Do not use this Company for student tours. After being forced to by the insurance we've been told that a pandemic isn't covered, yet "quarantined" is! They will not refund 100% of my son's money. The education they give students and their parents is that there are companies who steal in the spirit of educating! read more

I have done a lot of research into this company online in an effort to understand my plight. I offer this advice. Learn their business model, their sales approach, sales path etc. Learn about the compensation for teachers leading the trips. Search for yourself the many reviews by EF employees and customers around the world. Read about EF on Tri Advisor with the words "safety","Paris", London or other locations etc. Request printed copies of all of their website contracts, third party insurance, that "specifically apply to the trip they are trying to sell you"! Do this before you put your credit card number into the website. Don't assume you found the correct page on the web site that applies to you. As explained by EF, they have multiple websites, multiple products, all with similar sounding names and it is up to you to find the one that applies to you in your case. Do not interpret the choice of wording on their website to translate into the policies of businesses you are used to. Read the fine print. Read the examples. Ask what if questions of the customer service line in MA and have them document their answers in reply. Generous insurance policies can be found on their website for the same price and similar sounding descriptions, but they may not apply to your trip. I would like to upload the letters back from EF between me attorney general's office to help you but then again EF is a company of 37,000 employees, in 52 countries and several billion in revenue (Wikipedia).. so. Do the research and plan your own trip. Meet with your local credit union and or bank and put together savings accounts to collect the money in advance for your traveling group. You don't need EF. The advent of Google and smart phones makes EF's business model unnecessary. If you can pick and schedule your own hotels you can read reviews on trip advisor and cancel if you want. If you buy flights yourself you can buy travel cancellation insurance that works best for you. You can look up transportation on Google, read trip advisor reviews and plan your own trip. You can look up the safety of all the areas you are considering on Trip Advisor as well. Something you should do no matter who is planning the trip. Train routes and bus routes/companies are all available on the web. You can be treated like a customer if you do it yourself! read more

EF Tours is a ripoff and does not need to able to go into the schools to promote their programs. We bought the mandatory insurance which won't cover the cancellation and still can't get our money back. They still have not canceled the trip. I going public to a talk show to make them aware of their shadiness. read more

TL;DR. Waste of time and money I had a parent-child course with my son in Cambridge. The children were between 7 and 12 years old on completely different levels but all were educated in one class. Excursions for the children were mainly walking around in the sun, waiting for a bus that never showed up, being bored and playing on the mobile. I wasn´t allowed to put my child in another class, because of legal issues (my son is 12 and wasn´t allowed to go to a class with older students). I couldn´t upgrade to an intensive course myself, because I was supposed to look after my child. The staff in Germany had no clue about this course and gave us wrong or no information. It took three calls to the German hotline (we call you back in a minute) and a call at the school in Cambridge, to get the address of the hotel. Staff in Cambridge is more or less the same, many from abroad and no native speakers. read more

This company only cares about taking your money. They cancel trips all the time and refuse to refund your money. They don't care about you. They only care about money. The people who work in the office are not very smart and have clearly never traveled anywhere. Don't give them your money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are being sued in a class action for canceling trips and refusing to give people their money back, including groups of students. EVERYONE: WE NEED TO START A CLASS ACTION ON BEHALF OF ALL TRAVELERS WHO PAID GO AHEAD TOURS/EF CENTER BOSTON TO GET ALL OF OUR MONEY BACK. They will likely file bankruptcy and keep it all based on their track record of terrible customer service and pure GREED! WHY IS CONGRESS OR THE PRESIDENT DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT THIS! read more

Do not host with this program. The company only cares about the student. They do not vet the kids. I have hosted several times and had two kids that were good. Lately the kids have come over wanting to party and could care less about rules. If they want a new family they get it, making your own kids and family feeling rejected. The company doesn't support the local coordinators, they have NO a power. They say if a kid gets bad grades they go home, nope. I have had 2/5 students leave my home cause they thought we were boring. Worst company ever. My last student wanted to sleep around the entire town and since I made a curfew she didn't like that and wanted to move to a new family. She also never read our profile and didn't notice we had a special needs child. She refused to stay with an autistic 7 year old. She also has bullied my teenager at the school and EF doesnt care. So now I have a girl who is only here to party and sleep around. She just gets moved around to house to house. She is also 15, and believes that sex isn't a big deal. So beware! Chose a different exchange program if you MUST host. But do not whatsoever chose EF. I actually worked for the company and they would move kids and make them stay with me and never helped me at all. So I know how they work inside and out. read more

Do not use this company. They do not have an established insurance, and do not give refunds even in a pandemic. Please do not make the same mistake as I did! read more

