Viator Reviews

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

2.1 Rating 1,230 Reviews

27 %

of reviewers recommend Viator

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

2.1

Based on 1,230 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

Visit Website

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

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

“I've never had a company pre authorize my credit card prior to booking. This company put a hold on my funds, than attempted to book the tour. The tour was full, viator did not inform me of this until 2 hrs beforehand. Trued repeatedly to call them but battery died on my phone while on hold for over 2 hrs... never spoke with anyone. They only respond to customers who leave bad reviews on their own site. No email response from customer service, nobody to answer the phone for customer service... so now trip did not take place and cannot book anything else as they have held my funds for a tour they try to book after the fact. All viator does is book for you and charge a nominal fee for doing so... you can book the tour yourself easily if not easier. If you plan on using viator please please please read all of the reviews from review sites not affiliated with this company, or prior to booking try calling or emailing them to ask a question and you will see the service you get. Good luck if you use these idiots.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Unsafe..driver had 1 hand on wheel, turned around to talk. Elder folks couldn't hear her. Need headset. Didn't know facts..not professional presentation . Bus drivers did a better job. Bad brakes...never again .”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Do not use viator - they are an exceptionally poor company - they promised the cheapest rate and when I was charged $200 more for a birdwatching trip than others available they would not refund the difference. I could prove there were trips exactly the same at the much lower price and they still would not refund. On top of this it was a birdwatching trip where the guide did not have a working pair of binoculars and kept borrowing mine. also he used my bird book to guess at identifying birds - rubbish product and a very inflated price.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Don't book with Viator. They charge you more than double than the local company. I recently went to Rosario Island in Colombia for a day trip and paid $95 plus taxes with Viator while others on the trip only paid $45/person.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“This company is such a scam, took my money and then said the tour I wanted to go on was full. The number they have on their website is fake and it took me over an hour to finally contact them. So unprofessional. Do NOT trust this company, they will take your money. Not to mention, the customer service was disgustingly awful.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Viator doesn't pay their suppliers. After months and months of sharing them, they are being silent, than telling them we would ask the customers for our money finally they would return, another 4 months of chasing and still no result. If you plan to work with them be careful.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Their supplier support is crap. They don't respond to any emails. Our products have been under review for several months. How are they supposed to maintain their model if they are not partnering with businesses willing to partner with them? We have had guests turn up in our office after booking with another company on the Viator website only to show up and be told they will not be taken on their tour and they received no refund from Viator.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“BEWARE OF VIATOR BEST PRICE GURANTEE SCAM I contacted Viator because Priceline.com had a better price on a tour expecting to be refunded the difference based on their Best Price Guarantee Policy. Its a Scam. They make you jump through hoops, waste time sending multiple follow up emails and in the end do not honor the best price out there. Do yourself a favor and shop elsewhere if its cheaper. Here is the exchange to prove the point: THIS IS THERE RESPONSE (See below for mine) You contacted us with the following message: "I am sending you this email in order to get a refund as the price with Expedia is cheaper that I paid you for this tour. I paid $309.42 (154.71 X 2). Expedia sells this package on the same date from the same tour operator for $303.34 (151.67 X 2). In addition they have two coupon codes available at retailmenot.com for $10 off bringing the price to $293.34 ($146.67 X 2) and an additional coupon for 10% off bringing the net cost to $264 ($132 X 2)." Our Low Price Guarantee does cover and price match tours found cheaper elsewhere as long as they are the same exact tour supplied by the same exact tour operator. You stated in a private message that you were given a refund that matched the retail price of the product you found cheaper on Expedia. We are aware and empathize with why you are upset that the price was not the full refund amount that you had requested. The reason being is because our Low Price Guarantee DOES NOT cover promotional offers and discount codes offered by other companies. We do not price match competing coupon codes or additional percentages off that are offered by other sites. This is even mentioned in the link on our site which explains the Low Price Guarantee which we have provided below: https://www.viator(dot)com/.../why-book.../guaranteed-low-prices We apologize again that you are upset, however, we honored the Low Price Guarantee as outline on the site. This concludes our correspondence on this matter. Kindest Regards, Viator Social Engagement THIS IS MY RESPONSE Thank you. You have proven my point and have clearly stated your preference that if a tour is available for less anywhere else, they should make the purchase there and not waste time giving you a chance to honor the best price guarantee. That is what I will do in the future and will recommend the same to others. Also for the sake of transparency you and I should let other customers and travelers know that I could have purchased the same tour from the same tour operator on the same day for $45.42 less (as you detailed above). WARNING TO ALL CUSTOMERS AND TRAVELERS **** check prices and coupon codes on sites like https://www.expedia(dot)com/Activities BEFORE booking with Viator. They actually do match prices offered on Viator and will do so in a quick phone call.