TripADeal Reviews 853

9 nights Unbeatable Japan = Wow! This was our first time booking an overseas holiday with a tour company. With many positive reviews from family & friends we thought we would go. Our experience was fantastic. We had a good vibe from the moment we met our tour guide, Dragon, and his assistant. Having tickets to venues all organised allowed smooth entry and maximising our time at locations.
Due to snow falling there were unexpected highway closures. Our driver & guide worked to figure out the situation, keeping us up to date. Alternative locations were offered and our group decided on the substitutes, which did not disappoint. Much rather the change of interinery than hours late to hotel the night before our departure.
We loved it so much we can't wait to go back to Japan.

We were so impressed with how considered the short 8 day tour of Japan was. The many places we went and cultural aspects that our tour leader shared with us made the tour so much more meaningful. Thanks Dragon for a tour with so many highlights. We were so lucky to have an amazing group to tour with also . Exceptional value .The extra stop at a Green tea plantation and factory is as a wonderful surprise as was staying next to Hamamatsu Castle on our last night .We went during the busy period of the autumnal festival and there were challenging moments for our bus drivers to get us to the points of interest. The tour leader used his knowledge of the time of year and traffic to change the order of the tour and get us to all the places with time to enjoy them - so much atmosphere with so many locals out and about enjoying their seasonal celebrations. It was wonderful to experience it . So different to have so many people around you from the space we experience in Australia.

I haven't been paid the correct amount of Qantas Frequent Flyer points. Some points of mine were paid in error by Trip A Deal to my brother and also I have been short changed points.
They have basically told me that they can't fix the error and my brother needs to transfer the excess points back to me. I am still trying to get confirmation in writing from them so I can go to my brother with proof. As for the shortfall I am still waiting on a phone call back which is outside the timeframes I have been advised. Their staff are more interested in telling me that this is their busy period for sales so after care obviously doesn't matter to them even though it is their error.

Avoid AVoid AVoid TripaDeal
I have travelled to 80 countries and some them several times.
I have dealt with many travel tour companies and this is the worst by far , had very few problems with the others such as Intrepid, inspiring vacations and g travel just to name a few.
Here are just some of the problems and we have not even departed yet and it cost A$30k for 2
1. Misleading Deal Urgency:
When we initially booked the trip, the deal was advertised as ending that very night, which led us to book online at a late hour with no option to speak directly with the travel team.
Later on, we discovered that the deal had been extended multiple times, which would have allowed us to contact your team and potentially address our concerns more effectively, maybe avoiding some of the problems.

2. Qantas Points Allocation:
The booking was completed on my travel companion’s computer, which meant that the Qantas points, worth 30,000 Australian dollars, were credited to her account. This has created an awkward situation, as I specifically chose this trip partly for the points, and it has been challenging to reconcile the point allocation with our friendship.

Additionally, I previously emailed Tripadeal regarding this issue and was informed that it wasn’t possible to book separately and still earn points. However, I encountered another traveler who claimed that they often book separately with Tripadeal and still receive the points, which contradicts the information I was given.

3. Itinerary and Communication Issues:
We also faced difficulties in accessing and confirming the itinerary details. Despite my extensive travel experience with other companies, it was challenging to get the information we needed and to secure additional nights before and after the trip. The current itinerary is also quite exhausting, with early morning departures and tight connections, which is not ideal for a trip of this cost.
Other companies offer extra trip days at a cost prior to and after the trip to allow for tight flight transfers and jet lag .
I have been told this is not an option once the trip was booked should have been done from the beginning however in the beginning we did not have the flight itinerary. Now there are 4am starts 29 hrs of straight travel prior to going straight into a 32 day tour
That is very poor travel planning

4. Lack of Support:
Throughout the booking process, there was limited support and communication from the travel team, they should have realised it is a punishing itinerary for any one.This was not the experience we expected given the significant investment in the trip.

I am not the only one who has had these problems with this company. Friends of mine recently did a China trip with them and said it was terrible poorly planned with little time
And taken to restaurant that were tourist traps

Very happy with our 10 day South African trip. Our flights from Perth were with Singapore Airlines (my favourite!), with only a 3 hour layover in Singapore which was perfect. Coming back was just as easy - although the flight from Cape Town stops at Jo’burg for an hour
Our 3 days at Kruger (1 full day tour and 2 x 1/2 day tours) were amazing, we saw a lot more animals than we expected to - and the lodge we stayed at was very comfortable.
Then the 4 nights in Cape Town were fantastic too. The hotel was excellent and the two tours we went on were very interesting and enjoyable.
Definitely recommend this for the price - 2 people for AUD7,000 including all flights really can’t be beaten.
This was a taster of Africa for us and we definitely want to go back for more.

