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What travelers are saying

"My daughter and I were repatriated because she contracted dengue fever. Though I do not hold Intro responsible for acts of nature, I do hold them responsible for the way they respond to acts of nature. Our 30-year-old guide could not handle an emergency and was busy with the other guests taking them on the prescheduled tours and taking care of his needs like going to the gym. My daughter had a fever on Saturday morning, which was reported to our Intro guide. We left Mexico on Monday and on Thursday the Mexico tour manager finally got back to me. It falls on Intro’s corporate policies and systems of support to help guests during emergencies. Their current systems at best are abysmal. Intro cannot expect a guide to deal with emergencies and manage the tour at the same time. They should have a support team for situations like this instead of leaving guests out to figure it out in a foreign country while the rest of the tour group is out having a fabulous time and the guide is unreachable my phone. I am in shock that Intro mishandled such a serious situation with 15 years in the business. The company dropped the ball multiple times but it is inexcusable to provide zero support during a medical emergency. I purchased the best insurance and I arranged and prodded and called and hussled to get my daughter care. In the meantime it was radio silence on Intro’s end. I had to pay over 1000$ usd out of pocket just to get basic care. I am appalled at the lack of care, compassion, and customer service. The only reason we stood a chance is because I made all the arrangements and I had excellent insurance. Intro endangers the lives of the people they are paid to serve through negligence and dereliction. My mistake after traveling to 28 countries on my own was thinking we would be safe with a tour company based in the U.K. and Australia. My daughter will be hospitalized for four days and three nights in the United States. She has had ongoing medical care because of the severity of the illness which Intro has minimized. There’s a reason why I took her out of Holbox immediately. The care she received in Mexico pales in comparison to what she is getting in the United States. During a tropical storm, Intro decided it was best to take us to an island that was on the coast, flooded, and remote. The conditions on the island were abysmal. Most of the island was in accessible by foot or vehicle because of severe flooding. Their drivers leave much to be desired in terms of safety. The accommodations are hit and miss as is the food offered. Some of the accommodations were great. Some of the accommodations were subpar. I brought my concerns to the guide multiple times only to be told that I needed to have requested an upgrade."

What travelers are saying

"My daughter and I were repatriated because she contracted dengue fever. Though I do not hold Intro responsible for acts of nature, I do hold them responsible for the way they respond to acts of nature. Our 30-year-old guide could not handle an emergency and was busy with the other guests taking them on the prescheduled tours and taking care of his needs like going to the gym. My daughter had a fever on Saturday morning, which was reported to our Intro guide. We left Mexico on Monday and on Thursday the Mexico tour manager finally got back to me. It falls on Intro’s corporate policies and systems of support to help guests during emergencies. Their current systems at best are abysmal. Intro cannot expect a guide to deal with emergencies and manage the tour at the same time. They should have a support team for situations like this instead of leaving guests out to figure it out in a foreign country while the rest of the tour group is out having a fabulous time and the guide is unreachable my phone. I am in shock that Intro mishandled such a serious situation with 15 years in the business. The company dropped the ball multiple times but it is inexcusable to provide zero support during a medical emergency. I purchased the best insurance and I arranged and prodded and called and hussled to get my daughter care. In the meantime it was radio silence on Intro’s end. I had to pay over 1000$ usd out of pocket just to get basic care. I am appalled at the lack of care, compassion, and customer service. The only reason we stood a chance is because I made all the arrangements and I had excellent insurance. Intro endangers the lives of the people they are paid to serve through negligence and dereliction. My mistake after traveling to 28 countries on my own was thinking we would be safe with a tour company based in the U.K. and Australia. My daughter will be hospitalized for four days and three nights in the United States. She has had ongoing medical care because of the severity of the illness which Intro has minimized. There’s a reason why I took her out of Holbox immediately. The care she received in Mexico pales in comparison to what she is getting in the United States. During a tropical storm, Intro decided it was best to take us to an island that was on the coast, flooded, and remote. The conditions on the island were abysmal. Most of the island was in accessible by foot or vehicle because of severe flooding. Their drivers leave much to be desired in terms of safety. The accommodations are hit and miss as is the food offered. Some of the accommodations were great. Some of the accommodations were subpar. I brought my concerns to the guide multiple times only to be told that I needed to have requested an upgrade."

