Travel by Jen

If I could give this company negative 5 stars I really would. I purchased a groupon for a trip to Mexico to stay at the Hard Rock, travel by Jen was the company the groupon had listed as the travel company. Mycommunications were with a man named Joey. I would describe him as a incompetent twit who had no clue what he was doing. I was transferred to Jen and was made promises that later were not followed through with as Jen had «family issues» so no one at her company had anyway of confirming the information she told me. At this point I wanted to cancel the trip all together but as it was 3 days past the day I had purchased the groupon, I could either go on the trip or not go and lose my money. I spent most of my trip in my room calling travel by Jen in regards to exclusions. And on the last day the transfer we booked with Travel by Jen was canceled as the car had been in accident. Again I called TBJ and spoke to Joey and was told there was nothing they could do and we would have to pay for a taxi to get us to the airport. Luckily the hotel handled this for us. I would never recommend travel by Jen and not even to my worst enemy. TBJ is a waste of money and time. Please book with any other company and if you do book with them be prepared to be lied to over and over again.

3.5 STARS
We just returned from a vacation to the Dominican Republic, that we bought on groupon which was by Travel by Jen. Trying to get a hold of an agent via phone is a nightmare, was literally on hold for over an hour every time I called. The agent, Kin was a tad bit rude and lacked phone etiquette.
After reading the reviews I was so scared and didn’t know what to expect and was definitely nervous but all in all had a great vacation.
14 days before traveling, I did not receive any information about my flight so called and spoke to Malik who sent over all my flight and vacation details. They didnt give any confirmation numbers for the flight so it was hard to check in online or get flight details, they seem to use the cheapest airlines and in our case it was spirit airlines which was a nightmare.
Upon arriving in DR all transfers and hotel bookings went smoothly-​no issues at all. Return flights also went smoothly.
Overall, they seem to be an ok agency, just wish they would answer the phone on time and train staff on how to properly talk on the phone. I will use them again if I have to but wont rush at the opportunity, will rather try other options or just book it myself.

I am going to be very careful to not rate the hotel, but rather solely on Travel by Jen. Like most other reviews, it took awhile for someone to answer when we called. We finally got a travel agent on the phone he was very helpful. We set up our vacation and everything was lovely; travel documents came when expected — 2 weeks prior. Once the vacation was booked and I needed questions answered I had no help. Emails were not responded to and was on hold for over 10 minutes every time I called, hence the reasoning for 2 stars.

TRAVEL BY JEN is the WORST!
I booked through Groupon for Montego Bay, Jamaica I and called right away to set up the dates and get all the information needed. I was on hold for a very long time and was answered by a woman namedSuzanne and she was super rude the ENTIRE time. She gave me attitude and was not helpful whatsoever. Once we finally decided on what dates worked best for my friend and I, she let us know that they will send us all the final info we needed 14 days before the trip. 14 days before the trip arrived and no documents were sent to me. I called numerous times to her line, left voicemails, and never received calls back from her. Finally called the main line and someone else was able to send us all the information we needed in terms of our flight, hotel, and transportation.
I knew this trip was going to be hell once I found out our flights would be with Spirit Airlines. WORST airline in the world!!!
Once getting to Ft. Lauderdale, our flight was cancelled due to bad weather. I called Travel by Jen to see if there was anything we could do as our trip was scheduled for Wednesday to Sunday and now we could not get a flight out until Saturday. DID NOT spend $ 1000 to be in Jamaica for ONE NIGHT. The lady was super rude and disrespectful and told me it was not her problem and suggested I get more time off from work. Her customer service in helping was horrible! We were told by Spirit Airlines they would refund us our money for the cancelled flight, but since they booked it and paid with their credit card, Travel by Jen needs to give it back to us. WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED OUR MONEY!!! Emails have been sent and voicemails have been left.
DO NOT BOOK WITH THEM! They are a headache! Best to book all inclusive deals on your own and take care of your own flight. Not worth getting the whole package with them as they are a terrible company, with terrible customer service.

This travel company does not get the credit they deserve! I purchased a groupon deal to Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic (travel dates 4÷24−4÷28÷16). We were directed to contact Travel by Jen, once we did we were on hold a little longer than usual but they booked our flight, hotel and hotel transportation with no issues. I was a little concerned when we were told we would not receive travel vouchers and itinerary until two weeks before travel date but it worked out perfectly fine! Everything went as planned (except the weather lol). Everyone and I mean everyone during our trip went above and beyond to ensure our vacation was amazing especially the hotel staff at the VH Grand Ventana in Puerta Plata. All that I can say is thank you Travel by Jen!

