I used SBT many years ago for a European trip and had a great experience, so I tried them again for another European trip. Unfortunately, this time was not good. I will not use names in this review as it is not my intention to hurt them but to report what my experience was so readers can make an informed decision. If you have mobility issues, please use a travel agency that understands and caters to these specific issues. SBT does not and it was obvious based on many issues including the location of some of the hotels, and certain arrangements that they did not complete. After the initial contact, I waited one month without contact and had to call and email them to get a response. The bottom line is that another agent took over. I was relieved until I found out that the original agent was doing most of the work. The new agent was on a three-week vacation during the planning and contact was not easy. Due to the original agent's lack of understanding or experience, the plans were incomplete, not what we wanted or more importantly not what I needed. As far as the train arrangements for wheelchair service, I was told they were made but they were not. When I emailed them from overseas regarding this issue, I was emailed the information and told to contact the service on my own. It was so bad that we skipped using the train two times and hired a taxi instead at four times the cost of the train. Three of the five hotels were on severely sloped streets and were so sloped it was impossible to use a wheelchair. Also, I had asked for all hotels to have an in-house restaurant and 3 of 5 did not. The final hotel was at the airport, and I was told it was in the terminal. It was not in the terminal and to make it worse there were no shuttles to the airport from this hotel. I do want to give you the positives, the second agent recommended a Masseria to stay in, and it was great, and we truly enjoyed the experience. He also recommended a restaurant in a cave and that was seriously awesome too!! Honestly, the entire experience with SBT was so frustrating. The day before the trip started, I was still desperately emailing them to finalize plans for the trip. There is a lot more that went bad but there is not enough time to cover all the issues. I wish I could recommend SBT, but I cannot. Sadly, I will be looking elsewhere for a new travel agency. read more

I loved the trip and working with Tina and Santa Barbara Travel. Tina helped to make my first time to take a cruise ship to Mexico a wonderful one. She found just the right trip for my wishes and helped me through the process from start to finish, i.e., arranging for a timely passport, ways to get to the ship, what the costs would be and finding the right insurance. What seemed most important was her experience in getting everything arranged and that she was working with the actual companies, because a lot of it was online and it is so easy to be deceived when using the internet these days. I was confident that she would prevent me from making mistakes as a first-time traveler. The whole experience was very exciting, if not a little nerve-wracking because of my inexperience, but she shared the enthusiasm with me and made everything happen! Thank you, Tina, for this first-time experience, I will be back for more trips to be arranged by Santa Barbara Travel! read more

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Update! Need another reason to use a Expert Travel Agent? Wife and I on our way to London today for our annual Conference we host. Delta sends us an email saying " your flight is delayed 50 minutes." Unfortunately we booked a flight with one stop - 40% less. The delay, if you believed it was only 50 minutes would put us on the edge of missing our connecting flight. I called CHARLIE told him we'd appreciate his intervention and experience to see if he could get us the Virgin flight non stop from SFO. ( understand the Upper Class tix are selling for $8500 each. Crazy right?) we had one free using miles on Delta and a greatly reduced ticket using Delta Vacations. He was able to get us the Virgin flight, Biz Class, no extra $. Do you really think you can do this yourself online using Expedia?? Not. The $40 I spent per ticket ( his fee) was inconsequential. Enough said. read more

Corinne helped us figure out a trip to Disneyland for 6 of us for 5 days. It is very complicated and confusing and we could not have managed without her help. Brava Corinne and thank you! read more

I know from past years of working with SB Travel, that they are efficient, professional, and super helpful. Unfortunately, working with Tina Slimp was and has been a complete challenge. Many changes had to be made due to the pandemic, and it seemed as though it was a bother to her, yet I continued to be professional and respectful. Finally after months of dealing with her, I finally had enough and lost out on all our money. The frustration, stress, and feeling as though we were a bother made me realize that this is a waste of time and we needed to remove ourselves. SB Travel is great just make sure you get an agent that is supportive and available. read more