This company has no interest in doing the right thing regarding the trips canceled due the Coronavirus. This is clearly a time to be compassionate to families and give back refunds without penalties of $1,000 per student. When I asked for a breakdown of expenses that add up to the $1000, EF Tours had NO answer. Why? Because they arbitrarily picked an amount to rip students off. There response was they lowered the original amount they were going to keep. As if they were giving me a deal. 2020 Seniors are losing enough this year and now this. Travel vouchers are not a reasonable option. No one will send their child at a later date alone on a trip. And I am not giving another dime to a company who can't see this is an exception to normal travel. Remember travel is their business they have a relationship with the airlines, hotels etc. They will get a refund or credit from these companies and still want to keep your $1000. They will then turn around and sell the credit or keep the cash from the airline or hotels and make money again. Unacceptable! Students/ schools/teachers using this company should think twice before using a company who doesn't treat it's customers right during a world wide pandemic....Instead they are greedy and like to take money from hard working people. read more

OUT $2100! Hope you don't need to use their travel insurance (Seven Corners). My claim for expenses $2100 was denied after my daughter got sick during the trip. Seven Corners is nothing more than a insurance scam. read more

Terrible tour! The tour guide was good , a lot of time spent in bus. Terrible food! Bus driver drunk, had to get another one during trip. Overall just glad to be with friends, but would never recommend this tour company, look elsewhere ! read more

Do not EVER sign up for this unprofessional Student tour company. They do not communicate unexpected changes and will point the blame on the tour coordinator designated for your school. After we signed our daughter up for her Senior trip and paid half of the trip, we uncovered (on our own) that EF changed the rules and now requires the Covid vaccine for all students and teachers only 2 months prior to the departure (not in the policy when we signed up). We requested to cancel the trip since our daughter is not vaccinated and the company refuses to offer any refund or any options - we are out $1600. We also purchased the Global Protection insurance but it does not apply to this situation and is a total scam. I have never dealt with a more inexcusable company without any regard for customer satisfaction and or any willingness to work with customers. This should have been an exciting time for our daughter's senior trip but this company has turned into a huge disappointment and a total nightmare to deal with or even communicate with. I will NEVER recommend or consider this company for any tours. They are far from professional and are not Education First. read more

My son's school book a tour with this company. When I paid in full I purchased the travel protection plan. This tour got canceled then rescheduled for a year from now. The company said you can go on the tour, get a voucher to use up to two years from now or you can get a partial refund. I called asking for a full refund since I had purchased the travel protection plan and was told no. Even though my son would no longer be in high school next year and not available to go on this trip per the travel protection plan they said that since it was COVID the plan didn't apply. They want to keep $750 of my money because "This allows us to partially cover incurred costs for our staff and other company expenses, costs related to non-recoverable payments to our suppliers, and the investments we have made and continue to make in itinerary, date, and destination flexibility." read more

Wish I had seen all these negative reviews before trying to book trips through EF Tours. I've tried to book two trips over the past two years. The first time, I was paying monthly for a trip, and suddenly received an e-mail that my credit card couldn't be processed. Turns out the trip had been cancelled but no one thought to send an e-mail letting me know. This year, my daughter was put on the waitlist for a trip. I called and they told me she was first on the waitlist. I called back a couple of months later and they couldn't find the trip in their system. Turns out, the trip was now considered 'full' and anybody on the waitlist was dropped. But nobody had told me. Again. Only once I called did they finally figure out the situation and offer to return my $95 deposit. There is a serious lack of communication and professionalism with this company and I would recommend looking elsewhere. read more

My husband and I had a horrible experience with hosting exchange students through Education First (EF) based in Boston. We were experienced in hosting 2 students with EF in 2018 that went well with a good area coordinator who has since left. In 2019, we chose to do it again, but with a new coordinator and after only one month, one of our 2 students made baseless allegations against my husband of inappropriate touching which never happened. This girl from day one was always grabbing my husbands hand and also grabbing his waist. He pushed her away a couple times and she got mad. My neighbors, the other exchange student, and I saw the girl's behavior. This behavior was reported to our local coordinator who failed to do anything. This girl grew unhappy in our home showing displeasure with our food and demanding that she eat at Taco Bell or other fast food restaurants all the time. She really wanted out of our home and made up allegations of inappropriate touching to get out. My husband was a police officer and decorated Army Officer and would never touch a child inappropriately. Although EF promised a full investigation, they never investigated the matter at all. They could have easily spoken to our previous female students but never did. These allegations were also refuted by the 2nd student we were hosting and by our neighbors who witnessed the girl's behavior. One of our neighbors even has a video of this girl's behavior of grabbing my husbands hand. We just wanted some due process, but never got it. Bear in mind, these students families pay EF +$20,000 to be placed in a family with very little screening and of course their allegiance lies with the students not the host families who take care of them every day for 10 months, the host family. I highly recommend families to host foreign exchange students, it's very gratifying, we loved it. But, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO NOT use Education First (EF). As a result of both girls being removed from our home, EF has chosen to black-list us from hosting with any other exchange program. This is something we've wanted to do in our retirement but was stolen from us by a baseless accusation and EF's inability to back us up by simply investigating this incident. read more

