smarTours

First off, I had this review posted for over 2 years but it was just removed by Unilocal because they said it «relies on secondhand information». My email exchanges with smarTours and bank account statements says otherwise. I also checked smarTours terms of service and it hasn’t changed. It makes me think smarTours and Unilocal had some type of financial arrangement for removing my negative review. Also note how the «business owner» commented over a month before I posted this… Anyways, here is my review:
Be very careful with smarTours. This company offers great trip prices, but at the expense of maximizing the # of work days you take off as opposed to weekends. This is one reason why the price is so low — flights in the middle of the week are least expensive.
The main thing to be very very careful about is the «nonrefundable deposit». When you sign up for a trip, you must send them $ you will never get back — regardless of whether you go on the trip or not. This is not a big deal if you go on the trip.
However, smarTours makes a lot of their money from the nonrefundable deposit and thus exploits this. For example, you may see that smarTours is offering a «limited time» deal for particular trips up to half a year in advance. This is a ploy to trick customers into signing up for a trip — sending in the nonrefundable deposit and then changing their mind moments later. I wouldn’t have an issue with this tactic if the «limited time deals» were actually real. It is a trick. If you miss the deadline at the discounted price, they will just offer a new «limited time deal» that ends at a later time.
I also wouldn’t have an issue with this smarTours scam if the nonrefundable deposit was actually used for something. However, at least 2 – 3 months before a trip that money is not used for any part of the trip — not used for airline reservation, or tour package, or hotel, or anything. So let’s say you want to sign up for a trip 4 months in the future and mail them the nonrefundable deposit. The moment they receive it, they cash it as fast as possible. If you change your mind a day later, then you just lost the full amount of the deposit. Legally a «nonrefundable deposit» by definition is not refundable.
This review is to just warn people to be careful if they decide to book a trip through smarTours. The «nonrefundable deposit» policy is a huge scam. If a company has fees or nonrefundable deposits with the main purpose as a revenue generator, then I have an issue with it. This is not honest. With smarTours, I have asked several different customer service representatives what the nonrefundable deposit is used for if someone cancels their trip plans and their answer is that it is their policy and nothing else.

My husband and I have traveled a number of times with SmarTours and recently qualified for the SmarTraveler program. As a result, we had upgraded rooms in almost every (or maybe every) hotel on our recent South American Odyssey tour. SmarTours has exceptional tour directors and the guides in each city were excellent. We always enjoy the variety of the tours: cities and countryside; boats, planes and different forms of transportation; planned activities and leisure time on your own. While we enjoyed everything, the Iguassu Falls visit was the highlight — especially the helicopter ride over the falls. We highly recommend SmarTours!

Danube Discovery River Cruise:
Just returned (Oct. 2015) from the Smartours Danube Discovery Cruise:
The good: Crew, Food, and service were excellent
Itinerary included several countries and small towns.
The bad: The ship, though clean, is small, old and tired. There is only one small indoor lounge that serves as the only available public space aboard the small boat. The lounge is sometimes reserved for lectures to the separate groups, so passengers have no other indoor public room to sit in during these times.
Despite Smartours assertions, there is no wireless available on board.
Half of the guests were Danish with their own respective tour guides, buses, and lectures in their language. The other half were assigned to English speaking guides, so all of the announcements, lectures, sightseeing is repeated in at least two separate languages!
Beware; Smartours asks for pre-​payment of all optional tours which are heavily promoted, yet they are not really a good value in my opinion. We were taken on a «sightseeing» tour up a rainy fogged in mountain with absolutely no sights capable of being seen. We spent the entire tour sitting inside the idling parked bus. Yet Smartours refused to cancel this excursion knowing that it would be of no value to the guests. Very poor customer service as they have yet to respond to by E mails including pictures asking why this excursion was not cancelled.
Summary:
I believe that this river cruise does not match the quality of other tour operators such as Viking River Cruises.
You get what you pay for!

I went on a 10-​day trip to South Africa with SmarTours this past March, and it was truly a wonderful experience. They put us in beautiful hotels in Cape Town and during the safari trip and offered a good number of day trips to see different areas around Cape Town. This was my first time traveling abroad, and SmarTours made it easy and relaxing. We were able to see a lot without having to worry about planning. I will definitely go on another trip with them!

