travel_4_food

Has anyone used this website EuropeanDestinations.com to book your trip to Europe? Their prices are pretty reasonable, quite a bit less compared to tripadvisor.com. Just wanted to make sure they are legit. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

sparkchaser

That site seems to only be geared towards people in the United States. That's too bad because that makes it useless to many on this forum.

travel_4_food

Why? Where are most people from this forum from? Their prices are almost 2k less than most websites, so I am questioning them a bit.

sparkchaser

I see lots of Europeans posting plus I am sure a lot of Canadians post too.

Prices seemed ok to me but I very rarely do bookings like that because you don't get a lot of choice (if any) on your flight or accommodation.

Besides tripadvisor, where else did you check prices?

travelmamana

I had a friend who is from the states, she lived in Rome for a year and travels to Europe a couple of times a year. She referred me to European Destinations and told me she had a very positive experience and the prices were great. I have tried pricing myself and she is right, you can't beat the price especially on airfare. When I was booking through them I got the airfare price from them (the initial installment), immediately checked what I could get online and it was $100 cheaper for the same exact flight. With 6 of us, this made a big difference.

I prefer using a customer rep and in fact you need to use if you want to book more than 1 room. Don't think that you must book all hotel through them (but you can't do airfare alone). There were a lot of great hotel options for example in Rome but all the hotels that were acceptable to me had only 1 room available at the time (reserved for ED). I would be on the computer checking while the rep was too and for the most part, it showed no rooms available. There was one hotel that showed avail but I could clearly see the priced quoted to me was way over my budget. So I think you fair well using ED for hotels. Ultimately, I booked 2 cities with them and decided to rent an apartment for Rome. It ended up that the apartment was slightly more expensive than going through ED for a hotel (but its 3 bdrms and I wanted more space since we had more nights in Rome) and I didn't like what was avail.

As for train - this is where the padding occurs. Booking yourself is cheaper and you will save big doing this on your own. I discovered this forum after I booked. I knew I was paying a premium before but I was second guessing myself after reading all the good advice and thought I could have saved money here. HOWEVER, after reading about all the time and issues others had with getting train tickets, I was happy that I had left it to ED. While I can be frugal with many things, I'd rather not deal with the aggravation. I make my 3rd installment soon and will get all my tickets and paperwork. Will let you know if there are any kinks.

Regarding hotels, I am very happy with my Venice hotel. I was so focused on Venice (where we begin our trip) and Rome (longest # of nights), I was exhausted being on the phone that I didn't do as much research on Florence. I made the newbie mistake in thinking 4 star was regarding quality rather than amenities and just told the rep, just give me a 4 star hotel with a lift in city center. Well, I wish I was a bit more closer than I am but working with the rep to change it. We'll see how that goes... But I would say that was more me than ED's fault.

As for trains - I believe ED books set times on eurostar. I really should have planned my itinerary first before booking my tickets. Not a major mistake but after I booked Venice to Florence direct train, I realized I could have booked my train from Florence to Bologna, did our touring and then trained into Florence instead of oing to Bologna another day. So use this site and then book!

Hope this was helpful!

travelmamana

Just to clarify, ED airfare was cheaper.

travel_4_food

I have looked on Expedia, virgin America, Costco, hotels.com, and other popular sites that I have used. I am hesitant to use EuropeanDestinations because I have read some reviews about people showing up in Europe and being stranded because the hotels did not find their reservations. I also have yet to see anyone firsthand confirming they had great success with ED.

Travelmamana, you are paying your third installment? That means you haven't gone on your trip yet, correct?

travelmamana

Yes, paying for 3rd installment. The only reference I have is a friend/colleague who has used it a couple of times and recommended it to me. I booked a hotel in Florence that I wasn't happy with and the customer rep immediately called me back, and gave me a few more option (none that I suggested to her but with equally good reviews on trip advisor). I am planning to pay my 3rd installment early, just so I can get my entire packet early and double check my confirmations. So far so good. I also have some trip protection though my cc. When is your trip?

klondike

We used European Destinations several years ago to book flight for 3, a Paris hotel and car rental. We had no complaints with any of the arrangements nor the quality of hotel/car. As a matter of fact, the hotel would have been beyond our means had we made the reservation ourselves. The location was fantastic, at a large metro hub.

