Explore Worldwide Reviews 242

This is the email I sent to Explore on the 17.05.23 and I did not even get an acknowledgement, let alone a reply from their customer relations. I even spoke to someone at customer services and she asked me to wait for 4 weeks for a reply. After 6 weeks I feel that I have to put this correspondence on review or I will be fobbed off by "Explore".
I booked the above trip, including flight, (as I have always done on Explore trips)on the 17th July and once accommodation was confirmed my flight was booked.
The reason for booking flights with Explore is to have a hassle free holiday, (In my opinion, trusting the company will take care of me, were anything to go wrong.)
On the 5th August, at Heathrow airport, I was not allocated a seat at check-in, being told that I was on "standby"."What does that mean?" I asked the guy. He said advised me to show my boarding pass at the gate before departure and "tell them you are on standby."
At the departure gate, 2 other passengers (of Explore) were found to be in the same situation, but we got seats on the flight to Warsaw.
At Warsaw airport, the 2 ladies got seats on the flight to Tallinn; I remained on standby and the plane left without me. I was told that the plane was full; there was no seat for me. No one explained anything to me after that, I kept asking: can someone please tell me what's going on? I was shocked, bewildered and very embarrassed. People were looking at me and I did not know where to put my face. I felt as if I had committed a crime.
Someone accompanied me to the LOT Centre at the terminal and there I was informed that my seat was overbooked and this was very common on flights. This was news to me, as it had never happened to me before, pre or post pandemic.
My distress continued when I was told that there were no direct flights to Tallinn that day and I would have to go to Riga and then to Tallinn, arrive at 21.00 hrs or if I wanted a direct flight I would have to wait till the following morning.
In the meantime, I had contacted Explore explained what had happened and was waiting for someone to contact me.
After a lot of imploring, I was offered a seat in a direct flight to Tallinn, which was 4 hours later.
Someone called Chris called and after listening to my story, re-arranged my transfer from the airport to the hotel. He also mentioned that airlines have been overbooking people.
When I booked my holiday and just before I paid the whole amount, the gentleman (Kieran?) mentioned that were I to cancel my holiday for some reason, I would not be able to get a refund on the flight. He made sure I knew that.
My question to Explore is this: when booking my flight, did Explore know that despite paying and being given flight date and time and the airline I would be travelling with, I was not guaranteed a seat? That I was on standby? Euan booked the flight for me.
I gather from fellow travellers that Explore charges a fee when we book flights with the company and if that is true, why did Explore, despite charging me, did not inform me of the potential problem I could face?
Why did it put me through such ordeal and distress and ruin the first day of my trip?
I waited another 4 hours for my nest flight and I reached the hotel about 18.00 hrs, meaning I lost out on visiting/exploring the old town in the afternoon, which I was really looking forward to.
Also, 2 of the hotels did not have lifts so I had to carry my bag to my room, despite my bad back, in one of the hotels. Explore used to ask customers about any special requirements, but I was not asked that when booking.
At the other hotel, the tour guide and a fellow traveller kindly helped me.
On the 7th August, at about 12.10 GMT, I contacted Explore, asked to speak to a manager, just to be reassured that I would not have to face the same situation of being on standby when returning home, or even to advise me. She said she would leave a message, but no one called back.
I have mentioned this before and I am reiterating it. I used to rate Explore very highly among foreign travel companies; not this time and my previous experience (walking the coastal trails to Portugal)was the same.
Communication is poor, customer service seems to be pretty nonexistent.
Did Explore not reply to my correspondence because they knew they had to compensate me?
Regardless, they have to compensate me properly for the fight delay (4 hours), loss of holiday time and all the distress they caused me.
U.Teelanah

We were left on our own for most dinners. The 3 couples from the UK went off by themselves and never invited the rest of us, so it was a solitary dinner experience. Coach was very uncomfortable. Sights visited were interesting.

I did the croatia island hopping. The hotel selection was poor either old or far from center of town. The taxi charged me 48 euro from the center of town to the hotel they selected. The tour guide Zoran was excellent. He was very knowledgable, helpful and made the trip fun. It was a quick tour of the beginning city split and end city dubrovnik, need to add more days to actually see those cities.

