Albee Adventures

Saw the one old not-​so-​great review on Albee so was a bit cautious. One phone call allayed my fears. I had tried several agents to help book a couple’s vacation to CR, and you felt like just a «funding resource» to put through the system. This is *not* my experience with Albee. They were very friendly on the phone. I wanted to visit their NYC office as I was there on business anyway. They explained they were so busy, all their agents in their NYC & London offices had to be brought to CR to help with the multitude of clients they had. And no wonder, it was summertime and World Cup time as well! (Of course, that made me slightly more nervous as I couldn’t meet someone physically that represented the company.) However, aside from the one bad review, I started looking online for more on Albee and found more positive sentiment. They seemed to be in good standing with the travel industry –
– and someone else wrote a glowing comment about them awhile back:
. Turns out that they were recently selected by AmEx –
– to do all Central American travel for their customers, which further explained why their staff were all recalled to CR.
I spoke with Julio on the phone, and he asked specifically what I was looking for. I mentioned relaxing yes, but I also wanted to see the beauty of the country as well as to do some hiking and other activities. I described a desire to partially mimic this trip from another travel vendor –
– but needed to customize it because we were staying one more night. They came up with a great plan, adding an extra day in Arenal, and the vendors they chose were professional, spoke English decently, and top-​notch. We got hotel upgrades and adding various activities. Sure, it wasn’t a totally cheap vacation, but you get good value for the $$. The other travel agents I worked with came up with similar packages but cost significantly (several hundred) more.
One great benefit that Albee provides is the FREE rental of a cell phone or pair of walkie-​talkies for the duration of your visit. The phone could even receive inbound int’l phone calls for free — you could also pay to *make* outbound int’l calls if desired. The phone came with the welcome package when we were picked up from the airport along with 2 rain ponchos which came in handy as it rained nearly every day. HEY, they don’t call it a rain forest for nothing *and* somehow the country has to keep its beautiful lush green hue. The last items in the welcome package were a pair of insect repelling wrist/​ankle bands and our itinerary which you don’t even need to print at home… pretty much everything you need for a great «no worries» vacation.
They even called once during and once at the end of our trip to ensure there were no problems and that we were having or had a great time, even though they also provided a 24×7 number by which we could reach Albee for any reason. I highly recommend Albee and would definitely use them again for future visits to CR or other Central American countries they support. Pura vida!

I always wanted to travel to Latin America, especially to Costa Rica but I was too afraid to travel alone. I decided to look for a Travel Agency to help me fulfill my dream and I found Albee Adventures. Although I saw the bad post on Unilocal about the service I decided to give it a try, which was the best decision I made.
After some phone calls they suggested a trip with different luxury hotels, some adventure and exclusive tours, according to my wishes and needs. I always felt like they really care for me and want this to be a perfect trip.
And they did a great job! I had my perfect trip, I felt safe all the time and I have never experienced nature like I did during my trip in Costa Rica. From beautiful beaches, jungles to Vulcan’s — I got everything I wanted to see. The hotels were all amazing and the tours were incredible. I didn’t have to care for anything, Albee organized and thought of everything. The only thing I had to do was enjoying my trip as much as I can.
I will never forget my perfect Costa Rica trip and I’m already planning my next trip to Guatemala with the help of Albee Adventures.

Bottomline: Incompetent and Unprofessional. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Albee Adventures Costa Rica office was subcontracted by Linden Travel /​FROSCH in New York City. We were asked what sort of hotels we like and named luxury hotels like The Four Seasons and the Ritz Carlton. It was made clear we desired luxury and relaxation and allowed the agency free reign to craft a special and memorable trip for our family. The travel agents also knew my father was disabled and in a wheelchair. We hired a travel agency so we could share a relaxing and rare visit together as a family and what we received were 3 out of 5 hotels not up to par with our desired quality. The same three of the five hotels booked were NOT handicapped accessible and one of the hotels booked had one bed in each room even though it was made clear this was a father traveling with three adult children. With price as no obstacle, why were we forced to share beds and put in hotels which were entirely inaccessible so my father then became a prisoner of his room, unable to enjoy the pools, beaches, or even restaurants at the hotels? The agency did not work quickly to resolve our issues, often stating it would be better to call around for other options the following day. If your clients are unhappy, why do you choose not to attempt to resolve immediately? The experience was very frustrating and it was very clear they had little to no experience with clientele in our price point, in the luxury vacation sector.
We didn’t spend this kind of money to spend half the trip googling the hotels ourselves to find out they were going to have a ramp or stares into the building nor spending countless hours on the phone with the travel agents who passed blame back and forth and took little to no responsibility and inadequate minimal compensation for the various problems.
These people put very little thought or care into crafting our travel plans other than just booking the most expensive hotels they could find in each city.
I do NOT recommend Albee Adventures after our trying experiences. They have offices in New York, Costa Rica, and London, UK.