Down Under Answers

We booked our trip to Australia with DUA via a Groupon special. While we were a bit apprehensive at first about the quality we’d be receiving through Groupon, we decided we could not pass up a trip to Australia, a destination we’d always wanted to visit, for such a great price. Those worries were unfounded.
The itinerary we booked took us EVERYWHERE in two weeks. We started in Cairns, then headed to Melbourne, then Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, and finally, Sydney. It was quite the whirlwind. With all the travel we were doing, it would have been easy for our transportation to fall apart, but everything was very well coordinated. We were provided with everything we needed to make the trip as easy and stress-​free as possible.
DUA provided some of the best customer service we’d ever experienced (before and since) with a travel company. The lady who helped us throughout, Chris Mead, was super helpful and responsive. She provided suggestions on places to eat and visit, and also suggested what turned out to be some of our favorite activities, including the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant in Melbourne. We contacted her what felt like a hundred times, but each time she was very friendly, knowledgeable, and was able to provide any information or assistance we needed.
We loved Australia and plan to visit again in the future. We’ll definitely check in with DUA when we’re ready to go back!

I purchased a package from DUA through Groupon for 11 days in Sydney/​Cairns which sounded like an amazing deal so I was very excited to plan my trip. As stated in the ad, «Your 11-​day Australia vacation can begin in either Cairns or Sydney» so I choose to start in Sydney and the package that I purchased was «valid for departure 2÷15÷13−3÷21÷13», I’m going 2÷27−3÷10.
When I went to book the trip with Matt at DUA, who BTW was a really great guy and very helpful, I was informed that there would be an up charge because it was during Mardi Gras and that he couldn’t guarantee me an upgrade or free wifi but would request it. The reason that I choose the package that I did was because I wanted to go to Mardi Gras and nowhere in the ad did it mention any up charge during those dates and in fact, the package that I choose was specific in it’s dates of 2÷15÷13−3÷21÷13.
I went back and forth with Groupon over this for 3 exhausting weeks because if it’s going to advertise specific dates without any note of up charges then that seems pretty sneaky and they should have made it right. Unfortunately I had already booked things in Australia that I could not get refunds for so canceling the trip was not an option.
Groupon contacted DUA and here was their response– «Our trips are always based on availability, and during Mardi Gras we have a limited amount of rooms available. If you could give me the clients’ full name, I’ll pull it and see if there is anything I can do. Many of our trips go over certain periods, and we can „shuffle“ the itinerary so that they can get the price we advertise. As an example, we knew we’d have issues with Mardi Gras, and thus we can reverse itinerary and have them do Cairns during the Mardi Gras period, and thus offer the price. If they insist on going to Sydney during this period, then it is entirely appropriate that they pay a surcharge (in my estimation) — we can honor price quoted if they take itinerary as we propose. But I’ll see what I can do — just let me know full name so I can pull it.» I was told that Kirk would reach out to me within a few days but after a week I never heard anything from him so I gave up.
I totally understand that Mardi Gras is a busy time and that hotels will try to take advantage by raising prices but If as they said, they knew that Mardi Gras would be an issue and a surcharge is appropriate then that surcharge should have been mentioned in the ad and then there would have been no problems as it would have been clear. I’m only going to be in Sydney for 2 days during Mardi Gras. Also, if they had a limited amount of rooms available then how could they have booked me a room? Either it’s available or it’s not. Again, clarity in the ad would have prevented all that transpired and saved all of us a lot of wasted time.
I’m about to embark on the trip and it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting an upgrade or free wifi. I do hope that it winds up being amazing, worth all of the headaches and I will certainly follow up this review when I return and change my rating if it’s merited.

I used them for my 2 week vacation to Australia (July/​August) and I would gladly recommend them to anyone. Aside from great prices, the service was unparalleled. I did everything pretty much via e-​mail and it went smoothly. I received my travel documents about 3 weeks before my departure and my itinerary was detailed that my trip was worry-​free when it came flight, hotel and transportation information. Highly recommended.

Reading the other reviews for Down Under Answers (DUA) makes our review sorta like chiming in singing harmony for the best travel experience ever!
DUA provided us with the vacation of a lifetime! My husband and I had never been to Australia however we have traveled internationally enough to personally know how easy it is to return home with stories of «the mis-​adventures of international travel». Also this was our first travel anywhere using Groupon, and so we were curious about this company named Down Under Answers. We had a few specific needs as we wanted to extend our time in Sydney and were coordinating with a family member who lives in Australia. Every call and/​or email with DUA provided us with super help and great information. We were equally happy with the travel itinerary packet that was mailed to us prior to our departure as it provided complete and comprehensive day to day details for each of the three major cities we were visiting. We took the packet with us, and soon came to rely on it’s contents. It was awesome knowing how to navigate to and from unfamiliar airports, what to expect in our accommodations, as well as the different «flavor» for each geographical during our almost month visit. Kim Faucette was the person we worked with at DUA and I can totally recommend working with Kim! As a matter of fact our trip was so great and Australia is such a big diverse continent we plan to return and will certainly be contacting Kim at Down Under Answers for our Australian summer vacation.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
My wife and I just returned from our trip to New Zealand and Australia through purchasing a package from Down Under Answer. We worked with Kirk Demeter (President) and he was simply amazing. He assist with adding the New Zealand leg to our package for a great price. It just so happen that he was going to be in Queenstown the same day we were arriving to Queenstown and offered to meet up for a drink. We accepted but missed each other due to lack of wifi and mobile access. However, he kindly left a bottle of wine for us.
Kirk was prompted to answer all questions we had and offered suggestions for what would be the best value and most affordable way to add Queenstown to our package and our roundtrip flight between Chicago and LA. He even provided his mobile number in the case we had any issues during our trip.
The hotels we stayed at were all close to tourist attractions and in the mist of everything. Each hotel also provided breakfast and great customer service.
I only wish Down Under Answer covered more locations, so we could book all our travels with them.

