What happens if I need to cancel or change my trip?

Don't worry, TezTour has a pretty flexible cancellation policy. Just give them a heads up and they'll work with you to figure out the best solution.

Are the guides fluent in English?

Absolutely - our guides were all native English speakers and made sure we felt comfortable throughout the trip.

Can I customize my itinerary?

Unfortunately, TezTour doesn't offer a ton of customization options, but they do have some pre-set packages that you can choose from.

What kind of support do I get after the trip?

TezTour has a dedicated customer support team that's available 24/7 to answer any questions or concerns you may have.

Are the hotels and accommodations up to par?

Hands down, yes. We stayed in an amazing hotel in Abu Dhabi that was way beyond our expectations.

Can I book a trip with TezTour if I'm traveling solo?

Absolutely - TezTour welcomes solo travelers and has some great options for solo travelers.

Do I need to purchase travel insurance?

It's not required, but highly recommended. TezTour can help you set up a policy if you need one.

Can I get a refund if I'm not satisfied with the trip?

TezTour has a pretty generous refund policy. If you're not happy with the trip, they'll work with you to figure out a solution.

How do I get in touch with TezTour?

You can reach them via phone, email, or live chat - they're super responsive and always happy to help.

Do I need to bring any specific documents or gear?

Just make sure you've got a valid passport and any necessary visas. TezTour will take care of the rest.

Can I book a trip with TezTour if I have a disability?

Absolutely - TezTour is committed to accessibility and has some great options for travelers with disabilities.

TezTour Review: Why I'm Still Raving About Them

Let's be real, who hasn't heard the phrase 'Watch out for the bedspread!' lately?

► I've been writing reviews about everything that's happened to me and everything I've used for a while now, so I've become super picky about everything. That's why this review is a thorough breakdown of every detail from start to finish ◄

Finally, I've found a place where I can share my thoughts, experiences, and everything we went through to finally take a break after two years.

I've already written the backstory of my story about how we bought a Turkish tour in six months and how we struggled with it.

Given my unfortunate experience with intermediaries [ ↑ link to the review above ], we decided to buy the tour directly from the tour operator.

The most pleasant price for the amazing hotel in Abu Dhabi was indeed with TezTour, and the price was extremely cheap for such a hotel and country. 87 thousand for 7 nights with full board in Emirates in a 5-star hotel seemed like something out of a dream.

The secret to saving money was that the flight was not direct to Abu Dhabi, but to Dubai, and then a transfer to the hotel.

Now, let's get into the details.

ღ First encounter with the tour operator's website ღ

We already knew which hotel we wanted, but we found it in other search systems with the necessary filters.

What's disappointing is that tour operator websites often lack filters.

Here's what we can choose here:

Choosing a tour on TezTour's websitedatecitycountryhotelnumber of touristshotel leveltype of mealsflights The extended search expands a bit, but it's still not quite there.

TezTour's official website What's missing and what's not up to par?

Okay, let's say I don't know what I want, but they immediately suggest specifying the country.

Alright, I'll choose the country, and then I want a hotel with specific parameters.

We were flying to relax for the first time with a one-year-old, so I had certain criteria:

kid-friendly menu,entertainment for kids,proximity to the sea,hotel rating – if you really want to get picky. I didn't find all of this on the official website, but no worries, I used search engines from other websites. That's where I benefited from similar websites to LevelTravel, even if it was just in some small way.

On the official website, searching for a tour is a real pain. You'd have to choose a hotel purely visually and based on the bare minimum of criteria. And to get the information you need, you'd have to go to the hotel's info page and read it there.

That kind of search takes up a lot of time.

Booking

Those were the days when we'd go to the travel agency's office and ask them to find something for us. We didn't even think about reviews or ratings back then – just a picture and trust in the consultant's word.

Nowadays, we're picky and meticulous, choosing and researching everything online before we buy, all from the comfort of our own homes. It's fast, convenient, and everyone's happy.

No problems with that at all.

Booking a tour with TezTour Contract

I'm usually not one to read contracts too closely, I just sign and that's it. But after what happened with the tour cancellation (link at the beginning of this review) and going through the laws and contract details with a fine-tooth comb, I decided to learn more about what we're getting ourselves into.

First thing that stands out when you read the contract is that everything is thought out to the smallest detail. It's not some generic 'catch-all' contract, but a specific, itemized list of conditions, including the hotel name, flight, and everything else (including such minor details as room type descriptions, meal plans, etc.).

