“Absolutely scammers!
Took £3200 for paid trip all paid, now want extra £200 for change a name (that was their mistake).
Exotica online email and phone service people are unwell, blame their customers but coincidentally can't provide any proof (I know why - because it doesn't exist).
DO NOT TRUST them.
First time trip with them as usually book and arrange everything tour/trip/travel/Hotel wise independently - will definitely be last.
I really can't emphasise enough how bad they are. Please save yourself the money and avoid this scamming company. We are going through ABTA now but it's a lot of unnecessary stress that wouldn't be necessary if decent travel company”
“We booked in October 2023 to go in the Egypt pyramid nile cruise in March 2024. Paid a first instalment of £1,800. However we have decided not to go. They tell us they keep the instalment we paid as a deposit and a penalty. Surely not the full amount? I ask them how much is the deposit? No answer. I ask can we use the instalment towards a different holiday? No answer. I've emailed again twice this request? No answer. In 3 weeks time if we don't pay the outstanding amount, they cancel the holiday and keep our instalment of £1,618. This is all one big joke!”
“xoticca is basically a travel broker. Having just come back from Costa Rica we would never use them again. There is no one on the ground if things go wrong. When we complained about the safety of one of the hotels we were told that reviews on such platforms as booking.com had given good ratings. Is this how they chose their hotels? One of ours had an open building site with huge glass shards in the ground outside our room. We travelled with friends but they were put in different trips, hotels and transport. We would never use this company again. We are well travelled and have done independent trips, volunteering and used other travel companies. This was shocking!”
“I travelled to Morocco this month with them - it was the best trip of my life! No negatives whatsoever. Just that a lot of time you is spent on this transferring between cities but then you cover so much ground in your trip…”
“Due to unexpected circumstances I had to cancel the holiday a few days after booking. Exotica terms and conditions state that they retain 70% of the deposit for cancellations. (This in itself is remarkable). However under English law there is a 14 day cooling off period for online contracts etc. Every attempt to contact the firm met with no response. (Online form, phone, emails and Signed For letters). Eventually I contacted my credit card company for a refund and provided the evidence required. The credit card company gave me a balance adjustment for what Exoticca had received from me.
Exoticca failed to honour their duty to provide a full refund as required by the law.”
“This is a worse trip in my experience. I do not recommended. Worst organization of tours, no hotel pickups, every time it's up to half an hour walk each way for a 2 hour tour. Flight schedule is also terrible. "Short flight " from trip description became 12 hour disaster spent at airport. In short, DO NOT use them, EVER”
“I am booked to go to Turkey with Exoticca this Saturday. My hotel in Istanbul has been changed at a few day’s notice. Terms and conditions state it must be of comparable standard. However the replacement hotel is on a motorway nowhere near the city centre. The traveling time to the old city has more than tripled to 1.5hrs. The recent reviews of the replacement hotel are really dire at 1star. Exoticca say there is nothing they can do.
I shall post again following the holiday.”
“Just finished 11 days in Turkey, the wonders of Anatolia. The long hours of travelling on the coach from one town to another is too much. The night mare started when the tour company told our tour guide that the tour will stop immediately because exoticca did not pay the tour company in Turkey. The tour campany said that we need to sort it out with exoticca to sort the problem. We called exoticca and money was sent to the tour company. We don't need this.”
“DON'T BE FOOLEDDO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! - CLASSIC SWITCH AND BAIT.
So I have not even left for my trip, yet, but already I am regretting choosing this company! They have a fantastic sales team, that were really informative and even took some money off due to incorrectly advertising the holiday, for longer than it actually was. With my 3 friends, present, we chose the luxury, level (5 star) and chose the hotel and boat (both with twin rooms) and direct flights.
I had to chase the confirmation, which was sent around 3 weeks before the holiday. Only to find that a different hotel with the same star rating, but according to a hotel booking site, half the price and by a motorway, was given, and instead of a 5 star, we got a 4 star boat. When I questioned it, the only effort this company made was, allegedly, listening to my phone calls, where they have claimed, I did not discuss a hotel, or boat or star rating. I challenge anyone to book a holiday without discussing any of these!!! On top of that they have then refused to let me listen to these calls, until I complete an email requesting this, and then this will take at least a month to come back, by which time, I will have been on the holiday. They have suggested that if I want my money back I will only get 25% due to the time before leaving. They have also stated that in their terms and conditions they can change the accommodation for any reason. It is clear that we were enticed to purchase the holiday from them with the accommodation we wanted, There was no intention of giving us this, and instead, cheaper accommodation.
