Travel Counsellors: most-reported complaints
Automated analysis of 2,199 public Trustpilot reviews published 2025-07-24 to 2026-09-23. TrustScore 5 from 26,678 total reviews — see the Trustpilot page. Quick answer: is Travel Counsellors legit? Issues below reflect what reviewers reported, not findings of wrongdoing.
Reviewers most often report issues categorized as 'Other,' accounting for 32% of the 62 complaints identified. The second most common complaint is that services were 'Not as described,' representing 27% of reports, with a rising trend. 'Support unhelpful' issues make up 24% of the complaints and show a falling trend, while 'Poor core service' accounts for the remaining 10% and is also rising.
How to reach Travel Counsellors
These are the contact details Travel Counsellors publishes on its Trustpilot profile, as of our last check on 2026-09-23 — it publishes no phone number there, address Travel Counsellors is based in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, UAE, GB.
The company claimed its Trustpilot profile on 2018-09-21, uses Trustpilot’s paid features, uses Trustpilot’s AI-assisted replies, and last replied to a negative review on 2026-09-04. Trustpilot ranks it 2 of 204 in Travel Agency. We last checked this profile on 2026-09-23 and found 200 new reviews. These are facts Trustpilot publishes about the profile, as of our last harvest.
Forum footprint: 16 MoneySavingExpert forum discussions mention this company (browse). Roughly 0 of the top, relevance-sorted search results were posted in the last 90 days — an approximate figure by construction, not a true recency count. Recent thread titles: “E: 12/02 Win flights for two to the USA with Travel Counsellors (ireland only)”, “Travel Counsellors - good or bad?”, “£10,000 dream holiday with Travel COunsellors”.
Elsewhere: 5★ on Google (43 reviews) · 0.0★ App Store (0)
TrustScore over time
5.0 → 5.0 across 15 census measurements since 2026-08-12. Our own record, independent of Trustpilot’s display.
Reply behaviour over time
Solid: % of negative reviews replied to. Dashed: typical days to reply. Both as reported on this company’s Trustpilot profile, recorded whenever our census re-checked it and a figure had changed — the gaps between points are not equal: 2026-08-12 (100%, 1.7d) · 2026-08-15 (100%, 1.7d) · 2026-08-18 (100%, 1.7d) · 2026-08-21 (100%, 1.7d) · 2026-08-24 (100%, 1.7d) · 2026-08-27 (100%, 1.7d) · 2026-09-01 (97%, 1.7d) · 2026-09-04 (97%, 1.7d) · 2026-09-07 (100%, 1.8d) · 2026-09-11 (100%, 1.8d) · 2026-09-14 (100%, 1.8d) · 2026-09-17 (97%, 1.8d) · 2026-09-20 (94%, 1.8d) · 2026-09-23 (91%, 1.8d).
Severity: 26% of this company’s 62 graded complaints were classified as severe (money lost, an essential service cut off, or a problem unresolved for months). See the harm index.
Reviewers here waited a median of 11.6 days between the experience and publishing their negative review (123 reviews record both dates).
Measured reply time: across 150 negative reviews that received a public reply, the median wait was 1.2 days — the company profile reports an average of 2 days.
Reply quality: of 150 company replies to negative reviews analysed, 43% engaged with the specific problem and 52% were generic templates.
Review provenance: 1955 company-invited reviews in the recent window average 4.97★, while 159 organic (uninvited) reviews average 4.93★.
20% of its 2075 recent 5★ reviews came from accounts that had written only that one review when we captured it (the median across companies is about 39%). A high share is a reason to look closer, not evidence of fake reviews.
Sector benchmark: other makes up 32% of this company’s complaints vs a 19% median across 96 ranked companies in its sector.
Review velocity: 13,335 of this company’s 26,678 Trustpilot reviews (50%) were written in the last 12 months.
What are the most common complaints about Travel Counsellors?
Other
20 reports · 32% of complaintssteady“The Appartamenti degli Artisti by Mmega apartment is utterly appalling.”
