Railbookers Avis 

Railbookers is unfortunately very inflexible and more intent on keeping your money than providing good service to their customers.
My older parents booked a cross country train trip in May of 2024 and paid $600 to insure their investment, since they are in their 80’s. My dad fell ill a couple weeks before the trip and was hospitalized and had to cancel, They had bought the trip insurance thinking they would be reimbursed in case of an emergency. The expected refund was denied 3 months later after having to go through a runaround with AAA and Railbookers. The bogus insurance gives you an EXTENDED CREDIT but no refund, which won’t be much help to my 86 y/o father. I booked my own trip independently to travel alongside my parents, directly with Amtrak, and received a full refund instantly. Save your money and book the trip on your own. Unfortunately Railbookers is not looking out for their customers and is taking advantage of people with their small print.

Follow-up:
Shortly after posting this review, Railbookers called and promptly refunded my parents their money less the $600 “insurance” fee and some cancellation fees.

As a Travel Agent and partner of Railbookers, I have enjoyed the wonderful reliability, professionalism, and affability of one of their top tour curators - Andrew Evans. Andrew has consistently created and delivered trips that even the most seasoned travelers delighted in. He makes it look easy - and is a delight to work with. Highly Recommended!

Railbookers has a good construct but fails to follow through and provide the necessary attention to detail. Our rail experiences progressed seamlessly and the hotels they recommended were all fine. However, the transfers to our hotel upon arrival did not materialize as expected. Several months after are original booking we were notified that our train schedule had changed, as can happen with public transportation. Railbookers subsequently failed to make the necessary changes to our transfer times. We discovered the error a week before our departure date and contacted Railbookers pointing out the error. We did receive written confirmation that the transfer errors had been corrected, but unfortunately upon arrival at the train stations our transfers did not appear. When we called the Railbookers help line the customer services reps were clearly confused and needed for me to walk them through the process. On one occasion a car finally arrived after a 45 minute wait. On a second occasion, we were told to find our own transportation. From my personal experience I would not recommend Railbookers unless you are willing to deal with their lack of follow through.

On October 19, 2021 we booked a 5 day Amtrak Vacation for March 26,2021 from Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon. Reservation #553660. It was paid in full on January 25, 2022. We booked independent air to Los Angeles. The trip was to be a celebration of my husband’s birthday and our 50th wedding anniversary. We were informed on February 18, 2022 that due to “staffing issues” due to Covid the return train from Williams, AZ to Los Angeles would not run and that an extra days stay would be necessary. We had upgraded our vacation to stay on the canyon rim at the El Tovar Hotel but we were informed that this hotel was not available but we could stay at the Williams Railroad Hotel, at our expense! We did not feel this was acceptable and declined the offer. At that time a travel voucher was issued for a future date of our choice. We regrouped and called on Feb 22,2022 to rebook for April 3(not available). During that marathon conversation we were told that April14th would be available but with Maswick Lodge as a substitute for El Tovar (which was not available). As it was Easter weekend and airfare from the East Coast was ridiculous we declined. We did however ask the agent to check on May 8th. After some back and forth on the pricing and getting a supervisor involved we settled on May 8th. This decision was based on the supervisor telling the agent that the smaller increase in price we agreed to pay was only available if “we booked it that day”. The one unknown with that date was that El Tovar would have to be requested and it might not be available. After waiting a week with no response on the hotel, I once again called this morning only to find out that there had not been any response on the availability. Another request was sent while I was on hold and then once again we got a supervisor to call the hotel directly. The response to me was totally unacceptable as the hotel did not have availability except for one night in a suite at the El Tovar and the second night we would have to move to a hotel to be decided! This was totally unacceptable and I informed the agent that I wanted a refund for my trip. We have already lost money on airfare that had to be cancelled, I have spent countless hours on the phone and I cannot take the chance of booking this trip yet again only to have the same thing happen. Sadly I have been informed that they do not offer refunds but that I am welcome to use my voucher on any of their products. Not comfortable with that at all. I intend to also write to the State of Florida Consumer Protection Division and make them aware of the terrible customer service. Yankee Leisure Group/ Railbookers are more than happy to take your money but are not willing to be flexible with their clients. We had been looking forward to this celebratory trip but I am afraid now it has just become a hassle.