Our Platinum Holidays Peru trip was perfect from beginning to end. A friend and I received first class service from the moment we arrived in Peru to the moment we departed. Sean and Binod gave us personal professional and patient service as we planned/arranged our trip and their team of guides, drivers and cultural interpreters on the ground in Peru all gave us amazing and kind service. The drivers and guides arrived on time every day and went over and above to secure our enjoyment and comfort. Our Cusco guide Juan Carlos was exceptional because of his vast levels of knowledge and ability to share Peru's amazing people and culture. All three hotels were wonderful, located in great areas and marvelous breakfasts. https://www.platinumholidays.com/travel-ca/Peru-Tasting-Peru-Wonders-of-Machu-Picchu-Cusco-Sacred-Valley. I hope to travel with Platinum Holidays again in the near future. read more

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We had the best time in Egypt. We completed the best of Egypt tour. I would highly recommend travel Discounters best of Egypt tour. We booked with them and then Blue Sky took great care of us once we arrived. We had the best service and care while we were there. The trip was perfect. In Cairo we had Sahar Bayoumi as our Egyptologist. And she was amazing! Make sure to request her. When we arrived in Luxor Hussein El Mouneir was our Egyptologist and he made the trip perfect. He was so knowledgeable and personable. Hussein made sure our trip to Egypt was one we will never forget. Make sure you ask for him to be your guide! We was with him for 5 full days. He went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect. Habibi! read more

Platinum Holidays - Felucca Ride - Travel Services Near Me - North York, Ontario

Have done 2 trips (South Africa+Victoria Falls, and Egypt) through Platinum Holidays and both were great. Junior who helped us is fantastic, always quick to respond to any questions I may have. Highly recommend. read more

From the very beginning of the process to the end was an absolute pleasure. Brian was incredible to work with. We used Platinum to plan our honeymoon and it was a dream come true. Brian helped us through every step of the process. I am not the easiest and have a ton of questions and Brian was always so patient and thorough with every response. He was always available when we needed him. I cannot recommend more highly! read more

Our family members (6) went to South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe......we cannot be happier with anything on the trip. all our expectations were met...the animals were awesome, the drivers and trackers awesome, the lodges were excellant, and the food wonderful. when we think about what could have been better...only one thing comes to mind....bring binoculars...small packable ones would have been awesome. Brian who helped us with every detail was great. he got lots of questions, emails from all of us and he was very pleasant, knowledgeable and helpful. I thought this would be my last trip to Africa....but nope....i gotta go again and Brian will get the call. be sure to know the weather when you go...it was HOT but very nice. read more

Whew! I don't even know where to begin. My trip to Egypt was absolutely A-freakin-mazing!!! Initially I was skeptical about booking through Travel discounters because I read so many negative reviews on trip advisor but I took a gamble because it was a little cheaper than some of the other tours I've seen and I really wanted to cross it off my bucket list, and I'm glad that I did. It was truly a life changing experience. Travel discounters showed up and showed out! Everything was so very well organized and my tour guides were amazing! So amazing that we're Facebook friends and still keep in contact to this day. Some of my guides were scholars who wrote books and were in school pursuing their graduate degrees. They were extremely knowledgeable and so informative. I learned so much and gained such a great appreciation for the people, the culture & the country. On my last day before leaving Egypt I literally cried as I had gained such a strong connection to something so unfamiliar to me. It was such an overwhelming, yet fantastic experience. The hotel accommodations were 5 star, and the food and included tours were incredible. I did all of the extra tours that weren't included such as the pyramid light show which was fascinating, and the sunrise hot air balloon ride. It was so breathtaking it left me in awe. The temples were just as phenomenal as well as the Nile river cruise. I had a small group that I toured with. It was about 8 people in total which was super cool. I love small groups. I got all that was mentioned in the itinerary and more. The flight on Turkish airlines was just fabulous. I Would fly with them again in a heartbeat. It's unfortunate to see so many negative reviews about travel discounters. I do know that each tour is different based on the location, the tour guides,... etc but if you're thinking about going to Egypt thru this agency, BOOK THE TRIP!!! I can only vouch for my experience and can only hope that you have an amazing experience as I did. It was truly spectacular!!! read more

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Our trip to Peru was absolutely fantastic. Excellent tour perfectly planned out and literally the trip of a lifetime. There are so many great photos and memories that we now have forever. We have been ranting and raving about this vacation ever since we got back to the states. Thank you, Platinum Holidays! read more

