Lux Travel Group

I paid for a bus trip to Las Vegas in July from Buy With Me on Lux Travel Group/​Vegas Bus Express, and reserved the trip for Saturday, Nov 12, 2011 about 6 weeks previously. Everything was confirmed. (confirmation 4 802 619 907)
I made the trip to the pick-​up location by LAX on time before 8 am, paid for parking expecting to leave my car for three days. I waited and no bus showed up. One of the Lux phone numbers was «temporarily suspended» and there was no answer at the other two. I found out by researching on google that this vendor suspended service for 2 months. They would not be showing up and I was not contacted by email or phone, both of which this vendor had.
I was going to my grandson’s birthday, expecting to read, nap, or just relax on the bus. Instead I had to drive all the way to Las Vegas from Los Angeles Intl Airport. This type of customer service is disgusting.
And then when I wanted to complain to Buy with Me, my email bounces back:
—– The following addresses had permanent fatal errors —–
(reason: 550 sorry, no mailbox here by that name.
So, do not buy from Buy with Me, nor buy anything from Lux Travel Group or their other name of Vegas Bus Express.

FYI: They are now going by «Vegas Bus Express». My co-​worker got a confirmation email from them for an upcoming trip (we had a group of 15 – 20 planning to go next weekend) and they had a new name on the email. We tipped the local NBC news about this since they did an article a few weeks ago about the company.

An hour late both ways; the bus overheated on the way there leaving us on the side of a hot desert road for a short bit, crawling at 20 mph thereafter with no ac the remaining hour or so. No wifi either way, no free drinks on the way back. Extremely difficult to sleep because they blast music or movies over each seat which are pretty uncomfortable. The entire bus had to wait in Ontario for 20 mins for 2 passengers being picked up by another lux shuttle taking them to SD. Supposedly the owner Shawn or «Adrian» changes his name around because he is not the most honest dude. Avoid!
Enough said:

after the reviews that were posted on Unilocal by myself and many others. NBC noticed the horror of this travel group and even did a report on its shitty service under their buyers beware!!!
power of the media!!! woot woot ^_​^ check it out if you’re even considering this shuttle ride to LV
theyy even changed their primary location to san jacinto instead of anaheim, los angeles or san diego so that people wont be able to search for them on Unilocal.way to AVOID the problem!!! i will be keeping an eye on the reviews for this … hopefully they improve. if not they do not deserve to stay in business =/

Lux is a hilariously ironic name for what turned out to be the WORST COMPANY EVER. It’s important to note that most of the people giving it one stars actually made it to Vegas. WE DIDN’T EVEN MAKE IT TO VEGAS.
NEVER BOOK WITH «LUX» TRAVEL GROUP. Ride a donkey, get a rickshaw, take a Vespa, walk, and even hitch-​hike before you get on this bus. They suck BIG TIME.
Check this out:

IMPORTANT!!! READ THIS!!! YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT! (not an exaggeration!)
I wish you could give negative stars on Unilocal.I can’t even begin to describe this business.
To write each and everything that went wrong with our «round trip luxury party bus trip» to Vegas would certainly lead to carpel tunnel and a reliving of events that I rather not think of, so I’ll keep it short. To mention just a few:
–they started with being hours late
–they over booking the bus leading to more waiting
–they had horrible service
–they drove at 45 mph for a majority of the trip leading to over a 10 transport
–they had questionable food to say the least
–they caused server nausea by gassing us with the toxic fumes of diesel throughout the cabin for these 10+hours.
–etc etc etc.
… and this was just the ride up.
Now ready for this?
On the ride back we begin to smell a burning odor followed by a rumble and clanging of the under carriage of the bus. We’re in the middle of the desert when they pull over and tell us that they are having engine troubles and that another bus, that was following us, would be by in about 30 min to pick us up. They tell us to stay ON the bus and that only 5 at a time can get off to have a smoke break. After 30 minutes the bus was too hot and stuffy for me not to get off. I get off and start taking with the passengers smoking near the bus. I notice a fluid pouring out the back of the bus into a big puddle. I check it out and it smells like diesel fuel. When I asked them about it they said it was radiator fluid and not to worry, then asked for me to get back on the bus. I asked another traveler that was a part time fireman who was also assured that it was diesel. I, warned the other passengers, grabbed my stuff and got as far away from the bus as I could. about 1.5 hours later they said that the bus coming to pick us up also ended up breaking down, they called for another bus to leave from LA to pick us up. It arrived at around 2am. The bus driver from the bus that came to pick us up (a completely different company) told us that they warned him not to pull behind the LUX bus because fuel was pouring out the back (confirming that they knew the dangers and continued to risk our lives.)
I’ve never been on a trip where the transportation was more of a story than the trip itself.
I never had any business put the lives of so many at such a risk.
I really don’t know how to express what I think about this company in words.
For your own safety, DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS COMPANY!!!