At first, I thought they were very good and hard-working, but then it became so frustrating because they frequently don't respond to you. I finally was able to book my travel with them, but they double charged me on their agency fee (Three $50 fees instead of 2). I was told they would reverse the charge, but they did not and again they stopped responding to my inquiries. So, I had to dispute the charge with my credit card company. Then, they told me they issued the refund, but my credit card company says they did not. The extra $50 charge is still in dispute. I was told they would reserve the seats for me and my travel companion. They did not. So, I had to spend an hour on the phone with the airline and got the last two seats together, but I learned they added erroneous flights to my record and that I would not be able to check-in unless my travel agent removed them. Again, I cannot get a response to rectify the situation. Also, they booked a non-refundable flight to a European city that had a level 4 State Department warning advising Americans not to travel there and they never alerted me to this, or recommend refundable tickets. Now, I need to make a change to my itinerary because of this, and again no response. To add to the confusion, these flights are on a separate itinerary from the roundtrip to Europe. What concerns me the most, is if I need help making changes during my trip due to the war, having an unresponsive travel agent could be dangerous. I feel so helpless because they control my reservation. I will NEVER use this travel agent again. My advice is to book your own trips and save yourself $100 and a lot of headaches. I do not recommend using Santa Barbara Travel. read more

Tina was my agent. I don't recommend her or SBT. It was an exhausting & frustrating experience ending with an ignored refund request & an unnecessarily rude call from David. I ultimately cancelled the final booking, and terminated our relationship. I knew Tina would not get a commission but she did book a satisfactory cruise, so I decided to voluntarily compensate her. However, because of my bad experience I only gave her $200. I will not be using them in the future The short version Booking our cruise involved weeks of a frustration going back and forth with Tina who kept booking us cruises that did not meet our stated needs. It was exhausting. I did make a change but dealing with Tina continued to be frustrating. Ultimately I went to the cruise line website to book a reservation, and was able to do so in 20 minutes. I let Tina know, she booked the cruise & I cancelled my reservation. Sadly I had to postpone the cruise asking "How should we handle rebooking for 2023". I then received a notice from the cruise line advising a cruise had been booked. We had not requested this. Tina advised it was a non-refundable deposit. This was unacceptable. I told Tina that she should cancel the booking and return our original deposit. I didn't hear from her so after 3 weeks I contacted her office for help. What I got was a rude return call from David who made it clear stating: "I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this", which he didn't. read more

We have used Santa Barbara Travel for years. The service has gone down dramatically. David de L'Arbre (COO) was helping me plan a trip to Europe. We have used him in the past and often recommended him. His service was awful and erratic, and others are dealing with similar issues regarding him . He was often non responsive, arrogant and chauvinistic. He would e mail and call my husband, who was not part of the planning or trip at all. My last interaction was January 6, 2023 for a trip that was planned for the end of March. Fortunately, I was able to find the name of Lisa Sevier on an e mail thread and reached out to her to help. She was great! Responsive and detailed and I would not have been able to finish my plans without her. We had a great trip, but I had to take it upon myself to make that happen. Consider who you use if you plan a trip with this company. read more

I reviewed Santa Barbara Travel a few years ago and wanted to rereview them as I am still a loyal client. I have found them to be hard working, helpful, inventive and caring with all my travel needs. Do not hesitate to ask for Tina or Ron, both professional and kind. read more

Great travel agency. So knowledgeable. Love all of their suggestions. Makes travel planning so easy and if you have changes along the way while traveling they take care of everything seamlessly. Love Kathy Reimer. She is top notch! read more

Andrew at the Montecito branch is a joy to work with. Knowledgeable, professional and yet personable, he is always ensuring the best results for the lowest price - even if it's First Class!.....Nick read more

