Railbookers Avis 

Always a pleasure to deal with these folks.

Hillary was very helpful in changes needed.

We needed a one day add on to our trip and Hilary was able to accommodate us quickly without issue. Hilary was very professional and ensured all needs/questions were looked after. Our vacation isn’t until June so I’ll have more to comment on at that time.

Exceptional service- professional , efficient, and truly respectful of my precious time. Everything was handled seamlessly, and the experience exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend and will fully utilize Hilary in the future.

Hillary was great to work with-fast, efficient & knowledgeable.

responsive. we sorted out the information needed
Courteous and knowledgeable

Still, months after trip I have not received refunds on over booking. They upcharge everything and then there is a problem they ignore you. Simple car rental for one day turned into a mess costing me hundreds more than what it should have. Ever step of the way was a problem.

Railbookers has amazing customer service. As a travel agent, working with them is a dream. They are quick to give me quotes, manage the booking, and resolve any issues quickly.

Spent 40 mins on the phone with an agent detailing a Swiss rail trip. She confirmed all the details and promised to get back to us. Never heard from her again. What a waste of time!

Hillary was a great helping me to figure out the best train schedule and ways to get from Train Station to my hotel. She laid out the options so that I could make a better choice.

We needed a last-minute change due to airline cancellations. Hillary helped us with rail tickets, so a flight home could be caught in another city. It ended up being a simple addition, but she was very patient with me on the phone while we determined it was the right call. Thank you, Hillary!

RB put together a good trip for us overall. Our first hotel was terrible, but after that rocky start, the rest of the trip was good. We had 2 snafus—and though they alerted us to and solved in real time one problem that they created in our itinerary, they did not alert us about another, resulting in a missed train. I called, they confirmed the problem, told me to book tickets and submit for reimbursement once I got home. As instructed, I submitted that reimbursement to the “customer care team.” That “customer care team” does not respond. So our trip started off on a bad foot with a crummy hotel, was good in the middle except for this problem, and has now left me totally soured on a company that claims to provide “customer care,” but in fact does not. So if you book with them, just know that if you have a problem, you’ll be SOL.

My fiance (now husband) and I decided to elope and honeymoon in Europe. Since we both work full-time, I am in school full-time, and neither one of us has planned a European getaway, we thought it would be easier to use Railbookers to handle the details of the trip (except for the flight which was already booked).
Things that went right...
The initial phone call for booking the trip went pretty well. It was nice having an agent that had access to all the rail schedules so she could find the best ways between cities. She also offered suggestions like maybe saving Rome for another year since crowds were extremely high this year.
Things that could have been better...
1) they say if you have any questions or adjustments to just send them an e-mail. After multiple e-mails went unanswered, I had to call. 2) even months out, their block of hotel rooms were sold out for two of four cities. This meant I had to book our own room for one city and we had to switch cities on the other. 3) they say they will keep you informed of things that might affect your trip. There was a strike in France that shut down train travel on September 10. I heard about it from my hair and make-up artist, not Railbookers. We did not have any rail travel planned that day but I feel like if you are in the country during the time, Railbookers should reach out if they are going to make that promise. In fact, it was a good thing that the artist told me because, due to a delayed flight, our train schedules got pushed and this would have ended up affecting us if I had not known in advance. 4) Speaking of the train schedules, I feel like we ended up wasting a LOT of money. When our flight to London was delayed 6 hours, I called Railbookers to say we would miss our train from London to Paris. They said the tickets were non-refundable and sold me more tickets ($1300 worth, again non-refundable) that they said would align with the new arrival time. Well...after baggage claim and traffic, we missed that train by 20 mins. We saw a ticket stand and just bought tickets ourselves for about $900. Spending that much extra money was like a kick in the gut. But what made it worse was, later in the trip, we missed another train (due to Railbookers, see next point) and the station directed us to customer service. They were able to transfer the tickets for an $88 change fee. So now I feel like we spent over $2k when Railbookers should have said to see customer service upon arrival to transfer the tickets. 5) They booked trains too close together in Paris. The trains were at different stations. By the time we took the metro between stations, our train was leaving. 6) For car services, they use a company called Sixt. That will get a whole other review (horrible experiences all around). For the first part of our trip, it was me, my husband, and our photographer. Railbookers know this as they booked train tickets for 3. That means 3 people plus luggage. The itinerary said "Private Van Transfer", so imagine our surprise when the driver meets us and says he was only sent in a sedan and won't be able to transfer us. So we had to pay for a taxi. 7) I feel they owe us for an unused train ticket. The agent knew the photographer was leaving us in Paris. However, a train ticket to Switzerland was booked for him. I called and said I needed a hotel room for him in London and mentioned they booked the extra ticket by mistake. They were quick to charge me for the hotel and the Switzerland ticket disappeared but I was never refunded for it.
I will say, it felt like a little relief of stress having someone else plan the trip, at the time, but now that we have been and know how everything works and after losing so much money, I would never use Railbookers again. I would suggest just doing a little research first and only use them if you still feel like you can not handle booking things yourself.

