An Honest Review of Tripmasters.com

Tripmasters.com is a full-service travel booking website that is undoubtedly the most impressive travel booking engine of any sort we’ve ever used. While not the “flashiest” user interface, the versatility of what you can do, why types of trips you can create, and how you can arrange your vacation is unmatched in our experience. I say that without hesitance, and despite the high praise, we want you to first understand that we are not being compensated in any way for writing this honest review of our experience with Tripmasters.com (and the sister website, europeandestinations.com), having used their service around a dozen times over the past 6 years.

How Tripmasters.com Got Started

When we start telling people about Tripmasters, which we do often, we nearly always get asked questions such as the following;

  • “How long have they been around?”
  • “Where do they have trips?”
  • “Is it hard to book a trip?”
  • “Where is Tripmasters based?”

The company started long before there was a Tripmasters.com, when in 1984 they began as a tour booking company assisting with tailor-made itineraries to South America – namely, Peru. Over that time, Tripmasters continued growing wildly as the internet burgeoned in the late 90s, and into the 2000s.

Today, Tripmasters offers trips to 6 of the world’s 7 continents, and remains a completely customizable platform for people trying to book trips. We’ve used the platform to book myriad trips to England, Scotland, Greece, Peru, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, and many more, many of which we have visited through Tripmasters multiple times (such as England, which we’ve visited four times through the platform).

Is Tripmasters Trustworthy?

We can say, with absolute honesty, that we have never experienced a critical issue with Tripmasters.

When we normally ask if a website is trustworthy, we want to know;

  • Am I going to get what I pay for?
  • Will I be treated honestly?
  • Will I, in any way, be misled about the terms, service, or price?

I can emphatically support Tripmasters’ standards of quality. Their booking engine, which we’ll discuss, is straight forward. Customer service is fast, friendly, very communicative, and goes above and beyond what is asked of them. The terms of the itineraries, and their price schedule, is also easy to understand and remains consistent throughout the process.

What Options Do You Have With Tripmasters?

With Tripmasters, you essentially have two different ways to book trips. First, you can select one of their pre-organized, recommended itineraries, or secondly you can build your own from scratch.

To start, find an area where you can select specific locations. This can be done on the homepage by either using the dropdown that says “destinations”, or by selecting the hyperlinks that go to certain continent-specific areas of the website.

As you can see, there’s one for Europe, one for Asia, and so on.

Once you select one of these areas and find the prompts to go to the location-specific on the Tripmasters interface where you want to book, you’ll see all of the suggested itineraries laid out for you to review. These are not anchored to any specific date (in most cases), but is, however structured in a suggested manner.

You will have the same option at the top of any page, however, to start building a trip that is truly custom – from scratch!

This is the method we’ve used every time we’ve booked a trip through Tripmasters, and the one where we’ve saved the most money in the past. If you get creative enough with itineraries and potential travel options, you can save thousands while extending your trip several days, adding long, over-night layovers in interesting locations, and even paying super cheap prices for nice hotels in world-renown cities!

An Example of Tripmasters’ Value

Since it’s the example that requires a bit more of an example, we’ll discuss for a moment how to actually book a trip from scratch. In this example, we’ll book a trip leaving from Miami, Florida to visit London and Paris over 7 nights during the American Thanksgiving holiday.

First, build out the parameters accordingly with what you’re wanting to plan. See below for a representation of the example we discussed above.

You’ll be asked to specify how your rooms should be arranged, how many people, and what method of transportation you would like between cities….

… Before coming to a screen with your estimated price based on a suggestion of itineraries. These are all movable in terms of hotel and flight selection.

Now, if you’ve ever traveled out of the country before, especially a week spent overseas during an American holiday with an additional person traveling with you, you probably know how inexpensive this really is. Especially considering that Tripmasters’ flights include;

  • International flights
  • Flights and/or train to connecting international cities
  • All hotels throughout the entire trip

Even if you haven’t been on this type of trip, I probably don’t have to tell you how silly it is that two people can spend a week in London and Paris for roughly the price of 5 XBOX consoles. This is why we love Tripmasters, have used them for years to book our trips, and will continue to.