Don't trust this money-hungry company with your kids! My daughter's tour was cancel because of covid 19. Her tour was supposed to start june 1st 2020. So they waited to cancel the tour until it's less than 60 days that's way they got most of our money in their pocket! Then, instead of giving us a refund they gave us an option to get refund with $1000 (almost 25%) fee or get voucher that can be good for 2 years! So they can kept almost $4000 per student for 2 years with about 40/50 kids in one tour and god knows how many tours they canceled! I asked them about the insurance that we had to get but apparently that insurance doesn't cover this! After we choose to get voucher, they reduce the fee for $500 for refund! EF tours doesn't provide anything in return, all we could do was talk on the phone so every person has their own suggestion but nothing was provided in writing! It might be a good tour but I wouldn't trust this money-hungry company with my kids safety! read more

I have taken two groups on tours with EF and have another scheduled for this summer. I have had great success with them both here in The States and abroad. My students had amazing experiences that they may never have again. My tour directors were great and involved with our whole group. I have recommended EF to many of my fellow teachers and truly believe in what they are doing with making the world available to students at affordable process. read more

PLEASE READ the posts. The experiences described are true. The company itself is unethical and in the business of profits. If you don't mind cheap exhaustive and lengthy flights, low budget (sometimes unsanitary) accomodations far from the city central, bus rides as long as 6 hours, meals that are questionable and being nickled and dimed... then this is the tour for you! The only positive we had was our assigned tour guides really worked hard for us, the local guides could care less. Often the local guides were not qualified, uninterested and often made disparaging, unprofessional remarks in front of students. Any changes in the contract, you will have to pay an exorbitant and unreasonable fee higher than any industry standard. Buyer beware. read more

First off, I traveled with EF as a student and when I became a teacher, I became a tour chaperone. My review is based solely on those two facets alone, and not on hosting. I believe EF gives the perfect You get what you pay for experience. When I travelled as a student in 1996, it was with a majority of the French class from my high school. Our teacher was selective of who came on the trip because she wanted everyone to have a wonderful experience and not cheapen it by disciplinary problems. She also let us know that our expectations may be different from what we experience. Growing up in Hawaii, we have an understanding that many mainlanders come here and expect houses with big rooms, food just like they have back home that lacks our cultural differences, and all the comforts and familiarities of home, not knowing Hawaii is predominantly Polynesia and Asian influenced. Our teacher gave us the same scenario for Europe (and the mainland US if we decided to go away for college.) We should not be traipsing around Europe expecting grand illusions. The cities are beautiful but not fairy tale like. She educated us on the different cultural norms, encouraged our curiosity about European ways of life, and warned us that we may not get to eat what we're used to. She also gave us a suggest amount of money we would possibly spend per day to shop and experience local cuisine. There was a lot of prep work within the school year prior to our trip. When she spoke with our parents, she assured them of our safety as much as she had control over, had our parents and us sign agreements to abstain from alcohol (or the parent would be responsible for any repercussions) and should any of the students misbehave and disrespect/cause damage/disgrace themselves and their schools, the parents were required to pay for their return flight home immediately. These were added contingencies onto EF. This made all the difference. When I became a teacher and wanted to help students discover a world outside of our microcosm, I instituted the same policies, the same structure in addition to EF. The students I've travelled with were told to expect everything, and not be limited to what they wanted only for themselves. They were to foster a sense of community as well as education. I explained that because this is a budget tour flight and hotel info isn't readily available. I was also a customer service rep for a major cruise ship and worked with tour companies so I know how this can be a hang up for some people. The hotels aren't 4 star, but again, we get what we pay for. But they weren't one star either (at least not my last tour through London, Paris, Barcelona, and Rome.) The hotels were out of the way but EF paid for our transpo, whether it was the Tube, Metro, or by bus. And if the wait time was long due to God knows what for a bus to show up, we were generally in a metropolitan area where I instructed my students to absorb the scenery, journal write, or make new friends and talk with the locals. I would discuss with our EF tour guide away from the students how we can resolve the travel issues (bc, hey, stuff happens.) Each tour guide I've had, as a student and teacher traveler, has been knowledgeable, took upon herself (Riu and Rosella) the responsibility to show us commercial spots as well as hole in the wall places. We were able to exchange emails and talk prior to the trip with Rosella, and we have continued our friendship after. If a student wandered off, she took it upon her shoulders to look for said student, even though it was the teacher chaperone's responsibility. On a teacher's note, it is true that we as chaperones travel free for every 6 students, but I believe it is also our responsibility to make sure the trip is for our students and not ourselves. EF can't vet that. Parents should be parents and look into who they're allowing to oversee their kids. This is how we teach kids about cultivating relationships with different people from the get go, and creating global citizens. EF isn't paid enough to give parents that kind of peace of mind if the teacher chaperones don't do their part. Also, I let the EF tour guide know points of interest that were not mentioned in the tour and asked if we were given free time to explore these with our own students. It is not EF's responsibility to follow up because they are giving us an educational taste, like a buffet, not some in depth study abroad option. When they say they are the pioneers in education, they really do honor that, but teachers AND students sometimes do NOT listen when they are educating us during the tours, or as we walk through museums. If you want more time, go solo or in smaller crowds. The missing star is because calling their 800 number really does take too long, but I'm thinking they're understaffed because I always received an email or call back a day later. read more