Despite numerous attempts via phone calls and emails I am unable to give feedback on the tours I have been on or receive information regarding offers or news that I know other Explore travellers are receiving. I am a very regular Explore traveller and have not been able to give feedback on the last maybe 5 or so tours beyond feefo ones and not receiving information. Explore are brilliant and I don't want to give a negative review but I don't feel I have any other option currently as I have exhausted all others routes with this. I would normally rate 5 stars as I have had great experiences and my most recent tour of Machu Picchu and Galapagos I returned from a few days ago was fantastic. Please Explore can you resolve the issue with my ability to receive feedback forms and information which I don't currently receive despite numerous times contacting you regarding this. Thanks

I have traveled to many parts of the world with Explore over the years and spent upwards of £20000 with them. These trips have generally been very good or I wouldn't have been on so many. The tours are run by local companies not by Explore directly. Therefore the thing that is important to me is how Explore handles customer relations, in particular how they respond when things go wrong. It is this that distinguishes a good travel company from a bad one.

My recent experience with Explore has been very poor in this respect. As a result of my changing circumstances I needed to postpone an upcoming trip. I thought that it would be easy but not so. Through online chat I tried to make this change, but found that the terms and conditions Explore wished to impose did not, in my opinion, match what they promised.
Very reasonably, in my opinion, I sent a letter together with a copy of the online chat to Explore explaining my point of view.

That letter was sent on 7th May and I did not receive a reply.
Subsequently on 5th June I sent a further letter explaining that this were becoming urgent. This letter was sent by recorded delivery and was signed for. I needed a reply urgently and to date have not received one.

This has resulted in me cancelling the tour with a financial loss from flight costs etc. More importantly it is infuriating to be treated in this way. I very much doubt that I will use Explore again. I note that Explore is ranked very poorly against its peers on this site and clearly needs to get its act together.

I also note that Explore prefer reviewers to contact them directly. I have, of course, already done that. I will, however be sending the relevant documents to the Email address that I have seen on this site and also by registered post to Simon G who it seems may be responsible for Customer Relations. I look forward to a reply.

I had the most amazing experience in Turkey, all thanks to Explore!! Our tour guide was a beacon of knowledge and couldn’t be friendlier! The tour plan was perfection, it gave us the chance to learn, have fun and really embrace the Turkish culture! From start to finish I really can not think of 1 fault, other than the extra pounds I’ve put on due to the very tasty Baklava. Without a doubt explore, I will be back! Thank you.

Last month I travelled to Turkey with Explore and loved every minute of my adventure! Our guide was very knowledgeable, completely passionate and personable. This gave the group the right platform to bond well. The tour was a blend of authentic experiences, gastronomic delights and local encounters. I felt like I had a taste of true Turkey. This was my first time touring with Explore, and I’m already pouring over their tours, planning my next escapade! Thank you Explore; now where to next?!

After 20 years of travelling with Explore,we will no longer use them due to the poor standard of hotels used especially compared to other travel providers. In addition their customer service and response to complaints has reached the bottom of th barrell.

Like many other reviewers, I have travelled several times with Explore, and have sadly seen a drop in customer service on my last trip. (I was going to contact them directly about my experience, but having read some of the recent responses to complaints here, see no value in doing that).

To keep my review balanced, the local tour guide and tour itself were excellent. And because of that I will give Explore another chance hoping this was a blip due to staffing issues or something.

I have done six tours with Explore!, but post-covid Explore! appears to have become inefficient with dated systems which requires 14 days notice before a tour to book the included transfers. This is ridiculous as an airport transfer in develop and developing countries can be arranged with one phone call within an hour except if you are Explore!

I had a challenge with Turkish Airlines cancelling my Catania flight at the end of my Classical Sicily tour (17 June 2023) due to “operational challenges” and I struggled to amend my booking and could not inform Explore! of my transfer times as it became complicated. In addition, the Explore! system did not accept information if one only provides arrival or departure flights. I arrived in Sicily a week before the Classical Sicily tour starting on 10 June 2023 and therefore could not only submit my departure information as the Explore! system does not allow it without arrival information.