What travelers are saying

"Our 8th OU tour was to Switzerland. We visited many sites in Switzerland, Austria and also a quick stop in Germany. O.U. takes all the stress away by using outstanding Tour Directors who handle everything. Our T. D. Kiara was fantastic! She worked flawlessly throughout the tour, even when we were stuck in Zermatt after a flood. I highly recommend O.U."

What travelers are saying

"Our 8th OU tour was to Switzerland. We visited many sites in Switzerland, Austria and also a quick stop in Germany. O.U. takes all the stress away by using outstanding Tour Directors who handle everything. Our T. D. Kiara was fantastic! She worked flawlessly throughout the tour, even when we were stuck in Zermatt after a flood. I highly recommend O.U."

What travelers are saying

"Italian dream or a nightmare? I had the misfortune of booking a trip to Italy, THE ITALIAN DREAM, package, with my wife through wingbuddy for June 6, 2004. After the first flight from Edmonton to Toronto went very well, when I was preparing to make my flight from Toronto to Rome, the airline informed me that I could not make the flight to Italy because my passport did not meet the necessary requirements. The Transat airline told me to contact Wingbuddy to re-book my trip when my passport met the requirements, which I did immediately using Wingbuddy's emergency email. I received the reply that they were very sorry but that I had to be patient because they would never re-book my trip or pay credits, and they canceled my trip to Italy on the first day, which for Wingbuddy means that the process ended there and the services ceased to exist. I couldn't come to terms with the idea of losing a $7,000 trip, because most of the services were not provided by wingbuddy, such as the hotels in Italy, the bus trips, the meals, the visits to the museums, and even the return trip to Canada which, from Rome, was scheduled for eight days after they canceled my trip without informing me. Despite the fact that wingbuddy and its partners never did most of the services, I was left without seven thousand dollars, which I had saved with a lot of effort over two years. This, was money that immorally ended up in the hands of people who only see the profit in front of them without caring how it is acquired. Wingbuddy never proves that it pays for its services in Italy because it doesn't even know which hotels its clients are staying in. I was out seven thousand dollars, but from what I've read in some reviews of other customers, I'm unfortunately not the only one in this situation. There are lots of concerns all over. I just wonder how long our government will allow wingbuddy to continue having these non clear procedures about payments for services it never provided to its customers because it doesn't even have proof of such. I will never recommend Wingbuddy, because it's an agency that specializes in selling products and then never takes any responsibility for what it sells. Wingbuddy's responsibility ends at the moment you pay them, a way before you take your flight. Finally, I want to say to Wingbuddy that I don't need your whining as an answer, or that you weren't to blame for anything that happened, or that you paid for the services in Italy, because that Wingbuddy will never prove for the simple reason that in my case it never was paid. If wingbuddy paid, use this space to prove that the hotel rooms in Italy were booked in my and my wife's name, and that Transat did not use our return seats to Canada to sell to other customers. Clarity of procedures should also be one of your priorities, so that you become a credible company that your customers can trust and feel proud of. Until you do, you don't deserve the slightest trust from potential customers. I think the best and safe way to visit Italy is to book our own flights and contact a local agency in Italy to do the same tour. As far as I know, it will be cheaper and safer. Eduardo Mesquita"

What travelers are saying

"The trip to the Caucasus was both illuminating and fun. It was particularly interesting to visit all three countries, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, to try to understand the area and the problems they face from each country's very different perspective. The scenery in the whole area is breathtaking. The tour introduced us to many local people who were all very hospitable and generous. They welcomed us warmly and joined in our enjoyment of "having a go" at various crafts, e.g. bread making, felt-making, learning a bit of Georgian script, etc. In each of the three countries, religion is fundamental to their lives and visits to mosques, temples, churches, monasteries and cathedrals were a large feature in the tour. I would highly recommend the tour to anyone who likes an activity-packed holiday in places that are off the beaten track."