Please think twice before booking with EF Tours, they are a multi billion dollar organization that is refusing to refund money on a trip scheduled that is now being cancelled to Covid 19. They are an unethical, money-hungry and dishonorable company. My daughter was to travel with them in July 2020 to China with her school. They have cancelled the trip due to the world wide pandemic and refusing to refund us all of our money that we have paid for the trip. They are wanting to keep $500 of what we paid with giving us a valid reason as to why they are keeping the money. I have been told once that it is so they keep their connections with their vendors for future trips, Then I was told it was for their insidentals so they can get people home that are currently stuck in other country from the trip that they took with EF tours. Which makes no sense at all because when those people book their trips and paid for them it included airline tickets back home. This proves that they are looking out for themselves has a company and not their travelers. The sad part about this scenario is that our teenager daughter got a summer job to help use pay for this trip. So they are stealing from children money and a once in a life time trip. Again please think twice before booking with this dishonorable company. I have contacted the Better Business Bureau read more

Parents - DO NOT send your students on an EF Tour - it is a huge waste of time and money. If you want your children to get a cultural and educational trip through Europe choose another company - or better yet, plan it yourself as you will be a better job that this company. You will pay the upward for $4,000 for a trip that would cost you less than $2,000 to plan yourself. In short - the accommodations are terrible, you are "lost in transit" a majority of the time, the food is cheap, subpar, American food that is already chosen for you and the itinerary is horribly planned. Let me first start out by saying that I went as a chaperone and I've traveled Europe before with a Rick Steve Tour and as a solo-traveler. I knew this trip would be a rushed, highlight reel of Europe due to the fact that we would be seeing London, Paris, Florence and Rome in just 10 days so my expectations were hopefully optimistic - but I was still EXTREMELY disappointed. I kept having a gut feeling that I should cancel my reservations and only two hours after landing and meeting our guide - I was sincerely regretting not trusting my gut. Let me start by saying that the airfare booked for our trip was the cheapest tickets (same with the overnight train and hotel accommodations) - with only an hour layover between our connecting flights were we were forced to run (with 17 people) to get to our flight on time. It was a miracle from God that we were able to catch our flight from Paris to Houston with less than an hour to get from our original flight, through customs and passport control and then to our connecting gate. The flight and gate attendants were all but closing the plane doors when we arrived. I had spent 10 days in London on my solo trips before and was shocked to discover that our hotel (which was the budget Premier Inn chain of hotels) was a one-hour train ride outside of London in Tolsworth. When we arrived at our hotel either the tour company or the hotel did not receive our confirmation and they had no rooms for us. We spent two hours sitting in the lobby (after traveling all day) until a large wedding party checked out and we suddenly had room available. That day, we seen Convent Garden - which is great, but low on the totem pole of things to see in London. The next day we seen Buckingham Palace and Convent Garden AGAIN. The final day in London was spent back at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. With this being an "educational" trip for students I was surprised that we did not see the Globe Theater or Westminster Abbey - only Convent Garden and Buckingham Palace - seeing that these two places have a lot of history and content that would have been relevant to subjects these students would have studied in school. So if you are expecting for your child to receive an "educational" tour - then you will be sorely disappointed. We did go to the Tower of London for about two hours - around noon - which is not enough time to even see one feature of tower. Some kids saw the exhibits, some saw the Beef Eaters, but no one was able to see the Crown Jewels as there was no enough time to wait in line. Paris was more of the same - with the additional experience of our group (we were paired with another school from Missouri) getting dropped off almost 5 miles away from the city center where we were supposed to meet again that evening with no map, no bus tickets, only the suggestion to download the CityMapper app and find a place to use public transit. Luckily, I had traveled in Europe before and was able to piece together a decent day of sightseeing after having to purchase multiple transit tickets for the students in my group. But as a parent, imagine your child in a similar situation, either by themselves or with a chaperone with little or no travel experience? If you are expecting for your EF Tour Director to be with the group at all times you will also be sadly disappointed. Other than in the morning and evening journeys to and from the city, waiting with us in the train stations (SO MANY train stations) and leading us to and from other guides (who were fantastic. The walking tours were great), and at dinner, our tour director was mostly MIA and wasn't a very good resource of knowledge when it came to suggesting restaurants and places to see during our free time - which was either laughably short or seven hours long. When we arrived in Paris he informed us that Paris was more dangerous than London, he didn't really care for Paris, and he also DID NOT SPEAK FRENCH! He could not even communicate with our bus driver (who he had a heated exchange with in front of our students upon arrival). Florence and Rome slightly improved - mostly because our tour director was from Italy and his attitude improved immensely after we arrived back in his home country and the fact that Italy is beautiful countryside to see, even in the worst of circumstances. We had one incredible meal while in Italy but returned to the basic pasta a.. read more