Booked a safari to Kenya through this company and yes it was pretty amazing. We stayed at three different lodges and went on numerous game drives where we ended up seeing all the big 5 and sooo much more. The most exciting part was seeing a young lion eating a baby buffalo (yes, pretty gross yet so amazing!). The drivers can get pretty close to the animals so you can take some amazing pictures. Most of the days are planned for you which I really like. It also included most of the breakfasts, lunches and dinners. When booking this trip I tried to look for reviews of the company but it was very hard to find anything recent. Our rep that was helping us book it was very responsive and always answered our emails that were filled with questions which I really appreciated. Now for some of the bad parts. The vans that we were in were very old and not the most comfortable. For one of the drives to the lodge the road is all dirt and rocks so if you have a weak stomach be very careful as it might not be the best for you. The lodges are not the most amazing and clean places but they were enough for us. We actually didn't have any mosquitos which I was surprised by. There are extra excursions that you can add on but they are very expensive through this company. We found a separate company and booked a driver for much cheaper that drove us to all the places that were not part of the trip that we really wanted to see. It definitely wasn't a cheap trip but I had an amazing time!!!! read more

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The Kenya/Tanzania Platinum Holidays Safari was incredible!! We saw the big 5 often. The highlight was sighting 12 lions and 8 lioness during trip as well as 4 cheetahs on the hunt right thru our path. The guides were exceptional and all moving parts with visas, entry fees, pick ups, etc. went smoothly. This was our 3rd trip with Platinum and we have not been disappointed yet. Each trip incredible. read more

Travel discounters arranged a wonderful 10 day trip to Turkey for us. We saw everything!

Excellent tour we had in Greece and Egypt! The service, food, accommodations and tour guides as well as the tours themselves were awesome!

I booked a 16 day tour of Peru with Travel Discounters. It was my first time booking a package tour so I wasn't sure what to expect. They walked me through everything and helped me customize my details, and the tour itself was a stunning AAA experience! read more

We just got back from the Travel Discounters South Africa, Victoria Falls , Chobe trip. The whole experience was amazing. The accommodations were top notch. The people were great. All of our transfers and pickups were right on time. The animal sightings were plentiful. We went in August which is winter over there. Warm days and cool nights. No leaves on the trees and scrub so the animals can be more readily seen. Lots of close up experiences. If you want to spend your days in museums and churches then this not for you. This was wild and up close to the animals. The trip of a lifetime. Dan B read more

I contacted both Costco Travel and Travel Discounters to help plan a trip for my daughter and me to South Africa to go on a safari and to explore Cape Town. I ended up going with Travel Discounters because the price was almost exactly the same as Costco Travel, and I really enjoyed my time working with Jackson to book the trip. Once the trip was booked and we were on our way, we ran into a snafu with United. Well, it was more than a snafu, United cancelled our transatlantic flight after sitting on the tarmac for 3 hours. I wasn't sure how the rest of our trip was going to proceed since we had mid country flights and transfers on specific dates. Binod, from Travel Discounters, asked that I call him immediately, which I did, and he managed to rearrange our entire itinerary so that we wouldn't lose any time at either the safari lodge or Cape Town. He took my extremely stressful experience and turned it into a very positive outcome. I honestly cannot thank them enough. The trip was outstanding! The accommodations were top notch and the location of our hotel in Cape Town, right next to the waterfront, could not have been better. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Book with Travel Discounters, you won't regret it! read more

Additional comments: THEY CHARGED $4776 for 2 people. They booked us in hotels with a 7ish/10 rating. We had trouble showering because the shower head was broken. We had to hold the broken shower head with one hand to shower. Hotel lost power multiple times. My friend had to get out of bed many times at night to turn on the A/C and we were woken up by power outage light repeatedly. READ OTHER COMPLAINTS IN MY OLDER REVIEW. Breakfast was a joke and almost not edible. It was so horrible that some of us didn't eat breakfast and went out to buy breakfast. I have looked up flights and hotels for people planning to go to Greece. These hotels have amazing reviews, good ratings, and free breakfast. Boston to Athens round trip flight: under $650 per person Delphi Art Hotel (2 nights in Athens): $125 total for 2 people Queen Boutiques Suite (3 nights in Mykonos): $234 total for 2 people Georgio Studios (3 nights in Santorini): $219 total for 2 people Have hotel call a cab: $10-$25 each way for group of 4 people) (total cab cost from airport to hotels to ferries: $80-$200 per group) High Speed ferries: under $70 per person (total under $210 per person) Hotels were very good at booking cabs, rental cars, and restaurant reservations for us. I'm pretty sure they can help you book high speed ferries too. That comes out total $2398 for 2 people that includes flight, hotel & taxes, breakfast, cab rides, and high speed ferries. I JUST SAVE YOU $2378. YOU'RE WELCOME. read more

