Exoticca

Horrible company. Terrible customer service. I only gave one star because to rate them on here, that is the lowest you can give. Please READ all the small print! They are not responsible for much of anything, offer dangerous and inadequate hotels to stay in, and will not return any of your money if there are any issues. The chances are very high that this will be a VERY expensive trip with NO enjoyment.

Impossible to contact customer service with any question. Strongly recommend NOT using this company, you will be very disappointed, unless less you like drama in your life.

DO NOT BOOK! You loose 75% of total trip cost. Exoticca doesn't care about customers, doesn't know a thing about customer service. Not flexible or helpful when unforeseen circumstances arrive and you need to make modifications/accommodations. Worst customer experience ever, blamed me for putting myself in this situation.

Do not use Exoticca for any travel plans. My recent experience in Jan. 2024 has been miserable. They answer the phones quickly to book your travel and take your deposit but after that don't expect any customer service. I called 53 times and NO ONE ANSWERS THE PHONE! As a result, I placed my account in dispute with my credit card company. Exoticca disputed the charge and went back to their " terms and conditions" section. What a bunch of mumbo jumbo. Stay clear of this very shady operation. You will be better off with another travel company..

Stay away! They their accommodations superior and luxury. Paying luxury premium but got superior. When asked why this happened as both the exclusively listed hotel and boat were available, their excuse was that these hotel are considered to be both superior and luxury. I'm now fighting with them to get the additional $700/pp upgrade charges reversed. I contacted my credit card company who is investigating this fraud. Don't trust EXOCTICAA!

DO NOT USE EXOTICCA. Does not care about safety. Poor customer service. Thieves and scammers. Look at all of the negative reviews on the better business bureau! We are out thousands of dollars because they refused to follow their own policies. AVOID EXOTICCA!

5/23. Argentina-Brazil tour. Actual tour component is handled by local tour companies. All good.TRAVEL,FLIGHTS booked by Exoticca RUBBISH! Lots of unnecessary stop overs, ridiculously earl flights in middle of your holiday, no way of getting past the person on the phone to speak with manager or flight department. On a tour now with USA, Canadian, Uk tourist and ALL of us have had a nightmare with flights booked and in one case cancelled mid holiday, by Exoticca. DO NOT USE! DO NOT HAVE THIS STRESS

I have been on many small group tours including India. Traveled to Africa, Peru, and many cruises and I have to say that Exoticca was hands down the worst! The guides were not well versed in English. We were rushed. Up at 2 am to go on long bus rides. Very little explanation of our site visits, which was a huge disappointment. Very unorganized. Never knew what was happening. Itinerary changed often. We had only one daylight day on the Nile (we sat at port for two full days before setting sale in the evening). Food was lacking. I had two friends who used two different travel companies and they thankfully had an experience of a life time. Ours was far from good and I've been to many places and never experienced such a poor performance from a travel company. I DO NOT RECOMMEND Exoticca!

Our Iceland Tour in March 2023 went real smooth from flights, guides and sightseeing. Will book again for the Price.

1. The group size ranged between 30 and 50 people, which can be quite overwhelming for some travelers and limit the personalized experience.

2. Arriving at the hotel at 7:30 pm and having to wake up at 5:15 am every day for a 6:45 am pick-up left little time to relax or enjoy the trip. Hotels are not superior class. All about 4 stars far from city center on average 45 mins.

3. Excessive Bus Travel: Spending more time on the bus than actually sightseeing can be frustrating and disappointing. A 10-hour bus ride from one city to another is excessive and should be better managed.

4. Unprofessional Tour Guide: The tour guide's unprofessional behavior, including yelling at several people, is unacceptable and negatively impacts the overall tour experience. Additionally, dishonesty regarding excursion availability is a serious issue.

5. Travelers should be advised that this trip may not be suitable for everyone. Only if you are planning to live out of your suitcase for 10-12 days.

In summary, the trip to Turkey with Exoticca appears to have several significant issues, including scheduling problems, unprofessional conduct by the tour guide, and excessive bus travel. Travelers should consider these factors before booking.

