Virgin Vacations 

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE
I will give 2 stars because my first trip to Europe with Virgin was great, everything went as I had booked...now my second trip...

Since first trip was great decided to use again for a Greece trip leaving on SAT May 6th, got a phone call few weeks later that the trip date had been changed to SUN May 7th. Not a big deal, but they then said my same hotels were not available (I had upgraded to the higher Stars) a few of the nights I would have to go to a lower star, no mention of price adj.

So while on with the agent I go online and try rebooking, and I am able to select the same hotels. I inform the agent that I can book the hotels, so why am I being told they are not available? She checks online as well and verifies I am correct. So she puts me on hold and comes back saying she was able to get same hotels now but my initial King bed is not available...bummer but not the end of the world. I work with the agent and everything gets redone almost as original. Just an inconvenience. Paid in full Feb.

Now here it where I really have a problem with their horrible customer service. My wife wanted to see the hotels again (APR 4th) so I log in and get a screen pop that my starting flight time had been changed from 8:00AM to a 10:10 AM...normally not a problem but this then shrinks my connector window to 45min when I had specifically booked to have plenty of buffer as I did not want to worry about delays.

So I contact Virgin Vacations and explain what happened and that I am not "ok" with the change and I have looked on Americans website and their is a 8:10AM flight which I would like to be switched back to, it was even a cheaper flight. First lady was super rude and said she wouldn't do anything as they emailed my 3 weeks and I didn't respond, the ticket had already been reissued, so if I want to pay $200 they can switch me back to the 8:00AM flight. I try to explain my position(never once did I say anything bad other than frustration at her lack of helpfulness) and how that doesn't make sense and the lady threatens to hang up on me if I continue to "talk over her". She puts me on hold again so I hang up as this was a "I don't want to deal with you hold". I figure call back maybe get someone more professional.

I call back and get, "Sarah". Sarah says pretty much the same thing but at least she is not rude, just not helpful...I ask to speak to a supervisor, and I am transferred to "Betsy" I hear the same thing, because it took me 3 weeks to notice my flight was changed it would be considered a "voluntary" change to move it back to 8:00AM, so an involuntary change to my schedule has to be corrected with a voluntary charge of $200?

I tried every bit of reason and logic how this didn't make sense and that if they would contact the airline and explain what happened they would waive ticket change fee. Nope, wouldn't budge...

So while on hold, I call on another phone to American Airlines. I am greeted courteously and I explain what happened and that Virgin is telling me it's my problem and I need to pay $200 to change the flight. The agent says, 'that's completely incorrect, we would be happy to change the flight to the 8:10AM'....UHH WHAT I just wasted 1 hour of frustration trying to get Virgin to fix and had they just taken a minute to call AA it would have been no problem??? So the AA agent goes to change my flight but says the record is in use, and if Virgin doesn't change it to call back later and AA would be more than happy to change.

What a horrible customer service experience by Virgin to a repeat customer...was going to book China next but it won't be with Virgin.

Would have loved for a more individual experience

Booked our dream Florence Vacation with Virgin. We were booked on what must be the worst airline ever. Berlin Air. On the return we lost our bags for more than a week and Virgin Air did not offer any considerations for our ruined vacation. Find another vacation company.

I have booked a 9-Day Classic Italy tour (land and air) online and the next day got a phone message from an agent who told me that the flights I booked didn't take. So when my husband called, the agent could no longer find the flights that I booked, and the total price of the trip is $1,000 more than what I initially booked. What was really frustrating with this experience was that while my husband was talking on the phone with the agent, their website was actually showing a cheaper flight, which the agent couldn't even find.

I booked a Virgin Vacation with high hopes of having a positive experience with this company. I am a fan of Virgin Airlines.

Soon after booking my trip and paying I realized the hotel I booked was not as centrally located as I had hoped. I called to change, thank goodness within 24 hours of booking. The travel company was unable to accommodate any acceptable changes, in spite of the hotels I was requesting being actively listed as available on the website as I was speaking with the representatives.

As they could not find me an acceptable alternate booking for my vacation, I did cancel the trip (again thankfully within the cancellation window). I had to call multiple times to receive my refund. I will not ever try to book with them again, AND I booked the same flights with wonderful hotels CHEAPER than they could for my upcoming trip (and stayed where I wanted to stay).

Virgin Vacations is not, in fact, run by Virgin at all. They are actually a spin-off company called GATE 1 travel and are not directly related to the Virgin family. It is unfortunate, because it is not a good reflection of the overall brand and gives the wrong impression they are a related subsidiary. When something goes wrong their representatives are very quick to let you know they are not related to Virgin.

