Exoticca Reviews

: 26
35% Would buy here again

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D
Dru Faulk
Do not use Excoticca They were horrbile. If we had not had a Spanish speaking person in our group we would have been .... Horrible planning, horrible communication, horrible customer service. W...Read on
D
Danika
DO NOT BOOK WITH EXOTICCA. I booked the Jordan Wonders of the Hashemite Kingdom trip (traveled May 14-22, 2022). Jordan was pretty good. Our guide, Adnan, was wonderful. The hotels were OK. Great s...Read on
K
Kevin
Save yourself a lot of grief.Do not travel with Exoticca.They are at best a bait and switch company,but closer to a ponzi scheme.And if you need customer service forget it.Their page may say open 2...Read on
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Pamela Gray
I was forced to cancel my Peru trip (Booking No. S-EX2021054343) because of an injury (6 broken ribs) 13 days prior to departure. Exoticca did not offer me a future trip or partial refund. They k...Read on
J
Joan
I will not book another Exoticca tour. I realize there are problems with flights because of Covid, but of the group traveling with us, we were the only two who had to pay luggage fees. We were book...Read on

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    Travel tour to Peru

    Do not use Excoticca
    They were horrbile. If we had not had a Spanish speaking person in our group we would have been ....
    Horrible planning, horrible communication, horrible customer service.
    We would have been better off planning the trip and booking a company in the country.


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    Wonders of the Hashemite Kingdom - Jordan

    DO NOT BOOK WITH EXOTICCA. I booked the Jordan Wonders of the Hashemite Kingdom trip (traveled May 14-22, 2022). Jordan was pretty good. Our guide, Adnan, was wonderful. The hotels were OK. Great staff but our group was spread over 4 hotels (not close to each other) in each location. Also, people weren’t on the same schedule so we had people rotating in and out of the tour. The real problem came on the return flight. Our flights were booked by Exoticca. We arrived at JFK only to discover that our flight from JFK to DCA was cancelled due to weather and this means the airline has no responsibility for assisting us beyond booking a new flight (in this case the next day from a different airport). I tried calling Exotticca (at 8pm on a Sunday) using the number at the bottom of their emails that clearly stated “Sat. and Sun.: 3:00 a.m. - Midnight (EST)” but received an automated message that they were open Mon-Fri during business hours. After several more attempts to get better flights from the airline, we gave up rented a car and drove home. The next day I tried calling Exottica to request a refund for my flight/expenses. Since I couldn’t get anyone to answer the phone Monday morning I used their contact form and received this response:
    “Sorry to hear you had issues with flight cancellations at the end of your trip.
    We inform you that you must take up this issue with the airline as it is their responsibility to provide a new flight for you in this instance.
    Communicate with them and send them your receipts as they must respond for these extra costs incurred that would have been avoided by providing a new flight, which is what should have happened.
    Alternatively you could take this up with your travel insurance company.
    Hope this is helpful and good luck with the process.”
    Anyone that has booked airfare thru an agent knows that the airlines will direct you back to the agent (and they did). I was able to get Exoticca on the phone on Tuesday to explain this and ask why their phone line wasn’t open per the times in the email. They responded with “it’s not our responsibility” and “you should have used the emergency number listed on page 17 of the trip summary.” So now I’m stuck trying to get the airline to deal with me even though I didn’t book the ticket and Exoticca is refusing to provide any assistance. So I want everyone to know if you have any problems on an Exoticca trip ITS NOT THEIR RESPONSIBILITY!


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    trip

    Save yourself a lot of grief.Do not travel with Exoticca.They are at best a bait and switch company,but closer to a ponzi scheme.And if you need customer service forget it.Their page may say open 24hrs,but it is not true.Your calls will go unanswered,and it wills take many days,or even weeks to receive any answer to emails.I traveled twice with them.Once to Portugal,which was substandard at best.And the second time to Mexico.Which was so bad we changed our tickets and left back home...yes they are THAT bad

    I had questions pre-trip and I sent an email with my concerns, and got a reply. I found them very responsive. Shrug.