I couldn't make it past the interview with this company. I was supposed to be interviewed by Hayley via Skype. She emailed before the interview to discuss a date a time, which was already picked out. She sent me a confusing link that only reads military time. When I told her I was confused she sent a very snarky reply that read "I am not sure what website/clock you were using but I can confirm that Monday 20th April at 10:00am Beijing Time would be Sunday 19th April at 19:00pm in Los Angeles." Ummmmm... I figured out 19:00 is 7pm and confirmed our meet. I sent her an invite via Skype, twice. She never replied and claimed she never got it. It was already 7:10 so I asked if an over the phone interview was ok, she said no and she never had this problem...clearly it's all my fault. I asked her to send me and invite and we can reschedule. We did just that, 7:00 NOT 19:00. I waited, and she never called. She send me a message at 7:05 asking if I was ready...whatever. read more

If I could give zero stars I would! We signed our daughter up for a trip with this company through her high school. Our tour ended up being canceled by our leader. Not a problem, we were told we would receive our refund, all but the $95 enrollment fee, within a week or two. Two weeks later they were still taking money from our accounts. I called and I was told, "They just haven't gotten around to closing our tour yet". It has been over a month and we still haven't received our refund. I would never recommend this company to a friend nor will I ever participate in another tour offered by them again. read more

EF Tours is fine to deal with if everything goes smoothly. However if they are unable to perform they keep thousands of dollars and hide behind their lawyers claiming it is for planning and services rendered. That is precisely why they ask for check or ACH/debit card payments because it is harder to "chargeback" your purchase that credit card companies offer when services were not performed. We paid for a trip that was cancelled and offered a voucher (that we are not interested in) or a refund less $500. We literally didn't receive anything for that $500 other than a terrible explanation with regard to planning and bookings that I am sure they were able to recoup. Any PPP money provided to this organization should be used to cover those expenses, not taken from families that trusted EF Tours with their money. COVID is unfortunate but happened to us all. Be aware that EF Tours has a multitude of class action lawsuits and complaints because their refund policies leave a lot to be desired and once you enter into an agreement with them they will be sure to make money from you whether or not the trip occurs. It makes me lose faith in this company that takes advantage of group travel with inflated prices to begin with. Similar trips booked privately are much cheaper as well. Never again! read more

This past summer I went on a tour of Italy with a group called Education First (EF). This was my second time traveling to Europe with this company. The first trip to England, France, Belgium, and Germany was amazing and when I presented with the opportunity to go again I couldn't pass it up. My social studies teacher arranged the trip and was the chaperon for our school. Twelve kids went including my sister and myself. The trip lasted two weeks and was dedicated to exploring Italy itself, no other countries. We went to Milan, Florence, Venice, Rome, Pisa, Pompeii, Montecatini, the island of Capri and many other small cities. Going so many places in a short amount of time allowed us to get a taste of the different cultures and lifestyles Italy is so rich and full with. Transport was a large part of this trip due to going overseas and taking a good amount of students from city to city. We flew American Airlines and had connecting flights from Charlotte to JFK and the then to Milan. On our way home we flew with the same airline and left out of Rome, flew to Chicago, and then back to Charlotte. The airline we flew on was nice, but would not have been my first choice. For long overseas flights you would normally expect to have slightly comfier seats than normal and personal t.v. screens. This flight coming both ways had extremely uncomfortable seats and t.v. screens so far away it hurt my neck extremely bad to even try and glance at them. If you want comfort fly Delta. The front of the house service on the flight however was excellent. The workers were extremely kind and helpful in anyway they could be. They would very often come around to collect trash or give out beverages. I know this is done on most airlines, but American Airlines seemed to do this more frequently than other flights I had been on. Once we arrived to Italy, all of our transport was done by bus. Luckily these were not school buses. They were very nice with comfortable seats and lots of air conditioning. The drivers were also super kind as well always lending a helping hand if needed. They also provided things like water on super hot days. Lodging was a major part of our trip as well considering we went to a new city about every two or three days. We stayed in a wide variety of places. Some were chain hotels like the Holiday Inn, but many of the others we stayed in were small family run bed and breakfast locations. The people we met at the bed and breakfast places were so incredibly kind and helpful. They really worked to make you feel as if you were apart of the family and tried to immerse the group in the culture of the city through food, dinner traditions, and conversation. Throughout the trip we had a tour guide that was from Rome, Italy. His name was Francesco and he worked throughout the entire trip to make sure we were having fun. Francesco was very knowledgeable about each city we visited. He was able to give us additional information before or after we would go on tours with the tour guide assigned for that specific city. He had many recommendations on what place was best to eat in the city and most importantly the best gelato shops in each town. Francesco made our experience one of the best I've had traveling. The EF trip to Italy broadened my mindset on culture and has encouraged me to put myself out there and experience new things. The trip was incredibly educational. I learned so much about the many different historical sites, monuments, and churches each city had. I highly recommend taking an EF trip, you will begin to grow more of an appreciation for history and the beauty each country has. read more

