Gate 1 Travel Reviews 

I wish I could give 0 stars, this company is disgusting, customer service and communication is very poor! I purchased a flight ticket on the 17th September for my son, upon receiving the confirmation and ticket I noticed that they had put my name on the ticket instead of my sons name bare in mind that I already have a flight ticket booked for that day and time with the same airline for myself and other members of my family, gate1 still proceeded to process the ticket which makes no sense, I reached out to gate1 via email because for some strange reason you can’t even speak to these people via phone, it took them about 5 days to reply to me, and there response was they didn’t make the error and they won’t be changing the ticket, my question to them was why would I book another ticket in my name for the same day and the same flight, I have 7 days till I travel with my family and now my son has no ticket, this is supposed to be our family holiday and now I’m so worried that this issue will not be resolved, I can’t purchase another ticket and more to the point why should I and I haven’t made the error, I also spoke to the airline who advised me that gate 1 can easily change over the name on the ticket, they also told me that they can take control of the booking if gate 1 consents to it which they are refusing to do! (I wonder why) this situation is causing me a lot of stress and upset with my family because their is now a risk that my family will be divided all because of this disgusting unprofessional unhelpful agency
From the 17th of September till now this issue still remains unsolved absolutely horrendous!!
AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!

BEWARE!!! If i could give this travel agency ZERO STARS I would. We called to confirm seat accommodation prior to booking online; knowing seating class for all airlines are different. Well, this company advised us that when booking premium economy seating we would get PREMIUM economy seating.

We found out after booking and checking out delta app that our first and last leg domestically was premium economy, GUESS WHAT!? The 14 hour flights weren’t. We are traveling to Bangkok. So i call to speak with someone since we had already been given directions over the phone (by a gate 1 agent) to book and was placed on hold several times for more that 20min to confirm premium seating was comfort with delta and other affiliate airlines.

We were WRONG after talking to Brian and Sky. If you booking with these folks booking never book online because it is not accurate and it is obvious accountability is not taken when there are recorded conversation and invoices that speak to seating.

Get this…they wanted to charge us an EXTRA 5k to fix THERE ISSUE. STAY AWAY!!!

I had to cancel our trip to Greece (reservation 2470468) one month prior to travelling because of renovation works in our apartment that takes longer due to water flow and damage issues; thus works would not be completed on time. I requested a cancellation on the website on 1st September; got an email stating we will be in touch in 3-5 days. I called Gate1 Travel on Tuesday 5th September to follow up. The lady on the phone kept putting me on hold (5 times) so it ended up being a 50 minute call. I even suggested to give my phone number so she can call me back once she has found my cancellation email. She said "No, if you want this to be cancelled today, you have to wait on the phone". Not a good start I thought and quite unprofessional behaviour.

The next day I got a confirmation of trip cancellation and a few days later; I got a refund of $650.20. I had paid $7158 for 2 persons. As I had taken the "Cancel for any reason" insurance; I was told to get in touch with Arch Insurance Solutions to make a claim which I did. It took them a week to get back to me that my claim was rejected. So I contacted once more Gate1 Travel requesting a further refund. I accept that I lost the reservation costs $600 but I find it unacceptable
that Gate1 Travel are no refunding the money they owe me.
I should have checked the reviews way before even booking the trip to avoid all this disappointment.

