smarTours Reviews

I paid for a trip for 2 to Ireland. 3 mo before we were to leave had a heart attack. Was told by doctor I couldn't fly at the time. I had bought the travel insurance like I always do. When I let smarTours know they said I needed to summit all this paperwork. So got everything they asked for. They never refunded my money and then just kept giving me the run around.

I was notified 11 days prior to leaving for a South African Safari that smarTours is no longer operational as of Jan 31, 2025. They took my money and ran. I've used them in the past. They seemed like a strong company.

MAJESTIC MOROCCO COMPLAINT: If I had to say something positive, it would be about our tour director, Mr. **. He was great—knowledgeable and attentive. My issues with this tour have nothing to do with him but rather with how SmarTours structured this itinerary. This was one of the most disappointing tour experiences I’ve ever had. My main issue was the lack of transparency about how much time would be spent on a bus each day. If SmarTours had included in the itinerary the duration of each bus ride, I would not have booked this tour package. The long bus rides were made worse by constant announcements over the PA, making it hard to rest. Future tours could benefit from quieter communication via whispers to give travelers the option to listen if they wish.

I traveled with Smartours to Japan on a 12 day trip in May 2024. This was the tour guide’s first trip working for Smartours. She spoke unintelligible English. Smartours was notified by numerous members of the tour group of the problem. Nothing was done to help us during the tour. We were left, with no explanations that could be understood of the sites we saw and daily frustration in trying to figure out where we were supposed to be and when. Upon our return, smarTours did not acknowledge any responsibility for their error and offered a minimal discount on a future tour. The other people on the trip told me they would never use Smartours again, nor will I. Be aware that they do not stand by their promises nor provide service to their customers.

We had an amazing tour through South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Botswana with Smartours. Our tour guide was awesome, his name was Andrew **. He took excellent care of us. The tour was reasonably priced and filled with many attractions that we wouldn't have thought of on our own. I'd definitely recommend smarTours. We will be using them again for other international tours in the future!

BOOKED A TRIP TO Japan and it is next week. smarTours will not even let us get a ride to our first hotel from the airport because we booked our own flights. We have traveled around the world with this tour company. You'd think that they would at least let us ride to the hotel with the rest of the group while in a foreign country. So sad that this company has gotten so petty!

The company refunded me.

Looking for other travelers who have recently canceled tours to the Middle East or the Mediterranean with smarTours. We are two such travelers who feel that Smartours is not only choosing to continue going into what is suddenly a dangerous region -- despite serious US State Department warnings but is also apparently NOT INTERESTED in any alternative to this trip and/or a settlement which would keep people safe and also show some good will on their part. The fear and likelihood of being taken hostage, tortured, and/or killed is very real and their disregard of this to keep with their “standard practice” is mind boggling. The current hostilities in Israel and Gaza are not business as usual. Simply removing a port of call is not an appropriate solution for those who no longer wish to go into an area where terror has seriously escalated. Please email me at ** or phone **.

I had booked their three continent cruise which is scheduled to be in on 10/27/2023 which was traveling to Egypt and Israel.. I have not received any emails regarding updated information on trip despite sending them several emails. I called them today and was told that the trip was “STILL ON” and that if I cancel I would lose all of my money which totals $5100. I asked if I could reschedule they said no. Given the circumstances couldn’t they make an exception he said no. My opinion is that they would rather put you in harm's way then give out any monetary refund. This is my first and last encounter with this company! Avoid!

Terrible customer service! After coming back from a tour in Portugal, I realized that flying with SmarTours was a mistake. Including my flight from southern California to Newark my flight was more expensive and with layover took 17 hours each way. Having also booked a future trip to Costa Rica with them, I realized that I could fly direct and save 6 hours each way and $1200. When I explained to SmarTours that I wanted to cancel the flight, they told me it was too late (the tour isn't till November and it is still August).

