Gate 1 Travel

This past February my family traveled to Dubai with Gate 1 Pa and the service was excellent couldn’t ask for a better agent Mrs . Haskins make sure that the entire group was comfortable from the first day I booked my trip till we landed back home in NJ I highly recommend this agent and Gate 1 Thanks M.Connor ,NJ

We’ve had amazing experiences with Gate 1 Travel. We recommend them every chance we get. We’re sad we will have to postpone exploring Prague due to the Coronavirus and the travel restrictions, but we will surely rebook for this trip and continue to book for future trips!

I find that a lot of people use the power of social media when they have an axe to grind, more so than when they actually have a positive experience. After having read the other reviews, I would have to disagree with most of them.

My husband and I and two of our friends recently returned from a trip to Morocco. We generally do not do guided tours, but when we saw the deal Gate 1 Travel was offering, we pounced on it. I will say, however, we were a little skeptical going through a travel agency we've never used before, but what's life without a little risk?

I found the booking process to be simple and straight forward. They are upfront about what they are responsible for, what they are not, and what you are responsible for. I read the disclaimers front and back and they were very thorough. They mention that they are not responsible for any flight changes (as the airlines operate independently), what type of transportation they will use (and if you bother to look at a map, you should know approximately how long it will take to get from one point to another if you're going to multiple cities), etc.

Like I mentioned earlier, we had a great experience. A representative met us at the airport on time, the drive to the first city (meeting point) was smooth and uneventful, and the hotel was as promised. There, we met the other travelers and our tour guide at the orientation. Throughout our 13-day, 6 city tour, our tour manager (Ben), proved to be top-notch. He was very knowledgeable, personable, protective, and you could tell from the get-go that he was passionate about his job and he also loved his country. Ben made an impression on us and he had a direct impact on our experience in Morocco. We cannot say enough good things about Ben!

As for the other aspects of the trip (lodging, transportation, etc.), Gate 1 Travel delivered everything they promised. We stayed at the hotels that were on the itinerary, all the meals listed were served, and the tour bus was clean and comfortable. We all felt we got our bang for the buck and then some! We would definitely travel with Gate 1 in a heartbeat.

I have taken 9 trips with Gate 1. They are fantastic! I could never see everything they fit in the itineraries on my own. The guides are always very knowledgeable and the prices can’t be beat!
My favorite trips so far are Egypt, Japan, and the Israel/Jordan trip.

Affordable professional tours. You can leave the details to them and the accommodations and provided meals are great. The tour guides are a wealth of knowledge and friendly. They aim to please. Looking forward to our next trip.

Easy, very good hotels, affordable, good tour guides.
Just a little difficult to call. You sometimes wait some tine before they pick up

Terrible company and the way they are handling COVID 19. We are scheduled for travel in three weeks and requesting to postpone our trip. Not even asking for a refund. We have insurance also. They are absolutely refusing to help us. Do not travel with this company! We will never book with them again and be sure to tell all family and friends how unaccommodating they are.

great guides , great hotel locations good prices

They deliver on what they promise. There were no surprises. We have taken 2 of their trips and were completely satisfied.

We did a very enjoyable trip to China 2 years ago. Everything went smoothly. Hotel and restaurants we're good. Will use them again.

Fantastic trips ! Customer Service. Unforgettable places and local guides !

They can improve in every way. They are a greedy agency who cares only about making a profit. They do NOT care about their customers. When our trip to Italy went south due to the corona virus they flatly refused to refund anything but the land portion of the trip and kept the insurance money as well as 100% of the flight amount. So they kept 45% of what we paid for a trip we will never take due to something completely out of our control. The CDC and State Department declared Italy a level 3 Travel Advisory which is no non- essential travel. I’m thinking a vacation isn’t essential travel. I have no guarantee the flight will take off or if we went we could get to the hotel that’s almost 3 hours south of Milan. But this agency doesn’t care. They kept the money, refused to honor the insurance policy and levied 100% of the flight “cancellation” fee against us. Even tho Delta agreed to waive cancellation fees and they refunded the agency 100% of what we paid for the flights and Gate 1 just decided to KEEP all of it. Greedy. Zero customer care. Zero. Never use this agency. Not if they were the last agency on earth.

