Viator Reviews

2.4 Rating 883 Reviews

35 %

of reviewers recommend Viator

Company Reviews

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Metrics

2.4

Based on 883 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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"If Viator don\u2019t want their ratings to go down, I would suggest they remove the company name The company Star Blue Catamaran in Cancun from offering tours. We travel a lot and this has been by far the WORSE EXPERIENCE EVER!! I wrote viator my complaint, they said unfortunately they could not give me a refund. I asked for a supervisor and have not been able to get one. \r\nFirst of all, we had to wait outside in the heat for our driver to arrive thirty minutes late to pick us up for the excursion. The tour operator was unresponsive when I messaged them, and the phone was disconnected when I tried to contact. Furthermore, the driver did not apologize for being late when he arrived. In addition, he pulled over to the side of the road to use his phone and stopped to take films.\r\nWe were then informed that we could not snorkel after the boat had sailed away after we arrived at the boat. We mostly booked for snorkeling, thus this was a tremendous annoyance. Additionally, there was a cost associated with reserving the coral reefs. yet we didn't get to see any reefs or be near any. I feel as if they waited to take our money first and sail off so that we couldn't try to cancel and get our money back.\r\nAnother thing I noticed is that the music was not diverse at all. They have a lot of tourism going on so it was weird how they only played one genre the entire time. No one even wanted to dance or sing.\r\nThen, when we docked to eat we were told to be ready by 1:20pm. We had just docked at 12:20pm. Between docking late and having to walk to the lunch place we only had about 30-45 min to eat and use the bathroom.\r\nWhen my group walked back to the boat we were told that it's actually\r\n1:40pm and to find something to do smh. Also, when we went shopping one of the workers said they would charge my friend $35; however, they charged her 700 pesos which is actually closer to $42. When she tried to tell them, they ignored her and still took her money.\r\nLastly, on the way back our guide told us that our transportation was waiting for us. It was not. We got there and there was no one waiting. The guide then told us that it was actually a 5 minute wait. 5 minutes turned into 10, and then 20, and then an hour. Again, there was no apology for this. One of the families sharing the van had a baby who was obviously upset and hot and tired of waiting.\r\nOverall, if I could give this experience 0 stars I would. I hope that the customer service team takes note of my comments and kindly decide to issue a refund. I'm not happy at all and don't feel comfortable booking on trip advisor or viator if they just let any company have a booking page."