I will preface by saying: DO NOT get worried over these negative reviews — I have read most of them and they all seem to be personal problems, not actually Travel by Jen problems. I will go on to say, I booked a Costa Rica vacation that included round-​trip airfare, a rental car, and two different hotel stays (one being all-​inclusive) for 5 nights and 6 days.
I purchased through Groupon, called Travel by Jen, and was put on a long hold. I can’t give the full five-​star rating because I will admit, it is nearly impossible to get these people on the phone. I finally did get through to a representative named Josh, who was great, helpful, and attentive, and booked my entire vacation with me. I was able to get his email, which was a better way to correspond. This travel agency isn’t going to hold your hand. You need to read the fine print that Groupon provides and do your research on the area and hotels that you are going to be staying at. So many of these reviews complain about the hotels, area, or details that Groupon provided like travel dates and times. These are all things that are so easy to Google and find out for yourself.
My price was exactly the price listed on Groupon. I got a non-​stop flight from JFK to Liberia (it was my second choice of dates because the first one was booked, but I was told that by Josh up-​front and Groupon clearly stated that dates were subject to price changes and availability). The flight was fine — no issues there. We stayed at two hotels — the first being in the middle of nowhere in a small town in Costa Rica called Chachagua. I should’ve done more research on the location, but it was mostly in a village that was entirely rough gravel roads with no lighting, making it really hard for us to drive at night and nearly 30 minutes away from the main town or any sort of restaurant or attraction. Our hotel was also a 3 hour drive from the airport (we were provided a rental car and knew we would have to provide our own transportation). This wasn’t ideal, but again, was something I easily could’ve searched for prior.
The second hotel was in the main part of town, off of a beach called Playa Hermosa. It was an all-​inclusive resort with all the amenities, definitely easy to get to and a much better drive. It was an average 3-​star resort (many people complain about the hotels, but if you research them, you can easily find their rating and other reviews), so I knew this going in. But it was nice to have a buffet restaurant available at all times, great pools, and just a place to relax after the experience we had in the rainforest.
Overall, these bad ratings are not justified. I had a wonderful experience (just arrived home today) and would recommend Groupon and Travel by Jen to friends. I was pretty demanding and harsh on Josh, my travel agent, because these negative reviews scared me away, and I’m sorry that I did that, because they really are not true.

Please, please, do not book with this company.
My husband and I just had the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my life. «Suzanne» actually hung up on me on the phone.
First of all, who did we book with? Travel by Jen? Jet Set Vacations? I can’t keep it straight because we have received emails from both parties. This is the most important part of this review because apparently both companies have differences in cancellation policies. What they call a «cancellation policy» is on a credit card authorization form that I signed from Travel by Jen which I only know because Suzanne interrupted me asking where I could find their nonrefundable policy and began to condescendingly read the authorization form aloud to me in a way in which cannot adequately be described through words. When I looked up the authorization form she was referring to, it was only an authorization for a $ 90 charge for transportation from the airport to the hotel, not for the cost of the entirety of the trip.
The other cancellation policy is found on jetsetreservations Terms and Conditions (which is where you are referred to on the final invoice you receive from booking with this company and where I first went to determine what my husband and I could get back after finding out we cannot travel).
states that «Cancellations outside of the full payment due dates set above will result in a fee of $ 100 per person to provider». When I read this to Suzanne and asked why that does not apply to us she said that we were lying. I told her I could take a picture of what I was seeing on the website and send it to her and she then ignored what I read and referred back to the inapplicable CC authorization form for the $ 90 ground transportation fee. I again asked her why this policy did not apply to us she said that this was «outside of the full payment due dates» and because I had already paid for my trip in full it was inapplicable. Yes, I did pay in full but the payment due date was not until June. So I am apparently being punished for being a conscious and considerate customer and paying for my trip at the time of booking? After being told I was lying and feeling as though I was not being respected or heard, I asked to speak to a supervisor. She immediately said they would be unavailable. I had to actually ask her to please stop interrupting me and speaking over me while I was speaking because I was being very calm and respectful and did not feel as though I was being respected as a person nevermind as a customer. I asked if I could leave a message for a supervisor and for her name again because I hadn’t written it down at the beginning of the phone call and she spelled it for me again in the most condescending way I have ever been spoken to and hung up on me. My husband called back because I was so upset by this encounter and Suzanne again answered and told him that I was the one who hung up on her! I am currently on hold for the last 18+ minutes hoping to get another person to work with me.