This is an update to to my first review. Do not trust the Google Reviews for Travel Discounters! We posted our factual experience on Google and Binod had it removed, which is why it seems like they have good ratings there! During our tour, we spoke to another party who had a TERRIBLE experience with Travel Discounters as well, so we are not alone. Most likely Binod removed the negative reviews so his agency can trick people into thinking that they are professional! Do not be misled like we were and stay away from them like a plague! The manager of American Airlines hand wrote a note saying that if YOU--our travel agent--had informed us that we needed a passenger locator form ahead of time, we would have been able to board our flight! So your agent was the one who was solely responsible for us missing our flight. Not only are you blaming us for your blatant oversight, but also you emailed us saying it was impossible for us to get flight credit for the flights we missed! You are lying when you say that we missed our flight because we arrived late and when you say that you were able to get us flight credit! Your inability to provide us with the necessary information thus caused our party an incredible amount of strife and grief since we had to pay hundreds of dollars to go back home and then return to the airport the second day! Furthermore, our party paid for our tour in full! You held OUR flight credit hostage because an entirely separate party did a chargeback! How could you rob Peter to pay Paul? This shows that your travel agency only cares about money and not their customer! You made up for the losses caused by your oversight by taking it from an entirely separate and innocent party! We hope our honest review will help travelers avoid the endless trouble and headaches that Travel Discounters caused us. We believe this is what reviews are for! We DO highly recommend booking with Blue Sky Tours and ERM Tours directly (they are fantastic) and to avoid the incompetent middle man that is Travel Discounters! I have attached the links below for people's convenience: https://www.blueskygroup.net/tour-packages.html https://ermtours.com read more

Thank you for making our African adventure a once-in-a-lifetime experience. To say it was a memorable trip is an understatement. We felt incredibly safe at all times, and definitely could not have managed planning such an intricate itinerary ourselves. From Capetown to Victoria Falls, We were impressed with the luxury, the people and the price! We've already recommended you to friends and family - Looking forward to planning our next holiday together in 2021. read more

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I have used Travel Discounters twice now-once for our trip to Egypt in 2017, and this June to Jordan. Everything from the flights, to pickup/Visa collection at the airport, tour guides/drivers, hotels (+Cruise on the Nile) meals, itinerary were excellent. I am a single mom with a teenage son and I never felt unsafe, ever. In fact, I felt well taken care of, in both Egypt and Jordan. Binod has always been helpful and quick to respond to my questions via phone or email. I will definitely use them again-maybe for Safari:)) read more

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I just returned from a trip to Egypt and Jordan. It was booked through Travel Discounters. The local tour companies they use were Blue Sky for Egypt and Bridge Travel for Jordan. These companies were first class. Their professional and caring attitude were instrumental in making It's an excellent vacation. I would recommend them anytime. I would like to also emphasize that Jacob at Bridge Travel was outstanding for his service. Stanley L. March 2020 read more

First we must thank be Binod and his team at Travel discounters. They're organizing of the trip and the suggestions made helped Ensure a wonderful lifetime experience. The two local guides (Cairo and the Nile) provided such a wonderful and educational explanation of the many sites. The hotels, the Nile ship, the meals and the local arrangements were all top notch. Indeed the trip may have cost a little more, but we were a group of two instead of like the other trips that we saw with 20 or 30 people. It was a truly private and exceptional trip. Thank you again read more

Travel Discounters contacted the ferry company and obtained our refund after a lot of back and forth. Overall they did well on the transfers and hotels so I'm giving them a better review. read more

Excellent communication, solved our 2020 Covid postponement issues, answered all of questions and then provided more than was promised in their brochure. The land tour company Travel Discounters used was simply fabulous. This was our first trip to Portugal and we feel we saw every important highlight from Lisbon north to Braga. We encourage travelers to rely on Travel Discounters for their excellent value travel packages. read more