On top of this, tonight, I have now been told that I booked double rooms, instead of twins, which were requested during our calls in April this year.
The customer service agent , insinuating that this is my fault. Not the agent who we booked our holiday with, over the phone.
What was supposed to be an exciting time for us, has turned into disappointment with the last week being really stressful.....and we have not even got there yet!?!. We are dreading what is in store in Egypt!!! I will of course update how this goes but in the meantime, if you were tempted to take the company up on its buy one get one free offer on their holidays, and you don't mind getting what you did not want, then go ahead. Otherwise, steer clear. DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY!!! They are not interested in resolving our concerns, just absolving themselves!!
Update 09/09/23 - so I had an email from Exoticca on the 2nd september, confirming that i do have a request for twin rooms but cant guarantee.....they have assured me that someone is looking into the 'category' issue, and will get back to me. No surprise, then, that there has been nothing since. The email was very polite but did not mention my concerns around the location and price online, of the hotel or going from a 5 star to 4 star boat. Oh well 5 days to go until the holiday. It read as follows:
email from Exoticca
Hi,
I hope this email finds you well.
We strive hard to deliver a smooth and satisfying experience for our customers and feel greatly disappointed when this isn’t the case.
Regarding the call recordings, I can see that there is a process by our agents working on the case, from 50 minutes ago. Once we have the update, we will send you an email.
Also, I can see that the agent informed our team at the destination that you are requesting a twin room, on 30/04/2023. Please keep in mind that this is a high season and that we can not guarantee that the hotel will have available twin beds, however, our team at the destination is doing their best to meet your needs.
As it is mentioned in the trip summary, all the hotels that are listed in the Trip summary are in the same category (or better) and all the hotels can be booked until and unless they are in the agreement list.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and appreciate you reaching out to us regarding this issue. If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to help you.
Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience caused, and we appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
Kind regards,
********* (name of agent)
Customer Service Agent
Exoticca claim to answer questions, but they don'. Just terrible excuses
11/10/23 - Exoticca did not except any responsibility for fraudulent sales tactics and giving us a hotel next to the airport instead of in Cairo itself, and a boat that was 4 star instead of 5. We discovered other holiday makers on our boat they did the same thing to. One couple summed it up :BAIT and SWITCH. Exoticca have made no attempt to send me the recordings of my call before my holiday and no compensation for giving us cheaper accommodation and lying to us. I SAY AGAIN....DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!”
“Good trip, negligent support when something goes wrong. Never refunded us for an excursion they agreed to cancel. Stranded us in a foreign country costing us around 1k in lodging and airfare and offered us a $50 voucher as compensation. We booked a trip to costa rica. Cant say enough good things about that part. The excersions were nice transportation was a breeze. The app and website was great. We loved our hotels.
The only problem we had was when Aeromexico caused us to miss our flight in Mex City and tried to charge us full price to rebook the next flight. We reached out to exoticca emergency support and they promised solutions then ghosted us MULTIPLE times. We ended up having to figure it out ourselves in a foreign country where we dont speak the language. Exoticca promised they would rebook us on the next flight and all we would need to do is pay any price difference and any rebooking fee. The promised to call us and message back more the 4 times after i reached out and to this day I have never gotten the promised response from support.
I reached out to exoticca to ask them to cover the price difference between the full priced flight we were forced to purchase and the lower price it would have cost them to rebook us through aeromexico as they promised they would do.
Exoticca admitted that they saw the evidence that we had been abandoned by their staff and offered $50 CREDIT on their website for the "inconvenience"
Additional issues: We cancelled an ATV tour and they agreed to refund 50% of the cost and we never got it.
I would never book exoticca again since, despite the great trip, they abandoned us in a foreign country promising resolutions that never came then offered an insulting resolution.
The only resolution i will accept is them to issue a check payable to me for the difference in our full priced flight and their rebooking cost, 2 nights lodgings plus meals (the amount of time we waited on their promised resolution). US-EX2023148839”
“We have experiance and recomend not to travel with Exoticca. We lost our Money and Passport while ware with the Exoticca Tour. We were attacked at the low grade dangerous Hotel on the first night. We met couple's during our trip to Turkey and Greece, from England and other from Scotland whom were celebrating their anniversary. This poor people had arrived 2 am on sunday night and Exoticca put them in a hot no air-condition Bus for 14 hours the Next morning at 6 AM. They regretted their decision.”
