TripADeal (now a QF company) Reviews & Problems

Edit: New readers to the topic can join at post 78, 14 April 2022.

TripADeal packages - misleading and poor value for money

We have just returned from a TripADeal tour to Vietnam. We had some really bad experiences which we wish to share:

  1. We paid for 4 star but the hotels we stayed in were not - when we queried TripADeal it is because they use self rating as an indicator
  2. The trip was advertised as a tour - but it was not guided. TripADeal onsells your ticket to a Vietnamese travel agent that then onsells to other one day trips. There were numerous times when our tour was not met by guides when we arrived by plane, train etc. It was chaos.
  3. We booked on the premise of being provided family rooms. In the 6 hotels we stayed we only had access to one family room.
  4. They book the cheapest flights and had us flying out at 2.20am despite the fact we were traveling with children.

We paid $12,000 for this trip and could have booked it much cheaper on our own but we went with TripADeal because we felt it was a fully guided tour. It is not. Do not be fooled by the marketing language it is very misleading. I have now lodged a complaint with AFTA.

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Wow that sucks. Thanks for sharing though, itā€™d be interesting to hear if other people have had bad experiences with TripADeal or similar package tour companies

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A couple of years ago a group of us booked a trip to Japan for the Cherry Blossoms.Awful trip.
The trip advertised all 4 star hotels in the Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. We were taken to Fujisawa[over 50 kms from Tokyoā€¦Then we went to Kyoto to have a look at the sights,then taken to our hotel in Kobeā€¦75kms from Kyoto,the next hotel we were somewhere in Osaka but were not told where or if there nearby attractions
We spent so much time on a bus it was pathetic.There were lots of other things that went wrong.
We did accept a minimum amount of compensation,
I tell people that always make sure the Travel Agent is a member of AFTA/ATAS
This was not Trip a Deal

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The problem is - is that TripADeal is an AFTA member.

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@margstevenson2003 are you able to share who that trip was with?

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I cannot as I got a small payout.Wish I could.The list of things that went wrong are incredible.In fact you would not believe it.,The guide was the one rude Japanese person I met. His comments at times were atrocious ā€¦we had 2 elderly ladies on the tour and when we reached one destination he said "you have 45mins here if you cannot walk fast stay on the bus"Considering this was a trip advertised in one of the senior magazines What a thing to say.
i can email you privately

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I thought AFTA would have helped
I can sympathise with you not getting what you paid for.I have booked another trip to Japan later this year to see Tokyo and Kyoto,I barely saw anything the first time.This one is independent.

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@margstevenson2003 yes please you can email me at travel@choice.com.au

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TripADeal should be Rip a deal. There are several companies doing this ā€œspecialsā€ style travel, rip a deal is one to miss. We paid for accommodation only with them as a trial run, following it up prior to leaving it was found to be nothing but a con job with prices that could be obtained far better with plenty of other good options available. We did not travel so lost out on the original booking but as it turned out the deal we did was far better overall and we came out about square. This happened several years ago prior to looking at all available options and learning a few things on overseas travel. We do about 80% ourselves 20% with a good travel agent as we do not believe in asking for information ( which is required at times ) without putting some business her way.

Luxury Escapes is one ā€œspecialsā€ we have used and very happy with (will use them again) but one needs to read the fine print carefully and understand it. First thing we do is google the position of the accommodation as it is often well out of town away from services and action and limited transport options, this depends on what sort of holiday you want.

Overall we have only had good experiences traveling the world but we learn something every trip. A few hours spent with ā€œDr Googleā€ can be well worthwhile, if what you want to find out is not there donā€™t do it!!!

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I want to get a forum going on this topic to review TripAdeal tours. For example I just got back from their 2-for-1 China tour. It was very good value and we enjoyed good accommodation, breakfasts and local guides. You might like shopping but most in our group did not so we felt there was too much time wasted in places like jade, terracotta, medicine, pearl and tea factories and shopping strips. Most of us felt that they were just a trap to get our money but those in the group who could afford it, had a good time bargaining and buying. Some of our group thought that the advertised price should have included the non-optional extra charges of almost $500 per 2-person trip. We were told that the mandatory $10/day tip for tour leader and driver goes to head office and then is ā€œsomehowā€ distributed so itā€™s not fair to call it a tip or gratuity; it should be included in the advertised price of the trip. I am looking at doing another TripAdeal tour next year and would like some feedback.

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WE have just returned from a Tripadeal tour of Italy. We were not at all impressed mainly because almost all the hotels were changed (false advertising in my opinion). The hotels were supposed to be 4* but we all rated them around 2*, mostly nowhere near anything where there was nothing within walking distance in iterms of shops, restaurants and places of interest. We did not get the promised free time, and the tour guide did not control the group well allowing people to wander off and not return meaning that others had to continually wait. On one occasion he stopped at a place on the way home at a place that most people did not want to go to. Many of the group just stayed on the bus for more than hour - this was a non-scheduled vote. We also had to continually ring regarding our tickets as nothing seemed to come on time. Would not recommend Tripadeal.

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Some of the hotels on our China trip were also poorly located for access to places of interest, eateries and shops. But they were 4/5 star so, to me, it was a fair trade-off.

