As a long-time Yelper, I'm used to taking charge when it comes to planning vacations. What's a double black badge Yelp Elite to do when she can't use her trusty app/website to organize her honeymoon? Turn to Audley. A friend-of-a-friend recommended their services and I'm so glad we were able to connect. An African safari is the vacation of a lifetime and this isn't one of those trips where you wing it and hope for the best. Amy was my husband's and my primary contact, as she specializes in East African vacations. Each of Audley's employees has a specific geographic region that they focus on to maximize the client's experience. We had a few phone calls with Amy to discuss budget, length of trip, what we wanted to see/do/experience, and what to expect with such journey to another continent far, far away. Through Amy and Audley, we booked our flights through Qatar Airways, all of our overnight stays (we moved around Tanzania throughout our 2-week adventure), and she gave us a printed and e-version of our detailed itinerary. It wasn't a cheap vacation, but hey, we're not talking about a last-minute weekend getaway on points. Amy also checked in with us to make sure we had all the necessary visas, trip insurance, and immunizations ahead of time, even the week before our trip was to begin, we had a nice phone chat to go over everything and answer questions. During our trip, we had no issues! However, Audley had someone available on-call 24/7 in case there were questions regarding anything related to the planned trip. At one of our stays near Ngorongoro, they even arranged for us to have the "honeymoon" dome. In East Africa, Audley likes to work with Asilia properties and we loved the locations, the staff, and the food/drink. It was upper end luxe, but still felt like we were part of nature. We saw SO MANY animals (my #1 ask) and still found time to relax and enjoy Tanzania. I would love to return to Africa, maybe Kenya next time? And when booking a trip without Yelp, I would 10000% recommend Audley. read more

I rarely leave negative reviews, but this experience was disappointing enough that I feel compelled to warn others. My husband and I previously used Audley Travel for our honeymoon to Vietnam and had a good experience, which is why we confidently recommended them to my parents for their retirement trip to California. My parents are not experienced travelers, and the entire reason we hired a luxury travel company was to ensure a smooth, stress-free trip with knowledgeable planning and support. Instead, while my parents are currently on their trip, we have already had to front over $2,000 in unexpected costs because of Audley's mistakes. Audley has acknowledged some of the errors and agreed to reimburse approximately $685 plus resort fees that should have already been prepaid. However, we were then forced to pay an additional $1,100 out of pocket because Audley apparently failed to use the funds we already paid them to pay for my parents' final hotel stay. To make matters worse, no one answered their emergency support line when we tried to resolve the issue in real time. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated mistake. We booked this trip more than 14 months in advance because my parents specifically wanted to stay inside Yosemite National Park, where lodging often needs to be booked exactly 12 months out. Before paying a deposit, we made it explicitly clear that we would only move forward if Audley could secure one of the hotels inside Yosemite. Their specialist assured us multiple times that Audley had the ability to book earlier than the general public. That turned out not to be true. Audley did not even attempt to secure the hotel until roughly six weeks after reservations had already opened to the public. By then, the hotel was sold out. Essentially, they held our deposit for months while failing to make the booking they had specifically promised they could obtain. Audley ultimately told us there was nothing they could do. I personally spent days constantly checking the Yosemite reservation website until I was able to piece together all three nights myself through separate reservations and room changes. While Audley eventually refunded the hotel cost, I still had to do the work they were hired to handle. There was another issue with a scheduled guided day tour. The original guide apparently canceled the week of the trip, and Audley replaced it with an entirely different backpacking-style excursion that required my parents to drive themselves and was completely inconsistent with the leisurely guided experience originally booked. Once again, I had to step in myself and find a replacement tour company. Audley refunded that portion as well, but by that point it felt like I was functioning as the travel agent. At a certain point, repeated refunds do not undo the stress, time, and disruption caused by these mistakes -- especially when they occur during an active trip and require family members to front thousands of dollars unexpectedly. The entire purpose of hiring a premium travel planning company is reliability, expertise, and support when issues arise. Unfortunately, this experience delivered the opposite. (As an additional note, this emergency 24/7 number has still not returned my call.) Based on this experience, I would not use or recommend Audley again. read more

