ABSOLUTELY WILL NEVER USE AGAIN Just like Chris said hotels unacceptable and ZERO customer service Only use Avanti Travel if you want the following (none of which you want from a travel agent): 1. Price gouging, 150% markup - I have the hotel receipt showing the $4k charge when I paid $10k for 15 nights. 2. Hotels not vetted, dirty and misrepresented - mold, smelly mattress and rundown. 3. hotelbeds.com (Expedia) to be your actual supplier (they never told me their was another party - but told me to call them to complain) 4. no assistance on travel (I spent hours and all my international minutes for a month in 3 days - I had to find another hotel on my own and pay for it out of pocket.) 5. 2 months fighting to be only partially refunded - only for the last 5 nights 6. use your vacation time to document, email and take photos of hotel issues and then deal with a claim that took over 60 days to respond to. Through the other agent who I paid that used Avanti. Read real reviews. DO NOT USE THEM. https://www.bbb.org/us/or/portland/profile/travel-agency/avanti-destinations-inc-1296-74001586/customer-reviews read more

I strongly recommend you avoid using this travel agency. We used them to book a trip to Scotland and while there we had a medical issue that necessitated changing some of our travel plans. When we called their 24/7 emergency number we were told they would only speak with the agent that booked the travel and they refused to provide any help. It was 4am in the US at that time and we were stuck in another country with no contacts or assistance. In addition, the final hotel we were booked in was in utter disrepair. Ripped wallpaper, tattered curtains, stained carpets and dirty sheets. It was supposed to be a 4 star hotel but in reality was below a 1 star. I would recommend booking your own travel before using this group. read more

If you want to pay double the rack rate and have a much more restrictive cancellation policy than booking direct, then this is for you. Buyer beware. read more

I have been using Avanti for years. Their services are superior. We love the personal services we receive with private drivers from the airport to our hotels and hotels to train stations. They have knowledgeable guides on tours we take as well. The itinerary they create is always well planned out. I highly recommend their services as your travel experience will be the best ever. read more

Our trip to Korea was absolutely amazing. From our flight to the hotel to our tours, every day was a fantastic adventure.

3-week trip to the UK, including England, Scotland & Wales. I decided to do all travel in the UK by rail -- great decision. Everything from the flight out of Seattle to the car pick-up at Heathrow to the various train trips, hotels and tours were outstanding, with a couple of exceptions: A tour I thought would take me from London to Avebury, Glastonbury & Stonehenge was actually only to Stonehenge. When I arrived at the bus terminal, I was informed that my tour had been cancelled; that the tour company had been trying to get hold of my travel agent for 3 days; and I was offered a refund for the cancelled trip. My hotel in Aberystwyth was shown on my itinerary as a "5-star hotel". While the room was clean and comfortable, this was definitely NOT a 5-star hotel. It was basically a bar with several hotel rooms above it. No on-site restaurant. No other amenities (except breakfast, which I unfortunately did not have time to partake of). All in all, I was very satisfied with the trip I booked through Avanti and would definitely consider them next time. read more

Everything went well from the initial interview to the final return. Lots of special do da's that make the trip very special.

Traveled with this company twice the past and had good to great overall experience! Reason for 4 stars is that we had hiccups in our stay package, example: no air conditioner and hair fan while we had specifically requested those; no timely pick up from airport (miscommunicated transfer); no advise that there are no elevators at certain train stations and that all luggage had to be carried thru hundreds of stairs). Things like that, perhaps not crucial but do ruin vacation. I would travel again with them since some of the excursions and day trips were awesome. read more

First of all, when I attempted to book reservations with them through our travel agent, you would have gotten better results from a bare wall then from them. Unforeseen circumstances caused us to cancel Avanti bookings 5-6 months before trip yet they still charged an excessively high penalty of $800.00 from my deposit of $1277. 00. This is usury and unfair business practices. They are rated by the reviews with a slightly better then 1 star, I understand why. You would be wise to not allow your travel agent to use Avanti under any circumstances. read more