Thanks for everything! The Incredible India trip went outstanding and the word «incredible» was a little bit short, it should read «Incredible and Awesome!!!»
Arvid, our tour gide did an outstanding work and me and my family enjoyed a lot! Great memories from this trip!
Hopefully we can plan our next trip with Smartours and our friend Lia!
Thanks so much

I just returned from smarTours «Unforgettable France» and indeed, this tour was unforgettable in every aspect. Our tour guide was incredibly experienced, unbelievably knowledgeable, personable, and took care of virtually every single detail of our trip. All we had to do is show up and enjoy every minute… no waiting in lines, no need to get tickets, everything already done for us. Moreover, we were blessed with gorgeous weather throughout the 14 day trip, and our group was wonderfully compatible. In fact, we had such fun together, we even planned to take more trips on smarTours together. Best part is how reasonable the entire trip was which included airfare, endless outings, most meals… a true bargain. Can’t wait to sign up for the next smartTour trip!

Went to South Africa in July 2015 with SmarTours. Really great trip and an amazing tour guide. I went with three friends and originally did not sign up for the extension to Victoria Falls. A few days into our trip, we decided we wanted to extend. Ron, our tour guide, worked with us to make it happen. It was seriously a trip I will never forget — elephants, lions, giraffes, leopards, cheetahs, rhinos, monkeys, hippos, crocs, and more. Now I just want to go back!

We went on the Thailand and Cambodia trip in Feburary of 2015 and had the most amazing time. Smart tours does have the best deals and the hotels are really nice, many first class. For the Thailand trip request to have Nok who is the best tour guide I have ever had; she will really have you experience the country and culture that you will end up wanting to got back. Why I like this tour company is that the you are busy during the whole trip you run out of time before out things to do, and you really get to explore the area not just the tourist but where the locals are and live. The tour group will be about 30 people ranging in ages from 30 to 80.

My wife and I just did the smarTours China Sampler trip and overall it was great.

We don’t really consider ourselves «tour» people but we thought we’d give it a shot because the price seemed incredibly reasonable and China seemed like the kind of place where having a guide might make sense.

Being on a bus and having someone take care of all the hotel and meal arrangements on our behalf made things very easy. The downside of being on the tour was the emphasis on shopping. Everyday included a stop-​off at a different tourist trap, euphemistically described as a pearl «markets» and jade and silk «factories». They weren’t factories. They were stores, and there were too many of them.

Arriving at Beijing airport at the start of the trip, the guide outlined the various excursions you can sign up for during the trip — there are often two per day to the various tourist spots in each city. Each costs extra and many of them included stop-​offs at the tourist trap shopping places.

My recommendation to anyone taking the China Sampler trip would be to sign up for a minimum of those excursions and do as much as you can on your own. Making your way on your own from your hotel to the Forbidden City or the Bund seems intimidating at first but you quickly figure things out, and it’s very rewarding. We signed up for about two thirds of them and in retrospect we would have been happy with a third or less.

It was a great trip and I’m thrilled we went. It would have been much more expensive to book all those flights and hotels independently. But it would have been even better had we done fewer of the organized excursions and shopping stop-​offs with the group.

