psupam

I can't even imagine this. I start planning vacations a year ahead of time. I have to coordinate my schedule with my coworkers and my customers. By the time that it is a month before vacation, I've bought new clothes, camera equipment, etc and gotten myself into the pre vacation frenzy!

I'm not sure what the answer is but I know I will never use OAT. I don't care what the percentages are, the fact that there are percentages eliminates them from consideration.

afrigalah

The answer (which will never happen) is for everybody to refuse to tolerate non-delivery of what you've asked for and paid for. I don't go back to anybody who lets me down. Trouble is, there are too many apologists for poor service, and so it goes on.

John

cary999

Well said John.
regards - tom

Luisah

I just returned from a great OAT trip to Egypt. I was called a week or two before departure and my roommate and I were offered $1,000 each to give up our space and rebook another date. We'd been planning for a long time and chose not to do it.

The associate told me that they had overbooked by one cabin and if they couldn't get someone to give up the space, the last person to register, a man, would not be able to go. When we arrived, we learned that a couple had accepted the offer, so the last person who registered made it.

The OP doesn't write what type of offer OAT made, but obviously it was not acceptable.

I did ask when I registered how many people had already registered and we was below the 16 limit. I intend to continue to do that when registering with OAT.

I agree with others that it's poor practice. People do cancel at the last minute, so OAT is covering themselves but they should be upfront about it and let the last person to register know that they may be in danger of having to reschedule or cancel their trip.

Elderhostel starts a waitlist when they reach their tour maximum and people on the list know where they stand -- #1, 2, 3, etc and can make a decision to wait or to find another tour. This is far kinder than learning a week before departure that you're not going on a trip you've been planning and looking forward to.

thit_cho

<<People do cancel at the last minute>>

But, since OAT requires payment 90 days in advance, they should be covered. If someone cancels, it would just open a space -- it wouldn't cost OAT anything.

atravelynn

Now that I am enlightened to OAT's practice, it will make me ask more pointed questions on any other group trips I may take.

arkay

jkr, I'm curious. Did OAT offer you compensation or an alternative date when they notified you of the overbooking. How hard did they work to make something work for you? Did they just say, "Sorry, you can't go?"

Since you had made your reservations well in advance and paid in full for your trip I cannot excuse OAT for dropping you a week prior to departure. They need to revise their overbooking policy so that this cannot happen to their travelers, many of whom are repeat customers.

I have traveled independently, with private guides, with large groups (certainly my least favorite way to travel) and I have taken 4 trips with OAT and will leave in February for my 5th trip with them. I have been very happy with all of my OAT adventures and have recommended them to quite a few people who have also traveled with them and been pleased.

OAT provides interesting cultural experiences (school visits, home-hosted meals and even overnight stays with local people), well-planned itineraries and uses excellent and often superlative trip leaders. Great value for the money! They also are involved in charitable work in the countries they visit which I consider a real plus.

Their record with the BBB and the overbooking issue is cause for concern and I have emailed my "personal travel counselor" and raised these issues and suggested that I'd like to discuss them with someone higher up the food chain. Maybe a shot in the dark - but who knows.

OAT has an agressive and successful marketing department. Perhaps they would be wise if they directed some of this energy into building a better relationship with the BBB and reviewed some of their business practices to be more sensitive to consumer interests.

Piperpat, wouldn't it be nice if OAT had a travel forum like this on their own website? Perhaps some of these issues could work themselves out if that were the case.

atravelynn

Arkay,

If you get a response you care to share, I'd be very interested in it.

PIPERPAT

I think it would be a great idea for OAT to have their own travel forum. Maybe if enough of us would suggest it, they'd consider doing so. I do agree that it was really poor of OAT to notify someone of overbooking one week before a trip. My friend who had to reschedule a China trip a few months ago was notified 1 month before the trip. He was given a choice of dates to reschedule and then had $1000 deposited into his bank account. Another little thing that OAT did for him as well as for me on my recent trip to Turkey - they were late sending out the travel documents, etc. and had to Fedex them. When we returned home we found that they had deposited $100 into both our accounts as a good-will gesture because the documents hadn't arrived as early as advertised.

Luisah

<<But, since OAT requires payment 90 days in advance, they should be covered. If someone cancels, it would just open a space -- it wouldn't cost OAT anything>>

But if no one cancels, someone is dropped from the trip. Part of the Egypt trip is a Nile cruise and there is space for only 32 passengers, so if they've booked 33-34 anticipating cancellations that don't occur someone is greatly disappointed.

