Viator Reviews

Name: Viator
Address: 360 3rd St #400, San Francisco
Rating: 2.11

2.1 Rating 1,219 Reviews

27 %

of reviewers recommend Viator

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

2.1

Based on 1,219 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Own Driver
On-time Delivery	Greater than 7%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.1 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult

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Phone:

888-651-9785

Email:

support@viator.com

Location:

360 3rd St #400
San Francisco
94107

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Sandeepkumar

Mari

Viator 1 star review on 25th January 2025

Colby

114

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Warning to all those traveling and looking for tour with Viator. We have all been there, saving up and planning for the perfect trip and then that day arrives. It is your one shot at this getaway as they do not happen frequently so you hope all of your planning pays off. If you want to know things will run smoothly, do not book Viator, let me explain. When you sign-up for their tours, you must provide your contact information, this, as they state, is to ensure they contact you if there are any changes. Changes can be terrible as an impacted tour might mean you miss out on that great opportunity altogether. Well.. do not rely on them providing you updates nor take responsibility if things go wrong. My wife and I were taking our first trip to Europe, one year in the making. First stop, Switzerland with the goal of going on a mountain. We booked Glacier 3000 from Lausanne with the stop in Montreux to see the Queen recording studio (as advertised). In Lausanne during that week they had the ITU Triathlon World Championship which has been advertised in that city for weeks and roads started being shut down days in advance of our tour (and the race). Remember, Viatour has daily trips, they would have seen this advertised and for days leading up to our trip, saw the road closures and impending potential issues. Despite that, no contact from them, no change in location. The day of the tour came, we arrived at our pickup spot two hours early to ensure we knew where to go and then had the plan to have breakfast while waiting to be picked up. Noticing that the entire area surrounding the pickup area was shutdown to traffic I thought… Maybe I should call them.. though I have heard nothing from their end. I called, the lady that picked up told me to travel across the city to a different pickup point and be ready for 9am. Thankfully, Lausanne has a great train system so we were able to hop on the train and travel across the city to this point. From there we waited (along with another couple who had to proactively call). At 9:20am still no bus… I called again, they told me the bus driver was going to the original location so we had to go back. I explained it was a 20min train ride and the roads were closed so we would have no way to make contact. Their solution… they told me to call the bus driver. I pushed back and said there was already confusion and it was their responsibility to look after logistics of their tour. I was then put on hold for 10mins while the contact centre tried to contact the bus driver. Finally I was told the driver would come to me. At 10am (1 hour into the tour) we were picked up (the other couple were still waiting for their bus). On the bus the drivers phone kept ringing because others were trying to reach him about the pickup (I assume the call center told them to call the driver), this calls were left unanswered.. think.. precious time on your trip, wasted because a tour won’t even tell you a pickup location is changed. Yes, you could reschedule.. but who is in one place long enough with free time? Our tour was cut short by an hour, we paid for that in Montreux. We were only given 30 mins due to delays and the bus driver parked 1km away from the Queen museum. We jogged there, ran through the museum and jogged back… We were dropped off at our pickup location, after the 20min train ride back to the original pickup location, we continued our evening. So, what can be learned here: - Time is precious on a trip, book with a tour company that is respectful of their commitments and communicate change - Book with a tour company that takes ownership of challenges and works with you to find a solution - There are lots of tour companies out there, all priced at similar rates.. do not risk booking with this group, it’s a gamble and that’s something you do not want to worry about when you are getting ready for your trip! Thanks for reading”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Dont book anything on viator or tripadvisor. You might they they are credible companies but there are several issues with the service they are providing: 1. no contact info (unless you search the web for 20min like I did) 2. no obligation whatsoever to care about your order. 3. If you google for just 5min you will find that approx. Every second customer has issues with his order. Dont be like me and make the stupid mistake of booking anything.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“We booked a Parma Food Tour through you. We turned up at the right place. Stood there for 10 mins. ,had noticed girl standing there so went over to her. We started off at a bakery, who showed us different pastas, he mad us a very nice broth with pasta in it. Then on to Parmigiana shop, who gave us about 6 tiny pieces of varying ages of cheese. Ok. But do feel we should have ( for the price you charged ) had a slice of cheese each to take away.its not expensive! Then on to what we think was the highlight,to a lovely lady’s shop ( her name was Rita) who opened a bottle of wine, and a gorgeous array of different hams and took time to chat to us. Then finally ice cream booth, didn’t get offered coffee. And that was that. Certainly didn’t warrant the price £85 each. Wish I had read reviews 1st. Would not recommend”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“DO NOT USE VIATOR. Customer service is horrible and they give you conflicting information about your tours. I had an issue with every tour i booked in the USA with one of them the so called 'customer service' teams literally telling me two totally conflicting bits of info about where the bus was picking us up. Go direct to the suppliers they use and stay away from VIATOR. and you can try to complain but they literally do not care once they have your money!