Audley Travel

STAY FAR AWAY from Audley Travel! You will thank me! They are rude, unexperienced, short staffed, not truthful, and completely incompetent. They will ruin your dream vacation and you will be sorry you ever used them. They are not experts in traveling much less the area you want to travel to, they will ignore you, then tell you how busy they are. They will lie and embellish of how wonderful the tours and resorts are, they will mess up with your meals, itinerary, tour information, drivers, hotels you are staying at.

The itinerary will have the wrong pictures. They will provide the wrong country entry requirements. They will forget to tell you about the proper paperwork for the country you are visiting. You will have to do your own research. Thier computer systems are being updated and you will be provided many mistakes. Audley does not have any documents checked or any quality processes in place.

They also will also ask you to only visit 1 country instead of 2 because it's easier for them to figure out the entry requirements. Then upon your return, they will blame you for being so unhappy because you made a big deal out of everything big and small and exaggerated on how horrible your trip was and won't give you the refund you deserve.

There is absolutely no customer service. You will wait days for a reply to an email. They will never reach out to you, you always have to reach out to them. The Boston office has no direct lines or voicemail so every time you call, you literally get a different person who takes a paper message and then you have to hope and wait your travel agent gets the message and calls you back- which can take days.

They will also provide you the wrong recommendations of where to go so don't ask them for advice on locations or which island to go do- they will be wrong. They will send you to very old and outdated hotels. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! I promise you-Audley travel is not worth the stress!

Wife and I booked a trip to Egypt -- Covid hit and Audley refused to refund. We then felt to take our hostage held money and put it to use against an anniversary trip to the Maldives. Just returned based on a heavy handed recommendation from Jason. Clearly Audley does not vet nor travel to these destinations. Poor service, food quality, staff friendliness along with questionable staff comments, lack of cleaning etiquette and the promised butler after 4 days of the 8 we were read to return home early.

Since have spoken with Jason the agent, Joshua the Client relations expert and his boss Elisia, Head of client relations and being told that we have to wait on the resorts response prior to doing anything. Two weeks later we have nothing but lip service and total talk over when speaking with Elisia. Why am I the client waiting on a resort that was pushed on us, promised the stars and delivered on nothing and now they will determine if I as their guests from Audley travel will get any compensation?

I thought I hired Audley travel to take care of us and yet they use the excuse they don't refund. Yet on the BBB of Mass. you will find several clients who received full refunds. Strongly suggest you stay away from Audley Travel

My spouse; Jodi Budin, and I have booked a trip with Audley, and to this day, we have not received a final itinerary with all the changes, as agreed. The agent that was handling our trip notified us of her departure, three or four days after she left, without leaving a new agent's name or doing a proper transition to a new person. We have a few pending issues, which remained unaddressed.

And our departure date is April 2022, not too far into the future. We are very disappointed. This is our third trip with Audley, we were pleased with the first two, but are far from that this time. To be continued

Update: After sharing my dissatisfaction with Audley I was contacted by a customer service representative who informed me that the person I was working with no longer worked at the company. They assigned me to a new representative who was very responsive and turned around a proposal for me in 2 days. My husband and I are now evaluating that proposal and considering using Audley for our trip. Very pleased with their response to rectifying my Service issue and would contact them again given this revised experience.

I used Audley Travel to create a dream trip for myself to Easter Island; I went in 2018 and it was perfect! Every last detail was taken care of, within my budget; I have only positive things to say about them! I recommend this travel service to all my family and friends. I had tried AAA and their price was too high. Other commercial travel agencies were not the right fit for me. Audley answered all my questions and concerns!

Simply Incredible! We had an amazing trip organized and executed by the Audley team through out South Africa. We started our adventure in Cape Town, then made our way through the wine country (Stellenbosch and Franschhoek), and on to Swellendam, Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, and finished off the southern itinerary on safari in East Cape. We then flew up to Mala Mala, stayed in Rattray's Camp, and had one of our best safari adventures ever!

We then headed back to Cape Town for some beach time in Clifton/Camps Bay, and some amazing food, before flying home. We have been to South Africa, as well as to several other countries in Africa over the years but this trip was so well organized, and enabled us to really soak in all that the people, culture, landscape, and animals were offering us. Thank you so much!