A Williams

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“I have used Viator a number of times in the past and have appreciated the convenience of their booking system. However my experience of late is Viator appears to subcontract the tours out to a local company and adds a significant fee to do so. I now find it easier to find a local company that rates well through TripAdvisor and use them. it saves a heap of money and gives you a local contact if something goes wrong.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Arthurs Pass was not what I expected. The weather was so bad that we did not see much. The train is rather disapointing. So many tunnels - 14 of them and the train was crowded. Not worth the money.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“We booked through Viator, an overnight guided tour to Abu Simbel, from Luxor in Egypt, it cost nearly £400. This was, we found out, outsourced to Luxor Travels. Communication between client and company were good in the lead up to the trip. On the day, the driver and guide were on time for pickup, that's the good bits covered. The disappointment and total disbelief came when the guide advised us in the car 30 minutes in, that it would cost us an additional $140 (over £100) to stop at the 2 temples which were on our route anyway to Aswan (our overnight stop). And think, what choice did we have, already on our way? they had us captive! The temples were literally a 2-3 minute detour off the main Nile road and the entrance fees to each were only Le200, a pittance. We couldn't fathom out how the company valued this additional tour at $70 a pop? After much upset and negotiating we tasked our guide Omar to pass on our gripes to the manager in the office and they eventually agreed to do the 3 minute detour to the temples "as a gesture of goodwill" at no extra charge, but we pay our own entrance fees! Fine. Then we were in disbelief as our "guide" Omar was fast asleep for most of the 5 hour car drive - we couldn't ask any questions to a sleeping man. On querying this at the end of the tour he stated that he was not there to be sociable, he haughtily said he was an Egyptologist and as such was not employed to chat!!! Imagine 2 whole days with a man who is your guide in a foreign land but who thinks it demeaning to talk to his clients? The 3 hour drive on to Abu Simbel was boring as he was yet again asleep. And we get there and await this fantastic Egyptology expert's commentary on the Abu Simbel temple, and he talks for just 15 minutes outside the temple and then disappears … he tells us at the last minute that guides are not allowed inside the temple! It was a long long boring journey back let me tell you. Thankfully our driver sought to stop at a mirage that we might like to witness while our "guide" Omar slept. What a joke. By the way, the driver was very good. The tour itinerary was good enough, if anyone had bothered to care for our enjoyment of it. The cost was exorbitant - it can be done locally for 1/4 of the price Viator / Luxor Travels charged us. The "guide" was the most disappointing issue and in no way should he have a job providing any kind of customer service if he thinks it beneath him to talk to tourists, his clients and with no personality whatsoever, he just looked bored! We were disgusted with his attitude and although we enjoyed the Abu Simbel temple (our main reason for booking), it was clear we'd been ripped off and if we hadn't fought for a deal we'd have been hussled into paying an extra $140 for "tours" which cost us $11 in entrance fees. Don't give them your money....”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“We have generally had a good experience with Viatour and have used the company in Spain and in France, no fewer than five times. Customer service and appreciation is lacking, however, as our recent experience with them has shown. Explore all of your options before booking with this company, as I don’t find them to concern themselves much with customer satisfaction. We travel in Europe several times a year, but I trust we will look elsewhere when arranging guided tours. Christopher Alexander New Mexico, USA”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“We have used viator for several years in different locations and overall we enjoyed their services. But, on a recent trip to Europe we saw a different side and their poor customer service. We booked a one day tour of Paris and we were staying outside of Paris. We noticed signs on the metro that the day of our tour there was a one day social event work slowdown. On the morning of our tour we checked and the limited trains so could not get us to the meeting place in Paris in time. We made numerous calls to the tour agent without success and even called viatour and they told us they didn't know about a strike and it was our responsibility to get to Paris. We stopped in our hotel and an employee whelped us for an hour to finally contact the tour agent who told us basically you get here or lose your money. The hotel concierge realized it was the same company they use for tours and they had cancelled paris tours because of the transit issue. We ended up taking a tour with another company that was great and 3 weeks of fighting with viator and we ended up calling our credit card company to get us a refund. Horrible customer service. Later in the trip we arrived at the Rome port and had scheduled a transfer from viator to our hotel in Rome. When we booked the transfers, we could not schedule a time as we didn't have a disembark time. 2 days before arrival we tried calling the vendor but it went to a non working cell phone. Even the ships crew tried numerous times. Upon arrival, no car service. we waited an hour with multiple calls to the vendor and finally crew member go through on their cell phone and were told a car was there at 7 and waited and then left. They told the vendor that the ship was just getting in at 7 and they hung up on the crew member. We ended up hiring a taxi and 2 weeks later still fighting with viator.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I booked a tour because a representative gave me some information; it was wrong; after talking or trying to talk to Viator several times; reps were very polite; they didn't get it; they were from Phillapines and had no idea what I needed; never got an answer; had to change my airline dates and incur a change fee with them; all because Viator could not get me correct info; ever.