The company replied on 2026-05-22: “Hi Kate, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We’re truly sorry to read about your experience and can fully appreciate how upsetting this must have been. We understand this matter…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
“This holiday actually cost me an additional £3,300”
The company replied on 2026-02-19: “Hi Clair, we're really sorry to read how this experience felt for you, and we’d really welcome the opportunity to look into this in more detail. There can sometimes be factors around flight…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
“we have received no feed back regarding the loss of out £8000 holiday to America”
The company replied on 2025-11-19: “Good afternoon, thank you for sharing your feedback, and we’re truly sorry to hear how this experience has been for you. We can see your booking details and want to reassure you that our team is…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
Not as described
17 reports · 27% of complaintsrising since 2026-05“At one point I was even given a premium economy flight when business would have been cheaper”
The company replied on 2025-11-10: “Hi Nicholas, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We’re genuinely sorry to hear about your experience and the frustration caused. This certainly isn’t the level of service we aim to…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“when we tried to buy our wild cards, we were told that we had no booking.”
“Impossible to get any support.”
The company replied on 2026-08-07: “Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re really sorry to hear your disappointment at the hotel, and we’re pleased that Alison was there to support you and help find alternative…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
Support unhelpful
15 reports · 24% of complaintsfalling“Shortly thereafter, our account was closed. In our opinion, this decision was unwarranted given the service concerns above.”
The company replied on 2026-01-21: “Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re very sorry to hear how disappointed you feel and appreciate you setting out your concerns so clearly. Thank you for giving us the…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“At no point, did BP mention any kind of surcharge.”
The company replied on 2025-09-12: “Hi Rachel, we're sorry to read about your experience and the disappointment you’ve felt. At Travel Counsellors, we pride ourselves on building trust through transparency, care, and tailored service.…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“At one point I was even given a premium economy flight when business would have been cheaper”
The company replied on 2025-11-10: “Hi Nicholas, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We’re genuinely sorry to hear about your experience and the frustration caused. This certainly isn’t the level of service we aim to…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Poor core service
6 reports · 10% of complaintsrising since 2026-05“it wasn't safe for children and wouldn't recommend this hotel for families”
The company replied on 2026-04-30: “Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We’re really sorry to hear that aspects of your stay didn’t meet expectations. If you're happy for us to do so, we can review this in more detail…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
“shower was hanging off walls ,had to hold shower with one hand to wash hair not good when you get shampoo in your eyes”
“You have to be very careful not to trip on all the broken tiles.”
The company replied on 2026-09-18: “Thank you for sharing such detailed feedback. We’re pleased that you found the rooms clean and spacious, and that staff were pleasant and hardworking. However, it’s clear that several aspects of the…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
Support unreachable
5 reports · 8% of complaintsfalling“Impossible to get any support.”
The company replied on 2026-08-07: “Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re really sorry to hear your disappointment at the hotel, and we’re pleased that Alison was there to support you and help find alternative…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
“When my agent was not available l got no assistance whatsoever from them.”
The company replied on 2026-06-03: “Hi Theresa, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We're very sorry to read about your experience and take comments of this nature very seriously - given the detail you have provided,…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
“tried to contact Angela all got was oh I’m shocked got more help from her best friend Kelly feel been ripped off”
The company replied on 2025-08-22: “Hi Andrea, We’re really sorry to read your review and to hear how disappointed you feel with your holiday - this isn’t the experience we want any of our customers to have. We’d like to understand…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
Overcharging
4 reports · 6% of complaintsfalling“They overcharge substantially.”
The company replied on 2026-01-03: “Thank you for taking the time to share such detailed feedback. We’re genuinely sorry to read how disappointed and frustrated you feel about your experience, particularly given the care and thought…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“At no point, did BP mention any kind of surcharge.”
The company replied on 2025-09-12: “Hi Rachel, we're sorry to read about your experience and the disappointment you’ve felt. At Travel Counsellors, we pride ourselves on building trust through transparency, care, and tailored service.…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“The Tony then on check out charged $250 for expenses plus $125 for the swimming pool.”
The company replied on 2026-07-08: “Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We're sorry to hear that your journey was made more challenging by the flight delays and that some aspects of your stay in Miami were unexpected.…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
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Method: reviews are classified into a fixed complaint taxonomy by an automated reader; every category shown is backed by at least two verbatim quotes from distinct reviews. Trends are computed from dated review counts only. Negative reviews are deliberately over-sampled for evidence depth; headline percentages use an unbiased recent sample only. Report updated 2026-09-23.