Costco Travel Reviews 

Traveled to Cancun. One of the most sub par experience. Entire package booked via Costco. Would not let us use Amex will need to buy separate travel insurance. United cancelled 3 hours prior to travel. Costco was helpless not so much to collect their commission but to do anything to help. On ground partner BD experience is one of the most sub par service providers. The busses were unclean and on return we had an earlier flight available would not accommodate an early transfer request. Not the quality you come to expect from Costco. Do not book travel via Costco.

We have reserved our vacation from costco travel in cancun . We have been stayed in TRS CORAL playa mujeres and it was shooting at the last day ! Oh my God, it was terrifying! I’m still in shock. I was lying on the beach when someone started shooting into the sea, where I had been just two minutes earlier. My husband and friends were still there.

I lost my phone while running for safety, and the hotel staff was completely irresponsible. Shame on the hotel and Costco Travel for not ensuring the destination was safe. We paid $6,000 CAD for this traumatic experience.

Left stranded in Valencia after booking a hire car through Costco/enterprise. No 24 hour helpline office hours only! So basically you are screwed if you have any issues. This left us stranded in Valencia with 2 young children at night with no solution. Enterprise were useless and said they could do nothing. It’s a scam.

Never got the promised shopping card after paying about 10 grand for a land/sea package that was supposed to earn a several hundred dollar shopping card. Made several online inquiries and they’ve just ghosted us. Will never use them again. Absolutely DON’T recommend them.

Costco Travel and Budget Car Rental fail at MATH!
Less than 24 hours into my rental (67% of the contract time remaining), multiple hazard lights go on in my car. The car is towed away that same day and the CVG airport counter agent receives permission to waive the rental fee. I have filed complaints with the KY AG, KY Consumer Protection Bureau, Better Business Bureau and Visa. After hours of phone calls and emails, Budget finally refunds 38% of the rental charge and Costco is not advocating for me. There will be more to follow. This is FRAUD!

Hotels are not vetted at all through Costco. Used them twice and both times there were big problems with the hotel, rental car etc. It became obvious that there is no review of the quality of the hotel and the actual hotel will treat you poorly as they have a thing about customers that book through 3rd parties. Learned the hard way to just book right through the hotel.
Gave them two stars as the pricing is competitive and they did try to sort out the issues upon our return. Note that they usually are not able to help right way if you are experiencing issues while on your trip.

Simply awful, I booked a rental car gis Costco . I paid via a debit card as it’s my main card.

We travelled to Spain with a 9month old and a 2 year old for a friends wedding. We got a 8 minute shuttle to their rental centre. Two customers in front of me in the que got turned away from their bookings, one because they arrived 10 minutes late and were told to wait until closing to see if they had any cars left. When I got to the front of the que I was told that I could no rent a premium vehicle as I paid via debit card and not a credit card. I then said I could cancel the booking and pay via my credit card.

I was then told that they had no cars available to which I responded ‘if we cancel and rebook why can’t we have the our original car?’

The response was incredible. ‘Sorry we don’t want to take any more booking today’. I then offered to pay for all the waivers and the full insurance (over £300 worth) still a no and a cold shoulder. After 30 minutes of back and forth we admitted defeat.

We then got our luggage and two small children back into a taxi, went back to the airport and lucky manage to get a Mercedes GLE53 from Sixt who were amazing and really helped us and interesting the couple who were originally in front of us in the enterprise queue. Overall an additional £980 I didn’t intend to spend but I’m glad as I spent my money with a helpful company who offered a 5 star service as opposed to the worst company I have ever dealt with and had no intentions of helping me or my young family. After 3 weeks I got my money back from enterprise. If you are from the UK I would strongly recommend you look elsewhere as this company is appalling. Visit 20/09/24

Ordered a car through Costco travel and was directed to Enterprise. Booked the rental car, received booking reference and time to collect car from Enterprise. When I arrived the following morning I was told No we don’t have any cars for rent, explained I had a booking reference only to be told no that only lets us know you want a car not that we actually have a car for you. This was in Phoenix Arizona October 2024. Will not be using either Enterprise or Costco again.