\ I have used in past and fine them lacking in info for customer”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I paid for three Viator tours while on a Mediterranean cruise in May. Only one went flawlessly (a cooking class in Mykonnes), and the other two had problems. Our voucher for a 3.5 hr. tour of Vatican City in a small group of 10, purchased 4 months in advance, became the nightmare of our 18 day trip. Viator obviously is the booking agency the connects travelers worldwide with local agencies who conduct the tours. Most of the local agencies are good (used them previously in Europe and Canada), but THINGS ONLY WORK IF VIATAR GIVES YOU THE CORRECT INFORMATION. We arrived at the Vatican steps at 2:00 for a 2:30 entrance and could not find the company stated on our voucher on any of the guide's flags or signs. During our frantic search 3 nice Vatican officials tried to assist us and agreed that no one from that company name was there. Ironically, an Ecoart tour guide noticed the Viator symbol on our voucher and said "yes, we use Viator but we are not the company you're looking for." At 2:45 I was almost in tears so we purchased tickets with another group, and we paid 56E each on the spot to join another group of about 20 people. It was a great tour with the non-Viatar group, but later it was not easy getting Viatar to admit their fault and they never apologized. I was livid when the second Viatar rep said that Ecoart said we never showed. I told her that we had spoken to them twice but that Ecoart was NOT the name of the local agency printed on our ticket so neither of us thought we should be in that group. Only after writing a long description of our nightmare in the sweltering heat, did they seem to believe I was there and gave us a refund with words to the effect that they were doing us a big favor- no apology, nor denial, for printing the wrong local name on our voucher. The previous day, we enjoyed a terrific 8 hr. Almalfi coast tour with Worldtours of Naples that we purchased through Viatar. The tour exceeded our expectations except that the tour description had said we would be part of a small group of 16, and we counted 30 on the bus. The same thing happened to us on a Viatar trip in Canada that promised group of 12 and it was 20. I don't know if local groups increase the number, or Viatar just buys that many spots from them, but either way the customer is not getting the smaller group experience they pay for. I will do my best to avoid Viatar bookings on future trips and suggests that others do the same.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Bought a package to Machu Picchu through Viator. Great trip. However, we were put into a Spanish speaking tour, with only a promise that soon we would meet an English guide, but not to happen on this trip. However, the people in the tour company were still very nice, and although we missed all of the history and explanation of the area in English, we did enjoy the visit to Machu Picchu. I figured Viator would take care of me after the trip, so I did not get too excited. Although I was a bit disappointed. Disappointed turned into real frustration in working with Viator after, as they take no responsibility for anything!! The cost of the trip for 4 of us through Viator was about 2-3 times what we would have paid if purchased in the country for the same trip and accomodations. Recommendation is to coordinate your trip with local travel agents, much cheaper, and no added benefits or assurances with Viator! They have dealt with me via email only. I have requested on several occasions for a customer services rep. or manager to give me a call to discuss. But they either don't exist, or they do not work that way. They did remind me in one email that all sales are final. Something I will remember before I push the buy button,”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Nothing has gone wrong - but it is not an easy travel system, when you have to phone the tour company 2 days prior to your booked excursion. Firstly, when you are travelling - it is difficult to phone the company, for a few reasons: 1. you don't speak the local language, or 2. your travel flights mean you cannot make that call, or 3. dialing codes are not known in the travel area and only a subset or a complex number has been provided. Surely the booking process could be simpified. Afterall, you have taken the money so you don't lose. Only the poor traveller has more to deal with and worry whether the tour operator will show.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“July 29 tour of Naples & Pompei with Elisa. VERY DISAPPOINTING. She showed little interest in us ( a group of 8 family members including 2 kids.) Saw very little of the major sites, lots of time standing in hot sun listening to trivial things about life in Pompei. Most information provided about the toilet habits of the citizens and great details about plumbing. Inappropriate language describing excretory & urinary habits of people of the day. Long walk back to bus in 90'+ heat before being returned to ship. Viator tours usually very good but this one very poor. Panoramic city tour of Naples very long, not very interesting & left only 2 hours for Pompei visit. Avoid 1/2day Naples & Pompei Tour if at all possible. Not worth the time or money. A real bust!!! Don S. Canada”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I am skeptical about this middleman travel tour company. I always do my researching of where I want to go. I contacted Viator inquiring a tour in Cyprus. The viator agent put me on hold and called the local tour agency in Cyprus. If it is late in Cyprus, you have to call back during Cyprus' business hours. The agent answered the questions the local agency said. What I find awkward is, If you also look at the tour description, none of the tour site names are mentioned. They are vague in mentioning of seeing a waterfall, beaches, and a gorge. I think you would use Viator if really have no idea exactly where you are going and hope Viator can give you a refund.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I wrote a negative review of a terrible cooking class that we took in Florence, Italy and Viator did not publish it. It seems they only publish positive reviews and very few, minimal actually, critical reviews. I used to use Viator all the time but this experience has totally changed my mind and makes me question the validity of the whole site.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“We went for the full day Sintra, Cascais, Estoril tour. We were expecting a little more than the half day tour. However, it's just a waste of time and money The tour guide was not helpful at all and he was not very good.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Went to Mexico with a group of family membees.Went to use the ATVs we had planned for the day & it was ruined befor it started.TERRIBLE service first off.One of our rifers helmets was broke one strap & instead of getting her a new helmet..they tore a strap off a bookbag in oreder for it to click.They told her at first that she didnt need a helmet.She ended falling off the ATV & it took them a lilttle over an hour to get us help after communicating back & fourth with them & them giving us wrong info.NEVER AGAIN trip was fun other than that”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Brought 3 tours for Mexico from Viator, 2 of them happened in reality ( one was really good, the other had a very lazy guide), but for the 3rd one nobody came to pick me up and it was impossible to contact the local tourist agency because nobody answered the phone. I sent an e-mail to Viator's support site but from there the only answer was that I must deal with the local agency now myself. So it was just nice to collect the money and later not to be responsible for anything. Conclusion: as 1/3 of purchases might go missing I won't recommend buying online (and in fact you can get on the spot with the same price or even cheaper). Sorry Viator, you are not on my friends' list any more.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hello, Thank you for your message. We're sorry to hear you had difficulty reaching the tour operator to meet your tour. When reconfirming your reservation, or attempting to meet your tour, we do recommend that customers perform those actions themselves to avoid delays and miscommunications that may arise if we attempt to pass the messages back and forth. If you were still unable to meet your tour, and need a refund, please feel free to e-mail us to request your refund, and we will investigate with the tour operator on your behalf. Thank you again for your feedback, and we wish you Happy Travels. All the Best, Viator Social Team