In March 2023 we took a SmarTours package to Morocco. I was a little afraid to travel there, but my husband was super excited to go. Now I look back at my fear as naivety, because I absolutely fell in love with Morocco and its people. Our guide was named Madani and he shared so much about the lives of his people and their rich history. We traveled in comfort and stayed in amazing hotels in six different cities. We went on daily adventures that I never knew were possible. This was not what I call a "vacation", but rather "educational traveling". Every day I learned...every day I experienced this exciting country and culture...and best of all...every day I smiled. Our first adventure with SmarTours was to Peru. That adventure got us hooked on this company, because we realized how much of the world, we knew nothing of, but could learn about with SmarTours. Live for today...because tomorrow is not promised

The agent wasn’t interested in giving me more information about the tour. All he kept saying was Ok ok ok. Then he blocked me from talking to anyone else. Hung up on him. Called back 3x and got the same person. All he wanted was my credit card which I did give. I called back the next day and the other person said he’ll send me a receipt and I’m still waiting. Had I seen the reviews before I’d never use Smartours.

Unauthorized removal of over 3,000$ from my bank account and I cannot get an answer to get my money back. I made a payment of 1,000 and they took 3200.00. Unauthorized. I have called many times all without resolve. There is no one to speak to. Only a customer service person. This is absolutely awful and I will never ever book another trip.

At least that way we had safety.

Customer Service is horrible. Call six times and you will either get no answer or all different answers. They cheated me out of $349 and gave me the run around. DO Not use them, Spoke with many people on the tour and most said they are done with SmarTours.

We booked the Magical Ireland Tour. It had to be cancelled and rebooked twice, due to covid. I received an email from Smartours saying I have a $150 credit. When I called to use it for the payment due on the trip we are finally taking, I was told I can't use it, even though it's a COVID credit, because I have another small credit I'm using from the original deposit I paid. I can only use it by booking a 2nd trip to a different destination. I consider this misleading advertising and don't understand why, if the credit is mine, I can't use it for the trip I've been trying to take for over 2 years. I was told to "read the fine print" at the bottom of the page.

Here's my experience with the Smart Tour agency: 1) I had one reservation for 2021 (i.e., Germany Christmas Market), This trip was cancelled due to the rise of COVID by the trade agency. And this Tavel agency provided options to either receive credit for future travels or getting refund. I requested refund and I did receive two different emails from their payroll management (Mr Chis ** & Tyrell **) that I will be receiving my refund by 1/19/2022, not only I did not receive my refund they are not responding to my emails anymore. I would suggest to anyone be really careful if you are planning to book a travel with this agency because they are not reliable plus they have lots a bad reviews with YELP.

We were sold a "land only" South Africa tour in June, 2020. Smartours reversed the schedule on us shortly before we were to leave Aug, 2021. They informed us they would reimburse us the cost of fees incurred to rearrange hotels, flights that we had to change in order to accommodate their change in schedule. This amount was $796.64. We have not received anything in spite of their manager telling us that we would be reimbursed.

I was never refunded for my trip to Vietnam and lost $2552.00 I cancelled my February 4th trip on January 27th due to my Covid concerns. Our trip was on Air China with a very long layover in Shanghai. I had insurance but of course they said it did not cover a Pandemic. I had travel solely with Smartours for years and had brought many other travelers with me. To me it was disgraceful as this was a huge decision to make. I was not unaware enough to think I could travel through China and not be exposed to the Corona Virus. I was truly disappointed with them and realized that I did not count as a human trying not to bring this awful thing back to the USA. Obviously my life and the life of others was less important then the money they kept.

Booked a tour to Ireland along with 4 other people in my party. The tour scheduled for May 2020 was cancelled. Operator refused to refund our money ($4900 for myself and my husband) and gave us a credit for a future tour in May 2021. Now they have filed for bankruptcy so it is unlikely that we'll ever see the money. Fortunately, we had booked our airfare separately with Delta and they did refund our money as they are trustworthy. We had a positive experience with SmarTours on 2019, which is why we had booked again. I agree that a class action suit is in order and if anyone knows how to proceed, please post. There are thousands of us in this situation and as retirees on a fixed income we cannot afford to write off nearly $5000.