DISAPOINTING FROM COSTCO TRAVEL -CRUISE
This is our 3rd cruise with the other two shortly before the pandemic on Cunard and Holland American. The simplest summary is that: Had this been our first cruise we would NEVER have gone on another one.

This was a San Francisco (our home) to and from Hawaii 16 day cruise. While the crew was very nice, as were the passengers, as well as hard working the choices and/or competence of the management which controls Princess owned by Carnival (which also owns Cunard and Holland American) is either very poor or so avaricious that it was a sadly disappointing experience. The music is poorly done and even in one case two musicians syncing to a background recording. Unlike our two previous cruises, there was no sauna though the gym equipment was OK. The gym based occasional events were oriented towards selling trusting passengers what I call “magic cures” – e.g., these arch support “trainers” will cure everything from flat feet to back pain and spinal misalignment. And the food — ugh–– food has great descriptions, but the taste reality is only marginally even edible –– with the interesting exception that the fresh fruit and the salad greens were excellent (i.e. things which they serve but do NOT cook or prepare). Several elevators which usually had very busy ATTEMPTED usage remained out of order with the controls not working consistently or just the elevator not working at all. The daily events descriptions leave some out. Cabin breakfast delivery is sometimes unreliable. The internet app (for which you pay a substantial additional charge) is half-functional. As a management professor and former food critic for a community newspaper for many years, I can tell you that if this were our first cruise we would never have gone on another😢 Frankly I was very disappointed with Costco which we have for years depended upon not only for good prices but for reliable products. This does not seem to extend reliably to Costco’s choice of commercial partners.

Hello! I traveled with Costco several times and this experience is about it for me. I had a package to Hawaii confirmed and mostly paid for. The trip is 6 months out. I asked customer serv about changing the shared rides to private pickups. The agent looked it over and quoted an additional $280. Then when confirming and finalizing, she states its $500+ now. I cancel the inquiry with her. 35mins later, she tells me my package went up another $22. Nothing right? My package was already secured. There should not be a price difference. She told me during that 35mins, the price of transfers went up. I waited a day after complaining. The price did not change back to my original finalized price. I cancelled the whole trip and lost $125 for the intra-island flight now. Unfathomable to think that $22 is going to make a difference for Costco; yet, now it cost them my trip.

Moral of the story, we were stressed the whole time in Hawaii and had to make lots of calls/emails to Costco and we ended up paying a lot more for our trip because Costco travel team did not do their job. Costco was not helpful and did not help us resolve anything. Do not use them, direct airlines and hotels will probably be way more helpful resolving your issues if they do happen.
More details below:

This review is for Costco travel, our trip was booked to Disney Aulani, a family of 4. We showed up to the airport about 2 hours early, right before boarding we had taken our kid to the restroom, when we returned the Hawaiian airline agent told us they had closed the gate and we cannot get on the flight that did not take off for another 30 minutes. We proceeded to call Hawaiian airline and they gave us full credit for the flight. After a nightmare of morning, running around at the airport with kids we finally found a flight out where we paid out of pocket. I called Costco I was put on hold for a long time and did not get any help while at the airport. We landed in Hawaii and called Costco travel again, the person on the phone was very rude and insisted we had no credit because we were no shows. Although Hawaiian airline already told us we had full credit but Costco as our travel agent had to take care of the rest. We were then put on hold for a very long time and call was then dropped. We called again and somehow Costco had canceled our flight back as well. We had to call Hawaiian to get the credit information in writing but Costco did not look at that but they asked us to get it. Next call to Costco the person insisted we have the credit but we have to buy a package to use it. Then he told us he had to get an exception to do that and he would call us back and again no follow up from them. We called again this was now the day before we were scheduled to fly back. The final person although helpful was unable to resolve this and we had to call Hawaiian airline to rebook the same flight at a higher price and with additional fees.

