Complaint Review: Travelzoo

Don't waste your time trying to find and actually book travel deals through this company. For over a decade I've received and read the multiple offers sent to my email every week by Travelzoo. I have found travel deals and packages that looked enticing. In the past, we purchased event tickets, packages, and even booked a cruise using Travelzoo. The last two offers I tried to book ended up being bogus. My most recent bad experience happened this week. Travelzoo's "Top 20 List" included a 5 night package to Paris from several US cities. The package included r/t air and hotel for $599 per person. I followed the booking directions provided by Travelzoo, which connected me with the vendor, Fleetway Travel. I went through all the steps, answering all the questions, selecting the available dates, airports, upgrades, and options. I completed the required documentation and registration. At the conclusion of this process, Fleetway's online booking told me my travel reservation had been submitted and that someone would contact me the next day for payment processing.

Three days passed and I had not been contacted. I tried to call Fleetway Travel and couldn't get through (number I had went to The UK). I contacted Travelzoo customer service and they told me they would look into my reservation. The next day Travelzoo Customer Rep., Lisa called me and said Fleetway had my reservation and would be calling me shortly. Later that day, I finally got a call from Fleetway Travel. They denied having a record of my reservation and the Fleetway Rep. told me they have not been able to process or even read the reservations submitted via their website due to the heavy volume of calls they had been receiving. The Fleetway Rep would not honor my reservation, look for my reservation, or even acknowledge that they had received a submission from me. I told the Fleetway Rep. my exact submission dates and that I had followed the directions provided by their and Travelzoo's websites, and that I was supposed to receive a call to process payment. She said "we can't be chasing people down who booked vacations online" and "I have booked over 20 vacations for customers who called in today alone, I don't have time to check online reservation requests". The advertised travel deal I signed up for 5 days earlier via Fleetway Travels own website was not available, if it ever really existed.

I immediately called Travelzoo Customer Service to inquire why they told me Fleetway had my reservation, to ask why online bookings weren't being honored, and finally ask why Travelzoo would partner with a vendor of this poor of caliber. Doesn't Travelzoo check out the businesses it promotes? Travelzoo Customer Rep. apologized for my experience, said they would note my complaint for future reference when working with Fleetway Travel, but that Travelzoo couldn't make Fleetway Travel honor the promoted travel deal.

The other bad experience with Travelzoo occurred last month when I tried to book a hotel room package. The Guy Harvey Outrigger Motel in St. Petersburg, FL offered a special rate for a 3 night stay over Labor Day. When I called them (Guy Harvey Reservations) and mentioned the Travelzoo Package, the price with hidden charges and required extras went up nearly $500. Based on these two back-to-back bad experiences, I can no longer use Travelzoo and would highly recommend others save themselves the time and trouble of using this online service.