Thieves. That's the best way to describe EF Tour. Paid in full a Japan trip for my daughter that was supposed to happen in 2021 but was rescheduled to 2022 which was fine with us as we had every intention on going. We were told a month ago that Japan was no longer an option so they were going to "rescheduled" to Belize instead. How is that even considered "reschedule" when its going to a different location? That is a completely new trip. We were given three options that we had to decide within TWO days: 1) cancel less $500 2) get a voucher 3)go to Belize. Well guess what? We paid for Japan, if Japan could not be delivered, we should've gotten a full refund. Instead of cancelling Japan outright, they are using the term "reschedule" to Belize to get out of giving us a full refund for those who do not want to go to Belize. This company is a scam. Everyone is hurting during the pandemic and they continue to just dig into people's pockets even more. Anyone one here who give 5 starts and praise EF Tours' refund policy works for them obviously. NO one happily just gives $500+ to a company during a pandemic, especially not money their child has worked so hard for and we've saved so long for. If there was a class action suit against them in MN, I'll be all on it! EF Tour just need to stop operating at this point. read more

Completely agree that EF Tours is completely failing and coming up short with these trips being cancelled due to the pandemic that is the Coronavirus. Refund the families their money!! These are extreme times when entire countries are shutting down. Extreme times call for humane responses.....not trying to shill families out of their money. Be human and understand that this is a special circumstance that is affecting the entire Earth. Shame on you EF Tours! read more

Wow. I recently joined my son's group from school to go on the "European Carousel" tour with EF Tours. I can honestly say that it was the best trip of my life! Although the tours are NOT cheap by any means, I think they have a right to be a little pricy. They are not your average tour group. During our tour, EF incorporated educational stuff to the tour, since we were on a trip with my son's foreign language classmates. We had the opportunity to ride the metro, interact with the locals, and much more! I just don't think ordinary tour companies are able to offer these types of experiences. After we got home, we both told my wife: "That was the best trip ever!!!!". True story. read more

Beware of this travel company. I was scheduled for a trip to Europe in June 2020 then rescheduled for June 2021 because I did not want to pay the cancellation fee and held onto hope that I could go at that time. I just cancelled because why would I want to go on a trip with them in the first place? All they want is your money. Despite a Pandemic, they charged me a $450 cancellation fee + $160 non-refundable insurance fee. I explained how I feel I am paying insurance twice because it was incorporated into my total, which I was paying off monthly, thus already paying for the insurance, so why have to pay it ALL again??? Makes zero sense. They would not pro-rate it and just gave lousy, scripted "explanations" as to why it is like that (I was benefitting from it when I rescheduled my trip etc). So now I am out $600 of a $4000 trip. AND THEY TARGETED TOWARDS STUDENTS AND TRAVELERS UNDER 28- so wrong- no ethics, no morals, no sympathy. Just greed and disgrace. read more

BEWARE!!!!! Do NOT enroll for a trip unless you absolutely most definitely know that you can go!!!!!! This company makes BIG BIG money off of people who need to cancel. I signed up myself and my daughter 3 weeks ago to go to Panama in 11 months... we had to cancel today due to health reasons and found out I lost every penny that I paid when I signed up! Totaling $530!!!!!!! This is a total SCAM!!!!!!! I will never ever travel with EF tours after this!! UNBELIEVABLE I have to pay this ridiculous amount!!!! They claim their "travel protection" is mandatory & non refundable along with other fees...... even when you cancel 11 months before the trip. Just livid here as they do not itemize these amounts in their cancellation policy. read more

They absolutely suck. I needed to cancel and lost more than 500.00 in the process. It's more than a year before the trip. Awful. I cancelled because of finances. They need to review their cancellation policies and stop raking in the dough they don't deserve. Thanks for nothing. read more

This is the worst travel agency in the history of travel agencies. Go through somewhere else, you'll save time, money and frustration. So much money was wasted on my trip, we only did stupid things that were free. I feel like EF just books free things and takes the extra money for themselves. They changed our agenda 10 times and didn't make it clear what we were doing and what our money was being spent on. 0/10 wouldn't recommend read more

June 1-10, 2019 with guide MERCEDES in Ireland & Scotland. We absolutely had the best time with our guides and drivers. We received a lot of great information, safe driving, extra stops we agreed upon and had time for. Mercedes was professional, punctual, informative, well-researched, approachable, kind, accommodating, everything we needed. She communicated well with the group leaders, the local guides, and the drivers to ensure we received the most out of the tour. The tour itself was the right balance of tour and free time. The only pitfall from EF was some of the dinners were duplicate meals, and at least one of the hotels needed some repairs, updating, and better dining staff. It would be helpful to know in advance what is for dinner so we know what not to eat during the day, and to ensure dinner isn't the same three nights in a row. There were many servers at the one hotel, but they were not attentive and served us off of the same dirty linens the next morning for breakfast. Overall I would recommend EF and take another EF tour in the future. Special thanks to guide Mercedes, Robby the Irish driver, and Alan the Scottish driver. Our group made some great memories! read more