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“I booked a 3 day jungle tour in Iquitos Peru, my flight was cancelled and my party was stranded, nothing could be done. When cancelling my tour I explained my situation and requested a refund. I received no refund and was told I should have bought travellers insurance. However, when making the purchase I was never offered any such service or even given the opportunity to buy insurance. I tried to change the dates of the trip and instead was told the purchase was final and nothing could be done. Viator is a third party booking company with poor customer service and unclear cancellation policies, ot is far from user friendly and I would not recommend their services to anyone.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Do not book with Viator! They cancelled our Jeep tour in Papeete tour at the last minute and we were unable to find another tour that had availability. They seem to think that simply offering you a refund makes everything ok. They're in the travel business. They know people book these tours months in advance. Viator is owned by Trip Advisor. I won't be booking any travel or tours through either one of these companies again. Very disappointing.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU BOOK WITH VIATOR! What a HUGE mistake! We booked a tour for the Vatican. A few days before the tour “they said that they sent me an email that the tour was pushed up one hour” I did not receive the email and MISSED the tour! Not only that, I learned that Viator is a THIRD PARTY TOUR COMPANY! That means I paid a middle man when I could of paid someone directly and got better service and a guarantee that I would not be taken advantage of. I should of gone directly to CITYWONDERS or any other tour company that has an office right outside of the Vatican. I contacted Viator on three separate occasions asking for my money back…each time they sent me on a wild goose chase and an email rejecting my request. I lost my money on a company that DOES NOT PUT CUSTOMERS FIRST! So I am passing on my life lesson to you. GO SOME PLACE ELSE AND SAVE YOUR MONEY, TIME AND FRUSTRATION!”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Cinque Terre Hiking Day Trip from Florence This trip was a total waste of a lovely day. We hooked up with "walkabouttours" in Florence. After a lengthy bus ride to Cinque Terre we were rushed around from village to village. There were 2 tour guides with 47 people in a mass of tourists. We were divided into 2 groups. The male tour guide was not prepared to lead his half of the group while the female guide carried a flag. He did not carry or wear any thing distinctive to make him stand out so we could easily find him in a crowd (he had a gray t shirt on). I felt a panic at every village to make sure we were on the right train. Cinque Terre is a beautiful area with great hiking but we were literally given 40 minutes to see each village. It was the biggest waste of money. I would suggest taking the train over from Florence on your own and hike 2-3 villages and enjoy the scenery. I will not use viator again. This was very disappointing”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“The Viator customer service let me stranded in a tour in Rome, with my family. The Viator agent that was supposed to meet us there didn't even speak English. He was unable to find my reservation in his list, and told me "Call Number." In the meantime he provided headsets to all other people around. I asked him again, this time in my few italian words to please explain what the problem was. He said again "call Number" and turned away from me. In the meantime my family was already anguished and I didn't have a phone to dial a local number in Italy. We saw the tour depart in front of us and we couldn't take part of it. When I came back home I contacted Viator and they told me they couldn't refund my family tour because I was late. This was not the case as we were there on time. Their problem was their records weren't updated and didn't have trained personnel that could speak English in their venues. This company is worthless and their customer service is terrible. Do your research to see how many others have been disappointed with Viator tours.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“As an internet based company Viator aggressively promotes its tours. Nothing wrong with that. But if you cancel within a certain time, they keep 50% of the proceeds. I recently cancelled a scuba trip in Iceland, two days before the scheduled tour. EVERY OPERATOR IN ICELAND returns the entire amount if one cancels 24 hours in advance. So Viator did not have to pay the operator anything for the cancellation, but pocketed the money. This is so wrong. Also, if you book directly with the operator, its far less expensive. You are paying way more for Viator to run its business.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Left at the dock in Naples!! Left at the dock in Naples!!. Ship disebarked late due to clearence delay. Received a letter from Princess. Viator would only refund half of payment. Reason to book with cruise”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Terrible customer experience when booking to and from airport transfers in Melbourne. No confirmation messages, you have to call around in circles to ensure your booking was successful. When paying for a 'luxury transfer' the car that arrived was far from 'luxury' and absolutely filthy. Never using this service again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Deceptive advertising and absolutely zero customer service. Continuous run around promising return calls and emails that never arrive. This is the worst experience we have ever had with a tour company. Strongly encourage others to look at any alternative agencies.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“My tour guide never showed up but Viator refused to refund my money! Very disappointing customer service, no phone number, and despite having sent emails to Viator when they didn't show up it took hours for them to respond.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“I booked for transportation of 7 people from LaGuardia to Best Western Hotel in Jamaica, NY. Upon arrival I went to the Ground transportation stand. I was advised that the shuttle service (GoAirlink NY) did not go to our destination. I had to pay $150 to hire another car to take us to our destination. I have been trying, and failing, to receive a refund of the $132.93 for BR-620614553. Tonight your customer service tells me I need to wait until Go Airlink responds to Viator. Meanwhile you have my money, paid by American Express, which I have already been charged for, and I have to wait for you all to hear from the company. Terrible service. I should have read all of the negative reviews first.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Viator is rated 2.1 based on 1,230 reviews