That’s $2,400 for two people in Europe – EVERYTHING INCLUDED!

The value is absolutely amazing.

Customer Service at Tripmasters

The customer service at Tripmasters is where the value really stands out. On some of our previous trips, there are minor changes with your itinerary that happen over months. Flights get moved, times get adjusted, etc.

Tripmasters not only notifies you of all these changes, but each time we’ve been approached about such a scenario, they’ve presented options that solved the issue at hand, leaving us only to confirm they’re suggested changes without having to pay a dime extra.

Overall, Tripmasters is the “cheat code” of travel from the United States. What’s even better is that they continue to expand their offerings – now including African safari trips, and even trips to the West Coast of the United States, including Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

We’ll continue to use Tripmasters, and believe you should do the same. Stay tuned for specific reviews on our ongoing trips using Tripmasters and their amazing platform!

COVID-19 Caveat

I would be remiss without addressing the many complaints that Tripmasters.com received in the wake of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reality is that many of the complaints were probably warranted, given the unimaginable complexity of the situation. We didn’t have a trip booked with Tripmasters at the time, so we cannot personally verify the issues people had in terms of getting refunds, changing bookings, and dealing with cancellations. We didn’t have that experience. With that being said, we know that what happened likely left many with a sour taste in their mouths, and who could blame them?

Conversely, I haven’t heard of any travel company who dealt with this well. Complaints were rampant for many of Tripmasters competitors, and we did in fact lose money on a flight booked through Expedia. Since the pandemic, and the gradual reopening of the world, however, a glance at reviews of most established travel booking companies such as Tripmasters will show that things have picked up, and many are receiving solid reviews again.

We can only stand by our personal experience with Tripmasters, or any other company, and have only had positive experiences.

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  • Beth Thomas
    January 16, 2020 at 12:50 pm

    I used Tripmasters for a trip to Belgium last summer and was very happy with the arrangements and customer service. It was nice to have someone do all the planning and call if I had issues, I just had to show up! 8 days in Belgium for 2 with airfare, hotels, transportation to and from airport and trains between the cities of Brussels, Bruge, and Ghent for around $3,000 was a great deal.

    • Justin & Tracy
      January 16, 2020 at 2:13 pm

      Glad you had such a great experience, Beth! It’s pretty great indeed – really can’t believe how inexpensive it can be!

  • Ken
    January 22, 2020 at 2:18 pm

    We used tripmasters.com for a trip to London, Paris, Venice, and Rome. Ran into what could have been a couple of snags, but tripmasters took care of them before they became a problem. Our plane was delayed going to Paris. They contacted the hotel to let them know we would arrive late. Our plane from Venice to Rome was canceled. Tripmasters immediately let us know, providing us with another flight before we even knew of the problem. We have booked a trip to Amsterdam, Brussels, and back to Paris for this April. I have been very satisfied with the customer service and the accommodations have been as advertised. Will continue using the site.

    • Justin & Tracy
      January 25, 2020 at 12:05 pm

      Glad to hear you guys had a great trip! That’s a great itinerary too!

  • Dan
    April 29, 2020 at 12:59 pm

    You;d be singing a different tune about how great Tripmasters is and their wonderful customer service if you were dealing with them right now, They are ripping off all their customers and refusing refunds. They should be expecting a class action lawsuit in the near future unless they get their customers the refunds they deserve! I would never recommend them after this fiasco! They will not answer emails or calls. They sent emails out saying they were processing customers trips only for people scheduled to depart with 72 hours and they would get back to me in that time frame. That was over 7 days ago and I haven’t heard a word from them since. They are literally stealing thousands of people money right now during a global pandemic. If they aren’t out of business after this it will be my mission to put them our of business. It is all about principle at this point. I hope they have cheap lawyers because mine are free and will make sure they pay one way or another! STAY AWAY and go read other reviews on other sites if you don’t believe what I am saying!