As a long-time Yelper, I'm used to taking charge when it comes to planning vacations. What's a double black badge Yelp Elite to do when she can't use her trusty app/website to organize her honeymoon? Turn to Audley. A friend-of-a-friend recommended their services and I'm so glad we were able to connect. An African safari is the vacation of a lifetime and this isn't one of those trips where you wing it and hope for the best. Amy was my husband's and my primary contact, as she specializes in East African vacations.

Each of Audley's employees has a specific geographic region that they focus on to maximize the client's experience. We had a few phone calls with Amy to discuss budget, length of trip, what we wanted to see/do/experience, and what to expect with such journey to another continent far, far away. Through Amy and Audley, we booked our flights through Qatar Airways, all of our overnight stays (we moved around Tanzania throughout our 2-week adventure), and she gave us a printed and e-version of our detailed itinerary.

It wasn't a cheap vacation, but hey, we're not talking about a last-minute weekend getaway on points. Amy also checked in with us to make sure we had all the necessary visas, trip insurance, and immunizations ahead of time, even the week before our trip was to begin, we had a nice phone chat to go over everything and answer questions. During our trip, we had no issues! However, Audley had someone available on-call 24/7 in case there were questions regarding anything related to the planned trip.

At one of our stays near Ngorongoro, they even arranged for us to have the "honeymoon" dome. In East Africa, Audley likes to work with Asilia properties and we loved the locations, the staff, and the food/drink. It was upper end luxe, but still felt like we were part of nature. We saw SO MANY animals (my #1 ask) and still found time to relax and enjoy Tanzania. I would love to return to Africa, maybe Kenya next time? And when booking a trip without Yelp, I would 10000% recommend Audley.

The wife and I used Audley travel for a 2 week South African/Zambia trip Nov 29-Dec 12. I have to admit how pleased we were with them. We started planning this trip back in Nov 2018. I was a little bit nervous at first because this trip was on my wife's bucket list. Our then rep Molly patiently went step by step on every detail of what we wanted in order for this itinerary to be tailor made and feel personalized for us.

Around the time one of our in country flights was cancelled and we couldn't fly out until the next day our new rep Courtney gave us an additional beautiful panoramic tour to Hazy View to visit other sites along the way to our over night stay at a beautiful hotel and dinner that was paid by Audley for the inconvenience. My wife appreciated it because of the cancelled flight she was able to have a 6th drive on our safari and this tour was about six hours of beauty that we would have never seen.

We loved being picked up with signs with our names on them at every airport once we landed in Cape Town until we landed in Zambia. Almost all our tours were private which was excellent. Some people may have seemed overwhelmed at first glance of the dictionary Audley sends you that details day by day everything you will be doing, who will meet you, where you are going, flight info, tipping, EVERYTHING!

But thanks to Courtney and our last rep Allie. They went through it with book with me and we thank them for every part of it. The last thing was the app which was also day by day brief planner from leaving Chicago until returning to Chicago. The conversion of Rand to US dollars and weather conversion was a plus on the app.

UPDATE - 7/12/19 (changed to 2 stars) - Audley reached out to me after I posted this review, and they made an effort to address my situation. I appreciate that. Most importantly, the Audley representative said that they would be reviewing how trips were booked and managed in an effort to improve. Hopefully, those efforts will bear fruit in the time ahead. ORIGINAL REVIEW (1 star) - After traveling for more than 15 years with Audley, we've become deeply disappointed.

In the last 5 years, in particular, the focus seems to be more on selling trips than creating custom-made itineraries and working with clients to really understand and respond to their needs. Now, sales tactics are high pressure once an itinerary is delivered, and a recent trip that we took with Audley to Panama was very disappointing. Audley did not adequately vet our hotel, and there was an extremely disruptive event going on when we arrived late at night resulting in almost no sleep. Also, they helped to schedule a hike for us that was unrealistic.

Our local guides explained that we could not reasonably complete the hike in a day, and they did not have the hike on their agenda. We have trusted Audley without our most important travel plans for years, and we have relied on them for mastering these types of local details. In the past, they did a very good job of this. Sadly, they are dropping the ball now, and we'd advise that you be careful placing that level of trust in them in the future.