We absolutely cannot say enough good things about our entire experience with this agency and the Best of Egypt trip! From booking through all of the COVID related challenges to the trip itself, Travel Discounters staff took such good care of us, answering all of our questions and making sure we knew what to expect. Our itinerary to, in and from Egypt was flawless. Our guides were phenomenal. Not only were they expert level Eygptologists, they were friendly and kind and made the learning experience enjoyable as well as informative. We honestly teared up a bit when it was time to say goodbye, as we felt we made new friends in the process. Egypt itself is a place that should be on everyone's "must see" list. There is simply nothing like it anywhere else in the world. The people are warm and kind, the sights are amazing, and the experience of a camel ride is a once in a lifetime thing! read more

We truly enjoyed our trip to Greece. Our local representative met with us the first evening and thoroughly reviewed our itinerary including the all important pickup times. Everything worked like clockwork, transfers were right on time. The organization was flawless. Hotels were good. I personally would rate them more as 3 star than 4, but they met our needs well. The Golden Age Inn in Athens was quite nice with a wonderful breakfast. It's location was close enough that we walked back from the Plaka district in about 45 minutes. The New Aeolos Hotel in Mykonos was also quite good. The staff/owners were terrific. They're did have some trouble locating our reservation, but quickly sorted it out an thanked us with a bottle of wine. The bathrooms are in need of updating, but the room was quit nice with double doors leading out to a balcony. Breakfast was quite minimal. It would have been nice to see more fresh fruit as the hotel was quite close to a fruit market. Hotel felt like it was in a bit of an industrial area, but there was a wonderful coffee shop right across the (busy) road. The walk into town was quite nice once you completed the first 200m of busy road that had no obvious sidewalks. The Splendour Hotel in Santorini was well situated, after crossing the fairly busy road you are right on the main walking path for the town. Rooms were very large, excessively so in that the first large space in the room was sparsely furnished. Bathrooms are well finished and quite large. Breakfast was over crowded. Staff was extremely helpful. High speed ferry's were very efficient but had much confusion with assigned seating. I think they could improve their seat labeling. It was a wonderful trip. I've already been on the Travel Discounters website checking out thier other offerings. We had an excellent experience! read more

November 2018 We have just returned from our Egypt trip that was organized byTravelDiscounters.us. They did an amazing job! From the minute we got on EgyptAir, everything was smooth & like clockwork. The Blue Sky Travel representatives were there to meet us & walk us through every step of the way. Special thanks to Kareem, our guide in Cairo, and to Hussein, our guide down the Nile River, and Mr. Mimi, who took care of our needs on the River cruise. All of them, and the rest of the staff were outstanding. The Egyptian people were so friendly and helpful. They were truly happy to see we tourists. Our party of 6 had a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime experience. We highly recommend this trip. We've traveled extensively and don't do "tour arranged travel", but this was perfect to get the most out of all the wonderful things to see. JPK Arizona, USA read more

We booked a trip through Travelzoo for The Best of Egypt with Travel Discounters/Blue Sky Travel Group, including the Nile Cruise, Luxor-Aswan on the MS/Semiramis III ship. The ship is older, nothing fancy, but our room was okay. We had a large window which was great while on the Nile, but while docked a couple of times next to other cruise ships, we realized that the windows were not sealed, or the vents were open, and the diesel fuel smell was horrible. The ship staff was very nice, in our opinion. The food included many Egyptian dishes and you could get cooked-to-order pasta dishes or eggs. One of the excursions to the Edfu Temple was horse/carriage transportation to the Temple - I have to plead that if your travel booking includes this as transportation, please demand an alternate way to get there. These horses are abused and neglected, whipped and mistreated while you ride in the carriage. Some travelers say not to tip the drivers but the solution is more about doing away with this transportation altogether! Research for yourself... read more

Travel Discounters responded to my factual review that we we arrived in a foreign country and the local travel provider was not there to pick us up and said we had the wrong local provider. We had numerous problems as a result, which I won't detail here. What I am addressing is the disingenuous response by Travel Discounters to my review. Their response had the effect of saying we were trying to shake them down for money paid toward an Egypt trip after a Travel Zoo discount. Nothing of the sort. It was Jordan where we were left high and dry, and I told Travel Discounters they should hold their Jordan travel agency responsible, but they chose to defend that agency. All you have when you book with a travel agency is their reputation for honesty to their commitments. Once again in their response, their words are speaking volumes. Beware! read more