Booked an expensive custom tour for 5 days in Rome and Naples. Got mass tour groups that didn't comply with my specific requirements and we missed key historical sites due to their failure to properly communicate. If you want a truly custom tour experience, go with someone else. Very much a lower level experience than expected. More like a consolidation of Viator like tours. read more

I worked for two week with Cris regarding SE Asia. Was very excited about everything he came up with... we designed my dream trip! I tried to give him my Cc and he told me "I'm just waiting to hear back from airlines..." Never heard from him again. Tried to get in touch with him, no luck. Tried a manager... no luck. Too bad I went on and cancelled my entire Month of May! Last time I'll try that! read more

With Audley Travel, you are not traveling alone. We recently finished a wonderful three-country South American tour custom-designed for us by Audley. It involved very complicated travel with multiple border crossings, including airlines, trains, automobiles, and even a motorized canoe. The only complication occurred when we were to enter Chile from Bolivia. We were at a very isolated location 15,000 feet in the Andes when our guide received notice that the border was closed due to a snowstorm. Somehow, Audley found two wonderful guides from Chile who drove 9 hours to an alternate crossing, got us through customs at an isolated location, and to our hotel safely. Our trip continued the next day on time and on schedule. Don't travel alone. Travel involves more than a list of destinations. Trust a company that will be there when plans take an unexpected turn. Audley has earned our trust and is planning our next big adventure. read more

Audley Travel - Travel Agents Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Professional, service,top notch! Available 24 seven no matter where you are. Their tours are excellent along with their guides who speak great English, even though we were in Japan their knowledge was mind-boggling. All in all a wonderful company who helped us through some unexpected glitches. read more

I have just spent upwards of 17k dollars on a trip planned by Audley for my wife and me to South America. 10 years ago I took a group of 7 people to India, also planned by them We had been planning a trip to Asia in October, and they required $3700 as a place holder which was paid in January In the interim, my wife's neurodegenerative disease has accelerated, and she is unable to travel. Despite this, and despite not having any hotel or airline reservations, they refuse to refund any money. There are no small groups to travel with, they offered a credit, which of course is not usable since my wife can no longer travel. Their lack of understanding is demonstrative of a rotten corporate mentality read more

We booked our honeymoon to French Polynesia through Audley, and Anthony V was incredibly helpful with the planning. He took care of everything, resorts, inter-island flights, and timing. He quickly addressed any issues that came up while we were traveling. We were a little unsure about using a travel agent at first, but given the complexity of this trip, we're so glad we did. We'd absolutely recommend Audley. read more

After reading a few recent reviews, it's clear I should have read them before I booked with Audley and that I shared a similar bad experience with Audley. I booked a 16 day trip to Quito, Galapagos and the Amazon through Audley. I discovered I paid a commission to Audley between 80 and 100% of the price for very mediocre service. I didn't realize I was essentially charged for two travelers when I was a single and each piece accepted solo traveler! :) Requested a price adjustment and was told they were entitled to such a high commission. Fleeced. Late getting the final itinerary which included mistakes as it appeared to be a cookie-cutter itinerary semi-customized for me. Maybe it was meant for one of their other travelers? For some reason they sent me a booklet which was repetitive of wrong information sent by email. The booklet was too bulky to travel with and took 8 days by fed ex to get to me. I didn't know fed ex had an 8 day service. Hmmm... It took several messages to sort out details. I was left to figure out what to do for two days in Quito. They didn't even suggest I contact their own guide. Maybe they didn't have confidence in him?? Just wrote to the CEO and USA Managing Director. Let's see how they respond - if they do. read more

I booked a trip to Bhutan with Audley as they're located stateside and I wanted to make sure I was booking with a reputable agency for such a far-flung location. I knew I was paying double the price of what Bhutan-based agencies charge, but I thought with Audley's supposedly great reputation, I would get best of services that might not be possible with local companies. I was mistaken. The guide Audley placed me with was not interested in his job and it was apparent from our first meeting. I immediately contacted Audley to request a different guide, but was told as it was the busy travel season a substitute wasn't available so I had to spend a week with a guide who had no interest in engaging with me. One hotel in Nepal had a rat running inside the walls of the room and the manager told me not to worry about it because the cats would get it. I requested an immediate room change and checked out the next day. I also didn't eat in the restaurant (all meals included in the trip) because I figured if rats were in the walls they were certainly in the kitchen. Of the four hotels in Bhutan -- one had ants in the room, threadbare and stained towels, and a big plastic bucket with a scrub brush placed underneath the showerhead. Supposedly this was a recently refurbished room. The other hotel had disgustingly stained towels and bathrobes. Once I returned home, I contacted Audley with my complaints and provided photographs where applicable. I paid a little over $9,000 for this trip (not including airfare) and Audley refunded me $1,590 for my troubles (not to mention me being put in the position of acting as their quality control inspector while I was on vacation). Save your hard-earned dollars and book with a different company. read more