The only point to be aware of is that you can NOT change your reservation without taking the risk of a change of price; we knew this going into signing the contract. Unfortunately for us, at the last minute our other son whom we had invited on the trip earlier but had declined to go, was able to get away from work after all, and we had to add a fourth person & change our dates...negating the first contract and having to start over. Being much closer to the August due date, naturally, the price was more by that time. I would like to stress, this in no way was European Destinations fault, and we were thrilled they could actually accomodate an additional person so close to departure date (AND being August!).

As to the hotels not being aware of the reservation...this can happen whether one has booked individually or with an agency ("been there-done that" experience) and I personally always feel more at ease since having a problem to contact the hotel myself several weeks out from the trip to verify that everything is in order. Some people might argue that is why one uses an agency, but for us 1) it was strictly for financial savings and 2) it gives me peace of mind to know that all is in order.

Since our using ED, I had heard they were bought out by another company; don't know if this is true or not. It sounds like you are already committed, but if it would make you feel better you could always check the Better Business Bureau.

Happy Travels!

travelmamana

Meant to get back on here to say that I did not have any problems switching hotels. Moved from a location 20 minutes from the Duomo to a location that is very close to the Duomo (5-7 min). Only paid an extra $19.5 euros per night which I don't think is too bad considering the better location and not having to pay for a bus back and forth. The ED rep was very helpful and gave me several other options. If I selected a hotel that was cheaper, I was stuck with the higher price. If I selected a hotel that was a higher price, I had to make up the difference. Fair enough. Now I hope the rest of the trip regarding flight and hotels go smoothly!

CeeCee55

My daughter and I just got back from a trip to France using Europeandestinations.com. It was really reasonable and everything went smoothly. We did upgrade our Paris hotel, but used their standard hotels in Lyon and Nice. Hotel staff friendly and knowledgeable in all 3 hotels, convenient to mass transit and tourist areas.We did 9 days, 3 cities and all trains between for $1,800 each(RT Airfare included too). I would recommend this site highly. You can easily customize your trip and speak to a representative anytime.

Julex

This is the second time I use European Destinations. Both times to Paris. I had no issues with them the first time, everything was booked according to plan without issue. The package cost I thought was much cheaper than booking it elsewhere or as individual parts. Plus, you can pay in installments. We've used them this year for our August trip, and thus far no problems. I've recommended them to some of our friends that are planning future trips to Europe.

noppertrails

It's been a while since any of you posted. I am wondering if anyone has used European Destinations recently, and if so, what their experience has been. I have elsewhere read both very positive and very negative reviews of this trip. We are planning a trip to Rome, Florence and Venice. Wondering whether you'd recommend using a travel service like ED, or just making our own arrangements. Also wondering about tours. We would definitely like to use a tour guide at least in Rome, and probably also in the other cities. From what I've read, there are very long waits (e.g., for the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel) that you can get around if you use a tour guide; is that true?

janisj

>> or just making our own arrangements. << . . . yes, make your own arrangements.

As for day tours/guides within various cities -- sure. There are wonderful walking tours and 'inside access' tours in most European cities. Especially good ones in Rome and Venice.

(Usually, instead of topping really old threads it is usually best to start a new thread of your own)

noppertrails

Thank you, janisj, for your quick response! I will keep your advice in mind the next time I have a question. Or do you think I should start over with a new thread on this one?

janisj

You'll likely get more/better response if you start a new thread. When new questions are tacked on to an old thread, folks sometimes just read the original and a few of the subsequent posts and then reply to the OP, not noticing there are completely new questions being asked.

AisleSeat

I have used ED twice. One time for Rome/Vienna another for Munich/Amsterdam. It worked out great both times, just print out your paperwork and bring it with you. I am planning a third trip with them right now.