Tour Operators - Audley Travel

As with Simon, we did not travel with Audley (and it's partly because of his warning - so thank you Simon). We were looking to book our honeymoon. Contacted Audley Travel because we liked the package they offered to the particular destination we were interested in. They gave us a quote that seemed very high, so my husband-to-be (inspired by Simon's review) costed out each individual aspect of the holiday and sent it to Audley, asking why their price was SO much higher. Had a response from Audley saying that we wouldn't find it cheaper from another ATOL protected provider and refusing to shift on price. We contacted another provider (also ATOL protected) and gave them the details of Audley's package and low and behold they offered us an identical deal for about £1k less than Audley. We contacted Audley to give them a chance to respond, they tried to infer that the deal couldn't possibly be identical and we wouldn't get the same service elsewhere etc. etc. In the end we emailed the quote from the other provider to the Audley rep. She had to admit the package was the same and magically managed to knock £500 off the price they were asking but refused to go any lower. She told us that to do so would be 'paying us to go on holiday', and attempted to scare us by insisting that other providers were jeopardising themselves to keep cash flowing in the current financial climate. Needless to say we booked with the other operator. My advice? Shop around before you book with Audley.

Audley are the best tour operator I have ever come across nothing is to much trouble. They care about your trip. I have no hesitation in recommending them. I have travelled all over the world with them and will continue to do so in fact I have just booked another holiday to India with them. You dont realise how good Audley are until something goes wrong and they are there for you. Im happy to pay extra for the peace of mind.

As a past employe of Audley i can honestly say that not once did I or any of my colleagues ever try and \'fleece\' a client on the price of their holiday. Occasioanlly, when combining intricate tours in different curencies one can make the occasional mistake and most clients when explained will understand. In regards to slight changes happening on itineraries, these are unfortunately inevitable when dealing with many destinations in developing countries and for the most part, cients (of which Audley\'s are inteligent) understand that this happens and go with the flow. These bespoke tours are not 2 week fly and flops. I spent almost five years of my life working at Audley and customer service was an enormous part of my job. I put 100% of my energy into making my clients happy, as does every employee there and became personally upset if I received unhappy reviews knowing full well I had gone over and above what I know every other tour operator ofers. I think, although Audley are deamed to be expensive, you really get what you pay for and although I no longer work fo rthem I would be more than happy to recommend Audley to anyone.

A friend of mine who I'd recommended Audley to pointed out these reviews. The negative ones certainly fly in the face of my own experiences, and other friends. We've travelled with them four times and have a another planned. (Our last one went a bit pearshaped due to the ash cloud and Nick did a fine job re-arranging the trip when others weer tearing their hair out) I'm pretty demanding and usually shop arounda fair bit and can usually find something cheaper than Audley but not as good and with a few things missing like excursions. Audley aren't the only company I travel but I'd rate them highly.

Travelled with Audley 4 times, always had a great time - they have always been great to deal with. Off to Borneo with them later in the year. My son is arranging his honyemoon with them and plenty of friends have travelled. Other experiences on this site seem to fly in face of mine and many friends.

On a positive tone Audley booked a 9 week trip for my wife and I to NZ, Australia and Thailand across many different locations and transport, from a hire care to the Ghan train. We had intended doing the trip ourselves via internet but with work, etc decided to talk to a few agents. Audley were very knowledgeable and provided good advice on alternative locations and budget as well as premium accomodation. We had a great trip and 99% of the arrangements and accomodation were perfect - a major achievement for 10 internal flights, at least 20 locations, etc. However on a negative tone I had costed the holiday myself from web contacts and was surprised at their original quote some 50% higher than my detailed costings. After a short period they came back apologising for costing errors and we eventually agreed an itinerary at some 8-10% higher than if we had booked direct. Acceptable given the detailed itinerary. For 2011 we are off to India for 6 weeks. Audley provided a very good itinerary but not at an accceptable margin over local costings. If you want a hassle free trip with premium support and are willing to give away a nice margin then Audley are probably as good as you will find. BUT watch their costings. I understand that they carefully check client costings and check their prices regularly v similar competitors.