10 out of 10. Just booked 3rd tripadeal tour love them

We took an advertised 17 days "ultimate Japan tour starting 31/10/25.
*Change of flight was not communicated until we questioned it. Maybe this was more of Qantas fault.
*The local guide was evasive about questions sometimes and also tended not to wait for everyone come off the coach before heading off or started talking. As a consequence, two couple got lost at different time and had to find their own way back to the hotel paying own taxi fare.
*When contacted to question the supply of the 16th meal as per itinerary (the local guide refuse to sort this out for us and asked us to contact TripaDeal direct which was a bit difficult when we did not have voice call for our overseas SIMS), we were told that it would be the inflight breakfast. We always thought that meals provided by airline is separate from meals claimed to be provided by touring company.
*On a positive note, we did appreciate the guide's help in taking my husband to the hospital for medical attention at Hiroshima.
*On return, TripaDeal sent an email asking for feedback. When going through the survey, I found that the wording and questions do not make allowance for negative comment.

Major breach of Australian Consumer Law – avoid. Use a chargeback to recover your money.

March 2026 Update – SUCCESS:
A chargeback through our credit card company returned the FULL amount. If you have had a similar experience where TripADeal has not delivered the service you purchased, Australian Consumer Law protects you.

TripADeal repeatedly disputed our request, our Letter of Demand, and even the chargeback itself, writing to our credit card provider and relying on their own terms and conditions. Fortunately, our bank was far more reliable than TripADeal in applying the law and charged back the full amount.

Do not assume TripADeal is giving you accurate legal information.
Do your own research. You can even ask ChatGPT to help guide you through the process. Paste this prompt into ChatGPT:

“I paid for a travel service in Australia that was significantly changed or not delivered as contracted and the company is refusing a full refund — please explain my rights under Australian Consumer Law (major failure), how to pursue a credit-card chargeback, how to file in NCAT/VCAT/QCAT, and show examples of successful tribunal cases where consumers won refunds in similar situations.”

Chargebacks can often be initiated up to 150 days after you became aware of the problem, which provides a significant window to act. Start the process immediately. If TripADeal eventually refunds you properly, the chargeback simply cancels — so there is no downside to starting it early.

Original Review

OMG, never again.

We paid $4,598 for a China tour followed by a cruise to Japan. After taking our money, TripADeal later advised the cruise destination had been changed to South Korea instead of Japan, including two days docked at the same Korean port. This is not a minor itinerary tweak — it is a fundamental change of destination.

To be fair, the change was made by the cruise line. However, TripADeal’s handling of the situation was a legal and financial disaster.

We cancelled solely because of this change. Despite this, TripADeal attempted to keep the majority of our money and advised that only $770 would be refunded, citing “unrecoverable costs”. (They later increased this amount to around $2900).

This position is contrary to Australian Consumer Law. Substituting one country for another constitutes a major failure. When a major failure occurs, the consumer is entitled to cancel and receive a full refund. A company’s internal terms, supplier arrangements, or “unrecoverable costs” do not override statutory consumer rights.

TripADeal’s own correspondence acknowledges the itinerary was changed by the cruise line. Qantas Customer Care (TripADeal’s parent company) confirmed that where a service cannot be delivered as described, a full refund may apply under Australian Consumer Law — yet TripADeal still refused to comply.

As a result, we pursued a chargeback and tribunal action.

Bottom line: If you book a destination-specific holiday, be aware that TripADeal may change the destination and then attempt to keep most of your money. Our experience suggests a serious disregard for Australian Consumer Law. Proceed with caution.

Kerrie Ann Barnett (Team Leader Sales & Service ) and Sarah MS (likely Sarah Mathieson-Smith) were the two Trip a Deal representatives putting their names to emails or letters that placed Trip a Deal's terms and conditions above Australian Consumer Law.

