City Travel Brokers

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 17, 2016/04/18) */ City Travel Brokers strive to provide our members with the best customer service, pricing, and availabilityOur members always receive the best prices available and can feel confident with our price match guaranteeMembers can reach customer service by phone or via email Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 19, 2016/04/26) */ Thanks for the updateThe "response" from City Travel Brokers really doesn't qualify as a response does it? They did not respond to any specifics of this ongoing problem and just supplied one sentence from an ad campaign about how hard they work for the customerThey are just another rip-off scam artist who operates from behind shadow mail boxes and is apparently beyond the reach of attorney generals and the law in general Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 30, 2016/05/16) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Here is the email we sent to [redacted] @citytravelbrokers.com on April 25, 2015, this is the email address listed in our member handbook to contact to reach member relations, accounting or sales officeI was not able to paste in the whole email as there were not enough characters, what is missing is some of the phone calls with the travel agents trying to find accommodations for us in ArizonaI would be happy to provide the complete email if Revdex.com instructs me on how to send it so that I can provide it in its entirety As a side point, today I received in the mail a bill from "Member Services Group" for the "Annual Service Charge" of $for "Payment for City Travel Broker(sic) Annual Membership Fee"The bill's return address is P.OBox 2096, Little River, SC XXXXXOn December 2, 2015, the South Carolina Attorney General Office sent me a letter stating they had "attempted to contact the business on numerous occasions, however, no response has been received." It has taken me over a year to track down CTB's address in CaliforniaIt is not listed on any of the literature in the handbook nor in any of the membership paperwork we signed or on any of their annual bill statements 4/25/ to support Dear City Travel Brokers, On May 14, 2014, my husband and I attended one of your travel club sales presentations at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Tigard, OregonAt this meeting it was stated by your sales agents that by purchasing a membership City Brokers Travel we would get access to all the accommodations available to travel agencies and at special low prices, coupled with "superior service"Additionally, the staff repeatedly pitched the "vacation weeks", where members can book eight days and seven nights in a condo for $399, and unlimited "short notice weeks"The great prices, large accommodation options, life time membership for our whole family, and the fact that we can just place a call to one of your "travel professionals" instead of having to spend hours searching the web for travel accommodations cinched the deal for us and we signed up in good faith that your company would deliver what had been promised in the sales pitchUnfortunately, our experience to utilize our membership and book accommodations have proved otherwise On 1/2/15, for the first time using your service, we called the X-XXX-XXX-XXXX number to book accommodations for the Phoenix, Arizona area for a vacation on March 20-We were told by the travel agent to go to the website and look at the condos listedWe were not expecting this, as we had been told that the travel agents would be doing the searching for usWe went online and found that nothing was available for those dates in any of the following towns: Scottsdale, Phoenix, Peoria, Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert, or Marysville areaOut of the eight towns that we had designated as options to stay in, the closest condo in all of Arizona that was available, was 1/hours awayWe wanted a condo for several reasons, one was for the great price that had been beaten into our heads at the sales pitch of staying a whole week for only $399, plus we knew it would be roomier for three people and we would also save a lot of money in food expenses by being able to prepare our meals at the condo as opposed to the greater expense of three people eating every meal outSeeing as there appeared to be no condos available we clicked on "hotels", however, this page would not load onto my computer We called back that same day and spoke to [redacted] and shared with her the problem we had run into in looking for a condo in Arizona along with the problem of not being able to get the hotels to load for viewing [redacted] repeatedly let us know that she was very busy and many other clients before us but she would research it and email us back on Monday On Tuesday (1/6/15), we still had not received an email from [redacted] and so we called again [redacted] said that she was still really busy because of the holiday and that she would send us something by email todayLater in the day we received an email from [redacted] that showed accommodations for only one night (3/20/15) instead of five nights By this time we had engaged in communications with City Travel Brokers travel professionals , eight of which we had initiatedWe had been told there were no condos available in the area, no short sales available and the hotels that were available for the dates we wanted to travel were either poorly rated or else the prices were higher than what we could find on the internet without a membershipPlus, it had taken almost four weeks to get this information