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!! Same story as everyone else on here; our travel agent booked us a 2 week trip to Italy/Greece starting 5/18/20, total cost of ~$19,000. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of Europe was shut down, we couldn't have even traveled if we wanted to. British Airways canceled our flight and refunded Avanti the full price, Avanti wants to keep $2,000 of those fees even though they're not out a red penny!!! Avanti's initial offer was to keep $4,500 of our money. For what?! There were no services rendered and we've confirmed Avanti suffered no losses from any of the hotels they booked for us, so Avanti's had our money all this time!! We've filed a charge back with our credit card company (got notified we lost that, but have reopened the matter), filed complaints with the BBB and Oregon Attorney General's office. Avanti won't even talk to us, they direct us to have our travel agent negotiate on our behalf, but her calls/emails have gone unanswered for months now! They claim they're entitled to all these fees due to their murky language in their Terms & Conditions, yet, we've seen them apply different results for different consumers with no consistent rationale. I would consider them a highly predatory company with the lowest business ethics. Do not use them, you will be sorry you did! read more

I have a $4,100 credit from a trip that was supposed to be taken in 2000 to June and I'm finally trying to use it I had everything worked out Gabe's in my payment information for the balance of the trip that I was now planning which was just over $7,000 and two days later they have come back to me and told me that the tickets are now going up $3,000 each read more

Avanti Destinations - Travel Services Near Me - Portland, Oregon

This is the worst company I have ever dealt with and I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone. Future unfortunate customers, PLEASE submit a complaint to AAA or any other booking agency that sub-contracts to Avanti. If agencies get enough, they will drop Avanti as a vendor. This will help save future customers from getting taken advantage of. My wish for 2022 is that this company is shut down and stops scamming families. AAA/Travel Agencies and Avanti have set up the perfect scenario to rip off hard-working families, obscure fault, and shirk responsibility. My story is identical to everyone else's so I won't go into the details....do not use this company under any circumstances. They will steal your money or force you to travel against CDC guidelines (level 4, "Do Not Travel"). They will also lie to your face about airline/hotel refunds and gleefully pocket your hard-earned money. Sorry to everyone here, this deserves a lawsuit. read more

Avanti was a secondary agent, used by our primary. We took a 3 week trip to Europe and I couldn't have gotten a more stress free trip, if I'd tried. I gave them the itinerary of each country and timing of being there. All flights, hotels, transportation to and from hotels and airports/train stations was amazing. All I planned were most of our side trips and they even did a couple with personal guides. I think this company is amazing in all that I asked of them. read more

My brother passed away unexpectedly, this company had a charge on his credit card of $7,183.54, as he booked a trip with them, he passed away before he could take the trip. I called them 3 times about him passing and getting a credit for the charge. The receptionist would not let me thru to talk to any one, I had his date of birth, SS# and Letter of Testamentary as executor of his estate, I could get nowhere and she would not accept me sending the documents that I was executor, SO BE VERY CAREFUL on booking with this company, we never got a refund, and receptionist did not seem to care that he passed would give us not help dmcniff@coldwellhomes.com read more

THIEVES! AVOID AVOID AVOID Can I give negative 5 stars? As others have said this company will take your money without you even knowing your doing business with them because your local travel agent books through brokers like them. Refused refund after pandemic and wouldn't even talk to me because I'm not an agent. It was irrelevant that the charge on my card was from Avanti and not the travel agency. They issued a travel credit but that requires that the credit be used according to their asinine rules that require you book air and accommodations together. Doesn't matter If the credit is only enough for air or hotel, you HAVE to split them up according to their air/hotel ratio rules. I WILL NEVER BOOK VIA TRAVEL AGENT AGAIN THANKS TO THIS EXPERIENCE AND WILL ADVISE OTHERS THE SAME. Thanks for hurting business for travel agents, your customers according to the rep I spoke with, and ruining follow on travel plans again...even after the pandemic. WORST.COMPANY.EVER. read more