Railbookers will ruin your travel

We had seen rail bookers on advertisement and WheelofFortune and thought it would be a great travel planning site. We picked the itinerary we were interested in and asked for a quote. I was basing my travel on the itinerary and what they said online that was included. I also had checked - before we booked for reviews and didn't see anything bad.

I spoke with their guest reservationist after waiting an absurd amount of time on hold. I told the reservationist we wanted the trip that was titled Heidelberg, Bavaria & The Alps. I told the agent that we liked to travel in premium travel fashion and wanted hotels equivalent to a Hilton or Marriott. The agent gave us a price and I went to confer with my spouse.

15 minutes later, we called back and asked to book our trip. In that 15 minutes the agent told us the price had gone up. Oh well... we thought, this would still be a wonderful trip, so we booked. Last year, the hotels rail bookers offered were not listed and our agent never told us we had a choice.

We paid a deposit and were given a semi-itinerary (no times, no clear locations of trains or tours). I looked at the itinerary and noticed it said "room only." I checked each hotel to make sure that they were at least adequate and found out from each website - that just like the rail bookers.com website, breakfast was included with each reserved room.

Cut to just recently - 3 weeks before our trip, we finally received a detailed itinerary with half of the train tickets promised. I called about the remaining train tickets (mind you each time you call - you can be on hold for 20 minutes to over an hour).

Then this week I wanted to see if I could change the time of one of the excursions they included. I found out the Heidelberg city tour is a free tour offered by the town. This was never disclosed. Then, I asked why the hotel reservations said room only and not saying "with breakfast" since each hotel website stated that a reservation for a room came with a free breakfast (just as rail bookers website stated it was included). They said I should have read earlier that it was "room only" on the draft itinerary that they had sent me. I reiterated that I had told the agent we wanted the tour just as it was represented online and which we were led to believe we had paid for.

Well the agent said we would have to pay extra for that. WHAT?? On the rail bookers website it says each itinerary hotel room comes with breakfast. The agent insists that they didn't book us our breakfast and they wouldn't call the hotels to rectify this matter. BUT THEIR WEBSITE SAYS ITS INCLUDED WITH YOUR BOOKING.

I don't know what kind of people they have working there, but this is false advertising and their agents are useless. I've insisted to the supervisor that I won't settle for anything less than the breakfast included each morning for the itinerary I booked. In Euros this could run our family another $30 - $75 a day. I shouldn't have to incur additional costs for items that are clearly stated "included" on their website. Why in the world would I think I wasn't getting something that is still on their website today!

We leave in less than 3 weeks and already we are feeling anxious, stressed, and lied to. We paid thousands and thousands of dollars to have our trip planned and perfect, and now I'm realizing that these rail booker trip planners don't give a fig about you or your trip. We would have been better off booking the quality hotels we wanted (with breakfast) and using the Europe train app (SBB Mobile) to easily book our train travel.

It is definitely not worth the price or hassle of the rail bookers "guest reservationist."

This was our second holiday booked through Railbookers. Our first trip went like a dream but, last month, that dream turned into a nightmare. I have delayed posting this review as I first gave the opportunity to Railbookers to resolve my complaints which I raised with them on 25th June. Initially I was advised I'd have a reply within 2/3 business days. No reply came so I chased again and was advised on 2nd July that the customer care team would get back to me within 15 business days. Still no reply - so much for customer care!
In a nutshell we did not receive the outbound accomodation as stated in the itinerary and the train we were booked on for our return journey was no longer operating, leaving us stranded and having to make our own arrangements to continue our travels.

UPDATE - since posting my initial review, Railbookers have resolved my complaint and will be addressing the issues with both train operators - OBB and Deutsche Bahn.

We toured through Switzerland!! Zurich, St Moritz, Zermatt, Lucerne. We spoke about what we were looking for and they delivered!! Hotels were great and accommodating and we followed our itinerary provided and we had an amazing trip! Thanks so much

very disappointed. o booked a trip through the Canadian rockies everything went well until I got to Lake Louise, where the were we were to get a gondola ride and lunch (included) well when we got there there was no shuttle and no taxi to take us to the sky resort where the ride and lunch was, it was a 45 min walk uphill and I was told by everyone don't walk the wildlife were very active in the area bears etc. needless to say we did not get to go. when I called Railbookers to complain there was no apologize or help.

Mis represented our tripped for 1st class hotel got alley views.Sure they get kick backs.

This company is basically a scam operation. They mislead you into thinking that there is some support or plan for your trip but there really isn't. They supposedly supply a hotel and meals (maybe) but the time schedule gets you in at midnight (no meals, no transfer to hotel) and leaves at 6:30 AM (again no meals, no transfers). None of this becomes obvious until your money is gone because the schedule is so basic that nothing shows up as an issue until itbecomes an issue. And this process repeats everywhere.

Kelli Lundquist did an awesome job putting together a fabulous UK/Ireland rail itinerary for me! Loved working with her!

Su Rao Jones has been excellent in organising every aspect for a trip for my employers.
Nothing has been too much trouble for her.
After many consultations and amendments to the original itinerary, she managed to incorporate them all.
I am very grateful to her for her knowledge and patience.