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ZERO STARS IF IT WERE AN OPTION Where do I start? We booked a trip to Portugal for my parents 55th anniversary and we were so excited. When we received the itinerary, everything looked great. We had food and wine tastings scheduled and had also looked forward to Audley cabs. This trip was a complete disaster. The tastings were set up for the wrong dates so we had to go find other places to eat which was not ideal as we haven't ever been to Portugal. The taxis associated with the company were unprofessional and pushy. This was supposed to be a trip of a life time and was a bucket list item for my mom and dad. They were grateful but were not happy as you could imagine. The company was not helpful and were pretty rude when dealing with them. I would absolutely not recommend using this agency. There are better companies that are more than willing to help and were appalled by our experience. I was recommended by others but it's seems they have lost their fastball... read more

I went to Iceland with 2 other friends on January 12th for 7 days and we had a great time. We had a few hiccups with the excursion company while we were there, however our travel agent Kelsey was making sure that everything was being rectified to insure a wonderful time! Our personal driver, hotel staff, restaurant recommendations were excellent! Although we had a few issues with the excursion company the guides were supper nice, friendly and informative. I absolutely love the way that Kelsey had conversations with me before I left and after I arrived back in states. Kelsey took time to listen about my concerns and I greatly appreciate her hard work and willingness to assist. My agent is the absolute best! Kelsey is professional and reliable and I would refer her to anyone that's planning a trip to Iceland. I will definitely use Audley travel again. read more

So far so good. Great agent who put together what looks like an amazing trip to Thailand

We just returned from our trip to the UK. We booked everything except lodging for our first week and airfare through Audley. . The booking process what's terrible. Our agent, Madeline K, seemed energetic, and excited about working with us to plan a trip. We had a call with her a week later after telling her at a high level what it is that we wanted to do including how we like to travel and our expectations. A day or two before our scheduled call, we received an itinerary which indicated that in order to reserve places and events we would need to make a deposit to secure everything within 24 hours. That wasn't much time to go over all of the information for our four week trip, but we managed to do it. On the phone we discussed the changes that needed to happen. Again we were told that we needed to pay the deposit for our trip based on the initial itinerary in order to secure our events. At this point our trip without airfare and one week of lodging was around $35k Which we had to make a deposit on upfront which we did. We had about 4 more iterations of revisions, changing towns on one stop and finding out that many events were no longer available. The price kept going up and our agent was not transparent at all about the price changes. In fact she couldn't have been more shielded about it. At this point we had already invested in the deposit and spent so much time on the project that we continued -but thoughts such as "bait and switch" tactics and practices that seemed less than scrupulous gave us plenty of doubt. We took the trip. The hotel rooms were less than expected (though we were told they were premium rooms. Also suggestions such as us renting a car for a portion of the trip (instead of having a driver and car) on single lane roads in Scotland where the driving is on the opposite side of the car and the hilly potholed street winded this way that were bad suggestions. Luckily we were able to turn back in the rented car and found a driver with car for the rest of our time there. Our agent had told us that she promised it wasn't hard to drive there and to trust her. Yet everyone we talked to there were so surprised that our travel agent had suggested that because it takes a lot of experience to know how to drive on single lane roads and that 97% of the people they talk to hired drivers with cars. I will say that the private tour guides that they arranged for us were for the most part very good. I will never use Audley travel again and do not recommend them. Bad advice, unscrupulous business practices, over pricing, and non transparency are the biggest reasons read more