If I could give zero stars I would... dream vacation to Italy Ruined and worsened by Avanti who won't even give us a penny back... AAA booked it and because of Covid avanti won't extend our points to next year and we don't understand why... Those of you writing in about how "the industry " works are missing the point. We are out over $1300 which is totally unfair and miss represented by Avante ..We want our money back and may hire a lawyer to do so if things don't get corrected... This is in sane! Lori and ron read more

Easily the worst company I've ever dealt with. They cancelled my trip due to the global pandemic, which is reasonable as it was a trip to Italy. However, they refuse to refund my money unless I accept to lose almost half of my trip cost in cancellation fees. They also are refusing to refund my money for flights they booked for us. I contacted Delta Airlines directly who confirmed they had already refunded Avanti for my flights! They are deceitful and immoral. read more

If I could give them a ZERO I would. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. I have a trip to ITALY planned for May 4, 2019. The US State Department has issued a Level 4 Global travel warning. Our airlines are not flying to Europe. Avanti Destinations WILL NOT GIVE A REFUND. They are keeping our trip money. STAY AWAY from this despicable company. read more

If I could give no stars I would. Awful company. Had to cancel trip due to COVID 19 and they were unreasonable. Said since I purchased airplane tickets in 5/2019 I had to use my air credit by this May!! There are still travel restrictions!!! They forced our hand to ask for refund and then file for remainder of refund from out travel insurance. Avanti only refunded 25% of what we paid!!!!!. Never ever will use them again!!! Neither will our travel agent (not through Avanti their company uses them plus other travel groups) . She has been a great advocate for us. read more

Booked a trip prior to Coronavirus. The cruise line and airlines cancelled the trip but Avanti refuses to give us a refund and is instead claiming to charge us over a thousand dollars in fees which I have confirmed the airlines and cruise company are not charging them. Pay attention to all the one star reviews. They are a scam read more

While I certainly feel badly for the travel industry in general, Avanti Destinations has treated me, and many other customers, in a despicable and disrespectful matter. They issued 'travel credits' for cancelled trips due to Covid but now, when we are trying to redeem them, they refuse to apply the credits unless we agree to spend more than the credit. I will never, ever under any circumstances, spend money with a travel agency or tour company again. I will always book directly with the desination hotel or airline. Never ever again Avanti. read more

Avanti is the worst company I have ever experienced. I paid over $2500 for 5 nights and 4 train tickets in Japan. I was supposed to get a welcome packet delivered to my hotel. I made my own arrangements to fly to Japan and stay in Tokyo. I never got my welcome packet. I had to buy my own train tickets which I already paid for. I finally talked to a person after I was left hanging for 4 days, they said it's not our fault! They said buy 3 train tickets after I already paid for them, and keep your receipts. I did and it was over $200. I already paid for the tickets! I saved my receipts. After getting back from Japan.They took their sweet time getting back to my travel agent, after I gave her the receipts. They said we will give you $100 and a travel voucher to use Avanti in the future. Not gonna happen! So all I got for my $2500 was five nights in hotels which I could have gotten much cheaper! They have never contacted me!!!! DO NOT USE AVANTI!!! read more

Same as everyone else. Avanti cancelled our June trip to Europe and then told our cc company that WE cancelled the trip so their standard cancellation fees apply. The most recent (8/5) review must be from an employee...or she's losing her mind. I verified that they had not paid for ANYTHING at the time of cancellation...meaning they made money for doing NOTHING. Criminal. Stay away...they suck. read more

