We used AHI (Smithsonian) on a tour to Florence last year. Tour Guide was stellar: extremely educated about the city, very organized, patient, kind and a good communicator. We enjoyed the day trips to towns outside of Florence. Shuttle bus was adequate. Accommodations nothing special however clean and centrally located. Price-point for all-inclusive trip was as expected. The restaurants that AHI chose were less than desireable (poor food quality; lacking regional dishes). Focus was more on drinking wine and sitting for 1.2 hours before meals arrived (we are sober so that was a waste of time.). We will travel with AHI again; they refuse, however, to support those of us who are sober and would like N/A wine/beer with dinner. read more

Everything went perfectly on my 2 AHI trips: Cuba (Afro-Cuban experience) and Croatia (Dalmatian Coast). Small groups (4 and 16); professional, knowledgeable, and personable tour directors; comfortable and efficient transportation; fantastic accommodations (hotels and beautiful small ship with only 19 cabins); outstanding organization and coordination of all arrangements, admissions, and connecting with the excellent tour guides; excellent meals. Nothing negative to say except that I would arrange my own flights in the future and pay for the airport transfers. read more

We just completed our third AHI tour and, like the other, was uniformity excellent. Interesting programs, knowledgeable tour directors and guides and top-notch accommodations. Support staff at HQ are always helpful. Prices are reasonable. Highly recommended! read more

Dangerous, reckless, entirely irresponsible tour company demonstrating a blatant disregard for the health and wellbeing of its participants. When I became visibly ill and feverish on a tour bus en route to a large and crowded museum, I asked for assistance. I was told to just sit in a chair in the museum for several hours. When I reiterated my need for assistance, I was again told to just sit in a chair in the museum's bistro. Clear that I did not want to expose other participants to what I had (still unknown due to lack of access to any medical care), I asked repeatedly for a mask, and to self isolate during lunch. It was a painful and miserable experience. When we finally returned to the hotel, I was markedly worse. After testing positive for COVID, I asked our reckless tour guide to inform other participants. She said she would, and never did. When I finally received medical care on the following day (with no assistance from AHI or its representatives), the physician advised that I needed to quarantine for five days. The tour guide's response was, "That is unnecessary." I guess she obtained her medical degree overnight while I writhed with fever, chills, muscle aches and respiratory problems. AHI HAS NO COVID, OR ANY OTHER MEDICAL PROTOCOLS. NO MASKS. NO MEDICAL ASSISTANCE. NO TRANSPARENCY. NOTHING. read more

Our trip was to SE Asia. AHI was excellent pre trip with answering my myriad of questions in a timely and helpful manner. It was very hot and humid and we had frequently offered water bottles & much appreciated cold clothes. There were 3 short flights involved and those took up most of a day each, so that was a bit disappointing to lose most of those days in travel. Only 1 of those do i think could have been done differently. Our leader has us leave 5 hrs early for a 30 min. drive to the airport. As the accommodations were lovely, a extra hr or 2 would have been great to enjoy. All our city guides were excellent and the tours all went as planned. We did our own flights as we went in 3 days early and stayed one extra day. We have been on other small group tours (this was 19 folks) where the company did honor the airport transfers. AHI did not even though many left at different times on the designated days and were included. We would use AHI again. read more

I am looking for another land trip so, having traveled with AHI twice and having been extremely pleased, I "googled" them and found these reviews on Yelp. I was suprised at the 2 1/2 star rating so I read the reviews. Most of the negative reviews revolved around the pandemic mess and trip cancellations of 2020-2021. We had a trip to Israel and Jordan booked for March 2020 that was cancelled. The company extended to us a voucher for the full amount we paid and valid for the next two years. We rebooked for March 2022 and had a great time on the trip. AHI was extremely courteous and helpful over this difficult time. read more

We recently completed a trip to Scotland with AHI. The travel director, tour guide, and driver were excellent. It was an active and educational trip. The main drawback to this trip was the hotel. AHI stated it was a luxury hotel which it was not. The rooms were dated, had poor lighting, no ventilation, mold and rotting wood in the bathrooms. The hotel no made effort to address these issues. In a past AHI travel experience, the hotel was a luxury hotel. Think twice before booking a trip with AHI until you have vetted the hotel yourself. Do not take their word for it. read more