The reality is that I have always been a fantastic, easygoing client for Explore! with no challenge. The one time I have a problem, they refuse to assist me with a return transfer although I informed them of my return transfer information 13 days before it is required. I have previously booked an Explore tour a week before departure with no transfer challenges, but now suddenly they shrug their shoulders 13 days before it is required.

The we-don't-care-and don't want to hear anything negative tour company.

This isn't about a gruelling group holiday experience travelling across Northern India. We had a superb guide but as he said, he had no control over choice or location of hotels or an itinerary that was unforgiving, inflexible and nothing less than punishing. Some hotels were reasonable, some were just appallingly dirty and most were remote. I could mention filth and stained mattresses and rooms without windows, but this isn’t about the trip, it is about being ignored. By a travel company that most of our group had travelled with before, several times, but probably never again. Complaints are anathemas to Explore, it seems.

The after holiday experience of those who complained - most of the group - is of disappointment, and actually anger. At a company that has denied receiving emails, when they clearly had; promised in phone calls to look into complaints, followed by deafening silence. Even a letter sent to the MD by recorded delivery has been ignored. I think in one call a group member was told, more or less, go somewhere else then if you're not happy. Or perhaps words to that effect.

One couple were eventually contacted and offered a holiday voucher, so the company obviously felt they had let people down, but it was derisory and rejected. No follow up offer was made, and nobody else who complained has been offered anything.

This was my first experience of travelling with Explore and it will be my last. My partner and I picked up Giardia, from a hotel where we felt we needed to wear gloves to touch anything, even light switches, the room was so dirty, not to mention the state of the mattress - I shiver thinking of the stains even now.

One expects to be challenged visiting India. One does not expect such sub-standard accommodation, or a travel schedule that is so gruelling and inflexible that on one occasion we are aware of preferred to send us on a nine hour train ride to Amritsar when a coach would have got us there in three, and as a consequence we missed one of the highlights of the trip – sunset at the Golden Temple. And I thought it was common knowledge that Indian trains are unreliable. Perhaps someone should inform Explore.

All it takes is a simple apology and acceptance they need to look at the itinerary and accommodation for this 'experience' and consider making it more flexible, and select better hotels. This was the real point of complaining, so that future travellers might benefit. But no, it is preferable to disregard any constructive criticism altogether, it seems.

It is sad. Explore may respond to this review with crocodile horror and ask for copies of emails so they can investigate but they have them already and simply haven't bothered to respond – apart from the single offer of a voucher. Well, Explore, in this group's experience you really don't care about customer relations, do you, so I for one, don't care to travel with you again. Ever.

UPDATE
A couple of days after posting this review, Explore replied to the letter my partner had written to the CEO in exasperation some time previously. It was a poor, long-winded piece of correspondence not even penned by the CEO. My partner booked the trip so she made the initial complaint, along with most of the rest of the group. So, while Explore are correct in asserting that I did not write to them directly I note that they do not address the main them of the complaint but prefer to deflect. Actually, they have not produced balanced replies to all of us who were affected. If they had offered £150 holiday vouchers to all of us then I would accept that was balanced, but the offer was made to only one couple. But none of this alters the fact that if Explore had got it right in the first place they would not be losing this group's future custom nor would they be in the position of defending a critical review. Whether I contacted them or my partner, we both were in the group, we both suffered, we both will never use Explore again.

I've been travelling with Explore since 2002 and have done (I think) 15 trips with them. At one point, I could never imagine travelling with any other company again - they were that good. But in recent years they've started going right down the pan. The UK customer service is horrific - I recently emailed them a query about a forthcoming tour and got an automatic response saying they're responding to emails in 30 days. Ridiculous. Also, 'back in the day' when you spoke to someone on the phone (which you can only do now if you want to be on hold for an hour - literally) they would have experience of the trips and be able to give advice. These days it's just a money-taker on the line who knows nothing about the trips. I notice they are also going to fewer destinations than they used to. Perhaps they are scaling back. No surprise really with the way they are currently operating.