To be fair, all Groupon guidelines for trips state to call Travel by Jen prior to buying the Groupon to check if desired travel dates are available.
On the other hand, the wait time while the agent checks the dates is glacial. After being quoted a price (higher than the Groupon rate due to the specific dates we wanted to travel), our travel agent Deborah suggested I call her back and just book the whole trip with her. I called her at 3pm on a Friday so she was understandably busy, but every single time I called her back she said she would call me back in just ten minutes and failed to do so. As the office closes at 6, I got her on the phone to book this trip and lo and behold, she finds the trip for the original Groupon price now!
While she’s going over the final details with me, I stop her and tell her the return flight date is incorrect and that was a day after than what the Groupon allotted. She strongly disagreed and insisted I was wrong and said that her dates were right for the five day, four night trip. I backed down (my bad, I should’ve stood my ground if I knew how much of a headache this was going to turn into). Deborah stayed longer in the office than she had to and sent me an itinerary and invoice about an hour later. (which was very nice of her)
I forwarded the itinerary to the friend who I was travelling with, who immediately realized we only had the hotel room for four nights but we would be in DR for five nights. As Deborah was out of the office for the weekend, I e-​mailed her on Monday asking her to look into booking an extra night and got a call back as soon as she was in the office.

Last year I saw a groupon with Travel by Jen, but it did not depart from my airport, so I gave them a call. It took a few tries to get someone, but that is when I found Sasha. She e-​mailed me anytime I had a question, and she called me every time I requested her to call. She gave me her ext # and if ever I called and she didn’t answer, she called shortly thereafter. Our trip was AMAZING! We went to the Grand Paradise Samana in the Dominican Republic, and I am happy that I did not listen to all of the bad ratings.

I’m shocked at the low ratings! I wanted a tropical get away on a budget and got exactly what I wished for. I purchased my groupon, called Travel By Jen as instructed, and they arranged the entire trip. It was that easy. They emailed my documents two weeks prior to departure as they said they would, my transportation to the resort was exactly where they said it’d be exactly when they said it would be there. Sure, I would have preferred to fly out of and into closer airports, but considering I read what I purchased before I purchased it, I knew I’d be sacrificing a little convenience to keep costs down. Overall, my boyfriend and I were extremely pleased with how our vacation turned out thanks to the arrangements by Travel by Jen.

Booked thru GROUPON:
TRAVEL BY JEN ****ZERO STARS****
Punta Cana Natura Eco Park Resort ***ZERO STARS***
GROUPON ****ZERO STARS***
NO ASSISTANCE FROM GROUPON!!!
I have to say the only good thing before we go to the horrible. Punta Cana Natura Eco Park Resort
The resort was landscaped beautifully with great nature surrounding.
I did not expect 5 star facility but a bug free room is not much to ask, it is a given!
This vacation with my daughter was horrible. We got no sleep, no relaxation, and our anxiety was at the highest level. We could not wait to leave! We email Travel by Jen to assist us to find another resort/​hotel and they never replied or called!
We never had such a horrible vacation experience as we had with Travel by Jen Agency! I expected Groupon to have hands on verification of this resort to be able to put it in their deals! This resort sold by Travel by Jen is a maybe 2 stars if the room was bugs and insects free.
I am still waiting for my refund for our miserable trip… do not book with Travel by Jen, their resorts that they bundle in the all inclusive are horrible and no assistance when you need them.
AWFUL TRAVEL AGENCY!

Stay away! Don’t waste your time and money!!! They are liars!!! I was supposed to fly with them the day after tomorrow but I am going to call my refit card and cancel it!!! Horrible, horrible experience!
I just received a call from the agent and everything has been resolved and hopefully we are leaving tomorrow for a great trip. I would recommend dealing with Debbie if there are any issues. I will review again once we are back form the trip.

They suck, completely lied about everything and the vacation was a nightmare due to false expectations. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS HORRIBLE AGENCY, they didn’t even try to rectify the situation all they care about is taking your money and making their commission

It is unfortunate that I couldn’t award travel by Jen a half star. I wish I would have read the majority of reviews before I booked with this nightmare of an agency. The customer service is incredibly gifted at showing no interest in your scheduled vacation. They also have zero interest in helping you with any questions, or concerns that you may have. To top it off, they actually seem to be heavily burdened to assist you with pretty much anything. It is safe to assume that this was not just one bad apple in the bunch, because I dealt with 3 different agents. Please do not book with this company. It is terrible that a company like this is still around.