please understand that you get what you pay for.
My family and I are experienced travelers and have been to almost every continent. We selected this trip because the price was less than the airfare would have been from our home. We hired our own private guides that we found via trip advisor and went off to Beijing.
All was smooth, the pick up at the airport was timely BUT the minute we were placed in the car, the hard sell began for each of their tours which are extra. Instead of hearing about what we were driving by on our way into Beijing City, we were given prices, itineraries, start times and the big hard sell. We understand that this is a revenue stream for them, that was cool with us. We told the guide that we were all set and that the when we were given the freeze. WE HAD DONE OUT RESEARCH IN ADVANCE AND HIRED INDEPENDENT, LOCAL GUIDES TO DO THE SAME TOURS WITH PRIVATE CARS FOR THE SAME PRICE. THIS ALLOWS YOU TO SEE THE SITES AND NOT BE DRAGGED INTO «MUSEUMS» THAT ARE ACTUALLY STORES WHERE THE TRAVEL COMPANY MAKES EVEN MORE MONEY. Please use TRIP ADVISOR to research these guides, there are many available and I have found them in Istanbul, Egypt, China and other places.
HERE WAS THE BIG PROBLEM…2 days later, my 15 year old had a relapse of an illness that she suffered a year ago we panicked because were in need of a pediatric optho neurologist. Imagine how scary this would be anywhere, much less China. We phoned our guide and told him we needed help immediately and that we probably needed to get home. His response was we could take her to a local chinese hospital if we had a credit card that they would accept, OR we should just book a flight home. Of course we booked flights home immediately on our own, no help what so ever. We spent $ 4000 to get home the next day to Boston. Fo
Here are my big issues-​we did not speak Chinese and could have used the help of the chinese speaking guide to help us navigate this situation. At no point were we offered any communication help. We did not even receive a follow up phones call before we left.
IF YOU ARE THINKING OF USING SMARTOURS AND HAD ANY MEDICAL CONDITIONS I WOULD ABSOLUTELY THINK TWICE. THEY HAVE NO MEDICAL CONNECTIONS AND YOU COULD SUFFER A SEVERE SETBACK. DO NOT DO THIS TOUR IF YOU ARE ELDERLY, HAVE ANY HEALTH ISSUES, OR THE POTENTIAL FOR HEALTH RISKS.

Lousy tour company. Poor value due to inadequate tour guides, poorly organized itineraries, cheap hotels and marginal food. I have done three tours, and I am signed up for a fourth. The company allows huge groups of 40 or more participants to save $$. On my most recent tour, South American Odyssey, the tour manager was from Finland and 77 years-​old. She was unfamiliar with many logistical and cultural aspects of Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. My daughter almost got left behind in Buenos Aires Airport because the tour manager gave us wrong boarding information. This ruined the trip for my daughter and me was highly irresponsible on the part of the tour manager. We also had a problem in Rio. The Sheraton gave us a room that reeked fro smoke. They could not change our room because they were sold out. We had to wait until 11 at night for a room. The tour guide was nowhere to be found… she should have made sure appropriate rooms were made available upon check in.
I will never take Sign up for another Smartours!

My boyfriend and I went on smarTours Jewels of the Adriatic tour last month and it was incredible. By the end of our trip some of the people on the trip became like family to us. Croatia and Slovenia are beautiful places, we have so many great memories and pictures. Hotels were great, tours were amazing, and our guides were spectacular and so much fun. Can’t thank smarTours enough.

I took smartours on September 14, 2014, my niece traveled with me, I did their «Spectacular Greece» cruise and land tour, about 12 days. I was skeptical to use them at first, and I will list why, but now feel I can trust them. They came highly recommended to me by a person that had used many tour operators around the world. She urged me to try them, so I did, What really concerned me was not receiving any documents till about 10 days before you travel and they encourage you to pay in cash, 75 days before departure, also a non refundable $ 300 up front to reserve the trip. The office out of New York, all their staff speak English, but all with accents, sometimes a bit difficult to understand, and not the most, lets say, helpful or friendly, strictly to the point. No chit chat, thank you sir, we appreciate your business. You can wave a $ 100 discount and put the amount of the tour on your CC, less the cash deposit. If you need peace of mind the first time using them, this is an option. Their letterhead, their correspondence, is all minimal, which kind of makes you wonder about the legitimacy of the company in general. Their website is a bit old fashioned, and out of date as well Recently on the phone with them, before I traveled, I asked the man if they offered a discount if I booked another trip within a certain amount of time, he would not state yes or no, and I poised the questioned to him at least three times, and still no answer, he wanted to give me a canned response, of their low fees, and prices. He was a bit testy, Finally I figured it out, they do not, as my last tour company that is large did, but… moving forward, Everything went as planned and was better than expected, I felt they did a better job than the previous European trips I took in the past three years! The locations and quality of the hotels was all better than expected, you were right in the heart of where you wanted to be, the cruise ship, was ample, not a luxury cruise ship, but everything I needed and took me to all the wonderful Greek Islands I wanted to see, I chose an inside cabin and only slept there, the rest of the time I was on deck, or on the island, the land part of the tour was quite historical, taking you to lots of archaeological sights, as well as the famous landmarks, lots of history here folks, if your elderly, take heed! lots of walking, unstable roads and sidewalks, hills, cobblestones, etc I am 55, so it was not an issue, the coach we used and local guides, drivers were all «A» The included meals were above expectations, they even took us inside and got us checked in at the airport, something the other large tour company I paid more for did not do? hmmm, So I will use Smartours again, I feel confident in them delivering the goods. Many of the folks on my tour, all had used them before to other locations around the globe and were most pleased. This is my honest, current review of Smartours. Now go out and see the world!

