned that we do not enjoy traveling with a group. They were late every day and did not comply with mask wearing on the bus.”

Posted 2 years ago

“The price is good for all the goods and services provided though I think they can do better, such as improving the quality of the dinner. The welcome dinner and farewell dinner were both lousy. The tour guide was friendly, knowledgeable and very helpful. Unfortunately, I did not receive a digital copy of the group photo he has taken and upon making an inquiry with SmarTours, I was told that I would have to call a certain number in Istanbul myself. SmarTours could not help me procure that photo. This is disappointing.”

Posted 2 years ago

“We felt our trip should have been postponed. We made it home without contracting the Coronavirus by the skin of our teeth.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hello Nancy, Thank you for your feedback and we're sorry for the frustration you experienced. As COVID-19 emerged, we tried to make the best decisions we could with the information available at the time. We certainly understand your frustration, and as we learned more about the novel coronavirus, we did change our approach. We hope you were still able to enjoy your trip and are happy that you and your group returned to the U.S. safely. We hope you'll consider traveling with us again in the future and that you'll continue to share your feedback with us so we can continue to improve our services based on traveler feedback likes yours. Thank you, The smarTours Team

Posted 2 years ago

“The tour was well planned with a good mix of Cape Town, Kruger Park, Johannesburg and other activities. There was ample free time and flexibility with choosing optional excursions. However the one negative was the 2 day plan at Kruger. We were told that the first day was through utilizing an inferior vehicle (being the big coach) where we wouldn't be able to go everywhere and the view would be through the glass windows. The second day was with an open air jeep with a ranger who knew the park and had a walkie talkie system with other rangers to find the animals. We could opt to have the first day with the jeep for an extra cost. This was not outlined in the itinerary and is underhanded. The tour operator, Daryl Howes, was very knowledgeable about South Africa, particularly the history of Apartheid. He was impressive, like a walking encyclopedia. Many people enjoyed him, however I found him a bit old to be a guide leader. He was easily agitated when people were noisy or were not sitting down when he was counting to make sure everyone was present. Yes, this is important but there was only 18 in our group. Sometimes he would count 3 or more times up and down the coach, and he was not able to do so unless we were all in our seats. Standing still on the bus was not an option. There were conflicts between a few people in our group (not with me) and I was told that he didn't hear both sides of the story. He insisted on making sure our group sat together at meals. There were people in the group that made loners felt welcome so no one was left apart so there was no need to insist on everyone sitting together. He gets flustered too easily. Finally, Daryl explained the following morning's activities on the coach, including breakfast and check out times. This is easily forgotten, especially if some people may be sleeping on the coach. The itineary for the next day would be better conveyed by a sheet of paper in the lobby of the hotel or a paper passed around that everyone could photograph. This is better organized and was done on other tours I've experienced with Trafalgar and Globus.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hello Ray, Thank you for your detailed feedback. We rely on traveler feedback like yours to help us continue to refine and enhance our tours. We'll be sure to reexamine our documents to share more information about the vehicle options in Kruger. Darryl normally receives high praise, and we're sorry that he didn't meet your expectations. We appreciate your comments and feedback and hope you'll consider taking another bucket list adventure with us in the future! The smarTours Team

Posted 2 years ago

“The tour was sold as from 2/2 to 12/2 but in fact we left on 2/3& came back on 11/2 & because of this the schedule was jammed & very tiring . We flew in overnight & instead of getting straight to the hotel to relax & get used to the altitude we had to be on the bus the whole day visiting & travelling . Some of us came from the west coast & had already spent the day before departure traveling .. I think rearranging the schedule is a must”

Posted 4 years ago

“The actual tour was fine. The two guides were excellent - very knowledgeable and accommodating. The hotels were lovely and well located. The problem was the trip was misrepresented. The trip was advertised as January 10 -19. In reality we left January 11 and left on Jan. 18 to arrive back on Jan 19. The flights were awful and showed very little regard for the traveler. We left Miami at 1:00am arriving in Lima 6:00am then had a six hour lay over before finally arriving in Quito about 5:30pm. The trip back was equally cumbersome. Clearly these were the cheapest flights available. No thought was given to how it would effect the travel experience. I have taken several trips with Smartours from 2003-2010 and was generally very satisfied. I can only think that there was a change in management. Recently, I have been traveling with OAT and Road Scholar and was very satisfied. I will never travel with Smartours again and will warn anyone who indicates they are interested in Smartours to review the travel arrangements before booking the trip.”

Posted 4 years ago

“The prices are very attractive, but what's not included is annoying: too much free time, so few dinners, constant tipping.”

Posted 4 years ago

Thank you for your feedback, William. We understand that our tour to UAE does have more free time than some of our other programs and will look to be more clear about that free time on our tour page and will explore alternative tipping options. We hope you'll consider traveling with us in the future. The smarTours Team

Posted 2 years ago

“You didn’t take in account the age group of people who can take these kind of trips. Being on overnight flights most can’t sleep on a plane and as soon as we get some place like Sydney we went right into the tour!! We were all delirious and felt yucky! I have a lot of friends who asked me about this tour. I told them it was push push push with not enough time to relax and the layovers at the airports were ridiculous!! In Fiji the food was gross and we were lied to by the tour director. He changed our last meal together because IT WAS GOING TO BE BETTER. IT WAS GOING TO BE A SEAFOOD BUFFET! No it wasn’t!! No seafood whatsoever except a few little scraps of some fish!! I didn’t like that tour director at all. He set up everything according to HIS CONVENIENCE!! It was OUR TRIP! WE PAYED FOR THIS TRIP!! I will not be taking a smart tour again unless you present me with a deal I can’t refuse!”

Posted 4 years ago

“This was our 11th trip with Smartours. Overall the quality of this trip was less good in the past. Despite the high cost there were few included meals and tours. Optional tours were offered but expensive. Further, especially in Sydney there were too many options as to time and date so making it difficult for the tour leader to coordinate. In Australia, since we flew between cities, there was little time informing us about the country, if you elected not to go on the optional tours. As usual the descriptions of the tours was somewhat unrealistic, raising expectations which could not be expected to be fulfilled - most animals function best at dusk or at night, so one cannot expect to see them during a morning tour. Although interesting the "Farm stay" in Fairlie, NZ was simply a bed & breakfast, the hosts once owned a farm, but now simply live in a house with no animals around. Your choice was probably based on cost, but the outward journey was very long - several hours were added by having to fly through Sydney to get to Auckland. This was in addition to a 15 hour flight LAX-Syd. and our connecting flight from the east coast. We were en route for 42 hours! Of the hotels, that in Melbourne was the weakest, including limited internet which functioned very poorly. Welcome and farewell dinners very OK at best. One had the impression both restaurants just wanted us to eat and get out. Food was scanty.”

Posted 4 years ago

“Was not prepared for this type of trip. Our own fault, but some clarity from SmarTours would have been helpful. Glad we took advantage of the opportunity, and from what we heard, SmarTours was probably the best option we could have found for an excursion to the Antarctica.”

Posted 4 years ago

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smarTours is rated 4.4 based on 1,658 reviews