My fiance and I used Audley for a trip to Iceland. My past experience with a travel agency was really great and having someone else book accommodations and tours took a lot of research and work off my shoulders. I was hoping to have the same experience with Audley. The first issue with them started when we received the final itinerary and price. We approved everything and called with the payment. A week later we got a phone call that the hotel we chose was no longer available. I have no idea why they would not confirm availability for the dates BEFORE providing us a final itinerary and accepting our payment. But okay, no big deal - the 2nd hotel option was fine. When we arrived in Iceland, the driver was there as expected and day 1 and 2 went on as planned. Day 3 we went on a tour that was booked for the entire day. The itinerary said that lunch would be provided so we didn't worry about bringing snacks or anything. Well lunch time came and went and our guide told us that lunch actually was not included. So we didn't eat for the day until we got back to our hotel around 6:30pm. Day 4 we were booked for an ATV tour and were told to meet our tour guide at the bus stop at 1pm and to be there 10 minutes prior. We arrived at the bus stop at 12:50 and waited until 1:10 and no one showed up. At 1:40 we received a call from local travel partner that our tour guide was waiting for us at the bus stop. By this time we were frustrated and ended up making other plans so never went on the ATV tour. Day 5, New Years Eve. We were told that we were going to one of the best restaurants in the city, followed by a bonfire and fireworks display. We were told to meet our driver at the hotel at 6pm. Again, we waited until 620 and then called the emergency travel number to find out where our driver was. We were then told that there actually was not a driver scheduled and we were supposed to meet at the restaurant. Mind you, we had NO idea what restaurant it was because it wasn't in the itinerary and the driver was supposed to be taking us to the location! The local agency then tried to fix the issue and got a driver to come pick us up but by that time, we had already missed dinner, so they drove us to the bonfire location. Not a great start to New Years Eve celebration. When we got home, we received an email from Audley saying they were issuing a partial refund for the ATV tour (which is insane because we were there on time and they were not), and a refund for the lunch issue. No word on how they will fix the issue with NYE dinner. Bottom line, find a different travel agency or take an hour or two to do your own research and book your own accommodations and tours! read more

We worked with Jack Tydeman, Southeast Asia Senior Specialist and he and his assistant were just as great as the trip. This was a family trip to Thailand and as we planned we added more people and they were very accommodating to all our needs. They offered a great payment plan to make the trip easier to manage and not have a hugh credit card bill with interest to pay after the trip. lol The trip was seamless and flowed without any issues. After passing through customs and luggage collection, you're met by an airport guide who will give you your trip documents. They arranged vans to take us to our hotels and stayed with us until we got checked in. They set up times and place to meet the following days for our excursions/tours. The tour guides we had handles our family(group of 7 to include 2 teenager's) with care and love. They showed us things that were not on the tour but we had inquired about. There was a hiccup or two with the domestic flights within Thailand, such as leg room for some of our taller family members but over all we were fine. The only downside is adding a person to the room means a roll away bed. Not so bad but not that comfortable. So, future note if there are 5 people in the room and 3 of adults sleep on the sofa instead. lol There was one of the tour guides that had more of a language barrier with us then the others and seemed she was useless for us but things happen and we were able to handle it ourselves(checking in to the flights as a group from Chang Mai to Phuket). Note: doing it as one big group helped with over weight luggage. But other than that everything worked out great. I really liked that they sent us a hard copy of our iteniary as well as a mobile app. He did a pre travel and post travel virtual chat with us as well. Very nice. We were able to add on other things while were were there. We seen an extra show do to some down time we had. We got to see family that live in Thailand, for the first time. Would use them again. read more

We could have done a better job planning our trip by ourselves. Miscommunication, inefficient transfers, and redundant excursions. I would never use them again and do not recommend. read more

Wish could pick no stars. Audley created a nightmare honeymoon experience for us. They gave wrong guidance on visa, and even almost made me fly in with no visa in hopes on on-arrival visa, gave wrong vaccination information (almost denied entry), and gave us a non luxurious resort for the promise of luxury. Avoid! Find someone else or plan your own, you can do a much better job. read more

Memo to rating website of 1 out of 5 rating We had an exceptional 3 week vacation in New Zealand, inspite of communication and booking problems with Audley Travel: Car rental booked to return to wrong city Final itinerary details not received before we left for trip One of hotels booked had many problems- most hotel services not operating No airport transportation because Audley booked for the wrong day Difficult to contact Audley representative during trip planning Transportation to wine country experience overlooked - not booked Refunds due for last minute cancelled tours not offered until we detail requested read more

Just had a very good experience speaking with Lorne Kepler-- he was very informed and helpful. I recommend asking for him.