conveyed to us due to the incompetence of the travel professionals who told us they were too busy, gave us incorrect information, did not reply to emails, or were unprepared to take calls We were so frustrated with the poor service and lack of accommodations at the low pricing we had been told we would get that we finally went online and booked a condo via the internetIt took us less than an hour to find a reasonably priced condo ($100/night) and book itPlus it was well rated and we had a cancellation window After discussing our experience over the past month with City Travel Brokers, my husband and I felt we had given City Travel Brokers plenty of opportunity to deliver the services and prices in the contract that had been presented to usUnfortunately, they fell very short of that agreementWe do not feel confident in the ability of the staff, they did not have any condos in any of the eight towns we were willing to stay in, and we did not get the low pricing that had been advertised to usWe ended up having to book our own accommodations through a public online siteObviously, this partnership was not going to work out for us On 2/26/15, I called the customer service number, X-XXX-XXX-XXXX and left a voice mail at 8:38am Pacific time asking someone to please return my call within the next hour At 12:11pm PT, almost three hours past the time I said I would be available, [redacted] returned my call while at was at work, and left a different number for me to call At 2:37pm PT, I called the X-XXX-XXX-XXXX number that she had left, and again left a voice mail saying that I was available for the next minutes and to please call me No return call On 2/27/15, I called at 7:41am PT, and left a voice mail asking for someone to call by before 1:15pm PT At 1:26pm PT, I called and left another voice mail asking that someone call me by 2:30pm PTI also asked for the best time to call her back, and since it was a Friday, I inquired if she would be working Saturday At 1:55pm PT [redacted] called while I was drivingI quickly pulled over and immediately called her back by 1:58pm PT, but received no answerShe had left a voice mail asking me to leave a message as to what I was calling aboutShe did not say when the best time to call her would be, nor did she say if she would be working SaturdayI left a message stating that we were unhappy with the membershipThat the prices were no better than what I could find on the internet and that we had received poor customer serviceI said we needed to talk about this and to please call me back On 2/28/15, since I had not received a call back from [redacted] , I called and again left a voice mail asking her to call me back anytime today after 8:am PTI received no call back 3/2/15, no call back received 3/3/15, no call back received 3/4/15, no call back received To date, I have never received a call back to the last two messages that I left after stating why I wished to talk to someone in the member relations office We feel we have made repeated efforts to try and make this partnership work, but City Travel Brokers and its employees have continually fell short in not having the product available that they said they would and at the low prices they continually advertised and pitched during the sales meeting, they also did not provide the individualized, superior service as promised, nor were they willing to discuss the problems that prevented us from being able to utilize this very expensive travel service that we paid forTherefore, we have concluded that the contract set forth by City Travel Brokers is not being followed by the company and should therefore be dissolved due to City Travel Brokers failing to deliver the agreed upon service and productWe request the payment of $3,be refunded to us immediately Sincerely, Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 32, 2016/05/27) */ Condo reservations can be made - months in advanceIn certain locations due to the limited amount of resorts during peak season, it is important to give adequate advanced noticed to ensure availabilityIn popular destinations during peak season, such as Phoenix, Chandler, Mesa, and Scottsdale AZ there is only a three month peak season January through MarchIt is common practice for members to make such request giving a six month advance notice to ensure availability [redacted] waited until January to inquire about availability during peak tourist seasonIn Larger cities such as Phoenix, condo inventory becomes more limited simply because there are very limited actual resorts that offer condo inventoryIn larger cities hotels become the most standard inventory to accommodate travel accommodations

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/07/07) */
When requesting travel members have the security of knowing that City Travel Brokers offers a price match guarantee to protect our membersThese City Travel Brokers members have access to condo weeks every year which average from $per
week to $per week based on size of unit, season, and vacation area, which is acknowledged at time of purchase in the City Travel Brokers, LLC Acknowledgement contractCity Travel Brokers members also have unlimited access to short notice specials which are available excess inventory weeks available on the member website booked days or lessCity Travel Brokers offers its members the lowest rates made available to CTB by its suppliers on hotels, cruises, and packaged tripsSome properties may not network with travel agencies and we may not have discounting to extend to the member, but can offer price matchCity Travel Brokers does not extend discounts on domestic airfare, but does guarantee the lowest rates made available from the airline at time of bookingCity Travel Brokers strives to provide our members with excellent customer service while delivering the lowest travel rates to our membersIn order to receive the most efficient service, it is important for the member to call the reservation department, not their salespersonAlso any request for travel can also be requested through the members only website, not by emailing the business office