We just returned from a tour of Cuba. I can't speak highly enough of our Tour Director, the local guide and our driver. They were all very professional, courteous and above all, flexible. There was a nationwide power outage from the time we arrived which lasted several days. Fortunately our hotel had a generator and fuel to run it so we were never without electricity and AC. The hotel service was exemplary, and food was good. Some venues on the itinerary were not open but our director adjusted the schedule and made substitutions as needed so we still had very full days of activities. On evenings when we were on our own for dinner, he found restaurants that were open, and arranged taxis to transport us. The lectures were incredible - highly educated and knowledgeable presenters. The director offered to arrange a doctor's visit when I wasn't feeling well and followed up to ensure I was OK when I chose not to go. He always alerted us to any safety concerns. Our local guide gave us so much information on Cuban history and culture, she was always cheerful and upbeat despite the very long days. Our driver was the best, careful and skilled in getting the bus through what seemed impossibly tight lanes. All in all it was a special, amazing experience. read more

We recently completed a trip to Peru with AHI. The travel director and local tour guides were wonderful. All accommodations that were provided were first class. The logistics of travel and luggage were excellent. We did an Amazon cruise on the Delfin III and the crew was very knowledgeable. The food onboard was fantastic. We always felt safe during our travel and the director and guides were always looking out for us. We traveled with a small group through the alumni associations. I highly recommend this trip and will be traveling with AHI in the future. read more

Doesn't answer calls! Too difficult to deal with We will arrange our own vacation air travel read more

Just returned from an AHI trip to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. Wonderful experience all around. Extremely competent guide (Marc), great accommodations, and lots of safaris and sightseeing. Always felt safe and well taken care of. Transfers went seamlessly. All in all a very well organized, managed, and executed group trip. read more

I've been on three AHI trips through an organization and they were all fantastic. They were: Southern Spain, Amalfi Coast, and Peru. The trips are for curious travelers who want to learn when they travel. Guides and guests lecturers are usually top-notch, the itineraries run smoothly, hotels are often hidden gems - maybe not always 5 star but well-located and perfectly comfortable. I still keep in touch with our Spanish guide/tour leader who was the greatest! read more

we went on a recent trip sponsored by AHI to Scotland. Our tour director Judy was very nice but not particularly helpful. The brochure says Edinburgh, Scotland and we stayed in a very very very SUB-STANDARD hotel in Stirling. A converted high school turned into a "EXCELLENT HOTEL". nothing could have been further from the truth!!!!! We were not informed before the trip ,that the reason we were in another town other than EDINBURGH was because this time of the year they have and arts and music festival going on . THE ROYAL MILITARY TATTOO event so that's why we were not given accommodations in EDINBURGH!!! The town of Stirling where we stayed wasn't close to anything, unless you wanted to walk up and down steep hills. We were there for 10 days and there was way way way too much free time (every day). We did visit way too many churches and castles . One day and one day only we were asked if we wanted to go some place special LIKE GLASGOW. This should have been offered in the brochure. Again the hotel was very sub-standard, dirty rooms, stopped up toliets(5times) and dirty , dirty walls . After five days I had to ask the staff to change the sheets and they did but did not change the towels or pillow cases. The showers/tubs were almost impossible to get into without help(they were so high). NEVER AGAIN WOULD I RECOMMEND AHI (as a travel resource). And finally the people on our trip felt the same way. WE SHOULD GET A FULL REFUND ON OUR HOTEL STAY IT WAS ABYSMAL!!!!!!! My husband and I would give AHI "ZERO STARS"!!!! There is NOTHING EPIC about this review. read more

I wish zero stars were an option. AHI is a company of scammers. I paid in full for a package and booked external travel insurance. I called a few months after booking to confirm flight times and was told the trip had been cancelled due to low enrollment the prior month. AHI literally held onto my entire payment, meanwhile I had already jumped through hoops at work and made multiple plans around this trip. As if this weren't frustrating enough, I had to call multiple times to get my refund after multiple excuses about switching accounting systems, certain people being unavailable, others being to blame for miscommunication. It doesn't matter your budget or how much time you have on your hands, no one deserves to deal with this degree of unprofessionalism and lack of ethics. Avoid this company, there are better options out there. read more