I haven’t even gone on the tour yet, but Explore seems very cold and unhelpful. I asked about arranging transportation from the airport because I was arriving a day early, but they just quoted me $200!!! Did not even tell me about alternatives such as taxis. They just seem very cold and unhelpful, and seem uninformed about the location (Costa Rica). Just profit oriented. I’m very uneasy about my upcoming trip with them. Most tour companies will volunteer advice about how to travel safely form the airport to your hotel. Not Explore!

After I asked, they did come back with an estimated price for a taxi and a comment about safety, I just wish I hadn’t had to ask. They suggested I ask the hotel for transportation.

Explore tried to cover their behinds!

The trip was good but the logistics were horrific. Tour Radar never told me that I would be with Explore. Consequently, I never found the group at the airport. Where we were staying was a remote part at the top of Lake Como. Because I didn't meet up with the group for transportation, I had to take a taxi, 2 trains and a ferry to get there. It was stressful and a holiday weekend - so very crowded. For the ferry, I had to appeal to the mercy of the ticket agent as it was getting toward the end of the day for ferry operations. I did not even have the name of the Hotel, Trying to cover their - well, bases - Explore sent me the final documents 5 days into the trip on May 3rd. The date on the email for the documents was left off. Everyone else received the documents 3 weeks prior to the trip. Had I received them when I was supposed to have, I wouldn't have started my trip in such a horrific manner.

I have been a regular traveller with Explore for many years and have usually experienced magical times. Sadly, however, it would seem that things have gone downhill quite drastically.

In brief, I went on the Malaysia and Singapore holiday in Jan 23 and:

1) The holiday was overbooked.

2) There was no introductory meeting so we could introduce ourselves.

3) Another day or two in Singapore would be better. One day is simply not enough time.

3) Our itinerary, throughout the holiday, was different to that of the tour guide's. This led to a lot of confusion and made it difficult to organise any 'free time' (as it turned out not to be free sometimes).
- Meals advertised as included weren't and there were a lot of group lunches that were included, that weren't detailed on our itinerary. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, just not what was expected.
- The homestay was on a different day, as was the train journey.

4) Other activities, such as helping prepare a meal and some of the optional extras, such as kayaking simply didn't happen.

5) Walking tours expanded from 2 hours to 4.5 hours, with no scheduled toilet breaks or refreshment stops. This in 32°C and high humidity is really not acceptable.

6) An optional excursion including a visit to a fish farm turned out to be quite distressing - some very large fish in extremely small tanks - definitely not an ethical wild life trip that I would expect from Explore.

7) The guides's itinerary was ridiculous at times and one day we went straight from breakfast to a feast at a local home and then straight on to lunch.

8) Explore invited me to send a trip review, which I did, but to date I have received no response apart from an automated acknowledgement, which is concerning and unprofessional.

I think that Explore is in danger of losing a lot of repeat custom if this continues.

I will be submitting this exact same review to Feefo, but I understand they only publish the 'good stuff'....

Thank you Explore for your response. I have checked my emails (and my Spam folder) and I have not received any reply from you on 22nd March (or any other date for that matter). Please would you kindly resend? Another lady in my holiday group (called Mrs B) received an email from you on 22nd - maybe you are getting us mixed up or think that we're the same person? I look forward to hearing from you.

We have used Explore eight times now and up until recently have been very positive in our feedback. This year after our trip to Singapore and Malaysia which had some issues that needed addressing, we got in touch with customer service. This was the first time the trip had run and there were many “teething problems”.
Fortunately the travellers on the trip were a pleasant and tolerant group who when the itinerary went haywire decided to “go with the flow” and not let it spoil the holiday.
We were particularly concerned that we were abandoned to the care of a local tour guide for the last three days of the trip rather than an experienced tour Leader.
As a group we were able to stay in touch after the trip and compare notes as we had created a Whatsapp group.
Some travellers got in touch with Explore to raise concerns and make suggestions.
The response was not what we expected. Explore customer services, after a month, came back with a generic response basically suggesting that we had been insufficiently flexible. If we were to travel with them again we should pay more attention to the terms and conditions.
The tone of the response was dismissive and suggested that we had as a group been inconsistent in our concerns.
All we were hoping for was an acknowledgment that there had been some shortcomings with this trip, a genuine apology and assurance that the issues would be addressed. We would have accepted this and stayed with Explore for future trips. However, because of their attitude, we will be using a different company next time we travel.
We were asked for feedback but the only part which was printed was in response to the question about highlights of the trip, therefore ensuring a positive Feefo review.
We have requested that the review be taken down as it does not an accurately reflect our opinions.
UPDATE - my Feefo review has not yet been removed from the Explore website as requested.