Below is a copy of all inbound calls from Jan 24th to Feb 7th
Total Calls
2,
58% of total calls
Average Talk Time
00:02:
Total: 86:33:
Missed Calls
Percentage %
Most Active
Extension
All City Travel Brokers members receive a welcome call the next day after becoming a member and a second call when their website login information is sent via emailAll members receive City Travel Brokers contact information on the date of purchaseIn the membership kit are all contact phone numbers and email information
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 10, 2015/07/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This response from City Travel Brokers is unacceptableThey did not respond to any of our issues and just offered a generic statementThis appears to be a copy and paste paragraph used many times
Our sales person, ***, lied to us when selling our membershipHe told us:
- We could get discounts anywhere, anytime, especially at and star hotelsWe stressed how we didn't need all the week long condo deals since our travel typically is just for a few days - the weeks meant nothing to us...we were told the hotels is where the big discounts would be
- We would receive discounts on airfare and rental car, and the more we package, the better the discountsThe ladies who book everything told us there are no discounts on airfare
- The company acts like the travel agent and does the work for usWe spent MORE TIME researching travel and dealing with City travels than we ever spent on any travel before!
Specific examples:
We were told we could go to any location at any time, especially Park City, Utah to go snow skiing, with very little hassle to coordinateThis was the main reason we were sold on this membershipThat turned out to be an issueWe spent many hours researching our Park City Trip because they kept giving us options that were several hours away from Park CityShouldn't they know how far it was away? They had nothing for us in Park City, Utah and it wasn't until we contacted *** several times about this, which he told us we could call him ANYTIME - APPARENTLY ANOTHER LIE PER THE COMPANY'S RESPONSEThen a couple of things opened up in Park CityWe did use our membership, ONLY FOR LODGING FOR A FEW NIGHTS, this past winter in Park City but it was not very impressiveAgain, *** told us that they could get us discounted ski lift tickets, which was not the caseAnother lie to sell us the membership
We tried to use it a couple of more times on to star hotels, but to our surprise, they could not help us outWe actually booked two different Marriott Hotels and a casino resort at a better rate than they were able to find AFTER we gave them a hard time for not having the hotel listedWe didn't buy the membership to "price-match"; there is NO BENEFIT to a membership if they can only price match deals we found and have a no cancellation policy! If for some reason you can't go anymore you are out the money - not a deal
This is the worst "travel membership" we have ever heard of and dealt withThey take your money and send you to another "company," different name, and they say they can't help us with any of the complaints
Final Business Response /* (4000, 12, 2015/07/20) */
City Travel Brokers does provide discounts to anywhere, anytime, but if the member is requesting a specific property, not all properties network with travel agenciesThe whole premise of the membership is that we take any commissions received as an agency and pass them to the member as savingsIf a property does not offer commissions to an agency, we don't have a commission to pass along as savingsWe would then price match
This member has been provided many quotes and has used the membershipUnfortunately sometimes if you are making travel plans in January for Park City the very next month, February ( prime season), there may be limited availabilityWe were able to find them accommodations at a great price
Also City Travel Brokers can only acknowledge statements in writingIn the contract that these members signed it states,
60-days notice for condo inventory, days notice for Holiday Week inventory
NO discounts on domestic airfare
All inventory is based on availability
A copy of the Membership Agreement that these members signed will be forwarded
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 14, 2015/07/26) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
City Travel Brokers did not honestly sell the membership stated above and were not informed we had to send in a written request every time we wanted to try to book something! As for the to days, the paperwork only says suggest, NOT required, we were not informed we had to go thru the ridiculous hassle of completing a form every timeThere is NO CONVENIENCE IN THAT PROCESS! We were promised EASY, HASSLE-FREE TRAVEL ACCOMMODATIONSIn fact, when we filled out the "Three Reasons Why We Are Vacationing the City Travel Brokers Way form, we put Save money (which we haven't at all!), Less hassle on arrangements (which has been exactly the opposite), and Family - unfortunately, because we were scammed, this has hurt our family!!!