What travelers are saying

"Horrific experience. What was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime for my Mom and I two years ago turned into a nightmare. We saved up for years for this trip. It was $16K for both of us (just for the tour) - this is ridiculously expensive. I thought it would be a quality tour with great transport. Nope. We travelled (outside of the trains) by public transport the vast majority of the time. They only paid for one taxi when it was raining to get from the hotel in Kyoto to the train station. I’ve been on 10+ tours around the world and not having planned transport was a shock. The worst part is - my Mom got sick and tested positive for Covid in the night before the official tour began. We texted our tour guide and she told us she “didn’t know what the tour company’s policy was because Covid guidelines kept changing in Japan.” This despite Inside Japan’s website stating that they had a clear COVID policy. The worst part was that she told us to make sure that we didn’t tell any hotel staff that my Mom had COVID, because they could “kick us out.” !!! When I asked where we would go, she mentioned something about the government having quarantine facilities but she didn’t know. We were freaking out at this point and were also told that we had to change rooms the following day because we weren’t scheduled to stay in that room (since we were supposed to have been setting off on the tour.) My Mom, who was quite ill and feverish at this point, was told that we would have to sit in the tiny lobby (where the only seating was an uncushioned, backless wooden bench) from 9:00-3:00 because they could not get us a late checkout/early checkin for our replacement room. I called the US phone numbers for the tour company for hours begging to have them get us late checkout. They “would look into it” and get back to us. By this time it was about 3am so, desperate, I called the so-called “emergency” line for Inside Japan listed in our tour notes. Well, the automated message that I received was in Japanese with no option to listen in English of to leave a message. Long story short. I don’t fault the company for not allowing to continue on the tour because my Mom had Covid; I fault them (and am still EXTREMELY angry two years later) for abandoning us with no information or solutions. It was, quite honestly, traumatic. We finally met up with the tour group for the last two days (on our own dime) and the found out that the tour was not what anyone expected. The other guests in the tour were disappointed in the hotels (we were supposed to stay in a hotel with our own private onsens; this did not happen); the lack of proper transportation, and the “gruelling” pace of the tour and walking expectations. One woman said they had tracked at least 25K on foot each day. This on a tour that was quoted to me as “the tour with the least amount of walking - very minimal” by the salesperson at the company. I had specifically inquired about this because my Mom has trouble walking. I was reassured (incorrectly) that she would be absolutely fine; when in reality, if she had been well enough to go on the full tour, there’s no way she would have been able to handle the level of walking. In short, this company is only out for a money grab and does not care about their guests. It was insanely overpriced and a complete letdown in all aspects. Never, never book a tour with this company."

What travelers are saying

"I recently took a trip to Kenya and I cannot imagine any other tour operator doing a better job. Let's start at the beginning. My flight from the US landed first in London and then a second flight was to have gone to Kenya. The airline nightmare began with AA being two hours late causing me to miss my next flight on British Air. BA had given my flight away before I got off the plan and had no acceptable replacement. I spent three days and nights at Heathrow airport forcing me to miss those days of my tour. I stood in lines hours long at the airport and my second replacement flight never left the ground after being held hostage in the plane for hours. I was ready to go home. My phone would not work much of the time in the airport, but I was finally able to contact Best Singles Travel. They figured out a way to arrange for a driver to meet me at the Nairobi airport three days after my trip began and take me to Samburu, a five hour drive where the group was then located. If it had not been for this effort in figuring out a way for me to meet my group then this trip would have been lost for me. And what a shame that would have been because once I finally arrived it was magical. I saw every animal as well as much of the countryside driving all over even with missing three days. The lodges were picturesque with monkeys playing on expansive grounds, wild birds and animals, beautiful colored geckos, mountains and streams in the background where the sun met a landscape expanding as far as the eye could see producing sunsets like those seen in National Geographics. Oh, did I mention the food? No US chemicals. Just organically grown and delicious. If anyone reading this decides to travel to Kenya then I hope you stop to see David Sheldrick's rescued baby elephants. I am grateful that Best Singles Travel and Patrick, our knowledgeable considerate tour guide, took the time, effort and resources to make the remainder of this trip happen for me because now I cannot imagine having missed it. This trip was organized, included lovely memorable hotels/lodges and attentive to our needs."