My luggage was lost and I let Evi our travel guide know when I called her when I arrived around 11:00 pm and not 5:00 that evening at the hotel she acted as if I bothered her and I only called because when I checked I was given her information at the front desk and no information on the itinerary for the next day was left for me and had I not taken the initiative to call I would have been completely lost and also when I saw her the next day she didn't introduce herself she did not give me a quick briefing of what to expect because I missed the meet and greet because of the issues with my flight. I looked at the bus and found my name and got on and when she saw me on the bus, she simply asked my name and checked it off and went back to the front of the bus and I never received my Gate1 name badge or anything else that was given out during the initial orientation. It is a good thing that the Gate1 family and NOT EVI was willing to assist me. My flight was cancelled and rebooked several times at the airport and when I arrived at the airport my luggage was missing so I had to file a claim. After I went out to the lobby to meet the person that transferred me, he took a picture of the paperwork and said that Gate1 would take care of it, and she sent it off to someone at Gate1. The airport also said that my luggage should be on the next flight that was scheduled to arrive at 3 AM so I could have it delivered to the hotel, or I could come back and pick it up. I didn't have the hotel information, so I opted to come back and pick it up. After I got settled in, I got on the bus the next morning not worrying about my luggage because the driver from the previous night said that it would be taken care of. I will give Evi credit for being very knowledgeable about the things that we saw however her customer service skills in dealing with people are horrible. On the way to the museum, I said something to her again about my luggage and asked her if it wasn't there what should I do, and she said to wait until we get back to the hotel. Again, because I was initially told that Gate1 would take care of it by the driver when I landed, I was not really stressing about my luggage. I opted to stay in town and enjoy as much of Athens that I could and when I got back to the hotel I asked if my luggage was there, and it wasn't and that's when panic started to settle in for me. I called Gate1 and the agent on the line began to tell me that it was the responsibility of the airline and not theirs that my luggage was lost. I was furious because I knew that I had purchased the insurance and so I just hung up. I called the airport and gave them my claim information and they confirmed that my luggage was there so at that point I called Evi to see how Gate1 could assist me with getting back to my luggage. She asked me to meet her down in the lobby in 15 minutes and I did, and she acted as if that was the very 1st time that she had heard about my luggage getting lost. She was extremely dismissive, and she tried to call to see if there was another driver transporting someone from the airport that could bring me my luggage and there wasn't and then she called someone and that's when she told me that it was not Gate1's responsibility to get my luggage. I explained to her that when I arrived the driver told me that Gate1 would take care of it and since I was told that I didn't have any reason to not trust what I was told. I explained to Evi that this was the 1st time I used Gate1 and that I could only trust what was told to me. She proceeded to stick with the fact that it was the airlines’ fault and that Gate1 wasn't responsible. She also then told me that I filled the form out incorrectly and that I should have had it delivered to the hotel and I told her that I couldn't remember the name of the hotel and I also explained that if the form was filled out when the driver took a picture and sent it over that whomever received it would have actually looked it they could have told me that I filled it out wrong and I could have simply walked back into the door and had it corrected. She proceeded to tell me at that point that it was my fault and that Gate1's policy. all I heard at that point was a bunch of rules to cover Gate1. I explained that I needed to get to a hotel and since Gate1 wasn't going to help me if she could please help me arrange for a cab and she said it was going to be about 45 minutes and that it was going to be about 55.00 basically asking me if I could afford it... My entire trip no luggage and now that I am home still no luggage and having problems finding it and I purchased the travel insurance with Gate1 and all of the arrangements were made through Gate1. am back home now and I emailed Gate1 to let them kow about my experience

We travelled with Gate1 in May 2023 for an Amazon Express guided tour. We did some research before booking online and were skeptical, but for the sick promotion they had online, we figured it was worth a try, especially after reading all amazing reviews from satisfied customers.

We were stunned by how well everything was planned, and backed up in situations where due to the unpredictable weather in the rainforest, things had to be changed last minute.

The food was custom fit for every person, delicious and served right on time. Our guide and driver were friendly and very knowledgeable. They made us feel very comfortable from the first interaction.

It was definitely a trip we would never be able to replicate without a trusted tour provider, and our expectations were well exceeded.

Highly recommend and will definitely be using again.

Our trip to Morocco from 8/31/2023-9/7/2023 was a pleasant surprise. I will give our trip a 5 star rating. Our guide Mohammed and his team made our trip so easy and wonderful. When we reached Casablanca we were greeted by Mohammed and his team outside the airport arrival doors. Throughout the trip, Mohammed and his team were on top of everything. They really cared for us. Mohammed is an excellent guide. We traveled to Rabbat, Fez, Marrakesch, and Casablanca in a private air conditioned Gate1travel bus. All the hotels were very good with the exception of Rabbat Hotel which was average but it had the best breakfast and location. Our return to the Casablanca airport was great. Mohammed boarded us on the bus. When we reached the airport there were several people to help us. There was a very nice gentleman who helped us with our luggage and all the way to the ticket counter. For the price and service provided by Gate1, we give our trip a 5 * rating. We cannot praise enough Mohammed and his team making our trip a pleasure. Mohammed and his team is a great asset to Gate1 Travel in Morroco!