I booked a trip to Japan that is coming up in September. I wanted to upgrade to a pass on the reservation, I must've called 10 times and tried to talk to agents, but they will only talk to the person that booked the trip all of us passengers paid the same amount, but they will only talk to that one passenger. This is so annoying for me, and for my friend to book the trip, I went on that air, Nippon website to pull up our flights to try to do so myself, and found that they spelled my name incorrectly. It is not Match my passport. This is a huge problem, and I've tried to call exotica again. They won't talk to me only my friend who works and has had to spend endless time on the phone with exotica trying to fix this. Their solution is to cancel my ticket and buy a new one with the correct spelling of my name Availability may be an issue though. This is an unacceptable solution exotica being my travel agent should be in contact with Air Nippon and should be correcting this. My friend and I should not have to be making numerous phone calls and have a stress level of 10 over this when we booked our trip we all have to send our passports over with the correct name, spelling, and they sent us an email to verify that everything was spelled, correct clearly, the problem did not come from our end, since exotica is our agent they need to deal with this problem and they need to deal with it ASAP but they won't. I am honestly afraid to go on this trip. There are so many loose ends. You never speak to your same agent. And the idea of not being able to speak to somebody only the lead person is allowed to speak on the phone is absolutely ridiculous and ludicrous exotica get your act together and get my ticket fixed.

I was overcharged and no explanation given
There's no transparency with how much you've been charged such as airfare and tour details
I will Not recommend anyone to travel with Exccotica. They're very expensive despite their false advertising. Please beware

There's no way to contact Exoticca while traveling. There's no help. I have been trying to get some real agent to talk to and there's none. I have paid for superior hotels and they put me in the hotel which doesn't qualify for 2 stars
Please see the pictures

On November 11,2022 we booked a trip to Peru and Galapagos with them and gave a $5686.32 deposit. On November 18th 2022 our daughter passed unexpectedly with three young children at home. We could no longer go on the trip as we have to be here to take care of the children. I called Exoticca and told them what happened and they said I could cancel no problem but never said they we not going to give me my deposit. To this day I have never received a penny back and they won't even respond anymore The are DISPICABLE! STAY AWAY!

I gave Exoticca a trip deposit over $1500, and after supposedly confirming my reservation, and after clearing my work for my vacation, about two weeks before the departure date, Exoticca canceled everything for me without my approval and kept my entire deposit. No vacation, no refund, no service.

Unethical thieves! DO NOT BUY FROM THEM! My wife and I purchased a trip to Egypt 6 months before the travel date. When the war broke out in neighboring Israel, we did not feel comfortable for several reasons traveling to Egypt. The US State Department has it listed as a Level 3: Reconsider Travel warning. We gave them 4 months notice. We didn't even ask for our money back; instead, we simply asked to get a credit or transfer our deposit to a different trip. Not only did they refuse, they told us they were keeping 60% of our $3600 deposit! We canceled the trip and have been waiting over two weeks to receive our 40% refund. Now they are sending emails stating they aren't going to refund us at all! Good luck calling customer service. I waited for 51 minutes on hold when an automated message came on and said, "All representatives are busy, call back at another time" and hung up on me. I kept calling and eventually spoke with a representative who recommended I pay the additional 40%! Are you kidding me? I asked to speak to a supervisor and they refused stating, "We don't have supervisors. You have to submit a complaint through the website." I have submitted numerous complaints and they keep sending an AI-generated message that says we aren't getting our refund. Extremely unethical, crooked company! SPRINT, don't just walk away from this company!

Please do not use Exoticca travel agency.

They hide behind their small print, and their advertising is misleading and they purposefully withhold essential information about transit flights until they have secured your booking and payment has been made.

Once you have paid you are then informed about your transit flights, of which they take zero responsibility regarding changing or cancelling flights or COVID vaccination status or visas.

We ended up in a situation where we had to purchase return flights via Mexico as we were unable to fly via USA, a high expense and inconvenience. I missed a day's work and my son missed crucial exams at school.

We were on time and ready to check in. We met another passenger, in the same situation due to lack of information being provided upfront when booking regarding transit flights. He also has to purchase another flight to return to the UK.

The United Airlines check-in desk at San Jose said this always happens with Exoticca! No other agency! They said to write a formal company to Exoticca and demand they pay for the new flights.

Exoticca take no responsibility for anything. My son was sick for three days and as a single parent, neither of us could attend these prepaid trips. They were unwilling to refund these trips and just refer to insurance.

The Exoticca agency outsource all the trips, which can be purchased at a much more competitive rate in the country, and they are unwilling to help or provide any flexibility to their terms and conditions.

Behind the flashy website, is a company that is misleading and certainly lacks customer support, most importantly, they do not take any responsibility for their incompetence.

Do not use this agency!

At the end of Sept. I booked a trip to South America.
At the end of Sept. 2023 after checking Exoticca's website, I chose a certain one in a lower price. I called, got an agent. He started with sweet talks, deceiving me and offering a much higher price, for same date.
He also said, he can not show me the itinerary, untill I paid 50% up front, which stupidly I did.
Next day I checked the lower price still showed. I called to complain about the price and also not given itinerary first.
For next 2 weeks I called a few times and exchanged a dozen emails. Every time I got another agent, who said: Prices change all the time. Never touched upon not giving itinerary. I also emailed a higher department, where they repeated same crap. Every time I explained that I picked a price from their site, only to get: Prices change and nothing about the itinerary. Also saying that there is single supplement, which of course I knew. My estimate is that they cheated me by $500.
Than I was offered to cancel my booking and rebook again for any dates or price, but they'll keep my $1900 deposit as a penalty. This is the most outrageous thing to say. This compay borders in fraud. Stay away.