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You might be interested in reviewing on tourradar.

Although they are ā€˜in the businessā€™ they seem a huge repository of good, bad, and indifferent reviews of the tour company industry if you look around their site. The reviews are about tour companies and their tours, not deal companies or consolidators though.

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WE went to China in May with Tripadeal ( 2for1 option) The advertised accomodation was all changed when we received our final itinery. I had checked all hotels etc with google and was happy with the list prior to booking. As i was taking my 12 year old very fussy eater grandson I made sure there were ample food places nearby. So when the final documentation arrived I was shocked to find that numerous hotels were nowhere near food sources. The hotels were mostly Ok about 3-4 star except the one we had in Beijing. We arrived at airport at 1.00 am in the morning to find we had a double bed after confirming 3 times wanting single beds (2 Beds) so at .30 am we had to find someone who could speak english and could change rooms for us. We were given the most disgusting room I can imagine. It would have barely made star with a pushā€¦ The room stank, the carpet was putrid and lifting in places. There was a whole in the wall where our fridge was supposed to beā€¦no fridgeā€¦Kettle didnt work but had at some stage because all the steam had gone up the veneer wall and lifted the panelling. The toilet was blocked for the 2 nights we were there and we had to use the lobby toilet. We couldnt use the bath/shower as the enamel had all peeled off the bath and was the bottom of the bath and sides of the bath were mouldy. My grandson had a blood nose in bed the first night and we were not able to get to bathroom in time and therefore blood got onto the pillow and sheet. WE arrived back at hotel next night to find bed made but same sheets were on bed so again to reception and were told that the sheets would be changed if we paid for another night accomodation. Fat chance of that so g/son slept on top of doona for night. Worse was to comeā€¦next morning at breakfast one of the ladies at our table dropped her folk onto the floor and when we went to retrieve it we found crumbs , food , dirty cutlery and rotten half eaten food under the tableā€¦We told the tour guide who was going to report it but to date we havenā€™t heard anything backā€¦The hotel was the Grand An in Beijingā€¦All other hotels were clean and fine but as we had already booked another trip to Japan in September we are very worried as the hotels listed on the original flyer are nothing like those that have been issued with our documentation. But I am aware now and will not put up with inferior hotel rooms againā€¦so look out tripadeal if this tour is not up to scratchā€¦I have photos of the Grand An and have sent then and written to trip a deal twice but have not had a replyā€¦ so keep tunedā€¦

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Sorry to hear about your poor experience in Beijing, and itā€™s also a shame that TripADeal has failed to reply to your concerns. You can also use the image button when writing a post if youā€™d like to share those hotel images here.

Seeing as though you have a trip coming up, it might be best to sort out any issues now if possible. We have a CHOICE Help service for members offering consumer advice, or you could also give your local fair trading or consumer affairs body a call to discuss the issue.

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My husband & I have travelled with Tripadeal to Vietnam & Cambodia 2 years ago - I am surprised at the really negative reviews and comments in this forum we had a really positive experience with incredible value for money and have since recommended tripadeal to quite a few friends who have done the same trip plus two of them have gone on to do two separate trips to China each with Tripadeal and been totally happy. Of course on our tour there were a couple of minor glitches but they even happen on very expensive tours and all form part of the travel memories we make on every journey - by comparison we did a webjet exclusives trip to Japan last year and were so disgusted we complained to webjet (form email response only) and will never travel with them again - every traveller has different expectations and experiences we will continue to use and recommend Tripadeal until we are in a situation where we are not satisfied and get poor customer service -if that ever happens.

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Iā€™m with you Roby, my husband and I have not long got back from the 2 for 1 China trip and it was fantastic, I couldnā€™t fault Tripadeal at all. It was fully guided, we were never left alone at any point, they went above and beyond to make sure everyone was looked after. Like you said everyone has different expectations and some more than others. I will definitely use tripadeal again. I feel that most of the complaints in the above posts were in the fine print of the information that we received.

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this sounds like our experience with webjet exclusives!!

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Hi all,

We would like to apologise for our late arrival to this thread, it has only just come to our attention and reading unhappy reviews of our travel deals isnā€™t something weā€™re used to seeing.

We have proudly sent over 50,000 happy travellers around the world since 2011 and any feedback that our customers have provided from previous tours is always welcomed and taken constructively. Improving our packages and overall experiences for our loyal TripADeal Travellers is always at the forefront when designing our incredible travel deals.

If anyone has any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us (Australia: https://www.tripadeal.com.au/contact-us | New Zealand: https://www.tripadeal.co.nz/contact-us) and there will be a TripADeal Travel Expert available for a chat, we love hearing from you!

Kind regards,

TripADeal Team

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My wife and I have travelled in India, China and Taiwan with TripADeal and have on all three occasions been impressed by their value for money. We have travelled with other companies and on our own but have found that where a TripADeal tour is going where we we intend to go, it is far cheaper to go with them. We have never had trouble with accomadation and have generally found it to be of a high standard and so far the hotels we were promised have been the ones that we have stayed in. The transport has been as advertised and the guides have been good. We are already booked on a TripADeal tour to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and are contemplating taking another to Bornio or Sri Lanka.

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