We do not recommend AHI travel. We had planned to do a Christmas Market tour of Germany this winter and thought of AHI Travel. In it's brochure advertising a Christmas Season tour of Germany and France, they title the cruise "Holiday Markets Cruise". In fact they use the term "holiday markets" at lease 8 times and the term "holiday" at least 5 times; but, to the best of my knowledge, the people in France and Germany do not use holiday or it's equivalent - they all use "Christmas" and "Christmas Market" (in their own language of course). I find it appalling that an American company would try to change the name of a very important part of the culture of the people in other countries. It is no wonder that we sometimes come across as the ugly Americans. read more

I have been receiving Alumni tour promotions for years (degrees from 3 universities). Finally took one, to Tuscany, because I liked the itinerary and price. Normally I plan my own domestic and foreign travel. This trip exceeded my expectations in every way. I was very pleased, and will consider booking through AHI again in the future. read more

Ahi Travel - update. they take care of their clients. my parents love their vacations and have taken 8 tips with them. They make lifelong friends with people who are on these vacations with them. Recently they had a trip planned and the agency had a challenge securing a full refund from vendors they use. They went out of their way to refund 100% of the money taken for the vacation. thanks for your honesty. i'll update again once the money is received. read more

NO good at all. No referral fees when most all of the other Tour Companies reward you for bringing them new travelers. Also they keep all deposits even when you provide at least 6 months notice re a cancellation and even NOW during COVID - they keep their FULL 50% of your money !!! --- when all they did was have your name on a list as an interested party. They are terrible corporate citizens during this pandemic and I will never book with them again because of this. read more

I am 70 and my wife is 67. We have traveled with AHI several times. We have been good customers. We are retired and saved up so we could celebrate my milestone birthday with our two daughters. We booked a trip for June and planned on celebrating our 45th anniversary as well. We canceled the trip due to COVID-19 back in early March when pandemic was on the rise in Spain; our destination for June. Given our age and an autoimmune vulnerability one of our daughters has, we decided to cancel. We did so only because there was a deadly global pandemic impacting seniors and those with compromised immune systems. We contacted AHI and they refused to refund part of our downpayment in the amount of $1,737. As we argued with them, all travel from Spain was banned by the US State Department. AHI does not take into account circumstances like ours. Is this how they treat good repeat customers? The right thing would be to reimburse our hard-saved retirement money. AHI certainly made this a milestone birthday - cheated out of nearly two grand. I say do not use AHI for your travels. Pick someone else. I know we will. read more

I Would NOT recommend this agency. As a big birthday gift, we are planning an alumni trip which uses this agency. When purchasing our airline tickets we made it very clear we wanted to buy tickets that we could use our air miles to upgrade. They booked our tickets in a class that could not be upgraded. When we informed them of the mistake, they said there was a misunderstanding. They would reverse the ticket fee less $600. In essence the cost of cancelling the ticket with the airlines. We would be paying to correct their mistake. We pointed out the actual charge to reversing 2 airline tickets was $500. We suggested that we split the cost which they refused. THIS AGENCY IS EITHER INCOMPETENT OR DISHONEST OR MAYBE BOTH. read more

We do NOT recommend AHI. We are members of several alumni associations and have traveled with both Odyssey and AHI. We would re-book with Odyssey without reservation, but our experience with AHI (New Zealand 2018) was deplorable. The land arrangements were satisfactory, but the tour leader was inexperienced, looking to our driver for local information, and did not provide adequate context for national politics, even in response to direct questions. Most importantly, do NOT let AHI book your flights. Although traveling with the UCLA Alumni assn., we were flying in/out of SFO. AHI selected a return flight plan that had several hours more of layovers than another couple selected for themselves, and we wound up renting a car to get back to Medford from SFO when our flight was rescheduled by United leaving us with an 11-hr layover, without access to the new Polaris lounge which had not yet opened. AHI did not track United's flight changes and was not able to book us alternative arrangements when we found out about the change. AHI denied any responsibility for the poor bookings and offered only a $500 certificate to use on future trips booked with them, as if we would ever use them again. It took a trip to Small Claims Court to get 100% of our claims paid. read more