Booked a tour online but we wanted to speak with someone - not just click buttons on a computer. This was all too hard for gate1 consultants who were tardy at responding to emails. Whilst waiting for a response about how to make the payment (because it was in USD), our booking fell over (even though we'd emailed the consultant to ask her to hold the booking because we were in the Northern Territory outback without mobile range for 2 days) and then the tour was booked out. We'd already booked our fares from Australia. The consultant called Nicole was most unhelpful throughout the process and is totally unsuited to that type of job. I'd never look at any of their tours because I see the reviews are very negative and I can see why. They need to pull their socks up before they go broke......

Today 25/8/2023 when i was in Monas , your agent(Is a man staff) never Line up to enter the Monas . Time is about 9am to 10am…i hope he can say apologize to other who Line up imfront of his Group…thank you

We toured Southern England. Our guide, Mark, was delightful. Our accommodations were awful. In Stratford-Upon-Avon, where it was in the mid-80’s, we had no air conditioning in our rooms. There were major traffic issues.

I’d you don’t mind substandard accommodations, go for it.

This service is entirely unacceptable. I noticed that my name has an error and have been going back and forth calling every single day to speak with someone in regards to correcting this egregious mistake. Each day i speak with a new person and they inform me that they have corrected the issue and that it takes about 24 hours for the change to be reflected. Each 24 hours that pass, there is no change. It is exhausting having to jump through hoops for a simple mistake that 1- should never have happened and 2 should have been corrected after the initial phone conversation. Yesterday, was the 5th time i spoke with someone, Clinton Foley, at which point i required that i receive a confirmation email proving that amendments were being processed. Today was the last time i spoke with someone and again the name is an error. My trip is 2 weeks away and instead of preparing and getting excited for this experience i am left with a sour taste in my mouth and dont even want to continue my business further with gate 1 if simple issues like this cannot be resolved with me calling DAILY. Escalate this to the highest personnel and fix this mistake immediately.

My wife and I have been traveling with gate 1 for 10 years now. Ever since COVID, the costumer service has gone down the drain. On our most recent trip to yellow stone, with 2 other couples, we found out just a couple days before our trip that gate 1 only booked 2 room for 3 couples, instead of 3. We called costumer service to fix their error and with so much attitude, they made us pay double for the extra room. I do not know how it is logical for 3 couples to book 2 rooms. Be very careful and double check your flights, room, meals etc when booking with gate 1

I have been traveling with Gate 1/Discovery Tours since 2013 and have taken numerous trips with this company. Their customer service has always been very good. However, recently, they canceled a tour due to insufficient travelers. My airfare was already purchased. I found another trip leaving within the parameters of my airfare. G1 was willing to pay for a change fee. However, I called the company and also had my travel agent call to see if they would pay for the prenight since I would arrive early, instead of the change fee. We were told no. Asked to speak to a supervisor and still waiting for a call back.

G1’s customer service has gone downhill. They would rather lose a good customer than pay around $200 for the hotel (which is what the change fee would cost). I will never book a tour with them again.

UPDATE- My travel agent heard back from G1 and they are making the issue right. Don’t know why a supervisor couldn’t come to the phone to begin with and this situation would have been resolved immediately.

I wish I could give Gate 1 no stars. I canceled a trip, which I had insurance for. Now Gate 1 is saying I have an airline credit which Singapore airlines knows nothing about. Gate 1 is saying I can o my use it with them but can’t use it for the land portion . Well I booked a whole package with them $ they are staying my left over funds can’t be used for anything else and they won’t refund it. That sound ridiculous!! This company is TERRIBLE! I canceled way in advance and had insurance.
They already took money for the cancellation fee, which I understand your policy is your policy but why are you scamming people. Why not let me rebook the trip? This doesn’t make since. BEWARE‼️
Looks like Gate 1 responded to my complain like they have in the past ONLY they never reach out. They only reply to make it seem like they will help. Today is 8/12 and this is the 3rd time they said they will
Make this right and haven’t. Read the other review GATE 1 doesn’t care about their customers. I only wish I would have read the reviews first because loosing 2,300 is not okay especially when you cancel 3 months in advance and purchased insurance. I will file a claim with the BBB so this won’t happen to anyone else.