If I was able to give negative stars I would.
DO NOT BOOK A TRIP WITH LUX TRAVEL GROUP, LLC.
I was on the trip this past Friday, August 26^th, and let me tell you — it was a NIGHTMARE. I lost track after we broke down the 5^th time (starting at the Cajon Pass) due to overheating. The AC was off for about 90% of the time and the inside of the bus reached a sweltering 105 degrees and one lady was vomiting. At one point the direction from the LUX offices was to hose the radiator down and keep going. No relief transportation was arranged by LUX. We also ran out of gas & the CHP came out. We were stranded on the side of the 15 for approximately 1 – 1.5 hours. We were told that the owner told his employees to leave the passengers there. According to him, as long as we had water and cell phones we were fine. Once we were 1.5 hours outside of Vegas a group of Ladies on board arranged for a charter bus to drive out from Vegas to get us.
This company has (2) buses and according to the staff, we were on the operational one. For cryin’ out loud –you’re kidding me, right?
Multiple calls were made to LUX by it’s employees, passengers as well as the CHP officer and ALL were hung up on.
We decided that it was in the best interest of our health & safety to rent a car for our return trip home the following day. We did not receive any phone calls from LUX asking about our whereabouts for our reserved trip home with them — I would imgaine that is because their only ‘operational’ bus was still stuck 1.5 hours out of Vegas where we bid it farewell the previous night.
All (3) employees on board were as accommodating as they possibly could be & all promised that they were no longer emplyoees after that trip.
Unless you have 12 hours to kill on a supposed «luxury» bus ride to Vegas & a death wish — DO NOT BOOK A TRIP WITH LUX TRAVEL GROUP, LLC.