We just returned from a 12 day tour of Europe with SmarTours. It far exceeded my expectations. The cities were magnificent, the tour guides great. I highly recommend them. We made many new friends and it was a great tours. Hotels were fine. The one for Prague was not situated in an area that was ideal to the city, but the metro was close by. I would have preferred closer to the square area. The prices are great and I would use them again without hesitation. I liked this tour since there is also plenty of time for ourselves to do what we wanted as well.

In March my husband and I used Smartours for a trip to India and Nepal. The trip was fantastic, besides having a great itinerary the guide (Amit) was wonderful. He worked with my husband to make my birthday party in India an unforgettable event. He arranged a roof top, sunset cocktail party overlooking temples. The guests (fellow tour members) sang happy birthday in 6 different languages!
All the accommodations were first rate and while the food was not my favorite there was always a variety. I dislike getting up early but it seems to be the bane of these types of tours. We were impressed with the Smartours service and would use them again.

I just got back from SmarTours’ week-​long tour of India! It was awesome!!! I actually had to contact the staff in the office several times, since I was having Visa issues, and I never thought they were rude (like other reviewers suggested), but rather, were super helpful and even called me back to follow up!
Our tour consisted of around 30 people, most of whom were in their 20’s — 40’s. Everyone on the tour was really well-​traveled and respectful and I can honestly say I’ve made some new friends that I will visit and travel with again!
Our tour guide, Arvend, was amazing and knowledgable on anything we had questions about. We started in Delhi, drove several hours to Agra, stayed in beautiful 5 star hotels along the way, and ended up in Jaipur! We did not do any optional tours, but did explore each area with some other people from the group. We had a really wonderful time!!!
The whole trip was $ 1400 from NYC and included most meals and amazing hotels I could never afford to stay out in the states!

Thailand/​Cambodia 2012 (Tour guide, Nok who was superb):
Great fun, great trip! Great value! Good hotels overall and good food overall, so I have no complaints there.
The only downside for me was it was almost all couples (married, dating, gays) and only 4 truly single people on this trip of around 30 people. I teamed up with one of the other singles, but one of us was totally left out from an activity due to having no partner. Not fair!
Would I do SmarTours again? You bet! I have NO real complaints.
***By the way, one review on here says Smartours is mainly a retiree travel group… really? There were 4 of us out of 30 to Thailand/​Cambodia. Most were around 40 – 50 I’d guess. It has to depend on the luck of the draw I guess…
I can say the only people in the 20’s was a guy that was the «nephew» of an older gay guy, so you figure that one out yourself.

The best value out there.
Used Smartours for South Africa in 2011 and Turkey in 2012. Will be using them again this year!
Met many Smartours repeat customers during these trips, which is a testament to the company’s consistent quality.
Few things you should know:
1. Primarily an older/​retiree clientele.
2. Many complaints are related to refunds, cancellations; read the terms carefully.
3. Check itinerary to gauge tour pace; some days may include longer bus rides.
4. Accommodations and meals have all been very decent. Again, a great value.
Have fun!