Costco has good packages and prices, and a previous trip went very nicely. However, we are now on a long planned, "treat ourselves" trip to Mexico and the airlines have been a mess. While we understand Costco can't be responsible for airline delays, it is beyond disappointing that the Costco we have loved for decades tells us essentially, "sorry too bad" at every step. The airline eventually re-booked us, missing a day of our 4 day vacation. Via Costco, the hotel said, "sorry too bad" and Costco directly said, "too bad." I don't know what happened; Costco seems to have lost the customer care. We are semi-stranded right now as our re-booked connection itself is heavily delayed. Wish us luck. And don't book an itinerary with Costco that has travel risk. They won't help you and they don't care.

We are on day four of a 13 day vacation celebrating our anniversary in Greece. Our first 3 nights were spent in Athens at what I would consider a below average hotel in a seedy section of Athens. I write this as for the most part we are very pleased with Costco in general. The fact that they would become partners with a hotel in a less than desirable location is mind baffling. Surrounded by strip clubs and brothels was not on my agenda. The Athens Avenue Hotel was a two star hotel at best. Recently renovated the rooms are small, the housekeeping staff was atrocious, the shower was very small so much so that it wasn’t much larger than a cruise ship offers. You could barely bend over or turn around without bumping into the valve which would cause a drastic change in water temperature. No face cloths, one bath towel for two guest, no top sheet only a comforter to name a few. Lastly, the toilet when flushed ran constantly to the point we complained to the front desk which did no good. Lack of sleep, comfort and peace of mind makes this experience far from pleasant. Let’s hope we have better luck in Santorini.

My husband and I booked Costco Travel's Cook Islands package and we just returned. Everything was delivered as promised -- there was no unpleasant surprise throughout our trip. Maybe we were just lucky, but we never had any problem booking with Costco Travel. The price was always fair and everything was explained in detail over the phone and also in the email. Hopefully, it will always stay this way, because we are very happy Costco Travel customers! We look forward to our next trip -- booked through Costco Travel :D

I recently had a delightful 5-day stay at The Grand Hyatt Kauai which was booked through Costco. I can’t say enough good things about my vacation from the flights, ease to pick up rental car, lovely resort, to the fabulous breakfast buffett included in the package. Most everyone I had contact with was pleasant and helpful. I feel the Costco package was money well spent.

Total scam , got put in a dump hotel with no AC and bugs everywhere, then I wasn't allowed to change. I finally gave up and bought early tickets home and $6,000 down the drain

I called Costco travel yesterday to acquire assistance for the cruise we had booked. The cruise line had cancelled part of our cruise. The cruise no longer work for us. I tried to cancel with the cruise line. The cruise line would not refund the full deposit. Henda, a Costco travel agent, arranged for reimbursement that was acceptable to us. Thank you Henda.

Because of the cyber attack our flight was canceled and rebooked without our knowledge, all while leaving the airport. Upon returning home, Ireached out to customer service. The representative made us aware that it was very unlikely that the resort would refund us the $4700 or at least the three days that we missed. She stated that if we canceled she would see if she could some of our money, no guarantee. She suggested that we take the four remaining days and that she would email the resort and call us back. Didn't happen. The very next day she emailed us( a very condescending email might I add) stating that the resort said no can do. Deciding to make the best of a bad situation we decided to take the lost and enjoy the four remains days. Upon our arrival we were told that the reservation automatically cancels after 3 days. Explaing to the receptionist that no one at Costco told us this we were sent to a room within having access. Thankfully the belhop had a master key. After making sure my husband was settled in, I headed back to the lobby to see what was the problem. Speaking with a different employee and explained the situation, she got on the phone with her supervisor and rectified the problem. Thank God for kind and considerate people. We did not have any more money to pay for 4 additional nights. Watching my husband ring the bell in late June finishing up his radiation treatment was a relief. Watching him stressing over this issue really hurts. Costco you should have a better repoire with the resorts that you do business with. The representative did not provide the information needed