I've been using SB Travel for the past 6-7 years. I love working with Kathy Reimer. She is the best and most hopeful. I never have to worry about anything regarding my trip because Kathy covers everything. She is easy to talk to and super easy to get in contact with if I have any questions! She has booked all of my Cancun & Cabo trips for me and I don't think I'll ever go back to booking my own trips again. If you want a stress free vacation contact Kathy from SB travel!! read more

At first these folks seem really nice and helpful but when asking for a quote , more information or regarding any questions what so ever they will not get back to you at all. very unprofessional. iv gone twice in person to two different people and they just lack getting back. read more

My husband and I wish to thank Shawna Branchev at Santa Barbara Travel Bureau for creating our perfect trip to southwestern France. Shawna located great accommodations, close to our chosen historical sites, that were clean and reasonably priced. She was instrumental in obtaining refunds for a missed train and lodging in the beginning of our trip; and made regular contact with us to ensure that our trip was successful. We gladly recommend her, and Santa Barbara Travel Bureau, without hesitation. The Browns read more

I have been working with Tina at SB Travel for years and have appreciated the extra effort she puts towards our trips. This time was no exception! There were 8 friends wanting to go on a river cruise. We all had different needs and Tina worked with each person to make sure our trip came together. She arranged flights, the river cruise, hotels before and after our cruise and even transportation! I can't say enough good things about Tina. She really comes through for me every time! Even though I live in Oregon, I still work with Santa Barbara travel, they are only a phone call away and I wouldn't work with another company because of Tina. She always finds a way to save us money while still getting us get places! read more

Lisa Jones is AMAZING. If you're planning a trip to Tahiti, use Lisa. She has extensive knowledge of the area (travels there frequently), takes time to go over all your travel plans and questions, and offers valuable insider advice that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else. I could not have asked for a better travel agent. read more

Love the folks at SBTB -- especially Stirling Weir, who was gracious in sharing his expert guidance on some complex travel plans this summer. My husband and I had a tricky few weeks traveling throughout England, part business and part pleasure. Stirling had fantastic recommendations and is a great and prompt communicator, making all the options crystal clear so we could make fast, reliable decisions. We thank him and SBTB for all their great work -- we will use them again! read more

I am a new client with SB Travel using their services to purchase an airline ticket to Europe.The agent found a round trip ticket with a very minimal layover and when my flight home was cancelled she immediately contacted me and booked a flight for the following day not forgetting my special meal. Will definitely use this company again and look forward to my next trip! read more

Nancy HERRMANN really knows the global travel space! See my comments on Scotland, Ireland and Barcelona! Would not plan a family trip without Santa Barbara Travel! read more

I had used Santa Barbara travel once a couple of years ago. I had a family emergency today where I wanted to secure a ticket within a couple of hours for my Niece in another town and did not want any mistakes or problems. I called them and spoke to Tina and she was fantastic. She had no idea who I was, yet she immediately secured me a ticket at the best price, courteous and efficient at the same time. I am so grateful to her and highly recommend her. read more

i stumbled upon lisa jones at santa barbara travel while poking around lonely planet's thorn tree travel forums, looking for folks who were experts on the cook islands and could help plan our honeymoon there. if you're considering taking a trip to the cook islands, tahiti, or any other south pacific destination, be sure to give lisa jones a call! she was very easy to work with, she knew the south pacific extremely well, and she even had personal connections to some innkeepers and other vendors that gave us the "inside track" for our trip! we're counting the days till our honeymoon starts (22 and counting) and we have lisa to thank for helping to put together such an amazing trip. read more

We just got back from a fantastic vacation to Belize, and can't thank Stirling Weir enough for his recommendation. He listened to our wishes, and found the perfect resort for our family. Would definitely recommend Stirling at SBTB. read more

We worked with Nancy Herrmann for a trip to Arizona including the Grand Canyon and Sedona. She did a tremendous job finding us rooms during a busy spring break time. Our trip was planned well in advance including flights, rental cars and rooms. She worked well w/in our budget too. Will definitely use again! read more