We scheduled a trip for Budapest/Prague our trip was suppose to be in April 2022, the war broke out in March 2022 and every time we checked the web site that area was level 4 covid, most of the city was closed, so we decided to cancel our trip, we did purchase trip mate insurance to ensure if anything happened we would be refunded, but guess what Avanti/trip mate screwed us we lost our money $4000 DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY, it is a scam they take money from hard working people that put their trust into this company thinking they will be taking care of if anything went wrong with their trip, Avanti is such a big company if they wanted they could of done the right thing for us and offered us a voucher to take the trip at a later date, but they did no such thing just informed us that we lost our money. This is a terrible company do not use them. read more

I suggest you do not use this travel agency for any of your needs. They have terrible communication and do not handle escalation calls at all. They steal money then cancel flights without even telling you and it was not due to this virus. read more

My family booked a vacation to Austria using Avanti for the first time ... It will be the last. Our friend's wedding was cancelled due to COVID and we legally could not travel there due to COVID regulations. Avanti didn't care. No money back ... No extensions ... No flexibility. We are out $2600. Sorry kids. No vacation of a lifetime. Avanti stole our money. THIEVES! Still makes me sick to my stomach to this day! read more

If I had the option to leave no stars I would. Stay Away from this company. There is no refund! EVER! They have 1800$ of our money! We booked a tour through them in Europe shortly before Covid hit. Despite that nightmare they refused to refund our money. They do tours in Europe,Central America and Asia! They allow rebookingof the tour but there is a time limit. My travel agent at AAA said the only option for a refund is to ask your credit card company to attempt to deal with them. I hope that helps someone dealing with these crooks! It didn,t help me. read more

I have owned my agency for over 30 years...this is the WORST company I have worked with in the industry. Refused to refund my clients when the airline cancelled the flights or I could get a refund less $ 400.00 per ticket. This is outrageous. They need to be investigated. After I rebook the trip and apply the credit for my clients......I will NEVER, EVER, EVER use them again. OWNER/MANAGEMENT ARE A BUNCH OF SHYSTERS!!!! read more

Extremely poor refund policy, essentially NO REFUND. Cancelled a trip 6 months before departure and they would not refund or even offer a credit. Good idea to read their Better Business Reviews, many dissatisfied customers. Apparently AAA utilizes their services. Buyer Beware! I certainly won't use them and have advised all friends and acquaintances who frequently travel to stay away from Avanti as well. read more

This wholesale tour operator has screwed over its clients. I have 2 families that had trips planned. They had purchased insurance, but were denied getting their money returned due to the pandemic. Fast forward to today and they are forced to use the funds with Avanti The company dragged their feet and client lost the hotel for the dates they wanted. We wanted to change the air. The airlines are not charging fees to change, but Avanti wanted to charge $2000 to change the air to match up with the hotel reservation. Stay away from this company, far away! read more

Don't do it. You cannot leave everything to them. I don't have the time or patience to list all of the disappointments and overages we encountered on our trip. We could have saved hundreds of dollars and a lot of wear and tear had we booked everything ourselves. Customer service was very poor. I can say that Southwest was a good experience but we could have used a different airline that would have saved us a 300 mile drive round trip, and ultimately put us closer to our destination (I'm still trying to figure that one out). All I can say is, shame on me for thinking they would take care of us and not questioning every detail along the way. read more

Avanti is currently offering absolutely HORRIBLE customer service!!! I booked with a travel agent to go to Portugal and Seville, Spain in April. Obviously we HAD to cancel because of the pandemic, plus the hotel Avanti booked us at was CLOSED due to a lock down of hotels in Spain. Avanti will not give us a full refund. They offered us about 30% of what we had paid, so instead we opted for $1880 in FTC....which is crazy! Who knows if we will be able to take a trip overseas before Dec 2021??? Avanti is completely taking advantage of this situation and it's customers by holding our money hostage. I am so disappointed with Avanti!!!! read more

Do not use this company. I booked a European trip and due to Covid precautions the venue cancelled. Even with insurance I only get back 75% even though I did not cancel, the venue did. Then I am told I have to wait 90 days for a refund. Very inefficient and inconsiderate. Personally, I will not use a travel agent again that is affiliated with this company. read more