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Booked a Hudson River Fall foliage tour for October 11th for 10 people a week ago. Just got a call they have cancelled the cruise because they are afraid the foliage color might not be at it's peak. The fact that it might not be at peak color is in all of their literature. That was not an issue. They were instantly able to accept my $840 when I booked, but now that they have refunded me it will take up to 10 days to be returned to my account. Oh, they did offer to let me charter the boat for 30 people with alcohol and double the price per person. I guess all the liquor will make the trees look much better? Seriously? Michael”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Do not use Viator, I booked a family day tour in Germany to visit castles with the kids and they accepted my booking and issued a confirmation number then cancelled on the day of traveling. When I called, I was talked over, the supervisor raised his voice and kept repeating that the "confirmation" number is not a confirmation nr, it is really an itinerary number, they have nothing available to replace it, everything is sold out, said good bye and hung up.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Save yourself time and frustration and DO NOT book anything with Viator!! I booked a 2 day tour of Belgium (Booking reference: 713788340) and they canceled the tour 2 DAYS prior to it happening! I even called to confirm that the trip was happening after I booked my ticket, and they sent me an email letting me know it was still going on. I have email proof of all of this. I spent hundreds in hotel and transportation in advance of this trip and they REFUSE to reimburse me for my costs despite the fact that they were the ones that did an awful job of communicating that it was canceled. I have since spent countless hours on the phone with them to try to come to a resolution and have always come to a dead end. This is not how business should be done.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Why would you offer bookings you can’t confirm? Total scam!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I had a horrible experience with Viator. We booked a private tour 5 days in advance and received an email saying the tour guide would contact us the day before or morning of our tour. When I checked my email the morning of the tour I had a message at 1:47 am saying our tour was cancelled due to them thinking it was a fraudulent charge. Why would they wait until the morning of the tour! And, they could give no explanation they suspected fraud. So, at 6:00 am, we were making calls trying to see if we could still book the tour. After many frustrating calls with no help from Viator. They told us we could rebook 24-48 hours later which did us absolutely no good as this tour was booked for our last day in Korea. We were finally able to reach the tour guide, who was extremely helpful, but we then needed to pay cash for the tour. So, at 7:00 am, my daughter and I had to walk several blocks to bank to take out cash for the trip. Extremely frustrating way to start our day!! I will NEVER use this company again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“This is the WORST travel company ever!!!! DO NOT USE!!! They cancelled both the tours I scheduled with them for Rome and left me with no options to make other arrangements last minute. Ruined my trip to Rome!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Do not use. After they didn't show up as confirmed had to call a cab 30 minutes later. They went silent. No way to contact. Well have to dispute the charges once back home through my card company. If you look a little further there are many negative experiences similar to mine. Do not use!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Total scam - NEVER use Viator. We bought tickets for "skip the line" locations in London - Tower of London and British Museum. Tower of London had a huge line and the ticket lady said that they had asked Viator to stop selling these tickets as there is NO skipping the line. British Museum - all museums in London are free so the only line is security - and no one can skip that line. Plus our guide at the British Museum was a contracted guide and she was terrible - could not hear her and she really could not understand our questions (not great English) - so we left the tour and proceeded on our own. We will NEVER book with Viator again!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“If I could leave no stars, I would. Don't use Viator. I am trying to book tours - after HOURS of research and during check out, I kept getting an error message to "try again". Which I did three times. So now I have been billed on AmEx 3 times but still Viator says I have not completed booking. Put on hold twice by Viator - for 17 to 20 minutes. Basically that's their way of hanging up on customer as they never came back to call. Customer service reps do not have good English skills.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Would give them a zero if i could. Booked an excursion to Loch Ness, Scotland from Invergorden on Monday 3rd of June, 2019. We were on the NCL Getaway. Because the weather was bad, the local pilot would not let the ship dock, so i did not get to do the excursion. I called customer service to see about a refund and he told me to read the fine print. Was very rude and hung up on me. This company owes me $185. It was not my fault or NCL"s fault that we did not make the excursion.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Viator sold our group 14 tickets to La Segrada Familia and when we arrived we were told there were no tickets. We were on the phone with them for an hour fighting over our reservation, and then had to call back to get reservations refunded. Customer service was awful, and we had to buy additional tickets from another vendor. Such a disappointment!!!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“On the coach half hour before we were due to leave. Tour guide announced we needed a passport or get off. We had to get off. No tour and were not told we needed a passport”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Viator arranged a an expensive tour through a totally unreliable local tour operator in Edinburgh and cancelled less than 24 hours ahead. Viator’s help line is the worst. Would never use this company again, nor should anyone else!