Date of experience: September 28,2023

I was provided misinformation regarding payment and response rates. They do not have the staff to respond in a timely manner and when they do respond the question is not answered. Do NOT book with this company.

This company seem to be just a consolidator for tours. I have a trip to Greece coming in one week. My hotel itinerary and tour itinerary are not aligned. I have been calling and emailing for a month with no resolution.

Exoticca's Failure to provide accommodations at level paid: Bait and switch
Unscrupulous business practice: by Exoticca travel and Misrepresenting facts were material to our 2 transactions, first payments of 5/5/2022- $3,508.80 and second payment 7/7/2022- $2,477.55. We booked a trip with Exoticca travel to Turkey/Greece with departure date September 17,2022
Failure to disclose Cancellation policy:
After the first payment, we find out about Exoticca's multiple bad reviews on Yelp and BBB.com and decided to cancel.
Exoticca Travel refusal to our multiple requests of cancellation forced us to take this trip. We made the cancellation request over 3 months before the trip date. Seller's refused to refund and cancel the trip over 76 days before the trip. Exoticca referred to their cancellation policy. Exoticca had told us on the phone they have (Free cancellation policy). No detail of cancellation policy was on the payment receipts, trip Summery, we did not sign any agreements or contracts; I did not initial any acknowledgements of such cancellation policy. No viewing of cancellation Policy was offered to us. They refused to cancel our trip. Exoticca offered to cancel our trip, but keep all of our money over $3508.00 and offered illusory vouchers towards another trip!
We are working now with the government agencies to expose Exoticca preditory style of business and put the end to this none sence for everyone who traveled with them and prevent new victums from falling in to Exoticca traps of nice pictures and colorfull websites. Wish us good luck and join us. look at exoticca 5 star Hotel picture!Your reservation is confirmed!
Congratulations Agha, you're going to Turkey & Greece!

Proof of purchase and reservation:
Your trip documents: Booking Number
US-EX*******257

Turkey & Greece
Treasures of Anatolia & Greek Odyssey
All the details of your reservation including hotels, flights and itinerary can be found in your trip summary. Keep in mind that this information can change and will be updated closer to your departure date once all elements of your trip have been confirmed. Check your Exoticca Account regularly to keep up to date!

I am speaking from my personal experience, so if you find what I am writing here offensive in any way, my apologies to you in advance. Nevertheless, I must be honest with you, and I do this only after having shown forth a LOT of patience with this company, which has been given more than adequate time to respond to us and make things right. But our patience has grown thin. This should not, needless to say, come as a surprise to them when they read this.

My wife and I trusted Exoticca with our time, money, and high hopes for a trip to Morocco in late May 2022. The gentleman who booked this trip for us was friendly and a delight to work with; we have no qualms with him. However, when we received the airline reservations approximately two months in advance of the trip, they booked us on Air Canada for what was apparently the least expensive ticketing. We were to depart from Las Vegas and travel through Montreal and Lisbon en route to Casablanca.

I let Exoticca know immediately that the layover in Lisbon was very short, in fact, too short to make the connecting flight to Casablanca. After a very, very long hold time, and having to endure the repetitively annoying music in the meantime while waiting for a representative, I emphasized my concern that we would not be able to make the connecting flight if the flight from Montreal was even a little late. The rep tried to assure me that there would be no problems. I was, of course, skeptical of his "reassurance," having heard such things before. But he told me that they would get it changed and email me with the new itinerary. When the email came without either an itinerary change or an explanation, I called again and waited on another long hold, only to explain my concern once more to another rep, who tried to assure me that we'd be OK in making the connection in Lisbon. I couldn't help but get the distinct feeling as she spoke that I was getting an earful of hot air and fluff, despite sounding sincere and genuine. She likewise told me that we would hear back very shortly with an adjusted itinerary, but the email once again came back unchanged, just as if my concern had been completely disregarded and my time wasted.

I attempted other calls to Exoticca, but each time the hold time seemed to get longer and longer. I gave up trying to contact them and just went with the itinerary they had provided. We left Las Vegas on time and waited for eight hours at the airport in Montreal. The flight from Montreal was delayed, causing us to run like crazy to the departure gate for Casablanca, only to be firmly told that the gate had closed and we would not be permitted to board. Our greatest fear was realized. Fortunately, for the most part, the airline agents in Lisbon tried to be helpful. Nevertheless, we were then redirected from counter to counter to counter by airline and airport reps, who weren't able to do much for us. But after several hours, we finally managed to book a flight on a different airline.