Me and my wife just came back from Egypt on a fully guided tour with Nile river cruise we highly recommend them they took care of us from start to finish read more

I could Not have picked a Better travel agency to go with. Travel Discounters is Great!! I booked a trip to Egypt with them for 4 people. OMG Egypt was far more than our expectations!! Loved All the organization that went into the trip... people were amazing and when they knew we were from U. S. they Thanked us for being there... I dealt only with Binod (agent) and he was extremely helpful and answered all our questions and Concerns, was available almost 24/7... he is So good at what he does. I will for sure use them on my next trip. Thank you again Binod for making this an Unforgettable trip to Egypt!! read more

We just returned from a trip to Greece. They were super helpful from the beginning to end. Flights, hotels, ferries, excursions, and taxis were all booked for us. When we arrived to Athens, Renata met with us and gave us all the vouchers and maps we would need, answered all of our questions, and gave us suggestions. Unfortunately, the winds were stronger than usual so the ferries were cancelled, leaving us stuck in Mykonos longer than expected. Renata was always available to help and guide us, so it was a lot less stressful. I absolutely recommend them! read more

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We booked with Travel Discounters and loved the friendly, professional service! I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to book a complex trip, as they handled all of the details flawlessly. We found them through TravelZoo as well! Thank you Travel Discounters! read more

Decent trip to Africa, but got burned on changing long flights. I subscribe to Travel Zoo and a trip came through to Africa, that looked great, which included going to a private animal reserve and Victoria Falls. The overall price seemed great and without doing more research (which was dumb) I booked. Since I was in the midst of planning another trip, I did not look carefully at the airline tickets which booked us for 34 hours of straight travel. They didn't bother to point that out either. Because I didn't want to land in Africa incredibly jet lagged, I paid through the nose to change our airline tickets. The airline, Emirates said we could only change through Travel Discounters. The airline charged $500 each to change the tickets and then Travel Discounters added ANOTHER $250 each on top of that. I think the charges by Travel Discounters was excessive. Then on the way back we had 36 hours of straight travel, and I would never, ever, do that agin. Therefore, before you book anything with them, GO OVER EVERYTHING WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB. Look at every detail before you pay in advance particularly the airline travel times, and lay over times. Ask questions, and make sure you know what you are getting. Our "discount" trip was not so discount. On the other hand, our Africa trip turned out pretty darn good. The hotels varied from 4 stars to 3+ stars and overall the food and accommodations were excellent. We went to Shibuli Private Reserve near Kruger national park, and that turned out to be quite wonderful. We had 3 or 4 safari vehicles out at once which made more intimate viewing than having 10 or more vehicles descend on animals. We saw the Big 5 and more in 2 days, and were treated well. Overall, we had a good trip, but before you book with Travel Discounters, read the fine print and watch out for long airline trips. read more

We recently returned from a trip to Egypt organized by Travel Discounters and to say that it was wonderful was an understatement! Once we landed in Cairo everything was organized and very professionally done by Blue Sky travel. We saw the highlights of Cairo, the pyramids, the Grand Bazaar, had a 4 day Nile Cruise and a visit to Abu Simbel. Our guide Kareem was phenomenal and exceptionally knowledgeable of Egyptian history. Also had Hamada, another great guide, during our cruise. We were never concerned about safety and felt comfortable the entire trip. I would highly recommend Travel Discounters, Blue Sky and Kareem to anyone wanting an adventure of a lifetime! read more

DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY. Due to covid we needed to contact them several weeks prior to our departure to determine if our trip would go forward as planned or if there would be changes to our itinerary. We received endless evasions "Egypt is fully opened and if anything isn't opened we'll substitute something better (never got a statement of what "better" might be)" ; "we recommend you re-schedule - just pay us $800 re-booking fee and we'll let you re-schedule (no explanation of what the$800 covered)" ; "we canceled your flights because you said you wanted to re-schedule (which we did not) - you'll see the credit on your credit card statement (which again - we did not)". Finally, they admitted that the Nile cruise would not happen but they would transport us by some undefined land vehicle from Cairo to Luxor. We eventually filed disputes with our credit card companies. Look carefully at the positive reviews; many say that the trip is wonderful and the in-country support from Blue Sky is great but, then also mention mismanagement, unresponsiveness and attempted money grabs by Travel Discounters. Wish we had read more carefully. read more