I took a tour with Gate One in the spring of 2023 to Portugal and Spain. I will probably not book with this company again. I trusted Gate One to take us to the highlights of both countries. I was wrong to do so. The city I was looking forward to the most was Barcelona, Spain. The website for that trip featured Gaudi's wall that overlooks the city. Disappointingly, the Park Guell which is portrayed in every Barcelona image collection that I have ever seen was omitted from our tour. Worse, by the time I realized this, no tickets were available for me to purchase independently. So I missed out on seeing the place I had most wanted to enjoy. Also in Barcelona is the Sagrada Familia. It is the top-rated activity on many tours. It was not included in the Gate One tour, and tickets were unavailable. The Casa Batllo' was also on my wish list. Since it wasn't included and tickets were unavailable, I missed that bucket list sight as well. Instead of these prime areas, we endured a drive-by of the defunct Olympic Village. We did have free time, which we could have filled with tickets for the three sites previously listed if we had known weeks or months earlier that those highlights were not included in the tour. My comments to Gate One were dismissed with the rationale that we should have known from the itinerary that those activities were not included. Never before have I felt the need to preview the highlights of an area before embarking on a tour and then cross-checking that they were included. This would certainly be my recommendation for anyone using Gate One. I can't afford to go to Barcelona again so will have to live with disappointment. I do not recommend Gate One.

My partner Rosemarie and I just completed an Eastern Canada tour hosted by Marc Ramus. What an experience. From the get go we were treated to an unforgettable holiday. The tour itself was fantastic: just enough group sessions and free time: amazing itinerary: 2 night stops: lots of information without being overloaded. Marc was fantastic: everyone bonded with him: like a big family. And he was so helpful, informative and friendly. This was our first Gate 1 tour but won’t be our last. Highly recommend this company to anyone seeking an honest friendly and enjoyable tour with great itineraries and well located hotels. Bravo gate 1.

We recently returned from the 9 day classic Italy tour with gate 1 and I have mixed feelings about this trip which I want to share partly because the gate 1 website doesn’t allow you to submit a review and the only ones available on their website were all positive and wonderful. This was not the case for us.
We had a great and busy trip but excursions were optional and food included in trip was fair to horrible.
Hotels were not the best but not the worst. They were clean, beds were comfortable, AC worked great, and very good water pressure. Some rooms were very small but for a short stay (2 nights) it was manageable for 2 guests. The first day of arrival in Murano, rooms were not ready until after 4:00 pm which was unbearable after a long flight and time changes. I think this can be better especially if you are organizing a group of travelers. The island of Murano was quiet, not a lot of restaurants and many of them were closed. Keep this in mind when booking this trip. Venice is a lot more active and has many more options for dinner and shopping.
Tours and excursions were misleading and not clear when booking trip. Tours included walking outside and exploring the city, rarely did you go inside anything, that was all extra. The worst one for us was during booking it implied we would be going to the Mighty Colosseum, possibly the main attraction of Rome only to find out we were not going in just walking past it. We were told they couldn’t get tickets, then were told only small groups are allowed in at a time. This was all false we had to buy a separate tour to see the Colosseum which was a group of 30 people. In fact, you had to buy many separate tours to actually go inside and see anything.
This package included breakfast and 4 dinners. If you are expecting amazing food at these dinners think again. Two of the the 4 dinners were pretty bad, one at Starhotels Metropole in Rome was horrible. A type of meat served, possibly roast beef, was inedible. You couldn’t cut it or chew it. Service did not ask how was your food or why aren’t you eating it. The dinners served an appetizer, pasta, some sort of meat (type unknown), and a desert. There were no choices or options for different types of meals. You get what you get and if you didn’t like it you didn’t eat. You were not even able to buy yourself another meal. Coffee was never offered with desert. The restaurants should have at least 3 different dinner options to choose from. Some of the dinners were cheap and poor quality. Tour manager did not tell you where the dinner was or what was being served in case you needed to make other arrangements. Tour manager was receptive to limited availability of food but had no solutions. This is troublesome since you are indirectly paying for bad meals through your vacation package.

Gratuities were not included and should be in the package. It was out of control and awkward. Everyone wanted and expected a tip and travelers were reminded to tip at least 3 times during the trip.

It was great to have someone else handle your transportation, hotel accommodations, and show you around the different cities. Tour managers and guides were kind and friendly. They appeared knowledgeable about the areas’ landmarks. Their recommendations for shopping and restaurant options were not the best. Found better recommendations on yelp and trip advisor.