Where the fuck was my champagne and warm towel?! Oh — 5 hours late, Popov vodka, and completely unprofessional staff? Ok, sure, I’d love to have that instead…
Generally, I don’t trust one star (or five star) reviews from Unilocalers with no other reviews, but in this case, TRUST me when I say that Lux’s service is so terrible that I wholeheartedly believe so many people created Unilocal accounts for the sole purpose of warning the world to NOT EVER TRAVEL WITH LUX.
Also, Groupon refunded me & my friends for our trip and also cancelled all remaining Groupons sold. Just from my experience (which was pretty shitty, but not the worst out there), let’s see why…
The Groupon ad boasted:
1) Commence road trips with a champagne toast before sipping on two additional complimentary cocktails from the extensive drink menu.
2) A continental breakfast or a lunch package consisting of a half sandwich, fresh fruit or salad, and a freshly baked cookie fuels passengers up for
3) Olympic-​level Internet surfing on the free WiFi (available on most routes, but subject to location and satellite interference from clouds and bandwidth-​stealing UFOs). After reveling in the bus-​centric festivities, wind down during a
4) movie screening with a
5) chocolate-​mint-​drizzled cake pop.
6) Finally, a warm scented towel allows guests to freshen up for their
7) triumphant arrival in Vegas.
My trip:
1) No champagne. «Extensive» drink menu consisted of soda, OJ, Cranberry Juice, Popov Vodka, Budlight, and Corona.
2) Lunch consisted of a tiny dinner roll about 2″ in diameter, a tiny room temp slice of lunchmeat and cheese, bag of chips and a small stale cookie. You don’t even have to have a food handler’s license to know that those pieces of meat/​cheese were likely to make you ill.
3) They had internet, I’ll give them that…
4) No movie or stereo. Bus driver promised the system would be fixed by our return trip 3 days later. Did not happen.
5) Nope, no cake pop
6) No warm towel either
7) If your definition of «triumphant» includes being embarrassed to step off of a bus that reeked of urine, was missing its driver’s sideview mirror because the retarded bus driver sideswiped the gate arm leaving LA and drove to Vegas with no mirror, a bus that was billowing black exhaust, had broken down on the side of the highway and had to turn off the AC in order to finish the trip, and feeling defeated, exhausted, and cheated out of time and money — if this is part of your definition, then sure, it was a triumphant arrival in Vegas.
Also, their employees were completely unprofessional. Since reservations were under my friend’s name, I never actually talked to anyone in the office, but I overheard countless phone calls giving us a runaround on when and if the bus would arrive. Once on the bus, I did have first hand experience with employees though. The head bus attendant was the only one who looked like she was even trying to dress appropriately for her job — however she was the rudest one. The others were complete slobs, not giving me much faith in the service they’re going to provide. They were completely unorganized and did not even make an effort at basic customer service. For the absolute hell they put us through, I never once heard them say BASIC customer service phrases like, «I apologize for the delay» (They were only 5 hours late, after all…). Instead, they acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. They also did nothing to boost customers’ faith in the company, and opened their mouths waaaay too much to say stuff like «Oh yeah, this happens all the time. Sometimes we don’t even get back to LA, and other times it’s too late to travel, so we have to stay the night and go back the next day.» «Yeah, I got this job through Craigslist.» «Everyone’s too overworked. It’s not uncommon for the bus drivers to start falling asleep.» WTF?!
Due to our incredibly late departure, several people in Vegas waiting for a return trip pick up were worried and calling, so I had the privilege of hearing the bus attendant’s loud phone conversations with them. It included her telling them that the manager was unavailable even though she was on the other line with them, blatantly lying about arrival time, and then screaming at them «Shit happens. Busses break down!»
Um, yeah, shitty busses run by shitty companies break down. Again, I think that’s where she should have been apologizing for the delay instead of treating them like they were being ridiculous for being upset about a 5 hour late return trip. But you know, that’s just me…
I’m beyond baffled by how TERRIBLE this company is and how they’re still in business. Or even WHY they’re in business. I do like how they updated their website recently with the disclaimer «All sales final no refunds given.» Smart move on their part. Should be a red flag for you.
I will continue to follow this company through Unilocal until they get shut down. It’s like watching a horror movie that’s so bad you just can’t stop watching

Tried to go on their website to find out the return time home, found out the website has been shut down.
Error 404.
Called their number, no answer.
Should’ve checked Unilocal first. *sigh*
Was scheduled to travel this weekend the 26^th to the 28^th. Will call BuyWithMe and get my refund.
Thanks for all the reviews guys! Really helps.

Alright, so after a pretty unplesant trip to Vegas and back I emailed LUX with a pretty lengthy complaint. They did however do everything possible to make it right. Including providing 2 complimentary round trip tickets to Vegas on their bus. Although my wife and I won’t be using the vouchers (unless their reviews get better), it was a nice gesture. This would be a great idea and a fun trip if they could plan better and provide better service. 1 star for my actual experience but 3 stars for their effort to mitigate my frustration.