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“We booked a tour for cruise excursion to Florence/Pisa. We called Viator and talked to a lady with the first name "Lin". She was very patient, friendly and helpful. We later checked the tour provider's website and found that the provider offered senior rate. My wife and I are both over 65. We sent an email asking if they would honor that rate. They responded within 24 hours and credited back the difference. For a middle man, I feel that they did a great job.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Just pathetic! We extended our stay in Shanghai just to go to Disneyland; at considerable cost. We bought (and paid for) the tickets in March through Viator, for our Disneyland entry date of 2nd May (so that's 2 months in advance). The entry voucher was emailed to us! On the 1st May we get notified that the tickets can no longer be supplied. Just appalling customer service! So two months beforehand they accept our booking (& money), only to cancel the day before we were to go! I will never use Viator again and I'm certainly telling all friends not to use them!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“If I could, I'd give 0/5. Where do I start with this review, I honestly cannot convey my anger and frustration with Viator, but I’ll try my best. I purchased the ‘Skip-the-line entry with host to Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill for our city break to Rome. I purchased this on 27/3/19 via the Viator website for 2 people on 10th of May at 10:30am which came to £50.13. I then confirmed this by email with Viator on the 30th of March. On the day, we arrived 45minutes before to give plenty of time to get tickets and find the meeting point. We had to meet at the ‘Roman Empire Tours’ shop (Address – Via Capo D’Africa, 15 A 00184, Roma) and hand over our Viator voucher in exchange for the tickets. We handed the confirmation and voucher over to the man at the reception who then spoke to another lady in Italian for 2/3 minutes before telling us that they no longer accept this voucher and haven’t for the last 2 months. I showed him the email confirmation, the voucher and any other details I had but he had zero interest in anything we said. When we were leaving, he started to laugh, smirk and speak to his colleague in Italian – I cannot explain how angry I was at this man who is an ambassador for this tour company as well as Rome. The shop window even had Trip Advisor stickers and adverts saying that they do tours on behalf of Trip Advisor. At the very least I thought he would have perhaps looked into this a little deeper or suggest another tour which etc, but we didn’t get any of this. Also, to add, another couple left the shop after us and looked like they had a similar problem which made them to start taking pictures of the store front. This led to a man come out and, to me, looked like he was trying to intimidate the two ladies. Roman Empire Tour – Sort out your customer service! I tried to contact the Tour Operator, who in this case was ‘History Group’, on the contact number supplied - +390693574837. It didn’t even ring and then dropped out. Obviously, this was a fake/wrong number. So, I then phoned Viator direct on 02033180421 and got through to an advisor. I explained the situation to the advisor, what was said etc and confirmed all the details. The advisor told us to hold the line while he called the Tour Operator. After a few minutes, the advisor came back on the line and told us that the tour had been cancelled for some reason. Understandably, we were left angry and frustrated as this was our last day and one of the reasons we came to Rome and more to the point, no one contacted us about the tour being cancelled – so unprofessional. The advisor told us he would be able to refund us (I’d like to think so!!) as there was no other tours available that day apart from a similar tour which was in French or Spanish at £74 per person!! The advisor did apologise but to be honest that really meant nothing and it had wasted our last day. So, we were left on our last day with no tour and unable to get into either the Colosseum, Roman Forum or Palatine Hill unless we waited in a queue for 2/3 hours!! After speaking to Viator Advisor, we went back on the website and this tour is still be advertised and what is even more confusing is that someone has left a review in last week of April. This is after we have been told that Roman Empire Tours haven’t accepted this voucher for around the last two months. Someone is lying somewhere. Out of curiosity, we walked over to the departure point at Metro Station, Colosse, Line B just to see if we could say the tour operator (History Group). There we several tour operators there, none called History Group – surprise. I stopped one of the tourist information guides, showed them the confirmation and details. Straight away as soon as I mentioned Viator she said that there had been many cancellations/issues with Viator and told us of an issue with a group of 8 Americans who had booked an underground tour of the Colosseum for there visit and when they arrived, they were told it had been cancelled. She advised us to contact Viator and get a refund asap as she said it would be more difficult the longer we left it. And to add to this, she said that of all the time she had worked there, she had never heard of the tour operator ‘History Group’ and she even tried to phone them off her personal mobile. We there managed to see someone standing with a sign which had a small Viator badge on it, so we asked her if she could help any. She briefly looked at our voucher and told us she doesn’t know. So, we were left on our last day, with no tour or even tickets to get into the Colosseum, Roman Forum or Palatine Hill. I’ll be honest, this has really wasted our city break as this was one of the reasons we choose to visit Rome. The chances are that we won’t be back to Rome again or anytime soon and Viator feeling angry, frustrated and let down. We were left helpless on a street in a foreign country trying to sort our booking issue. The reason I choose Viator was because it is a TripAdvisor company – what a disappointment. Overall, I have only used Viator one and it will 100% be the last time. If anyone is looking to book tours, I highly advise you not to use viator and to back up my statement, have a look through reviews left online by others. I’d also stay clear of Roman Empire Tours. Shambolic is a good word to describe Viator. Not sure if I will hear back from Viator but I just want to make people aware of the issues I’ve experienced. Viator Itinerary No – 1096887666 Booking Reference – BR-692742580”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Viator is rated 2.1 based on 1,219 reviews