If I could give negative stars I would. We booked a trip through this company to Dominican Republic and it was a NIGHTMARE. Sue is the only competent person in that office, but when things go wrong she avoids phone calls and emails at all costs.
Our flights were a disaster, nothing was completely set up, we had to pay $ 160 to check our bags– which should have been included in the $ 1300 I spent– and we almost missed our flight for that reason.
Once we got to the airport in Santo Domingo, NO ONE came to pick us up because our travel agent forgot to tell their company in D. R that we were coming. After waiting almost two hours– during the course of which my boyfriends iPhone 6 Plus was stolen– we finally decided to take a taxi. She also told us it was 20 minutes from the airport to the hotel– it was an hour and 40 minute drive and I had to pay an extra $ 110 out of my pocket (and our trip budget) for the taxi that I already paid for to the company weeks before. No one responded to my emails or phone calls for reimbursement.
Once we got to the hotel it was 3 hours past check-​in time and they told us we needed to stay somewhere else because we missed the 4pm deadline. After a screaming match with concierge, we finally could check-​in, but we didn’t have a «voucher» that the travel agency was supposed to give us with our reservation. It took over an hour to check-​in and we were stuck in a shit room where the door didn’t even close.
When a travel agent finally came to the hotel TWO days later, we had already missed our first day for dinner reservations, we didn’t have a «voucher» to book excursions, and we couldn’t change our room. So we sat on the beach of the hotel for 6 fucking days. Luckily it was all inclusive and we could drink as much alcohol as we wanted– that took some of the sting of this horrific vacation away.
Conclusion: they’re incompetent. Once they have your money you can forget about being helped with anything else.

So I attempted to surprise my husband with an adventure trip to Costa Rica, but failed miserably. I went ahead booked everything through Bridgitte M. who was crazy helpful, nice and responsive. When I sprang the surprise on my husband he kinda freaked, this was just not the type of vacation he wanted/​needed at this point in time and after talking about it we decided this type of trip would suit us better when our lives were less crazy.
Anywho, Bridgitte M, walked me through the whole process of booking & then unbooking this trip. She was kind, VERY patient & her responses to emails were near immediate. When life allows us to go on an adventure I will definitely be using this company & hopefully Bridgitte to book my trip. She went out of her way to be helpful & saved me from a big ooops.

Gosh I wish I had read these reviews before booking travel with «Travel by Jen,» «Jetset,» or whatever this awful excuse for a business wants to call themselves. I had the unfortunate experience of working with Jetset while booking a trip to Costa Rica that I, and 11 other of my family members, had purchased through Living Social. Let’s just say that the amount of time I spent on the phone and emailing JetSet to correct all the mistakes they made, I could have booked the entire trip myself for the same amount of money, or less, and with FAR LESS HEADACHE.
I absolutely hated every second of working with you, JetSet, and I regret ever booking my trip through you!!! I will NEVER EVER EVER use your services again, and quite honestly, I hope you go out of business so that no one else ever has to be duped into using your poor excuse for a «service» ever again either.
Here are some of the highlights:
1) Call them all you like, they’ll answer 1 out of every 10 calls.
2) They are rude as all heck.
3) You’ll be lucky if they get your information right. Even though we EMAILED them all of our information, they still somehow managed to get our Names and Date of Births wrong on our travel documents. Then we had to follow up with them MULTIPLE times to get it corrected.
4) They charged us extra money to get a direct flight from LA to Costa Rica. Turns out, we apparently needed to specify that we wanted a NON-​STOP flight, not a DIRECT flight, because they used our money to get us a flight that stopped in Guatemala, but because we didn’t have to de-​board the plane, it was considered direct. Except that wasn’t even the case on the way home, we DID have to de-​board the plane, so their promises were FALSE and they would NOT give us a refund for their lies.
5) We found out that they had somehow booked half of our group to go to Arenal the first part of the trip, and the other half of the group to go to Playa Hermosa. Thank GOD my Aunt caught this error, or our group would have been crossing paths instead of traveling together.
In general, we had to scrutinize every last detail that JetSet handled, because everything they touched was WRONG. After months of arguing with them and complaining to Living Social, we almost cancelled our trip the week before because our information was STILL incorrect. We were terrified of showing up in Costa Rica and not actually having rooms or rental cars booked. It worked out ok in the end, but honestly for all the stress we dealt with, it was NOT worth it one bit. The trip wasn’t that great to make up for it.
DO NOT WORK WITH THEM! I would give them negative stars if I could!!!