So I received a ton of messages telling me not to travel with this company. I had assumed something was off about this company from the start and it’s taught me to not trust a business without 100% transparency. Ultimately I received my full refund for 6 roundtrip tickets to Vegas and will NOT be travelling with Lux. I appreciate your guys’ warnings.
Michael, the owner of this company, took great care of my case and made an effort to make sure that my needs were met. On the other hand, this company has employed some rude, incompetent and unprofessional people at their office. To be honest, I assumed this company is probably run by a group of friends as everyone seems to be knowing something their customers don’t. I’ve received emails at 11pm and have heard dogs barking in the background of my telephone conversations. One female named Brandi was so impolite to me, I want to virtually bitch slap her through my telephone wire. She was being extremely shady about my return request after I had called every single day since my initial request. I told her that I may considering filing a small claims case at the court and she said, «fine, if you want your money that way, go ahead and do that» and hung up.
WHAT THE F*!!!*)!@#(!@()#
Game over. She hung up on a customer? Um… yeah dude, I don’t know what to say about that. Except that karma will bite you in the ass and you’ll never reach a professional position in your career. Not with that attitude.
I held my thoughts and outbursts to myself and cooled down. I emailed Michael and Sean (they’re extremely professional), and requested a refund. Sure enough… after weeks, I finally received it. Which is why I can’t say that I’ve had a completely negative experience with LUX. However, if a company fails to fix every aspect of their customer service to satisfy their customers, that’s just unacceptable. I had planned on leaving this review as 3 starred seeing that I received my refund, but that girl on the phone blew it for me.
This company seems like a scam, which I don’t understand because they seem to be losing more money than gaining. Even if they had messed up buses, they can stay in business by providing polite customer service, hot towels, complimentary champagne and a meal like they had advertised. And by picking up guests on time. If this is a scam, which I cant surely say it is, they could be a little smarter about their operations. If you’re going to make the 6 hour drive to Vegas, might as well make it worth it for everyone. That’s just my take.
I got my money back so I don’t have much to complain about. I can surely say that LUX saved themselves a lot more trouble than I would’ve. I had planned on going to extreme lengths, but thankfully I didn’t have to. It was a long and frustrating process, but all is good now. To Michael and Sean, 3 stars– but sorry… I’d be lying to myself and ruining my credibility if I said that this entire company deserved 3 stars.

Bus was late about 2 hrs, bus was not luxury as promised and the bus had to stop because it was overheating in the middle of the desert. The food, well, let’s put it this way if you had 30 sec to make your lunch, this would taste better than what they give you. Seems like a start up company very unprepared and the employees are treated like slaves so don’t expect good service they are very tired and worn out.
The return trip the bus was late 2hrs again.
I bought mine at groupon for 55 along with 4 other friends. Will not buy again and I don’t recommend this to anyone.

WORST IDEA EVER.
I thought going on a «luxury» bus to vegas would be the best idea ever– especially when I saw the groupon deal.
WRONG.
10:30 the night before our departure I receive a phone call explaining that they broke their contract with Groupon and I would need to be charged again by the travel group and would receive a refund from groupon. Fine. No problem.
We arrived at the Anaheim Marriott and our bus was on time around 9:30 am. The bus pulled up and was nothing more than a greyhound that smelt bad and was NOWHERE near being luxurious. The champagne toast I was promised did not happen. They ran out of almost all the alcohol besides the popov vodka very quickly. I’m pretty sure they overbooked the bus so some people were left behind as well. The breakfast consisted of a dry croissant and rotten fruit. The bus was SO HOT. The air conditioning stopped working and the fastest speed going uphill was maybe 30 MPH. After the stop in Barstow everyone was feeling a bit tipsy so the rest of the ride was whatever.
We finally arrive at Bally’s around 3:30pm.
Monday comes. Around noon I receive a phone call saying that the bus will be there around 4 instead of 3 pm because a broken window was getting fixed. I was also told that there were only 4 of us going to Anaheim so in a usual case an SUV would take us. We get to Bally’s around 3:30 to wait and there is a group of us waiting for the bus to show and ends up coming about 2 hours late. Other passengers were saying that they were told the broken window excuse when they were picked up 2 hours late a couple days before. We finally get on the bus which is a little nicer than the first one and we are served a stale role, scary meat and cheese and a stale cookie. Ick.
We get to Barstow around 8pm and then take off and stop unexpectedly in Riverside. Us 7 Anaheim passengers are told to get off the bus and that an SUV was coming to pick us up so the rest of the group could head home to San Diego. We realize that 7 people plus luggage will not fit in this SUV so after approx 30 more minutes of waiting around and confusion one couple decides to take a taxi and then a new bus comes— since theres only 5 of us now — - we switch back to the SUV.
We finally make it back around 11:30pm.
Worst and most unorganized experience ever. I’m flying or driving next time.
This shit company pissed a lot of people off. Get your refund, it’s not worth giving it a chance. It REALLY is as bad as all these reviews say.