Simply Incredible! We had an amazing trip organized and executed by the Audley team through out South Africa. We started our adventure in Cape Town, then made our way through the wine country (Stellenbosch and Franschhoek), and on to Swellendam, Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, and finished off the southern itinerary on safari in East Cape. We then flew up to Mala Mala, stayed in Rattray's Camp, and had one of our best safari adventures ever! We then headed back to Cape Town for some beach time in Clifton/Camps Bay, and some amazing food, before flying home. We have been to South Africa, as well as to several other countries in Africa over the years but this trip was so well organized, and enabled us to really soak in all that the people, culture, landscape, and animals were offering us. Thank you so much! read more

I would give Audley Travel no stars if this was an option. I used Audley Travel in 2019 to visit Spain and it was a great trip. So I decided to use Audley Travel to visit Germany since I had to make a stop in Frankfurt coming off a trip to Scotland so I extended my vacation. What started out great in Heidelberg the hotel and walking tour was great and lived up to the standards I encountered in the past and paid for. Then it continued to go downhill. Booked and paid for luxury cars w/driver instead Audley booked taxis. When we did have a luxury car w/driver, the driver decided to pull of the side of the road and urinate. Day after on our way to Baden-Baden train was cancelled, but ran for a connection and we arrived in Baden-Baden. Again, we arrived and picked up by taxi. Arrived at Merkur Hotel it was fine not luxury, room was large, but there was no restaurant for dinner as indicated it was closed and no bar area. That day we booked a walking tour scheduled for 3:00 PM, but the tour guide showed up at 1:00 PM and we were told if we did not take the tour at this time there would be no tour. I called the Emergency number that was given to me if we encountered a problem, but there was no answer. So we went on the tour. Itinerary had error as to where to meet the tour guide as well. Next day full day tour to the Black Forest booked a private driver with private tour guide for 8 hours. Tour guide never showed up only the driver. Again called the Emergency number, no answer. We left for the Black Forest with no tour guide which we paid for. Next day we went to the Caracalla Spa which we paid for two entries when we arrived it was only for one entry. Good thing we had a credit card on us to pay again. Still waiting for reimbursement. Next day we left for Frankfurt and we arrived by train to be left off in an area that was not safe, but was told the hotel was only a ten minute walk it was not and we had luggage with us. Why Audley would not recommend a taxi f since we already paid 12,000 for 6 days is beyond me. Finally, arrived at the LeMeridien Hotel, lobby was impressive. We checked in and the safe was broken (didn't want to carry our passports with us) so we had to wait over an hour for someone to come up and fix the safe. Room smelled of sewer back-up. This hotel was described as elegance it was a dump. Didn't appreciate the smell of sewer. By this time I was done with all the probems we endured. Paid for Breakfast with Audley when we arrived home we were charged again for breakfast by the hotel. I can understand one or even two problems, but to pay for services that was not booked. When I arrived home I reached out to Audley and our agent was on vacation for over 2 weeks, so I reached out to Audley numerous times, finally I received telephone call in return. Well I'm back in the States and three weeks later and they are still researching the issues that had arisen. If I was Audley Travel I would never use their Germany contacts to book a trip for Audley's clients. Audley would go out of business. Make your own choice, but I would not use Audley Travel you could do a better job on your own booking your trip and doing your own research. This trip per day was $1,000 per person with only breakfast this should have been first class. read more

We recently booked a trip to Milan and Stressa on Lake Maggiore. We received a call from a driver who was dispatched to pick us up from the airport on the wrong night. Despite forwarding our flight information directly from United Airlines, Audley had us arriving the wrong day. We were scheduled to visit the Duomo and the Last Supper on the day of arrival but that didn't happen because the tickets were sold out. When we informed the agent, her response was that we "were lucky" because we could have an early morning check in rather than a normal late afternoon check in which was totally ridiculous. Jasmine then booked us on a 3 hour walking tour an hour after we arrived in Milan after having no sleep. We cancelled that excursion as well. Another excursion that was booked never happened. We were also told we would have global entry back into the US which wasn't true. We telephoned Jasmine upon our return to let her know about our trip. We requested a refund of one night hotel stay in Milan, tickets for the Duomo, the Last Supper, the walking tour and the driver who was sent on the wrong day. Her response was she had to speak her supervisor. It's been 10 days and no response. read more

