Anybody has experience with Viator ???

The more I look around for tours and transfers in Europe, the more I come across the name Viator. It is apparently a TripAdvisor company. Does anybody have experience with this company and their product - Tours, transfers, etc. ?

Viator does not employ the tour guides. They are a service where tour guides can sign up to be promoted and tourists can use the service to find tour guides and then to sign up and reserve and pay the fee. They do this world wise as do a few other similar services.

For Italy there are so many other tour services that employ their own guides that I would look at these services first in lieu of Viator. In other places where you don't have so much choice to me Viator is one to look at.

Keith

If you do a search on CC or Tripadvisor you will find plenty complaints about them.

They are a third party agent who sell on tours. Obviously, you will probably pay more with them than going to the supplier direct.

I would never bother with them as you can easily find a local operator.

As previous posts, Viator is a booking agency - they sell local operators' tours.

City Discovery and cruisingexcursions are similar operations.

So the quality of a tour is down to the operator rather than Viator, hence mixed reviews.

They drop operators that are responsible for a high number of complaints, and if a tour is unsatisfactory you are much more likely to get redress from Viator than from some unknown tour operator in a foreign country. So you can have more confidence in Viator than in an un-researched operator. They require payment with booking, but your money is safe with them.

They are also the lazy man's way of booking - a one-shop stop for all excursions world-wide.

Usually more expensive than booking the same tour direct with the operator, but the difference can be surprisingly small because a big part of their profit comes from the bulk-business discounts that they get from tour operators.

We've used them just the once, for a group-visa-included excursion into mainland China from Hong Kong. Because of the group visa, operators naturally required payment with booking, and we felt our money was safer with Viator.

They were efficient, and reminded us of the pick-up arrangements both by text and by phoning our hotel. No problems with the tour.

But in the main, we prefer to book direct with an independently-recommended (eg on Cruise Critic) operator - one less link in the chain means less chance of mis-communication, and more detailed tour information.

And do be aware that Viator sell to all-comers. If you share a tour with others on the same ship, that tour is geared to get you back to the ship in good time for your sailing. But if you share with folk from hotels, the driver may be less diligent about getting back on time.

JB :)

I have booked viator Helicopter Tours in New York and found them excellent. You pay on line print your voucher and turn up with your passport and voucher. You need to look into the specifics of a tour and email in any queries before you book if you think there could be an issue of any sort, timings, pick up point, disability, extra heavy people etc. Touring Lisbon on a motorcycle and sidecar for example is going to be just the guy plus you and your partner so wont relate to other people not on a cruise other trips may have a bigger group and bring in issues such as John Bull has raised.

Regards John

I used them for the first time in London last year. After reading reviews I found they used a highly recommended tour company. I ended up booking with them as it came out a bit cheaper. I would use them again but would also research reviews in that city...

I agree with the above comments. Also, I've found (in Viator tours in Europe in particular, including Italy) that you may book a tour that has 2 or even 3 different languages in the same group. The guide then has to repeat everything in each language up to three times. This both cuts down on the amount of info that can be given and also can sometimes lead to difficulties when groups of non-English speakers begin conversing with each other while the guide is giving the English information, making it difficult to hear.

I have used Viator multiple times, and have had good luck with them. I was hesitant at first with the voucher program, but I've never had any problems with using the vouchers.

I have used them in Venice, Rome, Amsterdam, New York City and Australia. Some land vacations and our Med cruise.

For my transfer in Rome from the airport to the hotel, I looked at their listing and made the booking, then realized the hotel named wasn't my hotel after all (very close names), so I called and explained my situation, the rep put me on hold, then came back and said she had contacted the vendor, and they could accommodate my hotel. Upon arrival into FCO at 10:00 pm, I was directed to the vendor desk, swiftly escorted to the waiting van. There was only 1 other couple on the van, but it was decided we would be dropped first as our hotel had an 11:00 curfew and we just made it.

Then in Venice, it was pouring rain. We went to the waiting spot and worried that nobody would show up, but the guide showed up right on time. There were about 15 of us on the ghost walking tour, and we took off with our umbrellas and was informed the tours run rain or shine. We did have a couple of French speaking tourists on the tour, so the guide (who was Italian) fortunately was able to converse in French, Italian and English, so nobody got left out of hearing the information. The tour would have been better without the rain, but I don't think anybody can control the weather.

I always check their website now to see what is available at what cost at any destination I am going to. I may not always book with them, but it gives me a point of reference.

I've used Viator many times all over - Stockholm, Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam and Rome. I check their site and TripAdvisor to see what's available and ratings, then comparison shop. I have found the same tour (same operator based on the Viator review comments) listed for less on Viator during a sale. It's nice to pay online in advance and instead of in cash on vacation.