If you have purchased a travel voucher for this bus ride get a refund IMMEDIATELY!!! Bus arrived 45 mins late to LAX… fine, let that pass. If Blaring music and super SLOW ride (25−35MPH) is your idea of a nice ride to Vegas, then this is the trip for you… Trip there would not even prepare us for the ride home… 3 pm pick up time became 6pm, no phone call no notification just had to start asking other people standing around if they knew what was going on with the Lux travel bus. Got on bus and tried to relax. That couldn’t happen with the music, once again, BLARING! We were told they couldn’t turn it down as it was keeping the driver awake… great. Another 25 mph ride. BTW no one answered the phone as we tried calling numerous times. We also left messages and still have never received a response. Beware as hotel staff told us they’d seen people stranded there daily that were riding with Lux.

Stay away from this company, I left them a negative review and so did many other people, but for some reason they keep getting removed

I have never rated any business one star — if you look at my reviews, a majority of my ratings are 5 stars. Lux Travel, you are by far the worst business I’ve ever had to deal with, and I would never recommend you to anyone.
Let’s begin!
Oh, sweet! Groupon for a luxury bus ride to Vegas for $ 55 RT? Sure, sounds like an adventure.
8am departure at LAX Marriott. Nope. I got a call at 5:17am telling me they were running 2 hours late and would not arrive until 10am. Annoying but tolerable. Past some time at Denny’s near LAX before finally heading to the Marriott. Waited a little bit. Called. Delayed more. Called. Delayed more. Called. Delayed more. The best part? Not a single apology or offer for a refund until I started getting pissed off and angry. What time did I finally start getting pissed off and angry? 12:30pm. Yes, 4.5 hours after the scheduled departure. I’m and idiot; I should’ve packed up our stuff and driven myself because this was just the start.
Bus finally arrives at 1:15 — over 5 hours past the originally scheduled departure time. Awesome. Luxurious? Oh, god no. It was a run down old bus, the tv/​audio were not working, the staff was probably the most undertrained/​least professional set of people I’ve seen. Awesome! Apparently the «nice» bus had a broken AC so we needed to be on this piece of crap (that reeked of urine!). Once we were finally all loaded, the bus driver proceeded to hit the gate arm while exiting the lot and BROKE THE SIDE-​VIEW MIRROR. He tried to fix it for a few minutes before giving up and DRIVING US TO LAS VEGAS WITHOUT A SIDE-​VIEW MIRROR. I’m sure this is illegal — it has to be! Oh, speaking of illegal, the bus drive drove while on his phone without a headset! YAY!
The luxurious meal? A tiny dinner roll, warm cheese, and a warm slice of lunch meat! Mm, delicious!
So all was well (hah) for a bit until about 6:45pm when my friends joke turned into a reality — THE BUS BROKE DOWN! Wooo! Yeah, going uphill on the 15 the bus just DIED. Took a while to start again but on any hill the drive took he had to TURN OFF THE AC. Terrible. We finally get to Vegas a little after 8 and RUN off the bus. Vegas was a good trip but that’s not what this is about.
Now the return trip. Called to make sure they were running on time for a 3:00pm pick up time (hah) and of course they were running late. They would be there around 4:30−5pm. Hey, that’s not too bad considering the group that left on our arrival date had to wait until past 8pm. So we go eat at the Wynn Buffet and kill some time before grabbing our stuff and heading out to Bally’s for the pick-​up. At 4 I call again and they are sticking to their 4:30−5 pick up time. I call their bluff. At 4:15 I get bored and go find some slots to play to kill time. I play slots until after 5:30 and still no call! So I go back and find my friends and we just wait. Bored, hungover, tired, and wanting to go home… we finally get a call at 6pm that the bus has arrived. Hooray!
Relatively uneventful drive home. Didn’t get back to LA until after midnight and the bus didn’t smell of piss. Win?
Moral of the story? Don’t use Lux Travel or you’ll lose out on about half a day of your Vegas trip and hate yourself for doing it.
Didn’t even want to bother with Lux, so I called Groupon and got a refund. Groupon’s customer service was a nice contrast to the crap going on at Lux.
Lux Travel — You need to get your stuff together sooner than later or you will have no business. Do not underestimate the power of social media.