I just got back from the ultimate Europe trip and it was awful. Don't get me wrong, seeing the world is amazing, I had a great time when I wasn't around the group or in any of the lodgings. The trip consultant they assigned us to answer questions and what not, couldn't bother to reply to messages. We had to go through the website because she ignored our messages. All she did was post to remind us to tip the tour guide. She posted that about 7 times. The planes they book for you have barely any time between connecting flights. We had to run through airports to make sure we didn't miss the flights. They put us in some of the worst lodging. Hostels that didn't even offer hand soap to wash your hands with after using the restroom. Sheets had stains on them, the bathroom lights turned off after a minute which meant you constantly had to wave your arm around when showering. In Barcelona EF couldn't be bothered to pay 2 extra euros per person so we could have a better breakfast. Instead we were left with cold cuts, cheese, yogurt, and bread. In Paris they actually changed us from staying in a hotel and moved us to a hostel. Prostitutes stood outside at night, the staff demanded to see key cards in an almost unsettling manner, and the guide we had for Versailles pointed out a place a block away where he told us people shoot up crack, a block away in the opposite direction was a street full of refugees and homeless people. Walking back to the lodgings was scary and honestly made you want to be back before dark. My boyfriend and I purchased the excursion for Cinque de Terre. We paid 80$ but many people paid 100$ because of when they signed up. It was awful. The description said that we would get to choose 3 towns to check out there were a few train stops away. Which we were under the impression meant we could spend the day at one of the towns and enjoy ourselves. Instead our Tour Director dragged us to all 3 towns, 2 of which we only got to see for an hour, the other one we were there for about 2 hours. There was no time to enjoy ourselves. We were on the bus and trains longer then we actually got to see anything. Forget eating, there was barely time to use the restroom in 2 of the towns. It was not worth 80$, honestly we could've done it by ourselves for cheaper. It was a waste of our day in Florence and I would like a refund. The Versailles excursion we did was also 80$, they also made us take a half an hour bus ride there when the metro was much quicker. The hostel we stayed in offered the SAME tour for 13 euros. There's no reason they should've charged us so much. Besides all that, our tour director started off great. He was funny, planned a few cool things, but then about halfway through the trip he decided who his favorite people on the trip were. One of the girls I had befriended didn't attend one of the excursions but almost everyone else in the group did. He let a few of the people talk awfully about her and he even joined in. He read one of her social media posts aloud. He mocked her and talked very poorly about her while allowing others to do the same. Then he constantly broke up the small group of friends I had made while never breaking up the other groups. Once he split all of us into separate rooms except for 2 of the girls they were in a four bedroom by themselves. Then the real kicker, was that I had 200 euros stolen from me, 2 other girls had smaller amounts of money taken from them as well. I told him since we knew at that point it was someone we had been rooming with, especially because the money was out of 2 of our wallets, which we only left in the room 'unattended' while sleeping. When I told him he yelled at me, blew cigarette smoke in my face, and proceeded to call me a liar, saying "I don't believe you, I just don't." I told him I didn't expect any of the money back but was simply telling him because obviously it had become a problem. He continued to act like it was this huge hassle that he now had to deal with and it was some sort of burden to him even though it's his job. After a bit more yelling and rude behavior the 2 other girls walked out and he did a complete 180. He was nice and understanding with a level head telling them he was going to look into it, bla bla. I assumed I was treated this way because I was not among the groups of partying kids who went out every night and drank with him all the time. Then at the last dinner he sat at a table that was rude and hostile towards the table I was sitting at, yet he said absolutely nothing, except reminding us all to tip him. I would never travel with this tour again. They take short cuts to save themselves money and obviously don't look into how their tour directors treat EVERYONE on the trips, even the people who prefer not to stay out late and party. I'd like a lot of my money back but seeing as how much they tried saving on the trip instead of giving us the best possible travel experience, I doubt I'll even see a penny back. read more

Just got back from the Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein tour. Wish I could say I really enjoyed the countries the things we saw were beautiful in the very very short amount of time that we were given to see them) but the free time was little to none and every single day was rushed from place to place without actually being able to take anything in. I felt like Chevy Chase showing his family Europe in european vacation. Where they're driving really fast around the roundabout and he points out the different landmarks and that's all they get. for exact poke, even though Liechtenstein is touted as one of the four countries on this trip, our time there was literally getting off the bus, walking to the tourist booth, paying three euros and having our passport stamped then getting back on the bus and leaving. The one day we were giving a load of free time was at Neuschwanstein whete there's only the equivalent of about two city blocks to walk once you're done seeing the castle, and we had to spend 5 hours doing that. Another day we were taken to BMW world and Olympic Park. Olympic Park interested some of our group mildly which is more than the interest expressed in BMW world. The tour director told us there were several little restaurants and booths over there so we made the trek only find everything closed. So we had no choice but to do BMW world. Dachau is a three hour tour using the basic audio guide. We had one hour. We had two total hours of free time in Munich and that included having to get a meal.. The hotels we're all one star, we found out, which is not at all what the company advertises. Some were nice. Some were antique cute but some were absolutely antiquated . They were all clean, however. But when you have light fixtures with only one light bulb working and threads Warren fair to the floor on your carpet, it's not what you expect when you paid that much for a tour! I'm glad we did it because it was a memory that I'll always share with my daughter however the tour itself was disappointing and definitely did not lead up to my expectations which were simply to enjoy each of the Cities we went to. Not to feel like I was running a marathon to cram in a ton of stuff, a lot of which was not taking nto account their audience. read more

