Viator Reviews

2.2 Rating 1,102 Reviews

30 %

of reviewers recommend Viator

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

2.2

Based on 1,102 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Own Driver
On-time Delivery	Greater than 7%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.1 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult

Visit Website

Phone:

888-651-9785

Email:

support@viator.com

Location:

360 3rd St #400
San Francisco
94107

Write Your review

Tell us how Viator made you happy

Minimum 10 characters

Would you like to add a photos or videos?

Strengthen your review by uploading photos & videos.

Drag files here or browse

(Supported files: jpg, png, mpeg, ogg, mp4 & webm)

What's your name?

Leave this blank if you'd like to publish your review anonymously.

(Optional)

What's your email?

We need your email address to verify that your review is genuine

Please note that we may share your email with the company to verify your order.

Viator 1 star review on 26th October 2024

101

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Three of us booked “the taste my Swiss City Lugano.” We took the voucher and accompanying print out to our first stop, Bottegone del vino. We presented the documentation. We were seated at a table served a light lunch and lovely glass of wine. We were then given a b”” for 115 euros. We presented the voucher again...along with the print out listing their restaurant, the waiter took it, discussed it with three others. The manager then brought it back to us removing 15 euros for the wine and chastised us that we should have presented it first? We did! So after paying over $200 for the “free” tasting we had to pay 110 euros. It was very clear victor had doneeither a poor job selecting the stops or partnering with them so they understand their responsibility. We want our money back! We did not pursue the other stops....it was just too expensive and uncomfortable! I am trying to reach viator now to get a refund. They don’t make it easy to reach them. This is the first site I found to complain.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“8th September 2018 We purchased a full day trip to the Hoover Dam with Lake Mead cruise for the last day of our scheduled trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary. This we had booked several months in advance so we had been really looking forward to the trip for some time. 24 hours prior to the trip we contacted Viator booking office as detailed on the tickets to confirm our booking to be told we would be picked up by a Gray Line minibus at 9 am in the Valet area of another hotel in the area as our hotel was not on the pick-up line. On the day of the tour we arrived at the designated correct pick up place 45mins before the due pick-up time. At 9.15 am we still had not been picked up and so called the office only to be told they had contacted the bus driver who said he had been running late but had pulled into the valet area and waited 5 mins and that we had now missed him by 4 minutes. This is a complete untruth told by the driver as we later confirmed with the hotel’s CCTV no Gray Line bus had pulled into the valet area during the hour we had been waiting. He had not entered the valet area of the hotel at all. They refused to send him back for us or for us to be picked up at another location. Viator then told us we could now only be booked onto the 12.15 half day trip but we would not be able to do the Lake Mead cruise. So we transferred to this as it was our last day and wanted to see the dam. We again confirmed all the same pick-up details and time. The minibus only arrived at the pick-up location following another phone call from us at 12.15. When the minibus arrived at the same pick-up location we had been waiting at in the morning we asked the driver why he had not called on the morning route to pick us up only to be literally shouted at angrily by the driver in front of all the other bus passengers. He said we would need to take our complaint up with Viator, he wasn’t interested and just demanded us to show him our ID or we were not getting on the bus. So we got on the bus only to be ferried to another Gray Line waiting location where we then waited another 20mins before being transferred onto another bus. Later we learnt that quite often if the bus driver is running late on his pick up round he will just miss out certain pick ups so as to arrive at the Gray Line booking-in terminal on time! Once he is here he then spends 20 mins or so just chatting to other colleagues and eating croissants!! The rest of the tour was disappointingly less than great, we spent most of the afternoon picking up and dropping people off and once at the dam we were rushed to ensuring we completed the dam tour quickly as we only had 1.5 hours to explore before we MUST be back on the bus or be left. It is evident from the countless poor reviews we have since read that there is a re-occurring theme of poor service throughout and it is obvious this company are totally less than interested in learning from the comments made by their dissatisfied customers but instead only want to acquire your money and an ever-building bad reputation.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“THEY ARE CONS, JUST MIDDLEMEN WHO HAVE PATHETIC CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND WILL RIP YOU OFF YOUR MONEY! I booked the ten lakes tour of the Lake District for 11th August with my family. Since the web site page stated that kids over 5 years are allowed. I, therefore, I called the helpline and asked specifically whether I could take my three years and five-year-old kids. I was told that I needed to buy a ticket for the 5-year-old kid and there was no need to buy a ticket for the 3-year-old who I can take along. After travelling all the night from London, I reached Windermere at the Information Centre but was denied the boarding the minibus by the Mountain Goat agent that children under 3 were not allowed. I told them that the Viator had allowed me to take. Had they not confirmed that why would I have booked and caused so much inconvenience to the family. I called the VIATOR helpline and they refused to intervene rather said that they can't help since the Moutain Gate agent refused. Both VIATOR and the MOUNTAIN GATE not only caused severe inconvenience to me and the family but also refused to refund the amount! Spotting an opportunity of minting more money, a female staff of Moutain Goat rushed to us and offered us that she could arrange another tour for 275 GBP, which we refused to avail! Guys, please avoid them, they're cons and are only concerned about ripping people of their money.