WE embarked on the India Heritage tour on Oct 28 to Nov 13 2025. Below is my review sent to Tripadeal regarding the trip. It is now Jan 9 2026 and still have not had a reply. The highlights were true highlights. The Sihk temple and kitchen - not on the itinerary- was outstanding. The Forts, Temples at Khajuraho, Taj Mahal, The Chand Baori Step well, Tiger reserve and houseboat experiences were fantastic. Cochin was underwhelming. All accomodation was Good to OK given that we were on the Premium package - level of service in hotels was just OK. On arrival we were issued with an alternative itinerary which unfortunately was not followed and we missed quite a few activities. Time in Delhi was very good. We covered everything plus more listed on alternative program. Guide was informative but was extremely difficult to understand, especially when on the microphone on the bus. Day 2 trip to Jaipur - arrived late so no chance for the short orientation tour. Late because we spent nearly 2 hours in a rug/craft centre where 3 of the 19 in the group bought something!!! Total waste of time. Optional cooking demonstration put off until the following evening. Day 4 trip to Agra. Again late arrival due to the obligatory jewel/craft shop stopover. Again one or two travellers purchased something whilst a number of frustrated people waited and waited. We were supposed to visit the optional activity of the Baby Taj and Mehtab Bagh that afternoon - did not happen. Next day 5am departure to Taj Mahal which was great. Baby Taj and Mehtab occured in the afternoon which was a total waste of time after viewing the Taj Mahal in the morning. Mehtab Bagh was a view of the Taj Mahal across a dirty river - waste of time and money. Guide was losing enthusiasm. Optional Food trail tour that evening was great even if brief. Day 5 trip to Khajuraho was advertised a 6.5 hour train journey. What a disaster - over 9 hours on a second class sleeper train. Happy to have a one hour experience on an Indian train, but 9 hours, sharing a compartment with an elderly Indian gentleman whose bodily hygiene wasn't great and he snored, farted and grunted his way for the entire journey. Itinerary said on arrival we would visit the temples. Not possible in the dark!!! Day 6. Only one of the two listed optional activities took place - the Tiger reserve. Did the temples that afternoon. Day 7 we did the missed optional activity to the Raney falls. Back for lunch then on a later train for the supposed 6.5 hours trip. Again it was 9 hours!!! Arrived at hotel in Delhi around midnight. Had to be up for 7am bus to airport. Day 8 we were dropped of at the airport, no guide to assist us with where to go in the airport. We then discover it is not a direct flight to Cochin. Our guide was a very pleasant chap, but again he was extremely difficult to understand - we missed so much of the information he was attempting to deliver. On arrival at Cochin we were then on a bus for 4 hours to arrive at out hotel in the dark. Optional activity at Bird Sanctuary did not take place at all!! Day 9 on houseboat was great. Day 10 - another unscheduled stop at a massage facility in Periyar. Again we waited nearly 2 hours while 5 of the 19 had a massage. One street full of tacky tourist stores for 2 hours. Again arrived at isolated hotel, nearly an hour away from Periyar in the dark. Day 11 - supposed to see spice gardens and tea and coffee plantations. Could only see this if you chose to do the Wildlife Sanctuary option. Even they did not get to do this. 14 travellers remained at the isolated hotel for the entire day. Day 12 - trip to Cochin. Very underwhelming city - just a big bustling city. Day 13 our paid optional activity 'Heritage Walk' was not happening because our extremely difficult to understand guide said he could not be in two places at once so we had to do the other activity. Day 14 Hotel check out was 12 noon. Bus was picking us up at 6pm. Told hotel was full and we could not stay in rooms longer. This was false information. We all booked rooms for an additional 6 hours at our own cost. Trip home thankfully uneventful. This was our 6th Tripadeal tour. The previous 5 were fantastic and we encouraged friends to join us on the Indian tour. I would have to rate it 5/10 . Very disappointing! Itinerary’s not followed, time wasted in 'designated' shops, guides with very poor english, optional paid activities not delivered or not delivered in the order listed. Late arrivals to hotels. Train travel times not listed accurately. I think Tripadeal is doing itself a disservice by using ' specialholidays.com' as their agent - it is ruining your brand in India. There is no way we would recommend this particular trip to anyone. We apologise for the negative review, but you need to know what was happening on the ground. We look forward to your response in the near future.

Excellent organisation great guides and fantastic value for money, the flights were excellent timings hotels could not ask for better,

Tripadeal charged us over $8000 initial fee for their swiss train experience. Then they booked our flights without any input from us and it turned out we had been given 3 out of 5 night flights with one 15 hour flight from singapore departing to zurich at 1.30 AM. When we asked if we could change to an earlier flight or to go via frankfurt which has morning departures they refused to help us and muttered something about their business model being built on cheap flights. We cancelled the whole thing but are yet to see any refund. We are resigned to having lost all our money. Be warned.

One star is too many, I would gladly zero it.
Paid what was indicated as the full amount on points and then find out that I still had 2.5 k AUD to pay.
Tried to get my points back or even tried to downgrade the room of the booking.
Totally inflexible and said the only way to downgrade was cancel and book again and still lose 237,000 points.
I had to cancel as it was out of my reach, I would never use or recommend them again.

It gives me great pleasure to write this review after just returning from a TripADeal – Vietnam & Cambodia trip, 2025. I must acknowledge that from the time I meet our fellow adventurers (21 Trippers in total) and my tour leader in Hoi Chi Minh City, our trip was fantastic. TripADeal should be commended on the selection of their tour Leaders, as all 5 tour leaders were extremely passionate and devoted to excelling in making our trip the most cherishing experience. We experienced their individual personally approach of educating us about their family structures and we were even all invited to one’s home for a family lunch, prepared and presented by Tom’s (Tourist Leader) wife. TripADeal should ensure their retainers for these 5 Tour Leaders are constantly reviewed, as they are a major asset to their produce.
Also, we can’t forget the amazing bus drivers who navigated through the extreme traffic conditions. They were constantly praised, by our Trippers for their ability to arrive at our 4/5-star hotels safely.
In summary, TripADeal provided a fantastic platform for Trippers to feel comfortable to spent time in meeting fellow Trippers. This platform allowed people to be part of group who expressed each other’s thoughts on travelling to foreign countries without concerning themselves about daily travel arrangements. I look forward to the next TripADeal experience.