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    PERU EXCURSION

    I was forced to cancel my Peru trip (Booking No. S-EX2021054343) because of an injury (6 broken ribs) 13 days prior to departure. Exoticca did not offer me a future trip or partial refund. They kept $2,019 though my medical team sent a letter to Exoticca confirming the necessity to cancel my trip.


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    Peru 10 night package

    I will not book another Exoticca tour. I realize there are problems with flights because of Covid, but of the group traveling with us, we were the only two who had to pay luggage fees. We were booked on Star airlines, not Latham like our fellow travelers and had to pay $60 even though our luggage was carry on size. For our trip from Peru to Las Vegas, we had 2 stopovers and the last leg of the journey was a 7 HOUR layover. We might as well have spent the night. That was after flying Juliacca to Lima, Lima to Dallas and then home. Unacceptable to tired travelers. Plus, no one had seats next to their spouses. Exoticca uses Condor travel for the pickups and land tours. Again, unequal treatment within a group, but the tours were amazing. I would go to Peru again. But definitely not with Exoticca. Their customer service agents are great but you can’t get ahold of anyone when you have problems. When you arrive back and send them notices, they ignore you. I’ve left numerous calls and never heard back. Thumbs down Exoticca.

    NO! I would not book again.

    Use Andes Adventures or Adventure-life for future trips to Peru. And go during the Iynit-rami festival, in Cusco. AMAZING. You will LOVE this festival! We used Andes Adventures and were very pleased. We have also used Adventure-life x 2, and just booked Bolivia with them for Feb.


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    Ireland Tour

    My wife and I just got back from our 9-day Ireland tour (Sep 2021). The tour was fantastic, and I give credit to the contracted tour company - Tour Partner Group of Ireland. They were superb and the driver/tour guide (Bill Murray) was the best guide we've had in a decade. His detailed knowledge made this a trip to remember.
    Exoticca, on the other hand, needs work. Communication PRIOR to booking was excellent. Once booked, communication all but ceased. Phone calls were disconnected after being on hold 15 minutes. Emails were either responded to after over a week, but usually not answered at all. Incorrect information on the voucher was never corrected in spite of numerous attempts to get clarification (example, all the optional excursions were listed on Day 2). Guided tour at the beginning in Dublin was simply a 90 minute quick walk which you could get from any map, and NONE at the end of the trip (you were on your own, including transportation). Not a big deal, but certainly misleading from the pre-sales information provided.
    The tours were great, but sometimes had to be modified by the Tour Partner Group because of the impossibility of completing the "schedule" created by Exoticca (no Star Trek transporter available to cover the distance required). Some tours (Blarney) were so abbreviated as to only allow barely enough time to climb the tower, kiss the Blarney, head back down to the bus. No time to wander any of the wonderful gardens. Hotels were not conveniently located to the next day attraction necessitating additional travel time and limiting on-site time. Hotels (except Dublin) were no convenient to city centers, so evening meals required use of the hotel restaurant for practical reasons. The food was great, so no problem with it. Just that knowing tour groups were restricted to the hotel generally, why not provide some discount at the hotel? Other travel companies include the evening meals in situations like this, so I understand why Exoticca is cheaper. Most hotels do not have a/c, which normally isn't a problem. Our trip had the rare weather of no rain, temperatures above 22C, and so the rooms were quite warm (no fans). Opening the window gave you lots of outside noise, especially in Dublin.
    Exottica booked extra excursions even though they were NOT open and had not been for over a year. I'm still awaiting my refunds for those events canceled. These should have been listed as possibilities and booked WHEN they announced they were opening, not ahead like Exoticca did when they were closed. In closing, the Tour Partner Group made this an excellent experience. Exoticca would do better to COORDINATE with this group what would be realistic tour times, hotels, and travel time. They need to work on communication, especially email!

    Group made this an excellent experience. Exoticca would do better to COORDINATE with this group what would be realistic


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