I took my first school group on a tour of Costa Rica with EF the summer of 2019. I was beyond pleased with every aspect of this trip. EF staff were professional, helpful, and made the trip fun for the kids. I was especially pleased with the level of safety and security that EF provided us. We experienced all aspects of life in Costa Rica, learned, and had memorable adventures. I am looking forward to sharing travel with more students through EF in the future. read more

First I would give EF a 4 3/4 Star. 5 would be perfection and there are tiny things that I would like to see tweeked. I work for a school system (High School) and have traveled with several different travel companies. Our school has now traveled with EF Tours for 5 years and already have our tours planned through 2021. We have been extremely pleased with EF. My tour representative is always very quick with responses to any of my questions. We have found our lodging, meals and tours to be good. We have been pleased with our local tour guides and our Tour Directors. The group leaders (teachers) are able to rate local guides, hotels, meals, tour directors and excursions, so that EF has feedback to know what to keep or what to change. What I expect in lodging for a school trip is safe and clean. You spend very little time in your room while on tour. After having read many of the reviews, I think that the leader of the tour needs to find out more information in the very beginning. When I disclose the price to our travelers I give them different prices depending on the size of the group. I have traveled with groups as small as 12 (where we were paired with other schools) to extremely large groups of 48 to 52. As for being too busy on tour, I'm not sure why any parent would want their child to go on a trip and not experience as much of another culture as they can. Our students go from breakfast until bedtime. Obviously we have a little free time within some days where our chaperones pick different experiences and then the student decides which free time event they would like to do. We have our travelers buy the Global Insurance Policy and have had to use it many times. The first time I used the insurance I was frustrated over the run around. Now I know if we have flight delays or anything to take an immediate picture of the board so that I have proof of the flight being cancelled. Now upon calling EF, they were wonderful in helping us secure rooms for the night and finding us alternate transportation back home as otherwise we would have been stuck for 3 more nights as they could not get our large group back out before then. I also carry a form that I can have all the students sign right then authorizing me to get paid back as I put the rooms on my credit card. Also make sure you get a printout from the hotel that shows the rooms and every person in them. It is these little things that would greatly help if you knew them in advance. If you ask EF Tours, they should have a Global Education Ambassador near you to help out. I would help any school in my area in advance. In regards to sharing a room with a stranger: While I do not like this policy, you are told about this in advance and yes you would have to pay an up charge for a single room. We have had to send students back home before and instead of me finding flights and making reservations (which we had to do with other companies) EF took that burden away and handled it for us. My parents like the peace of mind that no matter where we travel there are EF offices not far away to help us, should we need it. Is EF Tours a perfect company, NO , no company can be, but overall we are pleased with them and let them know if we feel something needs changed. read more

A really fantastic company, place to work and community of people. The building itself is a work of art and creates a very dynamic social atmosphere that's fun and creative. The restaurant downstairs is tasssty! read more

We had a wonderful trip to the Dominican Republic. It was well organized, terrific accomodations, and we worked with a great non-profit called Verde Profundo. read more

I am a high school teacher in West Texas. I have been on 2 trips with EF Tours with students and they were both great. The hotels were nice (sometimes kind of small) and not far from city centers. The tour directors were nice, polite, knowledgeable and respectful. The food was good. The busses were nice. When one bus broke down (in one of the most beautiful Italian mountain olive grove settings ever), they got us a replacement right away. All our site tickets were purchased in advance and ready to go when we got there. I went on one trip to just Italy and one to Italy and Greece. I traveled in about 2008 and 2010. Nothing but good experiences. Highly recommend. read more

My daughter just got back from her 14 day trip to Ireland, England and Scotland and she had fun, BUT we were stuck in the airport for 11 hours because their first flight out was canceled. The teacher in charge was so overwhelmed and the airlines were NOT helpful, it was a nightmare. The calls I got from my child once they got there were that the hotels were dirty, the food was not the best (chicken almost every meal) and they saw one too many castles. The trip would have costed her $2000 or less if we would have booked it. She still had a good time hanging out with her friends, but as a parent, looking for a travel option, I will look elsewhere. WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. They even tried to order pizza one night and the pizza boy said he wouldn't deliver to the neighborhood they were staying in. That is terrible. EF Tours needs to make their tour's shorter, put them in nicer hotels, and make sure they have selections when they eat their provided breakfast and dinners. read more