We were thrilled with the care and consideration that we received. It started with Mo, our booking agent, who gave us pre-travel information about weather, dress code, tipping, and tours. It continued when we landed in the Cairo airport and one of your reps met us and had our visas ready and then he guided us through customs. That was the way of the entire week. We just had to be at the appointed meeting place and someone would be there to take us to the van and then on the tours. The Egyptologist guiding the tour was an amazing source of information and answered even the oddest questions. We saw amazing places and truly had the trip of a lifetime. When it was time to fly home, the rep was at the hotel 20 minutes early and when we got to the airport, he knew where to take us to avoid the longest lines, and make our check-in seamless. I would love to travel with your company again and would give it the highest recommendation to all my friends. Sincerely, Rosella read more

We took the affordable Egypt trip in October 2016. The day before started ugly as for some reason they had cancelled our air reservation. It got mostly straightened out, but it cost me an extra $350 to get economy plus seating. I might have gotten it back from TD; however, I just didn't have the energy to argue with them any more. As for the trip, we had a great time. Don't expect luxury for the price. As long as you keep that in mind, you'll really enjoy it. The group was small, everyone got along well, the guides were superior and the itinerary was very complete. Don't be afraid to use them. read more

Though they are affordable, you quickly discover why. There is NO quality customer service. Their only diligence with your trip is making sure they get their payments, the rest is up in the air. You have to chase them to get your e-tickets and documents. The travel tips they give you are directly from Trip Advisor (a perfect copy and paste job with the exception of the inflated "tip" suggestions they add.) I booked a trip to Egypt with "Mo" aka Mohammed. I was interested in the hot air balloon ride. I asked which tour company they used so that I could look up reviews as I was concerned about safety. They gave me a series of excuses as to why they couldn't tell me which one they would use in advance. I reluctantly booked it as they informed me the tours sell out each day quickly. I learned that the reason they were so evasive with the information of which company they used was because Travel Discounters had doubled the price for the booking. Travel Discounters only uses Egypt Air which is the worst airline ever - bar none. I had an issue with an intra-national flight. The flight was canceled and no one from the tour company was aware. I guess they don't check for flight status ever. I was dropped off at the airport and left there to make the discovery on my own. I had to wait in the airport for several hours before I could arrange to get onto another flight. When I addressed this with Travel Discounters and asked why no one from the tour company knew about the cancellation and why they just left me in the airport without assisting me when checking in, I was offered no apology and told "it happens." Trust me, pay the few extra dollars and use a better company especially if you are travelling as far as Egypt. Luckily, the overall trip was amazing and Egypt is a spectacular country. read more

They always had people where they needed to be to pick you up, drop you off and get you where you needed to go. We never felt in any danger or that we were abandoned, we always knew where we needed to be. The staff and representatives that interacted with us were friendly and knowledgeable. On that level they did great. Where we had our problem is we were always treated like 2nd or 3rd class travelers. The other couples alway got waited on first (by the company), they always got better airplane seats (sometimes they got first class tickets that they didn't ask or pay for, and we the put in the last row on the plane on the same flight). The other couples always were always seated 15 to 20 rows ahead of us. We were sat away from the other members of the group at restaurants, etc. When we were split up at different hotels, the other couples always got better rooms and locations. My wife has bad knees and we always got the room as far away from the lobby as they could get us with the most stairs (most hotels had no elevators). It got to be kind of a running joke towards the end of the vacation. The provided meals were mostly not good. The wait staff could be rude and would give us plastic glasses and other couples would get fancy glass glasses. The wait staff would argue with us about getting ice in our glasses and give other couples ice without asking. They had extras (drink packages, extra tours, etc.) that other couple had that were not offered to us and negatively affected our vacation by not having them (we even tried buying them there and indicated it would be too much paperwork to add it then). Some of these extras were given to other couples free and we couldn't even buy them. Medicines were scarce as well as medical care. We could add a lot more, but this aspect was very disappointing for us and detracted from our vacation. read more