Writing my third and final update to this review to share that my husband and I just returned from a FANTASTIC honeymoon in South Africa booked and planned by Laura at Audley Travel. After our rocky start with Audley (see below) they completely reversed our experience by providing personal, thoughtful, committed support. I have never used a Travel Agent to book a trip before, and was certainly nervous to use one for a trip as important as our Honeymoon, but Audley absolutely delivered. Laura really took our wants/needs into consideration and was incredibly responsive even to last minute requests. The trip we ended up fulfilled everything we wanted and even gave us some things we didnt anticipate. I will absolutely book through Audley again and would happily recommend them to any friends. read more

Over promise way under deliver. Almost from the get go I had issues with Audley Travel from an unresponsive representation to a manager who could have cared less. Once you pay they disappear. Much of my itinerary was not fulfilled. Here is what I booked compared to what I got: 1) Walking Tour in Madrid (I informed Sebastian that I needed this tour in the afternoon) he scheduled it for 9:30 in the morning even though my flight was supposed to land at 8:45 am. I notified him midair that my plane was 4 hours late. Since was after 5:00pm EST he did not bother to change the tour time. 2) Local Vineyard Tour and Tasting. Was told I would have an english speaking tour guide. She spoke only spanish. The driver told me Audley is the only one who arranges tour at this facility and it is the same every time. No one speaks English. 3) LaMirande Hotel was subbed out for another hotel without my approval. They claimed that the "bar" rate went up so they had to make the change. If I wanted LaMirande back (which is what i put ad eposit on) then I would have to pay more. 4) Cooking Class at LaMirande - was not atLaMirande and was not conducted buy LaMirande cooking school. Instead it was at a local market and conducted by a local chef. Never received the copies of the recipes from Audley I was promised. 5) Transport Avignon Hotel to Train Station - never showed in spite of contacting them to confirm several hours ahead of time. 6) Train from Avignon to Paris - broke down. We sat on tracks for an hour and a half. I was told by train employees that we were due a refund. No refund as of today. 7) Versailles - I was told this was a private tour. When I finally got my itinerary at the hotel I had already arrived atI found out it was a shared tour. Again not what I paid for so I cancelled the tour. I rebooked a private tour myself and paid 1800 Euro's which I was assured I would be reimbursed for by Audley Travel Program Director Heather Forcier. No refund as of yet. The entire trip was a disaster. I spent more time trying to track Audley down than enjoying myself/. Once I did track them down I was told to deal with the local tour company. Once I got a hold of the local tour company they told me to call Audley. Avoid these people at all cost. read more

I asked them to help us plan a Greece trip back in 2019 but pandemic happened so we finally got to go now. The original agent we talked to planned a great trip from plane tix and on but she left the agency. The new agent Carly P took over, didnt bother to read past notes and planned the trip WITHOUT purchasing plane tix. I found out two weeks prior to our leaving. She kept hiding behind "terms and conditions" but emails sent to me and forms they wanted me to complete implied they were going to book tix. Obviously they had no intention of refunding us close to 40K so i booked my own tickets. Then Carly had the audacity to tell us she was leaving the company and offered zero assistance ( the manager also conveniently went on vacation during this nightmere). The agent that took over Amanda did her best and was more apologetic and honest than Carly or the missing manager. But who goes thru a travel agent thinking that they need to book plane tix? Isnt the expectation to help plan a complicated trip from start to finish? Ridiculous. If I could rate Amanda or their Greek partners who likely arranged the tour I would give them 5 stars. Once in Greece everything went seamless. The stress of finding out we had no plane tix two weeks from planned departure was awful. It caused un-needed anger and sadness for a trip that was supposed to be a dream family vacation. read more