My wife and I have been very blessed to have traveled to many different places around the world and we have used several different travel companies ( OAT Viking Tauck etc) Whenever we have had to change plans we have always been able to get our deposits either refunded or credited for future travel. Gate1 is the first company that wouldn’t even give us credit for the 1000 dollar deposit ( unless we took the same trip in a short time frame ) or refund.
This was our first experience with Gate1 and certainly our last

Went on a tour of Yelliwstone. We were given very little time at each stop. Spent most of the day on the bus. The driver was not allowed to stop on the road if we saw an animal, which I totally understand, however there was a huge bison lying down in near the parking lot after we boarded the bus and he refused to give us two minutes so we could get a nice picture from the bus window. I was so disappointed. The tour driver said we were behind schedule. What difference would two more minutes have made and we could have had an excellent picture.

Absolutely awful. Never ever book with these people. Everyone is so unbelievably rude, we found out days before we did not have everything needed, they tried to to say opening an email counted as a signature, in what world does that count? They won’t even refund us 100%. Just terrible. Save your money and go elsewhere.

Gate 1 Travel deceptive airline credit is a claw back

In March of 2023, we signed on for a trip to Ecuador with Gate1 Travel but cancelled after earthquake 2 days before we were to depart. We had both Gate 1 travel insurance and Arch Right Insurance. We were told that neither insurance covered our situation. We spent over $4,000.00 for this trip.

After many emails to Gate1 Travel, pleading our case, Gate1 Travel offered as a goodwill gesture, to provide airline credit of $972 with American Airlines and a travel credit of about $1300.00.

In June 2023 I called to reschedule the trip to Ecuador, using the airline and travel credits. I was told by the agent that I could use the airline credit, BUT I had to pay a SURCHARGE of $376. For what, I asked. Well, he said, you are getting a direct flight so you have to pay extra if the flight is nonstop. I was baffled. I never heard of such a thing. There is only 1 American Airline flight from MIA (Miami) to Quito each day and it is a direct flight and the price of the ticket should reflect the total cost without adding a surcharge. Has anyone out there ever heard of being charged a surcharge for a direct flight above and beyond what the ticket cost.

The agent said he could not provide any information about the airline credit until, I committed to book a reservation for the trip and paid a NON-REFUNDABLE FEE of $600. The point of this was to lock me into a reservation in which I would lose $600 if the air faire credit turned out to be bogus, which it did. This is about as predatory as you can get.

THEN the agent told me the cost of the ticket from MIA to Quito would be $1800.00, twice the original amount of the ticket. What appeared to be a credit suddenly turned into a debit before my eyes. A $972 ticket faire credit turned into a $1800 debit and a $376 surcharge to boot. While pretending to give me a credit, Gate1 clawed back the credit and required me to pay the actual faire that I originally paid. I then called to see if I could use the credit for domestic flights. NOPE. You can only use the credit for a scheduled tour with Gate1. I am betting that the faire will be double what is advertised on the airline website and I will end up owing Gate1 money for the ticket if I attempt to use it. Offer an air faire credit and construct barriers to prevent the customer from using it.

I was incredulous at how fast it happened as the ticket agent, was talking a mile a minute, but I was in such disbelief, I went to American Airlines website, keyed in the air-faire on my computer while talking to him, and saw on my computer screen the actual price of the ticket on American Airlines listed at $432, per person round trip, not including tax from MIA to Quito. It was the exact same flight that the Gate1 Travel agent was booking me on from MIA to Quito, for $1800 + $376 surcharge, leaving and returning at the exact same time as the flight the agent was booking me on.

Gate one did allow me to use the $1300 travel. Since we have not gone on the trip yet, scheduled for September. Based on other reviews I expect to have to cough up tips, fees for everybody I encounter on this trip. They lure you in with low prices and then nickel and dime you after you arrive at your destination.

I am astonished at the used car lot sales tactics used by Gate1Travel. Sleazy, deceitful, manipulative. After this trip to Ecuador is finished, I will never do business with Gate1 Travel again. Has anyone out there had a similar experience with Gate1travel deceptive air faire credit?

I am done with Gate1 travel. My business will be with Triple AAA from now on.

The response from Gate1 Travel below states Gate1 Travel addressed this issue. That is untrue. I emailed a copy of what I posted here and never heard from them. The issue has not been addressed