As expected, our bags were not present upon our arrival in Casablanca. The lady at the desk that handled such situations had apparently become tired of dealing with angry Western visitors and would not let us make a claim. In desperation, we went to the Swissport office, where the gentleman tried his best to assist us. But we were not able to file an official claim. Our tour guide patiently waited for us and tried to assist us the best he could, but we left the airport without our luggage and didn't have it the entire 11 days of the trip, forcing us to wash clothes every night. Repeated efforts to get our bags resulted in continual disappointment. To make matters worse, we learned from fellow trip members that we could have been booked directly from Montreal to Casablanca without that unnecessary and unfortunate layover in Lisbon. We were the only trip members to have to change flights there. Imagine that!

Despite this major setback, we did our best to enjoy our time in the country. We had a great tour group and guide, and were able to see many fun and interesting sites. So, why am I writing all this if we managed to have a decent time? Well, it certainly is not to thank Exoticca, who contracted with a decent in-country travel group. Days after our return, we were contacted by the Exoticca Customer Car Team. I responded to their email by stating that I was displeased with some aspects of the trip and asked to be contacted by the team. "Julie" replied that they were "so sorry to hear that some aspects of this tour did not meet" our expectations. After a couple of failed attempts to reach me while I was at work, I told her by email that I'd make myself available at a certain time that would be convenient for both of us. She apparently ignored my emails and attempted to call again two weeks later, again thanking me for my initial review and noting that she was still not able to reach me successfully. She even asked me to let her know if I'd like for her to contact me either by phone or email, as she said she'd be very grateful for further feedback, which, as she stated, would be "a very useful tool to assist in improving our service and products in the future."

I never heard from her again. Another rep, "Ivan," called me a month later and informed me that Julie had been taken off my case "for personal reasons," which I now believe was BS – the case was simply passed on to him because Exoticca didn't know how to (or simply didn't want to) deal with my issue. I was never mean, threatening, or vulgar in any of my interactions, either by phone or email. "Ivan" and I seemed to have a helpful conversation, wherein I was able to explain my situation. We agreed that he would call me back one week later at a designated time and that he would be able to make things right. Well over a month later, that call still has not come.

It's apparent to me that Exoticca, while providing a great menu of very desirable-looking tours, is horribly unresponsive and not really interested in assisting travelers if there's an issue of any kind. Be forewarned… and a word to the wise: They book the trip and hope like hell the contracted company in country does its job, because they certainly aren't doing theirs, and they're not going to help you if things go south! They don't want to hear any complaints about their service (or lack thereof)… nothing negative. They will simply stop communicating with you if that's the case. I gave them opportunity after opportunity to redeem themselves.

I wanted so much to disregard all the negative reviews I had read online before I signed up for this trip. Nevertheless, I made the fateful decision to disregard those reviews and give Exoticca a chance to prove those reviews were simply untrue and biased. At this point, I can no longer do that and feel that I must make my feelings very clear. The sad part in all of this is that I had wanted so badly to give them another chance and take advantage of other seemingly fun deals, but heaven help us if something were to go wrong… they wouldn't be there to care in the least. Trying to contact them by phone has also been a nightmare, with very long wait times and reps that will tell you what you want to hear, but will not follow through with what they promise. I have always been better off booking with reputable companies like Gate 1 Travel, where I've never gotten any of this. The various tours Exoticca offers are quite tempting, and they'll likely be good once you're in country; however, just pray nothing goes wrong!

We paid our final payment to go to Morocco the afternoon of Friday, September 8th. The following morning we found out there had been a major earthquake in Morrocco. There have been about 2400 deaths, total devastation in most tourist attractions in Marakesh. Its not safe to travel there. Airlines are being understanding and allowing changes to Morocco. Of course the officials in Morocco are saying its safe to travel because they desperately need money to start recovery efforts.

Marakesh is on our agenda for three days and there is no way that restaurants, hotels and stores have not been impacted. I will not be put in danger by Exottica.

We requested they change our destination to Vietnam departing October 15th. The cost of Vietnam is well over $1,000 more so they would not be losing any money.

Exoticca has completely decided that the trip is on no matter what. I never thought a company with the prestige of Excoticca would put our lives in danger. So sad strongly recommend you NEVER NEVER USE THEM. They dont care about their customer's safety at all.

Im prepared to contact my attorney (and I do have legal coverage which I pay at work) to intervene on my behalf.