I cannot recommend them highly enough. Tesia, their Japan specialist, put together a wonderful itinerary for me and her team and their partners accomplished it without any hitches whatsoever. Everything was well chosen, well organized, and the information provided for transportation, hotels, tours, etc. was clear and accurate. If you're looking for a travel agency that will put together a trip that will meet your needs, not some "canned" trip, and that will absolutely minimize the chance of anything going amiss, choose Audley. (I'm definitely _not_ paid for my review; just a completely satisfied customer) read more

I used Audley Travel to create a dream trip for myself to Easter Island; I went in 2018 and it was perfect! Every last detail was taken care of, within my budget; I have only positive things to say about them! I recommend this travel service to all my family and friends. I had tried AAA and their price was too high. Other commercial travel agencies were not the right fit for me. Audley answered all my questions and concerns! read more

I am SO happy my husband and I chose to book with Audley Travel for our honeymoon to Mauritius. We have nothing but marvelous things to say about experience working with Kristen O' Keefe, our representative. When we first we considering possible destinations to go from our hometown (San Diego, CA) we knew we wanted to go somewhere off the beaten path (for us). Almost none of our friends nor relatives had heard of Mauritius when we started to look into this country as our honeymoon destination. Therefore, for peace of mind, we started looking into travel services. Our South Africa Audley rep, Kristen, provided realistic expectations of what we could expect of booking on our own vs. working with Audley. We decided to work with Audley. She handheld us through the process. Kristen prompted us to make our airline reservations. She sent us our own printed customized itinerary, which included a hand written note telling us to "relax and enjoy" our honeymoon. Upon arrival at LaKaz Chamarel (1st hotel) in Mauritius, a local travel rep met us on our first day. She helped us with basic info (like how much tip, if any, in various circumstances). Audley made travel 1/2 way across the world a breeze!!! We are thinking of booking our next trip with Audley. Thank you!!!!!! read more

Audley Travel - A picture of our own customized itinerary for travel to Mauritius AWESOME customer service - Travel Agents Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

I wanted to post about my experience with Audley Travel so that hopefully other people don't have to experience what we did and can avoid them. My full experience is below but as a summary, they overcharged us by several thousands of dollars which ended up being almost double the true cost of the trip (we got the true numbers from the hotels on the cost of the hotel, drivers, and tours). They provided horrible service and were unresponsive once they received our money and did not confirm the trip details until the day before. To top it all off, they tried to completely rearrange our itinerary the week before the trip and so we had to cancel a tour. In addition the one tour we did get did not even match our itinerary. So we were completely ripped off, it made the whole trip way more stressful and is the worst travel company experience I've ever had. Full Details: We used Audley Travel for a trip to the Piedmont region of Italy since we wanted to do a lot of wine tours and thought it might be challenging to do on our own. They were great in the pre-booking process, responsive and had some good suggestions but once we booked, wow what a different story. First, our travel agent informed us he had quit the company literally the same day that our final payment was processed. Not the company's fault and they cc'ed in a new travel agent who they said would reach out in a couple days. A week goes by and we still haven't heard from the new agent so we send a follow-up email, no response. We're now 30 days out from our trip and none of the final details have been confirmed, we send another email and again no response. We paid almost $15K for this trip (for 2 people) and the company branded themselves as a premium service but could not be bothered to respond to any of our emails. We were getting a bit panicked that we'd just been scammed so I looked up a bunch of contacts on LinkedIn hoping someone would respond to us. Finally that gets their attention and the agent responds and sets up a call for later that day. On the call he was completely unprepared and unprofessional and complained about the culture at Audley (probably why the first agent quit). He clearly had never even looked at our file, none of the details were confirmed for our upcoming trip (at this point under 30 days out) and he wasn't able to answer any of my questions and had no response to the questions I had sent him in an email a week earlier. I was frustrated and concerned our trip wouldn't happen so I reached out to the management contact I had found and we chatted about my concerns. They reassigned us to another agent who was more responsive. Working with the new agent was better but we were now a couple of weeks out from the day we were flying out and it was clear the previous agent had done no work to confirm anything. A week from when we were supposed to leave the new agent reaches out to inform us they actually have to rearrange our whole schedule because they couldn't book the tour they were supposed to so now instead of having a tour, free day, a couple tours, free day and final tour they were rearranging it so that all the free days were at the beginning (ie land in the country and have nothing planned) and then it was just back to back tours for the rest of the trip. We did not like this change and asked for some alternative options. Their response was basically, "no take it or leave it" and there wasn't much we could do since we had already paid them in full so we asked to cancel the tour they were moving around (since it would have added an hour of extra travel time and backtracking). At this point (one week before the trip) we still haven't received any final confirmations or any idea of the times for any of the tours even though we've been asking for weeks. We were told we'd get them by Thursday. Thursday comes and goes and there's no response. I follow-up on Monday (4 days before our trip) and receive an OOO response that our agent is gone until Wednesday. I'm a bit panicked because I'm flying out on Friday and still have not received the trip details (in our booking email we were told they would be sent a few weeks in advance - around 30 days) so I on Tuesday I email the manager asking what to do or seeing if she has a copy of the final details document. She claims they've already been sent out so I ask if she can forward them since the last email I received was the previous Tuesday saying they would be sent soon. At this point the agent finally responds and apologizes and sends a tracking number for the physical binder they sent out. I look at the tracking receipt and the binder tracking label hadn't even been created until 10 mins after I sent out my second follow-up email so when the manager responded saying "they'd already been sent out" she was fully just lying and trying to gaslight me, she even claimed that they were sent in my correspondence with the rep and when I asked if she could forward it (because it wasn't in my inbox) read more