I just got back from South America, what a wonderful experience. I highly recommend using Audley Travel for a tailored made trip that was professionally done with a detailed itinerary book and app of your trip. Josh Laredo was my agent and he provided an almost worry free experience, I am a worry wort, so cant help worrying. My itinerary was amazing, thank you Josh.

My trip to Machu Picchu in Peru was outstanding, absolutely breath taking. Audley had a representative meet me at the Lima airport to make sure that I got to my connection to Cusco, what a nice surprise, thanks Roberto. Every morning John, an Audley representative met me to check in with me and making sure everything was ok. My guide, Fermin was the best guide I have ever had, I have been around the world and been to 6 of the 7 continents.

He was so personable and made sure my needs were met. Even providing a portable walking stick, which was a lifesaver. The hotels were fabulous. I than went to Rio de Janeiro and again the experience was outstanding. Please contact Audley Travel for the best tailored mad experience you will ever have

My trip to Italy this past January with three friends was memorable, in large part because of Audley. Our hotels were wonderful and located in areas that were safe and near attractions that we wanted to visit. The drivers Audley arranged for us were always prompt and the guides were very knowledgeable. Having our train tickets in hand before we ever left home was a time saver.

We were especially grateful for good communication with our agent as we planned our trip and had many numbers to call if a problem arose, which never happened. I have already referred Audley to friends planning to travel abroad.

I traveled with Audley on a 2 week trip to Thailand. It was an incredible experience! All of the excursions were amazing and high quality, the local guides were hospitable and spoke great English, and having private transfers took a lot of anxiety out of the trip. Audley gave us these amazing itinerary binders that had every last detail in there and even suggestions for free time. Would highly recommend this company!

We were a group of four people wanting to travel to Madagascar. We found several companies that offered tour packages but none were able to provide an itinerary that would work with our time schedule and places that we wanted to visit until we met Audley Travel. They offered us a private vehicle with a driver/guide and the exact dates that we wanted to travel.

Our specialist, Mike did an excellent job matching the itinerary to what he would recommend and what I wanted to do. We traveled for two weeks and all of the accommodations and places we visited met or exceeded our expectations. A true test of how good a company is, is when there is a problem. There was a mechanical problem with the vehicle we were traveling in, the problem was fixed quickly and the response from Audley travel regarding the problem also exceeded our expectations. We will definitely refer, recommend and use Audley Travel again in the future.

I have worked with two Audley specialists on upcoming trips to India and Colombia, and I have been so impressed! They have been so helpful, kind and accommodating. The entire process has been seamless, and I look forward to working with Audley on many trips to come. Great company that puts customer service first and foremost!

I am SO happy my husband and I chose to book with Audley Travel for our honeymoon to Mauritius. We have nothing but marvelous things to say about experience working with Kristen O' Keefe, our representative. When we first we considering possible destinations to go from our hometown (San Diego, CA) we knew we wanted to go somewhere off the beaten path (for us).

Almost none of our friends nor relatives had heard of Mauritius when we started to look into this country as our honeymoon destination. Therefore, for peace of mind, we started looking into travel services. Our South Africa Audley rep, Kristen, provided realistic expectations of what we could expect of booking on our own vs. working with Audley. We decided to work with Audley.

She handheld us through the process. Kristen prompted us to make our airline reservations. She sent us our own printed customized itinerary, which included a hand written note telling us to "relax and enjoy" our honeymoon. Upon arrival at LaKaz Chamarel (1st hotel) in Mauritius, a local travel rep met us on our first day. She helped us with basic info (like how much tip, if any, in various circumstances). Audley made travel 1/2 way across the world a breeze! We are thinking of booking our next trip with Audley. Thank you!

I've traveled quite a bit but traveling with Audley was a completely different experience and I often found myself thinking "this must be how a celebrity feels". With my private driver, private tours and the overall care that went into every detail made me an Audley customer for life! I highly recommend it! My trip was northern India and Nepal and those were places that I wouldn't have ever went to as a solo traveler without knowing I was going to be well taken care of. They may cost a little more but the value and knowledge they provide as well as having piece of mind is worth every penny!