“Best Experience I also think whoever wrote a bad review is false. They are totally professional great people everything went without any glitch.
Fantastic trip and service.”
“I went to India with Exoticca before covid, best trip ever. Well organised with a great quide throughout. The comments below are definitely false. I am going to peru with them this Saturday and I cannot wait”
“disgracefully cheaters, taking advantage of travelers everywhere, This is the best discription of Exptocca. Hopefully, They will shut down this website soon.Exottica travel is Under investigation. Please do not pay your money to Exoticca travel. Do not book with them. Base to our Personal experience, losing great amount of Money and going through emotional stress, cused by Exoticca travel during our trip to Turky/Greece. I don't want this happen to you. Please donot book with Exoticca”
“Please do not use Exoticca travel agency.
They hide behind their small print, and their advertising is misleading and they purposefully withhold essential information about transit flights until they have secured your booking and payment has been made.
Once you have paid you are then informed about your transit flights, of which they take zero responsibility regarding changing or cancelling flights or COVID vaccination status or visas.
We ended up in a situation where we had to purchase return flights via Mexico as we were unable to fly via USA, a high expense and inconvenience. I missed a day's work and my son missed crucial exams at school.
We were on time and ready to check in. We met another passenger, in the same situation due to lack of information being provided upfront when booking regarding transit flights. He also has to purchase another flight to return to the UK.
The United Airlines check-in desk at San Jose said this always happens with Exoticca! No other agency! They said to write a formal company to Exoticca and demand they pay for the new flights.
Exoticca take no responsibility for anything. My son was sick for three days and as a single parent, neither of us could attend these prepaid trips. They were unwilling to refund these trips and just refer to insurance.
The Exoticca agency outsource all the trips, which can be purchased at a much more competitive rate in the country, and they are unwilling to help or provide any flexibility to their terms and conditions.
Behind the flashy website, is a company that is misleading and certainly lacks customer support, most importantly, they do not take any responsibility for their incompetence.
Do not use this agency!”
“Exoticca is all about breaking the misrepresenting facts, false advertising, Bait and switch, and violating travelers rights, They are not ethical just have a website to take advantage of vast internet sale and get your money base to bunch of hocus pogoes
pictures and stars that dose not mean any thing to them. This was our experience , we lost great amount of Money, we were attacked at their 1 star Hotel( they show 4 star on the pictures) our passports and cash was stolen, they left us behind.
this happened to many people on our tour becuse what Exoticca knowingly did to gasrb Money and not provide at the level it was paid.”
“Dont not use exoticca travel, they did not deliver what you paying for, they put your life in danger for their own profit, Superior is a joke, scam fraud. they put you in 1.5 stars hotels in dangerous area of cities. I was attacked at the Hotel on the first night arriving in trendy's Hotel in Athens. My passport and cash was stolen. Customers service doesn't exits , no support. they turn a dream vacation to a nightmare. see reviews on Yelp and better Bus. Bureau.
Its scam and fraud, they lie and deceive, never give you their cancellation policy and never refund you if you cancel even one hour after paying them. we asked over 107 days before the trip , they did not refund us. forced to travel with them, nearly killed in this trip.”
“Buyer beware of this company
Buyer beware of this company. I am so sorry I booked through this organization. I booked an Egypt trip for December 3rd of this year, for my mother and myself. I was hoping that the agent could add my cousin, but by the time my cousin was able to connect with the agent, the trip costs went up and she was unable to book that date. However she did book for December 5th. I've been trying to change my dates to December 5th because my cousin can assist me with my mother. This company has a very strict policy and will not change my dates even though I can provide a doctor's letter stating that my mom is under a Rheumatologist care. The only option this lousy company is providing is to cancel but I will lose my $1800.00 deposit.
Please do yourself a favor and do not book through this company. They are reasonable, but cheap is not always good. They are truly not compassionate, and do not care if you have a good traveling experience. The only thing they care about is the transaction.”
“Kept 40% of our money for them cancelling our trip to Peru two days before we were scheduled to leave. They cancelled due to the unrest there, which I understand. The part I don’t get is keeping 40% of my money when they have insurance to recover their costs.
They have poor customer support if any and would not entertain rescheduling us for another trip because they wouldn’t let us change our plans earlier without charging 75% if we changed or cancelled.”