So this review is coming at some delay. I totally forgot the company was located in Seattle so it never came up in searches…
Anyhow, i must say that I highly recommend using this travel agency any time you want to visit down under. They are very flexible if you want to add to your packages. The original deal was somewhere around $ 1700 to visit Sydney, Cairns, and Melbourne including airfare and hotel for three nights each. We added another flight to add a trip to New Zealand for 5 nights — not including hotel — and the total was somewhere around 2k.
This price was fantastic for just the airfare alone. And the hotels — oh the hotels we were put up in were great. They were all in prime location and very nice. There was no better option — very impressed. The only thing we would have changed were the number of days. 3 days in each of the Australian cities mentioned above was definitely NOT enough.
Happy Travels! You will love Australia and you will love the deal this company is able to put together for you!

I am an Aussie that always books her own trips and have done so for the last 38 years. Recently I have had to make spur of the moment trips to Australia to take care of an ailing elderly mother. I decided to call DUA to see if they could access cheaper, last minute reservations for me. I spoke to Kirk and he could not have been more accommodating and sympathetic to my needs. I have made 4 trips since January and each time I have had to change flights because of the seriousness of my mothers health. I even spoke to Kirk after hours and he never made it feel like an imposition. Last trip I arrived at Seatac without my reservation for my Australian flight and even though the office was closed for the day I reached Kirk and he accessed my itinerary and I was able to provide my confirmation code. I have also dealt with his assistant Anna who has been wonderful too. I have rated them with 5 stars because I am so happy with their personal, professional service.

I just came back from a trip to Australia. I got a package advertised on their website for ~2200 to Sydney, Cairns and Melbourne, flight and hotels included for 12 nights. This quote also includes a change of hotels which I requested for Sydney so that we would be closer to the downtown.
I corresponded with the agent over email most of the time. I thought she was attentive and responsive. She answered all my questions and addressed all of my concerns and was very clear with the procedure. This is the first time I booked an entire travel package with someone so I was concerned that they might make a mistake somewhere along the way but my trip was completely smooth. I was pleased with the hotels they selected. They also gave me a free upgrade for one of the hotels due to everything else being booked already, and I really appreciated this as the upgraded room was just awesome.
I also appreciated that they sent me all the documents just a week after we agreed on the final details of the trip. It also helps that Australia is a great place to travel to. I plan on going back to Australia in the future and I plan on checking with these guys for their packages when I do so.

My family went with Down Under Answers for our first ever international trip together, to Australia and New Zealand, after finding a deal that was posted through Travelzoo. These guys made everything so simple and straightforward for us; we definitely would consider them for another international expedition. The package deal they put together was so much better than we could have done for a mid September departure and they even offered a bit of flight flexibility to leave up to two weeks earlier if we preferred. But since we knew that September is the start of spring time in that part of the world, we wanted to go as late in the season as possible.
This trip was a 14 day trip which included 2 travel days (with one flight leg going from SF to Auckland and the other flight leg going from Sydney to SF). The other days of the trip consisted of 4 days in Auckland (New Zealand), 2 days in Melbourne, 3 days in Cairns, and 3 days in Sydney. The entire package came out to a spectacular $ 1900/​person total with taxes/​fees included. In addition to the international flight tickets, also included in the trip package was all the intermediary flights from city to city and stays at 5 star hotels: Hyatt (Auckland), Crown Towers (Melbourne), ShangriLa (Cairns), and Marriott (Sydney).
Most communication was through e-​mail but they were extremely responsive via telephone and made sure to answer every detail, concern, and question that we had. Confirmation were quickly provided through the days coming up to the departure and reservations for all plane flights and hotel stays were flawless.
For future reference, they did let me know there is the flexibility to add or subtract days to travel packages so if there is a particular combination that you would like to have, don’t hesitate to get in contact with them. Obviously if you want more days, you’ll have to pay more money for the package but it’s the utmost importance to have a trip that is best for you in order to see the things you want to see. DUA Travel… you’re GREAT!!!
P. S. One of their travel specialist named Matt G was top class in his service and professionalism

In followup to my initial review, the owner (Kirk) emailed and phoned me in late April about my review. He was concerned about learning of our disappointment three years after the fact in a very public forum.
While acknowledging that his company «failed» us, he suggested that there was a technology issue responsible for their office not responding to our concerns via email at the outset of our trip. My husband and I both feel this is highly unlikely because their office responded to an initial email and then no others and all other emails we were sending to other parties were getting through. Kirk also suggested that we could have called the 24 hour hot line — which we could have done, but frankly my husband was done trying to work with the company because even prior to our leaving on our trip our associate kept telling my husband there were issues with the airline reservations and essentially made him feel like she was doing him a favor to straighten out the issue.
Nonetheless, Kirk wanted to try to make it right with us and offered us a trip back to Australia, New Zealand or to South Africa. While we appreciated his offer, we would have needed to add a significant amount of money of our own to make the trip of the caliber we enjoy — and our attentions are turned toward travel in other areas of the world at this time.
I still would have a hard time recommending DUA,. However, I’m glad to see someone else had a great experience with them.