Gate 1 Travel Reviews 

One star is way too many. I got a return ticket and wanted to change outbound one. Gate1 was nowhere to be found and there was no way of changing the flight. So I bought a new one on that day and did I no show on the old one. Surprise suprise happened when I tried to fly back. Was told at the airport that the agent froze the ticket bc I didnt show up on the outbound. Whats most ridiculous about it that they never notified me about it!!!! And as per my airline app nothing looked like there was anything wrong with my flight. Airline couldnt do anything about it and as a result I had to buy a new flight :)

I already wrote a couple of bad reviews during my last trip to Mexico with Gate 1 Discovery Tours—my aunt and her husband from Texas is currently doing the very same 13 Day Mexico Mayan and Aztec Illumination Tour two weeks after we did ours, and it was just confirmed based on the same Xochimilco tour that they took on their first day that alcoholic beverages and Mariachi Band was included in Gate 1 Budget during the boat tour but our tour manager and guide, MANUEL JURADO, decided it would be better for him to pocket the money that was supposed to be spent on our group to make our discovery tour with Gate 1 experience more enjoyable and memorable! This was based on the photographs provided by my aunt and uncle! Furthermore, I was just informed that water, coffee and tea were provided during lunch and dinner aside from one alcoholic beverages or juices.

The very bad experience we had on our most recent trip to Mexico was because of the third party tour company and tour manager that Gate 1 employed—for a big company like Gate 1, offering travels all over the world, this Mexico trip being our 9th with them, I expected more! The tour manager’s actions is a reflection of how bad Gate 1 was with regards to their travel quality control. They should check each hotels, restaurants, foods, and activities before going to any third party tour companies!

Christopher Musyoka was an outstanding tour guide, who went the extra mile for us. We saw all the animals we wanted to see. He was always concerned for our safety and comfort. The accommodations were outstanding! I only wish he would have been accessible during our stay the Ark! Thank you again, Gate 1, for a wonderful experience!

Our first trips with Gate 1 were great. The tour guides really took care of us and we didn't spend excessive time on the bus. Our latest tour to Greece was awful. The tour director did not communicate well. Telling us we would have a free lunch - when she meant to say we would be free for lunch on our own. We found out after we had to pay for the meal. Our hotel in Mykonos had a large pool of water in the bathroom. It was coming from the room above and there was black mold on the ceiling. It was reported (twice) and the solution was to give us more towels to place on the floor. Nobody seemed to care about the mold. One hotel didn't have hot water for the showers. This was reported to the front desk and the tour director. Writing to Gate 1 did no good. They send their generic "thank you for your input" email and nothing gets done - even when you ask them to call you. I assume they have changed management since our first trips and no longer care about the travelers as long as they get their money. Finally got a response from Gate1. The hotel with cold showers said it was never reported. The hotel with the mold and wet floor said they offered to move us to a different room. That never happened - they gave us lots of towels to soak up the water. Gate1 offered us $100 off of our next trip.

Gate 1 replied with another "customer service will contact you" message. To date that has not happened. Horrible company and horrible customer service!!

Just finished an amazing safari in Kenya with Gate 1.This tour was so special due to our Tour Director Christopher Musyoka .He was professional, knowledgeable and very organized with a great sense of humor. He went above and beyond as a Tour guide ( Gate 1 is so lucky to have him). Diane S

Thereza, our tour guide on Gate One's trip from Mainz, Germany to Venice, Austria November 2023 was extremely accommodating. She was punctual while caring for specific needs of some 40 people for 10 days. She was very knowledgeable of the 5 countries that we toured and surprised us continually with gifts; nice hotels; meals and even music that we all sang along with as we traveled. She was fun and we'd recommend her highly for a trip with Gate One travels in your future!!!

We have taken six tours with Gate 1 and have never been disappointed! Unfortunately, I think people tend to come onto review sites when they are frustrated. However, having read some of the reviews, people blame Gate 1 for their own mistakes--eg. Not taking out insurance and then expecting the company to reimburse them. We have always been very happy with the hotels, tour guides and the excursions! Heading away with them in a couple more months again!