Although our Vietnamese guide was brilliant, the customer service in the UK was lacking. We were often kept on hold, sometimes for about 30 minutes or the phone was never answered. The Customer Service department was not reliable with regards to getting back to emails once the trip was booked. This has put us off using Explore again. We would suggest a more responsive approach so that the customer will feel more valued.

The walking holiday in Northern Cyprus was full on with a great group of fellow travellers.
Our guide Engin was really outstanding with his good humour and stories about life in a divided country. He was knowledgable about both the local flora and fauna and the history; taking us on varied and interesting walks, including to abandoned monasteries and the Ancient Greek city/state of Salamis.
The abandoned Famagusta was a sight to behold and shows the futility of war.

This review also appears on the Feefo page.

In relation to Explore Worldwide, under the heading Spain to Morocco Rail Adventure, I wrote a review yesterday regarding my recent experience of this trip.

I also wrote a Feefo ‘review’ for the Explore and Feefo websites. (The email I received from Feefo includes the statement that: ‘Once you’ve submitted your review, it will appear on Explore’s website, as well as Feefo’s own site.’).

I put in a lot of effort, and probably thanks to the intervention of Trailfinders through which I had booked the trip, finally received the Feefo invitation to review the trip, I need not have bothered!

At the same time as I received the Feefo ‘invitation’, I received an email from Explore that contains the lines:

“PS in a couple of days, you'll receive a request for another review from our preferred review site. These reviews sit on our website and help customers find honest reviews and choose trips that are right for them.”

In relation to Feefo Explore says on its website:

“By working with an independent review company like Feefo, we make it easy for you to find the reviews relevant to you and your trips, and can assure you of the reviews’ impartiality.”

It does not seem impartial to select only one comment that I made, where I was specifically asked to name the most memorable aspect of the trip, and to only mention that, and to ignore where, within a 255 character restriction, I was asked for how Explore could improve the trip.

In this section I wrote:
“Summary.
Deliver package as described in the brochure and not as changed unilaterally by their Spanish agents.
Add Seville to the itinerary.
Change the hotel in Marrakesh.
My full review has been sent separately to Explore and is available on Trustpilot.”

If Feefo only wanted or would only publish ‘praise’, why didn’t they say so?

Feefo says of itself: “At Feefo we believe that unbiased and honest reviews from real customers like you are great for helping customers choose their next trip.”

Remember the mention, by Feefo, that my review would appear on its website. Well, I went looking for it on the Feefo website. Guess what I found when I looked for Explore?

“no results for your search of Explore (x) within All Categories of All Ratings”

Thinking that that statement may have been a computer glitch, I then specifically looked for Explore or Explore Worldwide (which is the title registered with Companies House) in the Travel and Tourism sub-section. I checked the names of all 359 companies mentioned in that section (yes, I went through all 45 pages) There is no company with Explore in its title!

So, in my opinion (as has been said by other contributors to this topic) Feefo only wants favourable opinions for its corporate customers, to help the latter sell more product. Don’t help them!

We may have a new expression: “Review laundering”

Travel wisely

Wow! Just wow! Thailand Island Hopping Trip was just amazing. From arriving in Bangkok this trip just got better and better! Hotels were amazing, transfers were seamless, trips were outstanding and our tour guide was simply the best! I cannot recommend this trip highly enough! I may even have to do this again next year! Just brilliant... and I did this as a solo traveller! I felt completely safe and looked after from start to finish! Do not hesitate go for it!