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I had requested hotel pick-up for two tours in Rome. Our hotel was listed as a pick-up site and I received a confirmation. 24 hours before the first tour, we were told there was no hotel pick-up. I tried calling Viator customer service (never an answer). I finally wrote through the website. I received my first response 18 hours later that they were contacting the tour company. I never received any help from either Viator or the tour company. The last email said that I would hear something back in 7-10 days but that surely doesn't help since my tours are over. Their 24/7 customer service statement is blarney!!!! :sad:”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“*********** Horrible customer service ******** I have used Viator for several tours and for the most part the tours were good and the tour companies have been professional. Buyers should beware- if you are buying with the impression that you will receive customer service if something goes wrong, Viator is not the company to use. On a recent trip to Rome, we bought the fast pass for the Vatican. The meeting instructions were poor and when we found it the tour company left and there was no one there to help us. We ended up buying a tour from another company. When returning to the states I tried to rate the experience but found the tour did not show on my bookings; I called Viator to get it added to my bookings and I got the run around. I tried for over a week to no avail and when I asked for a supervisor the customer service agent would not transfer me, place me on permanent hold until they disconnected or say they would call me back. I agent would not listen to my concern and just kept reading off a script.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I have done several tours in various places around the world with no issues and recently had to change dates on 3 tours and eventually cancel and get a refund. The 2 customer service people who spoke to me on the phone went above and beyond the extra mile to help me even contacting individual tour providers for me while i was on hold. I would definately book with them again”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“We have used viator for several years in different locations and overall we enjoyed their services. But, on a recent trip to Europe we saw a different side and their poor customer service. We booked a one day tour of Paris and we were staying outside of Paris. We noticed signs on the metro that the day of our tour there was a one day social event work slowdown. On the morning of our tour we checked and the limited trains so could not get us to the meeting place in Paris in time. We made numerous calls to the tour agent without success and even called viatour and they told us they didn't know about a strike and it was our responsibility to get to Paris. We stopped in our hotel and an employee whelped us for an hour to finally contact the tour agent who told us basically you get here or lose your money. The hotel concierge realized it was the same company they use for tours and they had cancelled paris tours because of the transit issue. We ended up taking a tour with another company that was great and 3 weeks of fighting with viator and we ended up calling our credit card company to get us a refund. Horrible customer service. Later in the trip we arrived at the Rome port and had scheduled a transfer from viator to our hotel in Rome. When we booked the transfers, we could not schedule a time as we didn't have a disembark time. 2 days before arrival we tried calling the vendor but it went to a non working cell phone. Even the ships crew tried numerous times. Upon arrival, no car service. we waited an hour with multiple calls to the vendor and finally crew member go through on their cell phone and were told a car was there at 7 and waited and then left. They told the vendor that the ship was just getting in at 7 and they hung up on the crew member. We ended up hiring a taxi and 2 weeks later still fighting with viator.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Terrible company! Do not trust them! We paid for 6 snorkeling tours in Cozumel. They refused to take us because of lack of time and refused a refund! We were not the only group they ripped off!! If anyone can tell me more ways to post and get the word to people please let me know. People need to know and this company does not need to continue to rip people off!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Book the Budapest Parliament House tour for May 29, 2018. Advertised as small group which we were hoping would be around 20 people. We had 38 and you could hardly heard the guide and people were pushing to get up front so we could understand the guide. Very poor.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I booked a tour because a representative gave me some information; it was wrong; after talking or trying to talk to Viator several times; reps were very polite; they didn't get it; they were from Phillapines and had no idea what I needed; never got an answer; had to change my airline dates and incur a change fee with them; all because Viator could not get me correct info; ever.\ I have used in past and fine them lacking in info for customer”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I paid for three Viator tours while on a Mediterranean cruise in May. Only one went flawlessly (a cooking class in Mykonnes), and the other two had problems. Our voucher for a 3.5 hr. tour of Vatican City in a small group of 10, purchased 4 months in advance, became the nightmare of our 18 day trip. Viator obviously is the booking agency the connects travelers worldwide with local agencies who conduct the tours. Most of the local agencies are good (used them previously in Europe and Canada), but THINGS ONLY WORK IF VIATAR GIVES YOU THE CORRECT INFORMATION. We arrived at the Vatican steps at 2:00 for a 2:30 entrance and could not find the company stated on our voucher on any of the guide's flags or signs. During our frantic search 3 nice Vatican officials tried to assist us and agreed that no one from that company name was there. Ironically, an Ecoart tour guide noticed the Viator symbol on our voucher and said "yes, we use Viator but we are not the company you're looking for." At 2:45 I was almost in tears so we purchased tickets with another group, and we paid 56E each on the spot to join another group of about 20 people. It was a great tour with the non-Viatar group, but later it was not easy getting Viatar to admit their fault and they never apologized. I was livid when the second Viatar rep said that Ecoart said we never showed. I told her that we had spoken to them twice but that Ecoart was NOT the name of the local agency printed on our ticket so neither of us thought we should be in that group. Only after writing a long description of our nightmare in the sweltering heat, did they seem to believe I was there and gave us a refund with words to the effect that they were doing us a big favor- no apology, nor denial, for printing the wrong local name on our voucher. The previous day, we enjoyed a terrific 8 hr. Almalfi coast tour with Worldtours of Naples that we purchased through Viatar. The tour exceeded our expectations except that the tour description had said we would be part of a small group of 16, and we counted 30 on the bus. The same thing happened to us on a Viatar trip in Canada that promised group of 12 and it was 20. I don't know if local groups increase the number, or Viatar just buys that many spots from them, but either way the customer is not getting the smaller group experience they pay for. I will do my best to avoid Viatar bookings on future trips and suggests that others do the same.