I hope that e-mails from Arkay and other "Inner Circle/Adventurer Club" members to OAT will have some effect in changing the policy. Travelers should be told when they book if the tour is full and they are on standby or waitlisted so they can make a decision whether to wait it out or make other plans.

arkay

I may continue to pursue a dialog with OAT, not because I'm a complainer but because I really like traveling with OAT and it pains me to see the negative and probably not undeserved criticism leveled at them on this forum and on other websites.

They do so many things right. It seems that one of the leaders in the company needs to step up to the plate and remedy the issues that exist and turn GTC/OAT into a truly top-notch company.

I've suggested in an email that they include a forum on their website. Piperpat, if you haven't sent a suggestion to them, consider doing so. I don't know if the company responds to this kind of input but I'm quite sure that they pay attention to their surveys and make adjustments to lodging, itineraries and catalog information based on the feedback.

Atravelynn, I'll keep you posted on any response I might get.

bat

jkr
Belated condolences. Thanks for the warning.

thit_cho

<<Part of the Egypt trip is a Nile cruise and there is space for only 32 passengers, so if they've booked 33-34 anticipating cancellations that don't occur someone is greatly disappointed.>>

Again, I'll ask my question. Why do they need to overbook -- they require payment 90 days in advance, so they would have 32 fully paid at the 90-day mark. If a few cancel, it just means trying to fill those spots or sailing with empty cabin(s).

sandi

thit-cho...

You're absolutely right as many times as you ask the same question. By 90/days OAT should know whether they will be over or underbooked. There's no excuse to advise a client who has paid on time, 1/wk ahead of scheduled trip with airline tickets purchased (even if thru OAT) visas obtained (which OAT suggest client's pay extra for OAT to handle), clothing, cameras, etc. etc. - "sorry client, but we can't include you."

Guess, even with the negative BBB complaints and to those (some of) who have been affected being paid off with small renumeration... it doesn't bother them. They're too big, under the umbrella of Grand Circle, to care.

Heck of a way to run a business.

afrigalah

Greed? If they get cancellations, they've got somebody else waiting in the wings--unaware that they are overbooked and will be dumped if there are no cancellations-- and don't have to do any more work to fill the vacancies. Airlines do it all the time. I suspect it will become more common in the safari industry.

John

thit_cho

Airlines are different. Airlines sell fully refundable fares, so there are no-show passengers, who have fully refundable tickets, and who suffer no financial consequence if they cancel, even at the last minute.

OAT is different. All of their clients fully pay at least 90 days in advance, and none of them have the right to cancel with full refund (as many airline passengers do).

afrigalah

Not quite so, Michael, as my dear ol' mum discovered in Dubai when she wasn't able to continue her flight to London. They weren't going to refund the unused portions except we were able to get somebody to pull some strings. It took a year. I repeat, a year. Of course there are differences, but the motives are the same.

John

Louise

Don't know whether in this instance the problem I had would apply or not. I had a company cancel my cruise because of the sale of the ship. I booked my own airfare and my insurance would not cover the cost of the tickets. They were non-refundable and non-exchangeable. The Access America policy reads that they will not cover cancellation benefits for "Travel arrangements cancelled by an airline, cruise line, or tour operator". I would be curious to know if OAT would reimburse.

arkay

Just for the record....

According to OAT's Terms & Conditions if you cancel a small ship adventure/river cruise more than 121 days in advance of departure you will receive a refund equal to the trip cost minus a $150 administrative fee. If you cancel 120-90 days before departure you will receive the refund minus $500; if you cancel 89-60 days before departure you forfeit 40% of the trip cost, 59-30 days before departure 50% and 29 days or fewer before departure 100%.

If you cancel a land tour 71 or more days before departure you will receive a refund of the trip cost minus the $150 administrative fee. Cancelling 70-46 days before departure will cost you 50% of the selling price, 45-30 days 65% and 29 or fewer days 100%.

So I cannot see any excuse for OAT to cancel a booking less than 29 days before departure as according to the T&C they are covered for the cost of that slot whether it is filled or not.

Kavey

John, I think thit_cho's point about airlines is that SOME of the seats they sell (not all) are on a fully refundable basis. Some are sold (at a lower price) with certain restrictions on changes and cancellations and some (sold at the lowest price) are sold with no rights to refund for cancellation and no changes.

The fact that they have SOME seats sold on the fully refundable basis means that it is likely they will have a certain number of no-shows for any flight.