    • Justin & Tracy
      April 29, 2020 at 1:57 pm

      True, we don’t have anything booked with them right now so we haven’t been sure how they’re handling what’s going on. I hate that you’re having that kind of experience right now, and it’s certainly something we wouldn’t agree with or stand for. I hope they “right” the wrongs, because it’s been a great brand for a long time, and I’d hate to see them mess that up when it matters most. Please keep us posted on your experience, Dan.

  • TinaMarie Priore
    May 12, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    TripMasters is the worse…..they should be ashamed of themselves and the poor customer service and fraudulent activity they are conducting during this pandemic crisis by taking people’s hard earned money and not supplying refunds or credits. This is unacceptable and I will continue to write a bad review on every site I can so people know not to use them. Absolutely horrible!!

    • Justin & Tracy
      May 13, 2020 at 8:22 am

      I’ve heard a few other complaints dealing with the refund issues and Coronavirus. We’re going to add a disclaimer at the top of the article, because obviously don’t support giving people a hard time paying them back refunds they’re owed, but we also don’t know each situation in depth. Our experiences were always positive.

  • Jennifer
    May 22, 2020 at 3:45 pm

    Having the same problem with trying to get a refund for a trip schedule for July. Received a letter from TM listing all penalties (almost $3,000) and amount of credit ($1,300) to be applied should I rebook my trip within 24 months. Paid nearly $5,000 for the trip! Also paid for travel insurance that supposedly would allow me to cancel my trip for any reason, however this is not the case. There is whole list of reasons that are not covered by the policy (Allianz). Complete rip off by both companies. They should be ashamed of themselves! Class act coming their way in the near future for sure.

  • Lucy
    June 15, 2020 at 10:49 pm

    The same here. I have used Tripmasters several times in the past. Last time I used them was this past year 2019 December for my anniversary to visit Paris, Barcelona and again Venice that I love so much… and it was always a positive experience. So positive I booked a flight for July to go back to Paris and Belgium and see Netherlands, this time with my dad who has never been to Europe because he is an old school, blue collar, so sweet Dominican guy. He always flew back home and that was really it… then he retired in 2013 and he and mom promised to start a new adventure…turns out mom died of pancreatic cancer in 2016 and they never went anywhere. After that life has been VERY HARD for us as a family. I have tried to keep happy but is not easy being without my mom imagine him without his wife of 43 years. But we have fought… and I got to take him to Ecuador in 2017… and he liked it and it opened his appetite for traveling. He is so cute and looks great he is 69. So this was a dream for him… but COVID 19 came and we cannot travel. He stays in the Dominican Republic some months and then comes back here, but his flight was canceled. He could not come.. THIS IS WHERE TRIPMASTERS NIGHTMARE COMES IN…Called them in March…. they do nothing… called them in April…did nothing…called in May, now in June… and NOTHING!!! They are playing stupid…they give you the run around and keep in waiting,.. in anxiety…without knowing if you will just miss a flight and lose everything…if you will get anything….if they will rebook you…YOU DON’T KNOW! There customer service staff is not equipped at all…they are not helpful…they just stall, stall and stall some more…THAT IS IT!!! Tripmasters have gone WILD… They have been obviously borrowing from Peter to pay John and so forth. They have not funding. They lie! LIE LIKE NOTHING! Saying that their vendors change policy month by month, and when you reach out to the hotels and the airlines you chose, they all are issuing refunds, so who are they working for? who are these vendors??? are they drug dealers?? I don’t understand… so yeah… you will continue to get crazy posts, because people are hurting and really upset and when they see a good review on tripmasters…well, it hurts…

    • Justin & Tracy
      June 16, 2020 at 8:45 pm

      I hate to hear how things have gone with Tripmasters for so many recently. While I can’t verify the reasonings behind each one, I hope they work to remedy the situations.