My wife and I are supposed to leave to Fiji in Australia on Thanksgiving 2023 but the Australian government has not granted my visa yet. And gate one will not give me a credit they just keep telling me to get a hold of the Australian home affairs which I have and they just said I have to wait even if it takes longer than when I have to go on my trip. And gate one just told me since the trip's already paid for there's nothing they can do. So basically since they already have my money I'm screwed! And I did not buy their insurance because I've never had to buy insurance before. That's my fault but for them not to even to offer me a credit that I can prove that I do not have a Visa is ridiculous and they also said since I don't got a visa for Australia and Fiji is part of the trip that I cannot even go to Fiji which is BS. I paid for fiji and it doesn't require a visa I think this is totally wrong just giving you fair warning right now gate one's customer service sucks. Well as of 11/14 this is an update about my review with gate 1 .I was working with a customer service supervisor named Dennis and we've been waiting and waiting to see if Australia would get back to me and my visa they haven't My wife is in healthcare so she just can't leave her patients, so we officially had to cancel today and that's what he helped me do he helped me cancel he said the internet division will reach out to me and my response to get a credit if they do anything at all, But yet no one has reached out to me to offer me a credit I will keep everybody updated on gate 1's customer service and what you can expect. And mind you my wife has gone to Africa we've gone to Costa Rica she's gone to Ecuador and she has gone to Vietnam and not sure quite how many other places. So it isn't like we're not repeat customers but are we going to continue to be a repeat customer I guess it will all depend on how they treat us when we actually need them?

Donna was an exceptional tour leader on our recent New England in the Fall tour. She went over and above the call of duty to make us all feel welcome and comfortable.

Well organised and fun tour.

This is my 5th Gate 1 Tour and they NEVER disappoint!

Most recent tour was to Turkey and just can't say enough. Have been to Peru, China, Budapest, Prague and Paris.

Do not hesitate you are in good hands and can't beat the value!

Gate 1 Travel is an amazing company.
For starters, booking our trip to Ireland was easy, complete and priced reasonably.
Next, our bus driver, Mark, a very kind gentleman, navigated all the twisty-turny roads like a master.
And most important, our tour guide, Jill, was incredible! Her knowledge of all the towns, roads, pubs, Irish traditions, and folklore, was nonstop. Her sense of humor and the details of everything made a wonderful trip more memorable than we had expected.
My only criticism is that not one of our rooms (in any of the hotels) had a view other than back parking lots, roofs of buildings, or high walls.
Other than that, we highly recommend Gate 1 Travel.

My wife and I just completed our 2nd Gate1 trip, this one the Heritage trip to Philly, Williamsburg, Gettysburg, Charleston, and DC. When asked what was our favorite stop, our answer: Valley Forge, Independence Hall, Museum of American Revolution, Historic Philadelphia, Gettysburg Battlefield, Monticello, Jamestown, Williamsburg, Arlington, Lincoln Memorial, Mall of America, Ford Theatre, the Smithsonian, Mt . Vernon and the Korean and Viet Nam tribute exhibits. There was more and it was wonderful and hard to believe we did this all in 8 days. Our tour guide was wonderful, everything was well-planned. Thank you, Joan Schultz and Gate1!

We took Gate 1 trip 16 Days Scotland and Ireland on October 2023 and it was outstanding.
The hotel were well located and the food delicious.
But what made this tour so special was our Tour Director Patrick King, he was professional, knowledgeable and very organized with a great sense of humor. He went above and beyond as a Tour guide ( Gate 1 is so lucky to have him)
Our Driver Kevin Nelson was so sweet, funny and an excellent driver, we always felt safe with him.
Again, Thank you Gate 1 for giving us a wonderful experience in Scotland and Ireland.

Luz Babilonia.

Excellent trip tour of Douro River in Portugal.
Patricia on our cruise was excellent as was Amir.
They made our trip a great trip.

I'm very disappointed in Gate 1's lack of empathy and flexibility in allowing rescheduling of a trip to a Muslim country the week after the recent attacks in Israel. There have been many active protests and government support of Hamas at the destination. Visits to mosques and Jewish religious sites were included in the tour and no additional security was being offered by Gate 1.

I was more than willing to postpone my trip or apply my total payment to another future trip. Instead, I lost over $4000 for the trip, airfare, excursions and transfers and was not given any other option but to forfeit more than 90% of my payment. I was also misled (by two separate agents) to believe that I would be refunded my airfare minus a $250 penalty. Instead, I now have a credit for a sum uncertain with no way to access it with an airline that only goes to one destination.
The tragic events in recent days should warrant the ability to make changes in travel plans without excessive penalties. Gate 1's policies are unreasonable given the unprecedented times we are living in.

Very disappointed with Gate 1.
We’re scheduled to tour Egypt in November. However, due to the the conflict that’s happening now with Israel in Palastine/Gaza and the West Bank, we are justifiably concerned about our safety.

Our trip is fully paid, but we had humbly requested to reschedule for a later date to travel (Not asking for a refund) just to reschedule. Unfortunately for us Gate1 outright denied our request disregarding our concerns. The Arch insurance that’s offered through Gate1 essentially only covers Gate1.