First off, I want to say this is strictly a review about Travel by Jen. The resort and my stay at the Viva Wyndham Tangerine in Puerto Plata, DR was so wonderful — but getting to that point was a freaking mess.
Ok, Travel by Jen is probably one of the worst companies at customer service! Like you are a travel AGENCY you are supposed to make traveling EASIER. Instead, I was stressed the F out 3 days before my trip because I couldn’t get ahold of ANYONE! Not one freaking person. It’s like you take the money and run. Ok here is the background story–
So the reason I went through Travel by Jen to begin with was I bought a groupon to the DR. I literally had to wait on hold FOREVER and it was back and forth with this person. They got me the weirdest flight — like Denver to NYC to the DR and then I had a 3 hour bus ride to the resort & then back again. Honestly, I didn’t mind the long travel time but I feel there were probably other options… like I literally was traveling the ENTIRE day.
OK, so I had a red-​eye flight from Denver to NYC on Monday 12am. On the previous Friday, I wanted to double check that everything was in order. Ok — so flight was fine BUT I was told the hotel was providing the bus transportation from the airport — so I called the hotel to confirm… well, here is where things got weird. I didn’t call the hotel directly because the phone # I had was for the big Wyndham hotel services call center (the hotel I was staying at in the DR). So I asked the rep on the phone if a ride was coming to get me (because I had not seen any confirmation or documentation/​details about it from Travel by Jen — they just sent me an itinerary). The Wyndham rep said they had no record of me even staying at the hotel. So I mildly started to freak out a little.
I called Travel by Jen, but they literally work like 9 — 5 Monday through Friday. And seriously, GOOD FREAKING LUCK TRYING TO GET AHOLD OF ANYONE OUTSIDE THOSE TIMES. So I’m calling like 4pm MST so no one picked up (obviously). I left a message though (the first of MANY). They also had an «emergency line» which I called. There was no one that answered that, just a voicemail box. I also left a message there.
So it’s Sunday, I haven’t heard ANYTHING. I don’t want to get the DR and 1) be stranded at the airport & 2) not have a place to stay. I called multiple times — direct lines, emergency lines, the regular line… nothing! Seriously — what is the point of an emergency line if no one even answers it! So I figured worst case scenario is I will get to NYC and it’ll be 8am in NYC and hopefully someone will return my call to put my mind at ease. NO — no one! No one at all. The Wyndham rep gave me the direct line to the hotel and thankfully they said they did have record of me staying there and they knew I was coming, but they said that the hotel isn’t providing transportation for me…
So I arrive in Santiago, DR kinda freaking out — I walk outside and I See a guy with a «Jet Set» sign — which apparently this is the same company? Who even knows. But I just asked the guy and he was waiting for me — thankfully. And when I got to the hotel, they wanted some confirmation voucher thing — that was never sent to me and I had no clue what they were talking about, but they let me stay anyway.
SO end of the story — everything was fine and it all worked out (and the resort was a lot of fun and I had a great time). BUT it would have been nice to hear from someone — ANYONE. Like shit, I was traveling alone and just wanted to know if someone was gonna pick me up like I was promised and it just turned into this whole ordeal. And no one ever emailed me, called me or anything. SERIOUSLY NEVER AGAIN WILL I GO THROUGH TRAVEL BY JEN. I’m sure other travel agents have great packages too and will actually give a shit about you if you have a question/​concern right before your trip.

If I can give this joke of a business –2 948 958 stars I would. I saw a pretty good deal on groupon for a cancun trip including airfare. Before I purchased, I decided to call Travel By Jen to make sure the dates that I wanted were available. I was placed on hold for 22 minutes while the woman «checked» the dates I wanted. When I decided to hang up and call back, they were closed for the day and had shut down their phones.
I am sorry, it doesn’t take rocket science to check dates for me. For this reason I will look elsewhere for a vacation.

This agency is nothing short of HORRIBLE. My rep Robert basically disappeared once they had our money. No returned calls (left about 5 messages), no returned emails (over a dozen sent), nothing. We had problems from the spelling of our names to the delivery of the paperwork, but the most frustrating thing is paying over $ 2,000 for a vacation and expecting an agent to care and help with questions, only to have nobody to talk to with questions.
Our trip was fine and the resort was really great, but the whole month before of trying to gather the needed information was like a second job. The icing on the cake is I sent Robert an email the day before we left with an urgent question, came back a week later and had no response anyway.
DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS AGENCY. There are too many other companies out there that do the same thing better. I’ve had more communication with sellers of $ 10 items on ebay than with Travel by Jen. If you’re reading this before you purchase, let it be a warning. If you’re like me and find these reviews after you’ve already booked, GOOD LUCK! Another well deserved 1 star review for what is easily the worst business I have ever dealt with. Good job guys