Do NOT, under any circumstances use Avanti. We booked a trip to Spain with them for $8000, may 10, 2020. The airline canceled the flight and refunded Avanti 100% fee, the Spanish trains are not running and refunded Avanti in FULL!!. AGAIN, THEY WERE REFUNDED IN FULL!! They are charging us nearly $3000 in their cancellation fees. AVANTI Canceled the trip too!!!!!!!!!!! There is NO travel in Spain and we are getting screwed out of $3000. THEY TELL US IT IS THEIR POLICY!!! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY., DO NOT!!!!... they will screw you over.... Had we booked it ourselves we would have been refunded our total $8000. I will NEVER use a travel agent again. Jeffrey Doney read more

Terrible company. Will rip you off whenever possible. Book with someone else. They totally f'd us over on our 25 wedding anniversary trip to Italy. The airlines refunded all the money, the hotels did too, but not Avanti. The wood give a refund of 40 cents on the dollar. Avoid these $hit heads. I hope they go bankrupt read more

If I could give 0 stars, I would. Horrible customer service. Can hardly get anyone on the phone and when you do, they are less than helpful or pleasant. Stole money from my husband and I and refused to give ANY back when covid hit and cancelled our vacation due to border restrictions. Save yourself the headache, use anyone but avanti! read more

When I booked through Fox Travel I had no idea that they brokered my trip through Avanti Destinations. Absolutely horrible turnaround times and service. It is difficult to go through your agency that then has to go through them to make any changes, etc. I absolutely would not recommend and from now on will not use any agency that would then use them as a travel broker. read more

DO NOT USE THIS TRAVEL AGENCY!!!! ZERO STARS!!!! Same story as everyone else. We booked a Greece trip through AAA who uses AVANTI and they will only offer us a travel credit and no refunds on our 6K trip. We were offered the credit through next December, however, the US is banned from traveling to Europe so this credit is wasting away. Terrible company with terrible policies. We bought travel insurance and still will not be receiving a refund because "pandemics are not covered under travel insurance." read more

If I could give zero stars I would. After reading these other reviews here I now know that I'm not the only one...which I figured anyway. Avanti is a large company that sits in a little sweet spot of the travel industry. They DO NOT speak to customers. Only to travel agents. Which gives them the ability to completely ignore customers or their concerns. My story is like all the rest here on Yelp so I won't bore you with the details...a trip to Costa Rica in our case...booked well before any hint of the pandemic (with travel insurance which is a whole different issue). Yet Avanti feels comfortable holding me and my family, and others here, hostage. Choosing between losing thousands of dollars of down payment or traveling during a global disaster. Avanti offers no options. I understand everyone is hurting financially because of this, including businesses obviously, but for Avanti to put the total financial burden of the pandemic on the shoulders of the customers is unethical. For them to feel comfortable sending families abroad during this all for the sake of their bottom line, in my opinion, is immoral. It should be criminal. I've contacted the BBB and my states AG. I'm sure nothing will come of it. Avanti is used by many travel agents, including AAA. Hopefully spreading the word about them and refusing to use them will somehow make a difference. This is example 5437 of the story of the middle class in the US today. The only class in our country who no one is fighting for. read more

Our trip of a lifetime shattered by the virus! We had a cruise to Europe bought and paid for. Not only that but I was going to get to see Normandy and a side trip to Ireland! Of course everything went to hell! Through no fault of our own everything got cancelled. See all those one stars? There's a reason! Avanti kept almost 50% of our investment. "Non-refundable fees and cancellation fees". If this was a reputable company you would think they would step up to the plate and acknowledge that it was no fault of our own and refund our money because the service we paid them for wasn't fulfilled. We recently closed our bakery because of the virus and could have used the $2949.74! read more