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Viator have many tours available giving travellers a great choice to select from. They were very quick in confirming my tour for my daughter and I once I had paid. I will certaainly use Viator again and recommend them to friends.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Bought tickets to Burj Kalief ( tallest building in Dubai) Printed all information and tickets sent by Viator and they where not accepted at the Burj ticket booth. Please beware of Viator as they are a scam website.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Me and my wife booked a tour on Viator to visit Chichen Itza for a day trip including free all you can eat buffet and a Cenote (like a underground small lake) visit. The price of the tour was very affordable that we paid in advance online. They pick up us on time early in the morning and transfer us to a big bus, once on route Mr. Rodrigo (travel guide) keep us informed all the time and Mr. Antonio (bus driver) was very professional. At the buffet you need to buy your drinks because they are no included. Drinks are no too expensive but be adware if you pay with credit or debit card (the Chilam Balam restaurant overcharged us for a frozen margarita and a regular soda over US$25.00) (we only saw this after we get back home in NY). We like to thanks Amigo Tours, Mr. Antonio and Mr. Rodrigo.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Bought a package to Machu Picchu through Viator. Great trip. However, we were put into a Spanish speaking tour, with only a promise that soon we would meet an English guide, but not to happen on this trip. However, the people in the tour company were still very nice, and although we missed all of the history and explanation of the area in English, we did enjoy the visit to Machu Picchu. I figured Viator would take care of me after the trip, so I did not get too excited. Although I was a bit disappointed. Disappointed turned into real frustration in working with Viator after, as they take no responsibility for anything!! The cost of the trip for 4 of us through Viator was about 2-3 times what we would have paid if purchased in the country for the same trip and accomodations. Recommendation is to coordinate your trip with local travel agents, much cheaper, and no added benefits or assurances with Viator! They have dealt with me via email only. I have requested on several occasions for a customer services rep. or manager to give me a call to discuss. But they either don't exist, or they do not work that way. They did remind me in one email that all sales are final. Something I will remember before I push the buy button,”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“DO NOT USE!!! BEWARE!!! They are ressellers taking 30% from the real tour operators. One of the worst booking platform. They connect suppliers from all around the world, take the money from the clients and do not assist in no way. Buyers cannot contact Viator assistance center / no phone no email. Suppliers cannot update bookings. Eventually they keep the money of clients and pay to supplier 45 days after the tour. SCAM. Why they keep the money? why they do not provide a supplier contact details in advance. People just book because they even don't understand that the Viator is 3th party re-seller. We as a supplier and as a buyer recommend you to find tour operators in country you planing you visit and book directly with real tour operator. They rate tour operators having 1 star ( worst ) rating in the world. SCAMMERS, MONEY LAUNDRY, DO NOT USE BEWARE”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Didn’t deliver and horrible cust9mer service”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“We booked a full day CULTURAL tour of Hutong in Beijing on April 7. It said there would be learning of Tai chi, Chinese calligraphy, paper cutting, opera mask painting tour of hutong and lunch at a local family. Except for a hour of Tai chi by a master, everything else was done in less than 2 hours in a room without anyone showing us what to do but we were just given the materials to do it on our own! There was no mask painting but we were given already painted mask to take home! Lunch was nothing special. We paid $188 Canadian per person for this kind of mediocre tour. Viator your selection and oversight is terrible and irresponsible! I write to them for complaints but I never heard back. I will never use this company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Whilst in Ciro for our first time, we went to see the pyramids and lucky enough we found @fatmashaffey as our tour guid. She was amazing. From the moment we met her we knew that this was an experience we were never going to forget. Her knowledge about the history of the pyramids and ancient Egypt was as if she had lived it. Also her photography skills were brilliant. She knew all the secret spots to get the perfect picture where there were no people. These are memory’s that I will never forget and will be with me forever. Thank you Fatma for the experience of a life time❤❤❤❤🦋”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Offering “PRIVATE” tour when it actually is a normal tour. When i saw title, i even called the hotline from overseas before making booking and they “confirm” is it a “private” tour. WHen I made the booking, I got an email asking me to cancel it because they made a mistake. And not offering any solution even when i keep asking for any other option. IRRESPONSIBLE COMPANY! Just judge yourself how bad this company is by looking at the most recent reviews, nothing more than 1 star. JUST AWEFUL!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Viator is rated 2.2 based on 1,102 reviews