We were informed we would receive deals at ANY LOCATIONWe specifically informed the agent we do not take week-long travels, but rather, few nights here and there occasionally and typically at hotelsIn fact, the reason we waited to request deals for Park City in January was because THE AGENT WHO SOLD US THIS HORRIBLE MEMBERSHIP TOLD US TO WAIT UNTIL JANUARY! Then, when we did call for booking options, the people on the phone told us to wait and call back when it was closer to the date we wanted to travel - so we are not to blame for this disaster! This also added stress and frustration with having to wait and not know if we could get accommodations
As for the "no discounts on domestic airfare" comment, we re-reviewed the original contract and DID NOT SEE ANYWHERE WHERE IT STATED THAT COMMENT
This is the worst customer service we have ever received and deserve compensation!

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 17, 2016/04/18) */
City Travel Brokers strive to provide our members with the best customer service, pricing, and availability. Our members always receive the best prices available and can feel confident with our price match guarantee. Members can reach customer...

service by phone or via email.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 19, 2016/04/26) */
Thanks for the update. The "response" from City Travel Brokers really doesn't qualify as a response does it? They did not respond to any specifics of this ongoing problem and just supplied one sentence from an ad campaign about how hard they work for the customer. They are just another rip-off scam artist who operates from behind shadow mail boxes and is apparently beyond the reach of attorney generals and the law in general.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 30, 2016/05/16) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Here is the email we sent to [redacted]@citytravelbrokers.com on April 25, 2015, this is the email address listed in our member handbook to contact to reach member relations, accounting or sales office. I was not able to paste in the whole email as there were not enough characters, what is missing is some of the phone calls with the travel agents trying to find accommodations for us in Arizona. I would be happy to provide the complete email if Revdex.com instructs me on how to send it so that I can provide it in its entirety.
As a side point, today I received in the mail a bill from "Member Services Group" for the "Annual Service Charge" of $199.00 for "Payment for City Travel Broker(sic) Annual Membership Fee". The bill's return address is P.O. Box 2096, Little River, SC XXXXX. On December 2, 2015, the South Carolina Attorney General Office sent me a letter stating they had "attempted to contact the business on numerous occasions, however, no response has been received." It has taken me over a year to track down CTB's address in California. It is not listed on any of the literature in the handbook nor in any of the membership paperwork we signed or on any of their annual bill statements.
4/25/15
to support
Dear City Travel Brokers,
On May 14, 2014, my husband and I attended one of your travel club sales presentations at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Tigard, Oregon. At this meeting it was stated by your sales agents that by purchasing a membership City Brokers Travel we would get access to all the accommodations available to travel agencies and at special low prices, coupled with "superior service". Additionally, the staff repeatedly pitched the "vacation weeks", where members can book eight days and seven nights in a condo for $399, and unlimited "short notice weeks". The great prices, large accommodation options, life time membership for our whole family, and the fact that we can just place a call to one of your "travel professionals" instead of having to spend hours searching the web for travel accommodations cinched the deal for us and we signed up in good faith that your company would deliver what had been promised in the sales pitch. Unfortunately, our experience to utilize our membership and book accommodations have proved otherwise.
On 1/2/15, for the first time using your service, we called the X-XXX-XXX-XXXX number to book accommodations for the Phoenix, Arizona area for a vacation on March 20-26. We were told by the travel agent to go to the website and look at the condos listed. We were not expecting this, as we had been told that the travel agents would be doing the searching for us. We went online and found that nothing was available for those dates in any of the following towns: Scottsdale, Phoenix, Peoria, Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert, or Marysville area. Out of the eight towns that we had designated as options to stay in, the closest condo in all of Arizona that was available, was 3 1/2 hours away. We wanted a condo for several reasons, one was for the great price that had been beaten into our heads at the sales pitch of staying a whole week for only $399, plus we knew it would be roomier for three people and we would also save a lot of money in food expenses by being able to prepare our meals at the condo as opposed to the greater expense of three people eating every meal out. Seeing as there appeared to be no condos available we clicked on "hotels", however, this page would not load onto my computer.
We called back that same day and spoke to [redacted] and shared with her the problem we had run into in looking for a condo in Arizona along with the problem of not being able to get the hotels to load for viewing. [redacted] repeatedly let us know that she was very busy and many other clients before us but she would research it and email us back on Monday.