In the beginning, there's a clause that mentions travel insurance and what happens if you opt out of it. That's exactly what I was most worried about.

I've never had to cancel a trip before, but this year we encountered the problem for the first time, and I was scared of having to deal with it again.

The contract with TezTour has a clause on terminating the contract.

If you decide to cancel the tour, you'll have to pay for the actual expenses incurred, which will be documented (fair enough), but you'll still have to pay 1,000 rubles for booking services.

It's basically just a token payment to the tour operator for the inconvenience.

However, you should keep in mind that if you cancel tours during New Year's and May holidays, or less than 15 days before cancellation, you'll incur massive losses of up to 80% of the paid price.

So, it looks like I'll need to get travel insurance to cover situations like this.

It's also stated that flight tickets are non-refundable in any case, regardless of the flight.

But they're finding ways to get around the law, specifically:

✈ Air Code Article 108 ✈

"Passengers have the right to cancel their flight with at least 24 hours' notice and get their money back. If it's less than 24 hours, passengers are entitled to get back the amount they paid minus 25% of the cost".

A bit more legalese (which I had to brush up on due to the hassle with the tour operator) and I'll refer to the contract.

Earlier, I mentioned the contract's cancellation clause. There's also Article 10 of the Law on the Foundations of Tourism Activity in Russia, which states that

when a contract is terminated, compensation for losses is made in accordance with the actual costs incurred by the parties. A similar provision is found in Article 32 of the Russian Law on Consumer Protection. Since a consumer's refusal to perform the contract is their right, as stipulated by Russian legislation, including penalty clauses for consumers who refuse to perform the contract in the contract is a violation of their rights as consumers.

➽All unverified expenses incurred by tour operators and even the penalty for cancelling a booking are UNLAWFUL!!!

Regarding booking, if I'm wrong, please correct me. Maybe it's the hotels that charge a penalty for cancelling a booking. If that's the case, I'll update the review.

As for the airline in the contract it's stated that our flight ticket is the contract with the airline.

But that's not how it works. We found out firsthand when we were dealing with VIM Airlines - it turned out that since we didn't buy the tickets directly from them, all issues were resolved through the people we bought the tour from.

►Tour operators are fully responsible for you from start to finish◄

ღ Airline ticket selection ღ

I was most upset about this point at first, but I forgot about it later.

Initially, we were supposed to have one airline, but then they suddenly changed it to VIM Airlines. And by that time, everyone in the world knew about their problems and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. All the news about it were everywhere, and it wasn't the first time. But for some reason, they chose this airline for us.

To avoid reliving the 16-hour nightmare, I'll just send you to this review instead.

Prices

I already mentioned on TezTour that we found the most attractive price for the tour in the hotel we liked. And the prices from other offers were significantly different.

The prices for excursions looked like this:

Prices for excursions TezTourTo compare prices, I'll give you an example from my experience.

We had already bought tickets to Ferrari Park from home for 255 dirhams. But TezTour offered them for 247 dirhams.

Agreed, the markup is tiny.

Information

I'm not sure if TezTour should inform about flight delays or not, but my friend told me that their tour operator tracked all the information and informed them.

That wasn't the case here.

When we arrived at the airport, we were 'pleasantly' shocked to find out that we not only wouldn't fly at 3 am, but we had no idea when we'd even fly. We got all the further information about the flight at the airport ourselves.

I'll describe the rest of the information about tourists in the next section.

Service

Since we managed to evaluate TezTour's work in two hotels, I'll tell you more about what we got in both places.

The transfer was amazing. The not-so-near road to the hotel passed unnoticed, and the welcoming girl, despite the night outside, was cheerful and happily chatted about the country and the hotel.

I don't remember her name, but I remember that she ended each sentence with 'good?'.

I'll insert the main information from the title in the middle of the review, so I don't confuse you with the hotels.

The thing is, despite losing a day of rest, it paid off for us handsomely.

In the Abu Dhabi hotel, I asked Alexey (the TezTour representative in the hotel) about what to do with the lost day. He said he'd pass the information to the main office in Moscow, and they'd decide.

Just in case, I also wrote to the main office and the representatives in Abu Dhabi.

Before, I would have meekly waited for my fate, but the recent experiences we had during this vacation made me take action.