We returned from our "Best of Egypt, Jordan and Israel" 14-day trip, arranged by Travel Discounters, just a few days ago. Overall, it was an interesting trip, with lots of fascinating places to see, cultures and religions to experience. Temperatures in some places, i.e. southern Egypt and Jordan were quite high, but then, it was "dry" heat and quite tolerable, even at this time of the year. The Egypt portion, 9 days, was very good, with all local services provided by Blue Sky, an Egyptian travel company. All their buses were air-conditioned, with bottled water readily available on board, which is quite important. Our tour guide in Egypt was Yasser, who apparently has a B.Sc degree in Egyptology and was very good at explaining different sites, hieroglyphs, eras, etc. The Nile cruise aboard Semiramis II was not quite what I expected in terms of quality. The ship, Semiramis II is quite old and shabby. It definitely needs a major upgrade. Several people developed gastrointestinal problems a day or two after boarding the ship that made their further travel less than ideal. Jordan portion was also good, although it could have been much better and more interesting if our driver, Ali, stuck to the itinerary. For example, one of the highlights in Jordan was supposed to be a visit to Wadi Rum, one of the most spectacular places on the Earth. Instead of driving to the village of Wadi Rum and letting us experience a two hour, 4-wheel drive in and around Wadi Rum from the village, Ali stopped at a roadside cafe/gift shop along the main Amman - Aqaba highway. From there we were taken by a driver in a pickup truck to the periphery of Wadi Rum area, just minutes off the main highway. Although it was interesting, it was less than overwhelming; just scratching the surface, so to speak. There was also supposed to be lunch with Bedouins; that part was also changed to just tea, with lunch served much later in Petra. We experienced our next disappointment in Jerusalem. We were booked to stay for two nights in Holy Land Hotel, advertised by Travel Discounters as a 4* hotel. It was definitely not 4*. Even the hotel manager agreed that it is not a 4* hotel. He gave us a letter to show to TD, stating that it is a 3* hotel. Another couple that was on our tour was booked into Grand Court hotel, which is a proper 4* hotel, even though they booked their trip just about a month prior to their departure, vs. 10 months for us. And they definitely did not pay a surcharge for staying at that hotel. For us, staying in a 3* hotel, after paying for a stay in a 4*hotel was very disappointing. For one thing, there was no pool. The hotel is located in the Muslim part of Jerusalem and caters almost exclusively to Muslims by the way. We were the only western tourists in the restaurant on couple of occasions. Finally, when it was time to get back home, we were dumped at the airport in Amman at 6 pm. Our flight was scheduled for 3 am in the morning. The flight was delayed and we eventually left Amman at 4:45. Over 10 hours at the airport with nothing to do!!!! What a waste. Yesterday I went to Travel Discounters office and talked to Binod, the manager at TD, about our experience. Talking to him did not really resolve anything. I left TD office with a decision not to book further trips with them. There are many other travel companies that I am sure do a better job at satisfying their customers with top-notch experience. The way we were treated in some places, i.e. Wadi Rum, Jerusalem, Amman Airport was to put it mildly, disrespectful. My recommendation to anybody booking a trip with Travel Discounters is: read travel reviews about trips they provide before you sign on the dotted line. Unfortunately I did not until I got home and decided to look up to see what other people have to say. I have discovered, that people describe their experiences quite well and truthfully, both good and bad. By the way, I live in Toronto, not San Francisco. BTW (2) - Don't go by travelers' reviews on TD site. They are all positive. The only way you can get your review on TD site is by writing your review, then send it by email to TD and they will decide whether they want to publish it or not. Do you think they would publish a negative review? read more

Absolutely great company! My girl friend & I signed up for the 7 day Greece tour for Athens, Mykonos & Santorini early June 2017 & they really took care of us. Great flight over though there was a TSA problem at Newark airport causing our flight to delay for 35 passengers still trying to get through TSA. Our checked bag didn't make the connecting flight to Athens with us. But travel discounters called me at the airport concerned about us & tried to help. The scheduled pickup could have just left but didn't. All cab pickups were on time & the drivers + hotels were so hospitable & friendly. We did try to speak a little Greek while we were there- my girlfriend sounded pretty good, they thought she was Greek. Bottom line, we felt the company took very good care of us, our contact in Greece stayed & took the time to brief us on everything & answer phone calls. Please note that if you are a person who has to have lots of control over which hotel you stay at & the ability to change pickups last minute, this is not the company for you. If you like a little adventure in life- this travel agency is one of the best- you are in good hands! Hats off to Alec & hetco tours, thank you so much for a beautiful & affordable trip!!! We really felt like we got the most for our $$ read more