My family took a 7 day trip across Ireland through Virgin Vacations. We had a great time and did a lot of research before our trip. I also called the company two days before our trip to make sure everything was taken care of. The company assured me that EVERYTHING was covered...hotels, rental cars, and flights. I repeatedly asked if there was anything else we needed to pay and they told me that we would have to cover the gas use of the rental cars. That made sense. The trip that virgin vacations planned started at Dublin airport and ended at Shannon Airport. While I was assured that we didn't have any other expenses, we ended up having to pay a "drop off fee" of 75 euro per vehicle. While the 150 euro is a small amount considering we gave virgin vacations over $8000, it's still frustrating. What is most frustrating is that we called the company and they said the trip was over and to send them an email. We emailed and have still not heard back from them. The rental car place said this was a scam that happens often with "paid vacations" through companies. Very disappointing after a great trip.

My friend and I are in our early twenties, and we wanted to travel but, as students, money was an issue. We found Virgin Vacations after many a Google search. The trip we created was inexpensive and worked for us because flights were included. It was a great deal. We knew that the hotel wasn't going to be the fanciest, and the flight times were a little awkward, but that's what comes with the money we were spending. We could have spent more for a better flight time or a nicer hotel, but we didn't really care about that. We traveled to Ireland for 7 days. In the end, the trip went smoothly and there were absolutely no surprises. Virgin delivered what it had promised us, and everything worked! We were well taken care of. It was perfect for us, being first time travelers. I recommend Virgin to all my friends and will use their services again!

Worst hotel I have ever stayed at. This is one of many trips to Europe and the fourth trip to London. Rooms were uncomfortable ammenities non- existent. One towel, no hand towels or washcloth available. Phone did not work, radio did not work, coffee pot did not work, TV worked sometimes and more often did not. NO HEAT! Got stuck in elevator twice, and then it just did not work for the rest of the week. Had to wait three hours for room with no secure place to leave luggage. Poor excuse for continental breakfast. One toilet in louge area did not work. Mold in bathroom. Every time I turned over in bed the plastic under sheets crackled. it would be generous to give this hotel a 1 star rating!

Booked a vacation to London, the hotels they offered showed them to be nice, clean and modern. I chose the one that was in the area i wanted. Perfect, so i thought. Arrive and the hotel is a complete dump. Not only were they doing construction below, they were testing the fire alarm at all hours of the day on multiple days. The hotel was also infested with bed bugs and rodents, frequent thefts, staff unfriendly, unaccommodating and rude (Trip Advisor - Queens Park Hotel to verify). Had no other choice than to find a new hotel. Contacted Virgin to request compensation on the difference for the hotel change, but was only met with a hostile attitude by then president Nigel Osborne.

If you book a vacation there are plenty of good places to book them through. Just don't do it with Virgin.

They booked our London hotel reservation under my husband's middle name instead of his last name and there was no record of our reservation. Luckily I always confirm before I leave for a trip and found this out several days before. When I called Virgin to tell them about the problem, the Virgin Atlantic representative sounded like she didn't care one bit and said that all I would need is the booking #. I asked her for the reservation number which the hotel said I needed but was told Virgin does not give out the reservation # and that the name on the reservation didn't matter. This was the opposite of that I was told by the hotel. The hotel in London was nearly impossible to contact (in part because they listed the wrong phone #), and it took me several days of nonstop calling, but I was able to fix the reservation issue despite the complete lack of help from Virgin Vacations. I got the same 'I don't care attitude when I called to tell them the hotel # was wrong. The reply I received was "well, what do you want us to do?" In addition we requested special meals on our flight and whoever did that sent the request to the wrong airline and there was no record of the meals at the airport. Again I found this out beforehand and was able to get food for the flight (at my expense). They offered us a $100 credit on our next trip after they read my compliant on a different site. I told them if they really wanted to prove they're trying to fix it they would just give us the $100 refund, but they refused to do so.

BEWARE! I made a big mistake using Virgin Vacations. 4 months ago I booked a Mediterranean cruise out of Greece. Out of no where I get an email 1 month before my trip that the cruise ship was changed to another ship. After some research on my part it came to light that the replacement ship was a much cheaper alternative. After a phone call with them they said they are not responsible for cruises (even though the sell them) and they can only refund part of my trip. They said it was my fault for not reading the fine print and even though they are at fault, too bad. Now I am stuck with airplane tickets to Greece. It really looks and feels like a bait and switch. Do yourself a favor and use a reputable company. Not Virgin Vacations.

We booked our honeymoon April 2009 with Virgin Vacations to Italy.
They were such a great help! They reccommened the best hotels, and tours to take. We were so pleased with thier service. Even after a small confusion, they stepped up and fixed the problem, and even upgraded us! It was a simple and easy process, and the prices were very good. I would reccommend this service to everyone and I look forward towards booking my next vaction with them!