You won't be taken care of if you don't take care of yourself. It's better not to wait for a miracle and to create one yourself.

And then, a day before our departure, I received a WhatsApp message that made me jump and scream with joy:

Letter from TezTour I'm still not sure if TezTour deserves all the credit for compensating us for the lost day, or if it's just because there were no available flights due to VIM-Avia's bankruptcy. Either way, it's possible that the payment wasn't even made by the tour operator, but rather by the Ministry of Transport.

It's also possible that TezTour organized our accommodation and transfer to the hotel, but the payment was handled by the relevant government agencies.

After the VIM-Avia situation (which, unfortunately, we found ourselves in, and I've already written about), President Putin was pretty harsh on the Ministry of Transport, saying:

Putin demanded that Sokolov "quickly and effectively" resolve the problem with "VIM-Avia" and present proposals for strengthening regulation in the field of air transportation.

"I ask you to quickly and effectively close this problem, and not only close it, but also present proposals for resolving the situation as a whole, for strengthening the regulatory framework of this sphere of activity, for increasing the responsibility of carriers. And control needs to be established over how these norms, requirements, and relevant criteria are being implemented," said the President.

He emphasized that these requirements and criteria must be effective, clear, and transparent.

As poor, unfortunate souls left without an air carrier, it's likely that measures were taken to provide compensation to those who suffered.

Rumors were circulating among tourists that some people had their vacations extended, while others were told that there were no available flights.

I'm not going to speculate on whether this is true or not, as it's just hearsay, but honestly, I didn't care who got their vacation extended by four whole days! I was just happy for them.

Allow me to get back to my impression of the TezTour tour operator.

Our TezTour representative at the hotel, Alexey, was really great. He answered all our questions in detail, provided us with all the necessary information, and was a pleasure to talk to.

More often than not, you'll encounter representatives who just want to get rid of you as quickly as possible and sell you excursions.

A similar story was shared by a girl from our hotel who was on vacation with another tour operator. She said that their representative was rude, got annoyed when we refused their excursions, and when asked if he would be available at the hotel in case of an emergency, he replied, "What's the point of me sticking around here?"

So, Alexey also suggested tours, but we had a one-year-old kid and that complicated things.

Then he asked how the kid handled the heat and roads, and based on that, he picked something that we could visit as a family, without trying to push anything on us.

He also offered us this colorful brochure with descriptions of beautiful places and tours:

Tours in the UAE from TezTour Tours from TezTour The representative from TezTour in our second hotel in Dubai was also super nice, answered all our questions, but she recommended the water park for our tour, saying there were kid-friendly slides.

I'm pretty sure that's the water park they were offering:

Tour to a water park in the UAEI have no idea how you'd spend a whole day with a hungry kid in 40-degree heat, where they can't even ride anything. Plus, the brochure says kids under 110 cm can't go on the attractions. Obviously, that's not for one-year-olds. The entire service was top-notch!

More about the service.

When we were at the airport waiting for our flight to Dubai, TezTour called me and connected me with their online booking department, and the girl on the phone was great. She didn't let us panic and helped us figure out what to do. And even when she couldn't reach me, she called my husband back to give me the information I was asking for.

▹I've already written a review about the first hotel, and I'm still working on the second one, so you can compare them yourself◃

The second hotel was great, with excellent service and a new, modern vibe, but the one we chose, right on the beach with a huge, beautiful green area and tons of activities for kids, was a different story.

And let me tell you, the one on the outskirts of town, surrounded by construction and with a kiddie pool that was basically a sad, empty rectangle, was a total letdown.

But, as they say, you can't look a gift horse in the mouth, and we were happy with the experience. But if I had my way, I would have chosen the first hotel from the start.

Just take a look at this:

The other hotel

😊

Putting all my minor complaints aside, I'm really happy with TezTour and I'd recommend them without hesitation.

And if I were a more laid-back, easy-going person, I'd give them a solid 5 stars. But thanks to LevelTravel and Wim-Avia for making me appreciate the experience. Links to the culprits below.

😊

For those who got lost in my ramblings, I'll summarize the whole touristy saga:

Things started to go downhill with the cancelled tour booking.

Then we hit the airline on the brink of bankruptcy.

But the cherry on top was the best hotel I've ever stayed at.

And as they say, what goes around comes around – we got a second hotel out of the deal.