I was just about to come on here and ask about Viator! I have found tours in all the cities I will be visiting pre and post cruise for my Sept sailing (Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan). They seem to be reputable and I'm glad I can pay tour fees up front. In saying that, a few of the tours I'm interested in, I'm sure I can find cheaper once I'm there, which I'll probably end up doing.

The only definite tour I'll be booking through them is the Lake Como day trip from Milan.

The one and only time we used Viator (for a Mt Fuji tour in Japan), the Viator database was hacked and our credit card details compromised. The actual tour was fine.

We used them once and it was fine. We usually find tours on our own.

We used them in Curaçao and had an excellent experience. I like their Worry Free Shore Excursion Guarantee (only available on some excursions), ability to pay in U.S. Dollars, and that it's owned by TripAdvisor. Downsides are that payment is nonrefundable (unless you book a worry free shore excursion and your ship can't dock), you don't know who the tour operator is for your specific tour, and pricing can be as high as the cruise line.

You can pay in USD almost everywhere in the Caribbean. In Curaçao we just picked up a tour at the dock as we have done in almost every Caribbean destination. Would never book a non refundable excursion.

In St Maarten we had booked a trip with Bernard's Tours. Our port say was changed, but when we got there they just put us on another tour, so nothing lost.

I was considering Viator for our Christmas vacation. However,  I came across multiple negative Viator reviews over the internet. On many review platforms customers are complaining about booking issues, not receiving and order, wrong tickets delivered. Some people are saying that they cannot download their tickets or cannot see the booking withing the email. A lot of reviewers shared their problems with login to their Viator account. I would like to know what the best alternatives are for Viator...

8 hours ago, mary.milana.wilson said:

I was considering Viator for our Christmas vacation. However,  I came across multiple negative Viator reviews over the internet. On many review platforms customers are complaining about booking issues, not receiving and order, wrong tickets delivered. Some people are saying that they cannot download their tickets or cannot see the booking withing the email. A lot of reviewers shared their problems with login to their Viator account. I would like to know what the best alternatives are for Viator...

For which ports or places?

We used them for the vatican last summer.....awesome!

1 hour ago, cpristash said:

We used them for the vatican last summer.....awesome!

 

Just to be clear, you didn't use "them" -- Viator does not PROVIDE the tours. They are only a middle-man or reseller for local tours.  It would be a lot more helpful if you knew which local tour company actually provided the tour...

We have booked viator Park Guell tour in Barcelona. Yes, the tour itself was provided by a local tour operator. I don’t remember the exact name of this operator, but it was quite a big company. More over I think it was one of the biggest operators  in Barcelona as they also operated one of their Hop on Hop of lines.
The tour was good but not excellent. The tour guide was good, his English was rather good, he answered all the questions very patiently, the group was not too big – about 10 people majority of which booked the tour via Viatour. I can’t say anything bad about this tour but it’s still wasn’t excellent. I hope you can understand what I meen... Any way I can’t compare this tour with the tours provided by one local tour operator in St. Petersburg. That tour operator was carefully chosen on this very forum. I’ve spent a lot of time to choose the operator, to read reviews on TA, to correspond with their manager and to develop the particular tour. The result was more than excellent.
So I agree with John Bull: Viatour is lazy man's way of booking. If you book via Viatour it probably will be good service. Of course before booking you shall read all the reviews especially negative and decide would you like such tour or not. But if you need something excellent you are to spend time and to choose among local companies.  Good luck!
Jess

We used Viator to purchase “skip the line” access to St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. We went through them because it was the most inexpensive site offering this type of admission. Very easy to book,  and the vouchers and instructions were easy to use and follow. No complaints.

I did browse tours and offerings on the Viator website at other ports of call, but we ended doing our own thing and/or purchasing directly from each attraction or vendor. But I think Viator is a good option for easy, one stop shopping, specially for someone who hasn’t done much research or is unfamiliar with what’s available at each port of call. 

3 hours ago, CrazyJess said:

Any way I can’t compare this tour with the tours provided by one local tour operator in St. Petersburg. That tour operator was carefully chosen on this very forum. I’ve spent a lot of time to choose the operator, to read reviews on TA, to correspond with their manager and to develop the particular tour. The result was more than excellent.

Hi Jess,

Just for a bit of balance, St Petersburg seems to be an exception to the rule.

We use review sites mainly to avoid operators with an unacceptable proportion of bad reviews, but I've seen only excellent reviews of all the St Petersburg operators - everyone recommends the operator that they used, and I could almost suggest just putting all the names in a hat, & whichever one pops out will be excellent.

(and it goes without saying that there's no need to use any intermediary booking agency for St Pete's).

None of them offered seat-on-bus for our visit to St Pete's (small ship) so I set up a RollCall to try to get a group of at least eight to get the seat-in-bus price. Alla was able to find others, so we booked with her in order to get that minimum number.

We actually ended up with a total of 20, divided into two comfortable van-loads.

Alla's tour was excellent - but as I've said, I'm confident it'd have been equally good with any of them. 

JB