LOVE THEM, LOVE THEM, LOVE THEM.
This review is for the one trip I’ve done with SmarTours but I’ll definitely use them again if I need a guided tour.
I went to India using this company because India’s huge, so for my first trip I wanted a guided tour. If I had bought my own flight to India, the flight alone would’ve been $ 1000+. This tour was eight days and it included: flight, hotel, transportation, guided tours, admissions, breakfasts, and one farewell dinner. I can’t remember how much it cost exactly, but I want to say close to $ 1000 because we used the deal for early reservations. I just remember being blown away with the price. The tour begins /​the flight to India leaves from New York, so if you’re from out of town, you do have to pay to get yourself to New York.
I was nervous the hotels would be «budget friendly» since the trip was so affordable. Every single place we stayed at was super luxe. It makes sense now because the US dollar converted to rupees can go a long way. We’re talking about colorful hotels, with spas and pools, rooms with sequins, beading, and beautiful art. All our hotels included breakfast and the food was so amazing. My last day there I was at breakfast for two hours.
My tour included the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, Amber Fort, Ghandi’s Memorial, and more, and the whole thing you have the same tour guide and drivers with you. Our tour guide was a local and he spoke perfect English. Our guide was a history buff and I learned so much. Our drivers were so polite and they’d help you with luggage or stepping on/​off the bus. Make sure to bring cash to tip! I recommend tipping in dollars. We spent eight days with these three guys and they took us safely through this huge country – I was horrified at the people who cheaped out on tipping.
There was one optional tour item for $ 25; it was a tour of a temple. I suggest doing all the optional tours with your guide. We were part of a prayer ceremony and he explained everything that was going on to us and it was beautiful. There was one couple from my group that went on their own, and I doubt they understood the ritual. So definitely get the additional tours, it’s worth it.
Your guide schedules time for shopping at each spot. My suggestion is to get everything as you go because every spot has different stuff. Once you’re on the bus, you’ll probably never find something like that again.
The only negative I can think of is the fact that you’re sharing the trip with a lot of different personalities. We had one woman (I’m guessing 45 – 50 y/​o!) have a childish tantrum calling her friend a «bitch» in front of our whole group (20+ people) and then lots of people complaining about heat and wanting to rush through (no way!). Even at the Taj Mahal there was one woman that was asking to leave early (no way!). So bring patience and bring an iPod and earbuds.
Everyone was paired up with a friend or a partner. We only had one single, but I feel like she had a good time because she paired up with two women. Nothing is really couple stuff. Even walking through these huge monuments you’re basically just listening to the guide the whole time. So if you’re considering a big trip on your own, go for it.
EXTRAS YOU’LL HAVE TO PAY FOR:
Trip to get to New York
Lunch
Dinner
Snacks
Water
Shopping
Optional tours
Tips
Other than that everything really is included! I remember when we were deciding on the trip I Googled SmarTours /​Smart Tours and couldn’t find very many reviews. Hopefully this review helps – they’re legit!!!

My friend and I spontaneously decided to go on a trip to SE Asia (Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong (China)) — The Best of the Orient Package.
The site is at:
. I detest Asian touring companies where they restrict you to their own agenda. so I was very glad this touring company didn’t have those restrictions!
The deal was superb — for 15 days. the cost per person was about 2.5K.
This included RT airfare (Cathay Pacific), intra-​asia airfare, transportation, lodging (all first class), tour guide in all countries, and meals.
Tour guides were very informative and spoke good english (you have a diff guide in each country). If you don’t wish to participate in the days activities — they will help set up other stuff for you. A few in our group decided to fly to Phuket (4hrs from Bangkok) instead of going to the Floating Market with us. Done.
** Do note that they did take us to probably 3 «sponsored» vendors to look at jewlerly, local artistry, spice plantation but they were all enjoyable visits**
Check their specials. they travel to a lot of places in South America, Europe, Latin America, Asia etc. They even have trips to Galapagos, Patagonia, and Greece! (cuz I want to go to those places ;)). We definitely met some good people and made good friends on the trip. Ages of people traveling were mainly young adults (20’s/30’s) to a few retired folks. A lot of the young adults took advantage of this trip to earn creds on their scuba /​snorkeling creds.
~~ My favorite stay was in Thailand (I got to visit my friend!) and Indonesia.
We loved loved loved our stay in Bali. :) It was the first time I’ve literally ever dined
on the beach shore at night. Seafood is literally caught on the beach and served to you, so it tasted incredibly fresh. If anything. Bali had the most exquisite food at a very cheap cost! Musicians walk up to your table and start playing whatever they like. Oh, and massage for 2hrs, 1 hr body wrap and mani/​pedi? — $ 50. Yeah. Even learned to surf (albeit, not very well) in Bali. — definitely a good honeymoon getaway on the cheap!