Absolutely the worst! Don't bother buying trip insurance with them. It's a scam and when you try and cancel (even if you've purchased the Cancel for Any Reason) they give you the run around. There are so many exceptions that its pointless to even try. When I called to ask questions about fees the clueless rep told me they couldn't answer my questions and I had to call Arch Insurance. I called Arch and they told me they had nothing to do with setting rates for cancellation. That was all Gate 1. I've been calling and emailing for days and no one responds. .....Buyer Beware. Find another tour company

Just return from Gate 1 Travel - 11 Day Kaleidoscope of Iceland. The trip was horrible!  The tour guide was unorganized, lazy, making up excuses all the time and put our lives in danger and the driver was totally incompetent.
Day 1: According to Gate 1 itinerary, when we arrived in the hotel and we suppose to meet together for breakfast.  There was no signage at all as where should we all go and the tour guide was nowhere to be found.  Many of us ended up paying extra for the hotel breakfast which is US$30+ because we thought we need to meet the tour guide inside the restaurant.  Until much later then we discovered that the breakfast was arranged in the basement of the hotel.  Again, there was NOT any signage to tell us where to go.  It was a mess right from the beginning.  Afternoon the itinerary includes a stop at the viewing of the Perlan and the Sun Voyager sculpture, but the tour guide never did.  The weather wasn’t an issue.  He even insulted us on the bus saying that you guys didn’t even notice sightseeing places were missing, haha.  We noticed alright, just didn’t say anything. In the welcome drink, the tour guide passed around a few papers and told us to take a photo which is our daily itinerary.  A lady in our tour asked him about itinerary next day and the guide responded in a condescending manner “What did I tell you yesterday?  You are not a child.”  and never answered her question.  He was constantly talking to us in a condescending tone of voice. By the way there is no daily itinerary posting in the hotel lobby like all other Gate 1 tours that I have joined before. 
Day 2, we all noticed a few people looked and sounded very sick with heavy coughing and a few of us spoke to tour guide privately with our concerns, told the guide to tell them to put on a mask in the bus or covid testing but he did nothing.  He announced on the bus in our very last day, if anyone not feeling well, please put on a mask.  It was kind of late after we stayed together in a very tight space for the last 9 days especially on the bus.  We are fully vaccinated and stay healthy all these times since covid hits but sadly we got home and tested, we got covid and all because Gate 1 Travel has no covid guideline in place and the guide was extremely irresponsible.  We are really suffering now because of contracting Covid in this tour! 
Day 5, the tour guide drove the bus with us in it and did that more than once even in the dark. He is our tour guide and by doing so, I think he had put 40+ lives in danger which is totally unacceptable.  His excuse was that “boy needs to play with big bus sometimes”.  Maybe that is how he felt but that is not how we feel.  He has put our lives in danger! Also the female driver should never allow him to do so.  Both are being irresponsible and this is a critical incident of concern. 
Day 7, the tour guide skipped our scheduled sightseeing and meals without consulting us. We sat in the hotel lobby all day with very little information. It was a horrible and exhausting day for us.  Way past the boarding time for the bus departure in the morning and the bus doors were still locked.  No information provided as what is going on. The tour guide decided at 3:30 pm it is time to go so we board the bus and were on our way. When we checked in to the hotel, the guide said delay was due to the weather, but the people in the hotel also gave a questionable look.  We didn’t arrive our next hotel till midnight.
Hotel in Hofn was dirty.  In our room there was disgusting mucous snots on the wall, hairs on fresh towel, mold on bathroom wall and the dinner wasn’t good. Mentioned the problem to the front desk next day and they did clean up the snots. 
Both the tour guide and the driver refused to answer basic questions.  For example:  I asked the driver that where are we going next and how long the drive will be?  The driver replied:  I know where are we going but I am not going to tell you so you will be excited when we get there.  I asked again:  I really want to know where are we going next and I will pretend that I am excited when we get there.  The driver replied:  I know where we are going but I won’t tell you so you will be very excited when we get there.  I got nowhere with her which was very frustrating.  I think I am entitled to know where am I going in the trip! 
There were 40 passengers in the bus and I don’t know why we weren’t allowed to use the front door to get on to the bus especially when the weather was bad.  Even when we knock on the door, the guide and the driver will point us to the back door while they were sitting and chatting comfortably in their own seats.
Joined many tours before from different tour companies. This time is the first time ever that we have had encountered such horrible and unprofessional tour guide and bus driver. We are extremely disappointed with Gate 1 Travel.

I have been on 12 gate 1 trips, they provide excellent value, great 4 star hotels, well informed tour guides, all for the lowest prices that I have found.

This company is terrible.
Sitting in the airport 4 hours.
The person at Gateway told me they booked my flight illegally.
No compensation!!!
Do not use this company if you value your time