Let me get this straight, I have not travelled with Audley Travel so cannot comment on the quality of their actual ability to deliver holidays. However, I do feel that my recent experience in dealing with Audley Travel are worth sharing by way of a cautionary tale. I contacted Audley Travel in January 2010 to discuss a possible family holiday to South Africa and Namibia in July/August of this year. They came back with a quote of over £50,000. In fairness it was an extended family group holiday with premium services but still, the price did seem high. I asked them to double check their numbers and come back to me. I was told quite firmly that they had gone through all their figures and no mistakes had been made. Somewhat surprised by the high price, I contacted a select number of African specialist tour operators to quote for identical services (same lodges, flights, excursions, etc). All three came back with quotes at around the same price: £30,000. That is to say that Audley Travel had priced my holiday to Africa over £20,000 more expensive than their competitors! I went back to Audley Travel to re-enquire about their quote. When presented with evidence, the tone of Audley staff changed and the matter was escalated. I was told that three major errors had been made with my booking. However, they were unapologetic and seemed unconcerned about about the fact that their dealings with me could easily be interpreted as their having been caught trying to fleece a potential client. Surely the whole reason to travel with a specialist tour operator is trust. Trust that they will look after me, trust that they will make the best recommendations and trust that they will deliver good value. On this basis, I can\'t help but feel that Audley Travel fails. Personally, I won\'t touch these guys with a barge pole. If you choose to, please proceed with extreme caution and get quotes from other specialist tour operators, you might be very surprised!

We have travelled with Audley twice and both trips were superb and completely trouble free. We have just returned from 5 weeks in IndoChina (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand). Everything went perfectly. Our guides and drivers were absolutely superb, the hotels were excellent and the planning process was easy and pleasant. Making small alterations to the itinerary were dealt with efficiently and promptly by Audley. Yes they are expensive (our trip cost £25,000) but what price do you put on a holiday going exactly to plan and expectation? I am very happy to reccommend them if you want a perfect trip. If you simply want a cheap trip then organise it yourself and suffer any consequences!

We travelled to Borneo with Audley on 5th March 2011 for 3 weeks. The service we received was excellent, maybe I could have found it cheaper booking the hotels direct, however, I couldn't arrange the pick ups from airports and hotels in the same way that Audley did. The whole trip ran smoothly, we stayed in the Damun valley, then the kinabatangan river, Kota Kinabula and, finally, Kuala Lumpur. We were collected and delivered to our hotels with exception service and I would be very happy to use them again. Any questions that I had were dealt with promptly and efficiently by Nick in the UK.

I have not yet traveled with Audley but have, perhaps unfortunately, booked with them. They were extremely attentive during the information gathering/"honeymoon" period but a few days before my intended departure I have yet to have my final documents in hand and have had to call them repeatedly only to find that my contracted itinerary has changed without my consent. I am extremely unhappy about this and would not have found out about these changes had I not contacted them myself. Their response has been "these things happen with travel to remote countries" but that is the reason why I went with them in the first place. I will post another review after said excursion has taken place. At this point with several thousand pounds invested, I have to say to any potential clients of theirs: Please, please, please consider twice before giving them your money.

I have used Audley travel 2 different times in 2007 to tour Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo and 2008 to tour Egypt and Jordan. I have had nothing but positive experience with the travel, tours, guides and travel agents. I highly recommend this agency and will be using them again.

I am a true believer in \'you get what you pay for\' in this life; and if you want a premium service its fair to expect to pay a little higher cost. When planning a tailormade 4 week trip to Namibia I naturally contacted more than one specialist travel agency for a quote - and also gave all 3 companies identical instructions regarding flight times/airlines, lodges, excursions, car hire etc; Audley was the most expensive but by less than £100. Was the trip and experience of dealing with Audley worth it - YES, without a moments hesitation I recommend them at every opportunity. In my experience their customer service is second to none, knowledge of places fantastic and the staff are very courteous and swift to respond to your needs. I was so impressed that I\'ve just booked a 3 week trip to South America - also sought information from 2 other specialists who, whilst costing the holiday at the same price as Audley (in one instance to the exact same penny), were not a touch regarding customer service.

Sadly I did not read Simon's review before we booked Audley travel and had I done so I would have followed his advice of not touching them with a 'barge pole\. Me and my partner did research other travel agents however, Audley kept on telling us how they were 'specialists' in the area and kept on insisting on how risky it would be to book the tour with 'local agents' or flights on our own. As we were told by Audley how they had won several awards and how great they were should we have ANY problems on our tour, we finally decided to travel with them.... Well, we did enter a nightmare of a tour. And calling Audley on several occasions to help us out with our nightmare they just held their hands up saying 'sorry, but we can't help'...and that we should write a letter to them on return. We did so and nothing... Again, all we hear is that it was not their responsibility. In all honesty, do NOT travel with Audley. They will charge a premium price but if you encounter any problems they will not help you, although they will be reassuring you in advance that they will! Just do not travel with them, for the prices they charge you can have a fantastic trip with any other tour operator.