On Tuesday (1/6/15), we still had not received an email from [redacted] and so we called again. [redacted] said that she was still really busy because of the holiday and that she would send us something by email today. Later in the day we received an email from [redacted] that showed accommodations for only one night (3/20/15) instead of five nights. . . . .
By this time we had engaged in 14 communications with City Travel Brokers travel professionals , eight of which we had initiated. We had been told there were no condos available in the area, no short sales available and the hotels that were available for the dates we wanted to travel were either poorly rated or else the prices were higher than what we could find on the internet without a membership. Plus, it had taken almost four weeks to get this information conveyed to us due to the incompetence of the travel professionals who told us they were too busy, gave us incorrect information, did not reply to emails, or were unprepared to take calls.
We were so frustrated with the poor service and lack of accommodations at the low pricing we had been told we would get that we finally went online and booked a condo via the internet. It took us less than an hour to find a reasonably priced condo ($100/night) and book it. Plus it was well rated and we had a cancellation window.
After discussing our experience over the past month with City Travel Brokers, my husband and I felt we had given City Travel Brokers plenty of opportunity to deliver the services and prices in the contract that had been presented to us. Unfortunately, they fell very short of that agreement. We do not feel confident in the ability of the staff, they did not have any condos in any of the eight towns we were willing to stay in, and we did not get the low pricing that had been advertised to us. We ended up having to book our own accommodations through a public online site. Obviously, this partnership was not going to work out for us.
On 2/26/15, I called the customer service number, X-XXX-XXX-XXXX and left a voice mail at 8:38am Pacific time asking someone to please return my call within the next hour.
At 12:11pm PT, almost three hours past the time I said I would be available, [redacted] returned my call while at was at work, and left a different number for me to call.
At 2:37pm PT, I called the X-XXX-XXX-XXXX number that she had left, and again left a voice mail saying that I was available for the next 45 minutes and to please call me.
No return call.
On 2/27/15, I called at 7:41am PT, and left a voice mail asking for someone to call by before 1:15pm PT.
At 1:26pm PT, I called and left another voice mail asking that someone call me by 2:30pm PT. I also asked for the best time to call her back, and since it was a Friday, I inquired if she would be working Saturday.
At 1:55pm PT [redacted] called while I was driving. I quickly pulled over and immediately called her back by 1:58pm PT, but received no answer. She had left a voice mail asking me to leave a message as to what I was calling about. She did not say when the best time to call her would be, nor did she say if she would be working Saturday. I left a message stating that we were unhappy with the membership. That the prices were no better than what I could find on the internet and that we had received poor customer service. I said we needed to talk about this and to please call me back.
On 2/28/15, since I had not received a call back from [redacted], I called and again left a voice mail asking her to call me back anytime today after 8:30 am PT. I received no call back.
3/2/15, no call back received.
3/3/15, no call back received.
3/4/15, no call back received.

To date, I have never received a call back to the last two messages that I left after stating why I wished to talk to someone in the member relations office.

We feel we have made repeated efforts to try and make this partnership work, but City Travel Brokers and its employees have continually fell short in not having the product available that they said they would and at the low prices they continually advertised and pitched during the sales meeting, they also did not provide the individualized, superior service as promised, nor were they willing to discuss the problems that prevented us from being able to utilize this very expensive travel service that we paid for. Therefore, we have concluded that the contract set forth by City Travel Brokers is not being followed by the company and should therefore be dissolved due to City Travel Brokers failing to deliver the agreed upon service and product. We request the payment of $3,682 be refunded to us immediately .

Sincerely,
Final Business Response /* (4000, 32, 2016/05/27) */
Condo reservations can be made 0 - 12 months in advance. In certain locations due to the limited amount of resorts during peak season, it is important to give adequate advanced noticed to ensure availability. In popular destinations during peak season, such as Phoenix, Chandler, Mesa, and Scottsdale AZ there is only a three month peak season January through March. It is common practice for members to make such request giving a six month advance notice to ensure availability. [redacted] waited until January to inquire about availability during peak tourist season. In Larger cities such as Phoenix, condo inventory becomes more limited simply because there are very limited actual resorts that offer condo inventory. In larger cities hotels become the most standard inventory to accommodate travel accommodations.