I wish I had read the Costco Travel reviews before signing up for the Universal Package. It was very enticing and worked perfectly for our family. But within a few hours they called to confirm they cannot offer that flight and left no choice but to either get a refund or opt for the flight available that did not suit our family with two kids. I agreed with the understanding that I can make changes before a specific day without any fee as the supervisor called at a time when I was out with the kids. Since then, it's the fourth day spending every single day 2 to 3 hours figuring out the flight that works for my kids and my own disability challenges. I did not in my wildest dream even thought it'll be this difficult to make the changes. Being a Costco executive member for more than 10 years with great experience but Costco Travel has definitely changed my mind towards Costco. Same flights and packages are available through other platform but now I cannot even cancel it and move there because a vacation is in few weeks. Total trap of sales gimmick and appealing packages. I have filed a complaint and waiting for the Manager to call with the hope that they will change this experience to a pleasant one and make this trip worthwhile the money and time we are spending. Hoping the manager who calls brings a human touch and puts himself into our shoes and is able to resolve this When you call Costco travels customer service reps are amazing however their packages,the process,the delays,the agreements are very confusing and take full advantage of clients vulnerable situation. I will change my post based on my call with complaint office.
Final conclusion - Made a settlement and both joined hands in the middle. Complaint Manager understood our situation and did her best to accomodate. We did not get exactly what we were looking for but settled with a compromise. Appreciate the customer service and people involved to close this.

Costco Travel broke its promise, Princess is heartless, but Delta is generous

In late 2022, my wife and I booked an 11-day Alaskan cruise-tour for September 6-17, 2023. The Costco Travel package included a riverboat cruise, a nature walk, and 4 overnight stays during the initial 4-day land portion from Fairbanks to Anchorage. On the 7-day cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver, it included crew gratuities, wi-fi, and a beverage package. In addition, the package included a $425.00 digital shopping card for use in Costco warehouses and online.

By June 2023 the total amount had been paid via our Costco Citi Visa card: $6,004.00 (cruise-tour fee for two) plus $574.82 (various port fees and taxes payable on our behalf by Princess). We were scheduled to begin in Fairbanks on the morning of September 6, 2023. We had arranged our own airfare with Delta from our location to Fairbanks on September 5 and from Vancouver back to our location on September 17.

In mid-August, one of us developed a condition that made it impossible to leave home for any kind of travel. We hoped that medication would bring the symptoms under control prior to our trip but it did not.

Early on September 5, I called Costco Travel and explained why we would have to miss the trip. The Costco Travel agent called Princess and was told that neither a refund nor a credit for future travel would be issued. The entire cruise-tour fee of $6,004.00 was retained by Costco Travel/Princess. The port fees and taxes were returned only because Princess would not be paying those pass-through fees on our behalf.

I also called Delta and explained that we needed to cancel our flights. The agent was very understanding and, within a couple of days, Delta credited full refunds back to my charge card.

The tour information from Costco Travel stated that the $425.00 shopping card would be issued approximately 10 days after the beginning of our trip. When it didn’t arrive after two weeks, I searched the web site and was surprised to discover a Q&A saying that no card would be issued if we did not physically travel.

I filed a claim online with Costco Travel requesting the shopping card and never got a response of any kind. After a couple of months, we brought this up with customer service at a Costco warehouse. The agent said she understood and would work with Costco Travel to try to get the digital shopping card. She also suggested that the Costco Citi Visa had trip cancellation insurance for anything paid with the card. I discovered that feature had been terminated some time before we paid for our cruise-tour. At this point, I have given up on trying to work with Costco Travel and am writing this review.

In my view, Costco Travel should have issued the digital shopping card whether we were physically on the tour or not. Costco Travel/Princess got the exact same cash from us as if we had been on the ship. Between the two of them, there actually were some financial benefits from our absence: no food served, no hotel or cabin cleaned, and no beverages consumed. By taking back the shopping card, Costco Travel unfairly reneged on its promise and profited an additional $425.00 at our expense because of a situation over which we had no control.

My advice is to book your own airfare and never use Costco Travel. The one-star rating is one star too many!