STAY FAR AWAY from Audley Travel! You will thank me! They are rude, unexperienced, short staffed, not truthful, and completely incompetent. They will ruin your dream vacation and you will be sorry you ever used them. They are not experts in traveling much less the area you want to travel to, they will ignore you, then tell you how busy they are. They will lie and embellish of how wonderful the tours and resorts are, they will mess up with your meals, itinerary, tour information, drivers, hotels you are staying at. The itinerary will have the wrong pictures. They will provide the wrong country entry requirements. They will forget to tell you about the proper paperwork for the country you are visiting. You will have to do your own research. Thier computer systems are being updated and you will be provided many mistakes. Audley does not have any documents checked or any quality processes in place. They also will also ask you to only visit 1 country instead of 2 because it's easier for them to figure out the entry requirements. Then upon your return, they will blame you for being so unhappy because you made a big deal out of everything big and small and exaggerated on how horrible your trip was and won't give you the refund you deserve. There is absolutely no customer service. You will wait days for a reply to an email. They will never reach out to you, you always have to reach out to them. The Boston office has no direct lines or voicemail so every time you call, you literally get a different person who takes a paper message and then you have to hope and wait your travel agent gets the message and calls you back- which can take days. They will also provide you the wrong recommendations of where to go so don't ask them for advice on locations or which island to go do- they will be wrong. They will send you to very old and outdated hotels. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!! I promise you-Audley travel is not worth the stress! read more

We were a group of four people wanting to travel to Madagascar. We found several companies that offered tour packages but none were able to provide an itinerary that would work with our time schedule and places that we wanted to visit until we met Audley Travel. They offered us a private vehicle with a driver/guide and the exact dates that we wanted to travel. Our specialist, Mike did an excellent job matching the itinerary to what he would recommend and what I wanted to do. We traveled for two weeks and all of the accommodations and places we visited met or exceeded our expectations. A true test of how good a company is, is when there is a problem. There was a mechanical problem with the vehicle we were traveling in, the problem was fixed quickly and the response from Audley travel regarding the problem also exceeded our expectations. We will definitely refer, recommend and use Audley Travel again in the future. read more

When looking for a travel agent - highly recommend you stay away from Audley. Our advisor was difficult to communicate with, did not offer us so other options on hotels and when I contacted the emergency line on a Sunday morning - no answered! When my wife and I arrived, our arranged car service was no where to be found, no text, no phone call explaining that they were late. We also paid for a car service that was not used, yet Audley has not refunded me anything. Supposed to be in the first class coach on our train rides, but we weren't for 2 of them. I contacted Audley in Italy and they were able to change one of them - but for the amount of money we were charged - I simply felt I had to do too much logistics and not enough of sitting back and enjoying Italy. On our scheduled boat tour, weather was bad, yet no one contacted us about what we would like to do. We met other couples that used a different travel agent, and their agent was texting them the day before letting them know trip would be rescheduled to the following day. Lots of other travel agents and I would do your research before choosing Audley. read more