Posted 7 years ago

“Need real work on customer service, it was real chaotic at the bus station. Staff at the station seemed real lost, you ask a question they can't direct you to the proper people. And if you're on break, I would imagine you to disappear and not read the newspaper on the podium, at the gate and act like you can't be bothered! I would not recommend to any family or friends. Oh, the bus driver ate our food left on the bus while they sent us out on the tour. The actual tour guides were not bad.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Thank you for your message. Please note that the staff on site at each location do not actually work for Viator. As a Tour Broker, we do utilize Tour Operators all over the globe for each of our tours. We encourage customers to write a review of their Tour Operator experience on our website, to help our Tour Operators in offering the best possible service to all customers. We hope this information helps. If you have any further questions please feel free to let us know. All the Best, Viator Social Team

Posted 7 years ago

“Viator - is not a tour company - it is a consolidator - the tours are other companies. Some items - like water on tour - bathroom facilities lacking are common - also pricing wdirect are many times much cheaper - thus the poor rating -- viator needs to spell this out !@”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hello, Thank you for your message. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced while on your tour. As you note, we are a tour broker and not the operator of the tours we offer. Our Tour Operators do let us know what information to print with each tour, however, if you feel any information is missing, do feel free to let us know so we can request an information amendment from our tour operator. Our Tour Operators do sell their tours for the same price in person as they offer to us, our prices include any taxes or fees that you may incur, so it does sometimes appear that the prices in person are cheaper, but the prices on site are usually the prices listed without taxes and fees. In may cases, we end up being cheaper for our customers, as we permit for a variety of currencies for booking on our website, which assists customers in avoiding conversion fees. We do hope this information helps you, and future customers in having the best possible tour experience. All the Best, Viator Social Team

Posted 7 years ago

“I will re do my review when we are refunded our payment for the trip to champagne region that was cancelled with no notification to us in Paris. We booked 4 outings with your company in Paris. We discovered this cancellation only when we had our Marriott concierge called for the pick up time with the local contact one day in advance. We were forced to rebooked with another vendor. J. Thometz”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Thank you for your message. We have checked your booking, and do not see any messages from you to request a refund or recount your experiences with the tour operator. We are including this message to our Refunds department, but for fastest service, we recommend all customers who require assistance write to support@viator.com and detail your experiences in your message to us. We hope this information helps, please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns. All the Best, Viator Social Team

Posted 7 years ago

“I booked a tour 7 days prior to travelling. The email I received from Viator advised that I would receive Another email to confirm the booking. I did not receive confirmation so I emailed Viator, because not only did I not know if the tour was booked, I did not know the meeting place for the tour or the start time. I received no reply. At this point I was in Poland and not the UK. I read their website which advised that if I cancelled the booking I still had to pay. I had no other option than to phone the UK on my mobile. The call took 20 minutes while they got confirmation from the tour company!!! There was no apology . The actual tour and the tour operator in Poland was great, but Viator what a disappointment.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hello, Thank you for your message, and for providing your booking number. We do show that there was an unfortunate delay in us receiving a reply from the tour operator concerning this confirmation. We do try to chase up with the tour operators to receive their confirmations. Most of the time we have these confirmations within 48 hours without issue. We are sorry to hear this was not the case for you. In reference to your call, our agent on the phone asked you to send us a copy of the charges incurred when you called us so we could investigate a resolution for you. We do not see that this has been received. If you would still like us to investigate, please send the copy of the charges to support@viator.com. All the Best, Viator Social Team

Posted 7 years ago

Viator is rated 2.4 based on 883 reviews