This holiday started off on the wrong foot. Arrived @ Auckland Airport ... it was extremely busy @ 6:30am ... it took a very long time to get thru customs. Once we got to the ground transportation area ... there was supposed to be a Gate 1 person waiting to take us to our hotel. We hung around here about 2 hrs looking and inquiring about Gate 1 driver. My cell phone does not work in NZ. Was going to use the pay phone, as I had a loaded phone card, but it required credit card to be inserted. I declined as I had no clue what amount they were going to charge my credit card. Was about to purchase a temporary cell phone, when all of a sudden a person holding a Gate 1 sign appeared. We approached him and explained we had been waiting some 2 hours for him, only to find out he was there to pick up 2 different passengers. However, he did agreed to take us to our hotel. The Gate 1 drivers had NO LIST of names of the people they were to pick up and transport. If they did, they would have known we were MIA!
We had previously traveled with Gate 1 and it was a quite favorable and memorable trip!
I can't say the same for this trip. The country is very scenic and the people very nice and friendly. The tour manager Kevin, even with his bad jokes, was good. The numerous cities and towns were rather interesting.
However, I didn't realize that when we signed up for this trip ... it would be ONE long boring bus excursion. I'll say we spent an average of 3-4 hrs per day on the bus. Boring!!! Boring!!!
We would stop in small little towns for some hurried sightseeing, meals and bathroom breaks. Plus we were advised we COULD NOT use the onboard bus bathroom. Wazup with that???
There is NOTHING mentioned in the Gate 1 travel literature that says this was going to be a very long and boring bus trip. Granted we covered a lot of territory, but I DID NOT intend on a spending 3 to 4 hours per day on a bus!!! This should be pointed out in the Gate 1 Travel literature.

Had to cancel trip to Italy because of Coronavirus. Spoke with Shannon Smith about getting a refund and was told over the phone the trip would be fully refunded except for a total of $600 in cancel flight fees. Moments after phone call received an invoice stating 100% cancellation fee and an amount well over $600.

This is not a travel agency. They take your money and then you are on your own. Booked a trip to Greece for February, it was actually a Christmas present. Flight date was 02/19/20. On 02/16/20 I called their customer no service line because we were booked on a Delta flight operated by Air France. The itinerary did not specify luggage, not how many bags, weight or dimensions. I spoke to a rude person hung up called again and spoke to someone with a very heavy accent. Not satisfied I sent an email to Gate 1. To this day that email was never answered. 02/17/20, Monday I called countless times no answer due to heavy call volumes. 2/18/20 Tuesday, same thing. Still no info to our luggage plus we received updates from Air France about an upcoming air traffic control strike on 02/19/20 our departure and arrival date in Paris. I reached out to the VP and received an email from his assistant but it did not answer our questions. 02/19/20 Wednesday, as to the luggage and strike and no answer from this excuse of a travel agency we made the decision not to go. Our flight to NY left. We still tried to safe the trip somehow and left message after message for the VP's assistant. Finally around noon she called and apologized about the lack of communication. We asked for a refund and she asked as VERBALLY and in WRITING for permission to cancel the trip in order for us to apply for leniency/refund. We agreed. During all this time I also left messages email and voice mail for the VP but no answer. 02/20/20, Thursday the story changed and now they had to determine if I was getting a refund. By the way the strike did take place in Paris. 02/21/20 Friday, I spoke to the VP. He stated that we had chosen not to travel and were a no show. How can you be a no show when the assistant asked us for permission to cancel for a refund? It was cancelled before departure, we chose not to go to NY on our own purchased flight due to the concerns stated above. VP decided no refund now. I wrote to the owner Pipano and the following day I got a total crazy email. Stating that we were given the details on 02/16/20, yes but we could not understand the guy and Delta and Air France have different economy flight classes. Then she stated that we were given the proper information on 02/18/20. Why did we then call all day long? I even challenged her to produce the email or phone call were I was given the information, never heard back. She even included the itinerary I attached and received from Gate 1 stating that the luggage specs were on it. They were not. This a true account of what happened and I have all the emails and documents even the Delta boarding pass with no luggage on it. These people are dishonest all the way. They take your money and after that you are on your own, they did not even warn me of the upcoming strike. What travel agency does that? This is a company to avoid at all cost. A total rip off and they will never answer any messages sent to their customer support email, calling them good luck unless you can wait 40 minutes and more. What a way to run once loyal customers away. Response to Gate 1 comment. Gate 1 would you like me to post tickets, itinerary and emails to refute your response. Not including the false statements. Still waiting for the 02/18/20 information I received according to Ms. Pipano. Provide it and I will drop my complaint and apologize publicly on top of it. To this day NOTHING. It never happened. Gate 1 I will ask trustpilot to allow me to upload the itinerary, including emails of apologies and how was I informed about the strike when no one answered phones or emails? Bad just bad. Avoid them at all cost.