Recent trip to New York for 2 people. Accommodation was well situated and comfortable.
On our flights we were seated 2 rows from each other. Tripadeal not interested in resolving this.
My advice, at time of booking stipulate that you require to be seated together on all flights.

Hotel in Hanoi was too far from the city centre.The guides were all welcoming and we had a great group of people to travel with, Ha Long bay was pretty, but TiTi island was a nightmare, way too many boats and way too many people on the same day. I could go on about what I didn’t like about the Tripper deal Vietnam holiday but I’ll just say again the people I travelled with were amazing and the guides were very accomodating .

It it were possible I would Trip a deal 0. High charges for for ay changes. Inflexible conditions. Make sure you read the fine print and check hotel ratings as these are self rated. The staff at the coal face are good, however not empowered have to deal with with rigid conditions and have to refer to another area for modifying anything. Safe the angst, book the holiday yourself. Minimum time to make a discoing and pay the extra or lose the money already paid.

Booking was relatively easy and got a phone call within 24 hours asking a couple of questions to complete booking. Had to call them back as I missed a call. This was a little painful as the wait was long but eventually got to speak to consultant who was very helpful.

Deposit was made by my Financial firm Frontier Invest Corp as they are the one sponsoring my tour and confirmation along with itinerary was emailed within the next 24 hours.
Hope our trip goes just as smoothly.

We travelled with TripaDeal to Japan. The tour was well organised and our guide Dragon, was very helpful and attentive. Hotels were conveniently located close to shops and restaraunts and there was plenty of free time built in to the tour.

I booked a Philippines holiday through TripADeal thinking I was paying for a professionally organised trip. What I actually paid for was a company that disappears the second anything goes wrong.
Yes a typhoon hit — no one can control weather. But TripADeal’s complete lack of support was the real disaster.
We lost major, paid-for activities:
• Underground River Tour
• El Nido Island Hopping Tour
• Bohol River Cruise
• Balicasag Tour
• Final Island Hopping Tour
All these were cancelled on us & had already been paid for.
Not a single dollar refunded. Not even a partial refund. Their answer? “Claim it on insurance.”

TripADeal tried to push everything onto insurance, but even the insurer pointed back at TripADeal, since they pocketed the payment for tours we never received. Insurance requested the activity pricing to process the claim — TripADeal wouldn’t provide it, making the claim impossible.
It didn’t end there. Because flights were grounded, we had to pay out of pocket for extra nights in both El Nido and Cebu. These weren’t small costs, and TripADeal’s contribution was — surprise — absolutely nothing. Once again, the same robotic response: “Claim it on insurance.”

At that point it became obvious: TripADeal takes your money when things go right, and washes their hands of you when things don’t. They sell “deals” but take zero responsibility for what they actually promise.

A company that refuses to refund experiences that never happened and won’t assist when customers are stranded is a company that doesn’t deserve repeat business. I’ll never book with TripADeal again, and I’d strongly warn others to think twice before trusting them with your holiday.

I will be submitting a formal complaint addressed to Matt Wolfenden, CEO of TripADeal, and I will be escalating this matter to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission), as well as notifying the CEO of Qantas, given their full ownership of the company.

I booked a Philippines holiday through TripADeal and it turned into an absolute disaster. Yes, a typhoon hit — but the way TripADeal handled (or didn’t handle) the situation was the real problem.

We lost multiple major activities: the Underground River Tour, the El Nido Island Hopping Tour, the Bohol River Cruise, the Balicasag Tour, and the final Island Hopping Tour. Not one cent was refunded. Instead, TripADeal shrugged and told us to “just claim it on insurance.”

So they keep the money for all the experiences we didn’t get, and we’re left doing the admin and hoping an insurer covers it. Convenient for them, not for the people who actually paid for the holiday.

On top of that, we had to pay out of pocket for extra nights of accommodation when flights were grounded — including additional nights in El Nido and Cebu. Those costs were significant, and TripADeal didn’t reimburse a single dollar. Again, the same line: “Claim it on insurance.”

By the end of the trip, it was painfully clear: when things go wrong, TripADeal takes zero responsibility and leaves customers footing the bill.

I won’t be travelling with them again — once was more than enough to see how little they actually stand behind their packages