I would give 0 stars if I could. This was the worst experience ever. Buyer beware! They were THREE hours late. No one answered their number for TWO hours. When someone finally did answer they were rude and wouldn’t tell me what the hold up was. Thank God I bought my tickets through groupon and was fully refunded. I was late to the bachelorette party I was throwing. There is nothing luxurious about this bus. The seats were smaller then on an airplane. Pleaseeee save yourself the trouble and money.

This company needs to get their stuff together. I’ve heard bad things and read the awful Unilocal reviews, and still tried to do business with them. Here’s my personal experience.
They had the Groupon deal — $ 55 for a round-​trip ticket from San Diego to Vegas. I didn’t buy the Groupon deal the day it was offered because of extenuating circumstances. A few days later, the circumstances cleared up and I found myself able to go, so I e-​mailed Lux and explained my situation, asking if there was any way to honor the Groupon price. I knew it was a long shot and wasn’t expecting much, but I got this exact e-​mail back:
«Hello
If you would prov ide a number we can contact you we would be happy to help you in your reservation to honor the price.
Thank You»
I wrote back with my contact info, thanking them. No response. No call.
8 days later (today), I called them, and actually got a hold of someone. I explained my situation to the guy, who was very nice, and he told me that they would be able to honor the price but that he’d have to call me back in 10 minutes, and to have a credit card ready.
10 minutes later, I get a call from them. It’s a female. The «office manager.» She had absolutely no idea why she was calling me, and was telling me that the weekend I already had a reservation for was booked. I told her I knew that, and that I was not calling for a reservation, and went through my entire story a third time. She kept repeating that the price was $ 149. I kept telling her that TWO different people had told me they’d honor the Groupon price. She kept repeating that the price was $ 149 and the Groupon deal was over a long time ago. (I’d like to add — I’m not an idiot. Duh.) I remained professional and told her that I understood that, and I understood the price was $ 149, but that I was told that the $ 55 price would be honored. She told me that she didn’t know what I wanted her to do, but that she wasn’t honoring the price. She was very rude and «high and mighty» the whole time I spoke to her. I asked to speak to her manager, and she told me she was the manager. I asked her if she was the manager of Lux Travel Group, and she said that she was the manager of reservations. I again asked to speak to HER manager, and she told me that no one would honor the Groupon price, no matter who I talked to. She then asked me what I wanted her to do. I told her AGAIN that I would like to speak to HER manager, or have HER manager’s contact information, and she told me «Fine, I have your information, I’ll have him call you. But he’s not gonna honor the price» I thanked her and asked when I could expect the call and she said she didn’t know. I told her if I didn’t receive a call by tomorrow I’d call back and she said, «Fine.»
I can’t believe this company, especially a «manager,» gets away with treating customers like this! And refusing to give me the manager’s contact info? Totally unprofessional. I would even be okay with them going back on the word of two employees and having to explain myself three times because there is apparently no record-​keeping at this company, but the absolute rudeness of this female «office manager» on a power trip was too much for me. I am disgusted by this company. Thank God I didn’t buy the Groupon — now I don’t have to do business with them, and I can happily tell everyone I know to avoid them like the plague.

I’m nervous now about my upcoming trip from San
Diego to Vegas next week. I will be posting the results.
I’ve already had a bit of oddness– I had purchased three
r/​t tix via Deal-​a-​day and then got a «balance due» email
from the company’s automated system. An email and a
couple of phone calls got it all squared away tho-​a system
glitch, I suppose.
I did ask, while I had them on the phone, if we’d be getting
a car or the bus on Monday– they said a car unless one more
person signs up to go. We’ll see… I’ll be sure to post when we
get back.
I’m starting with three stars on the service so far– I’ll add or
subtract accordingly. Wish us luck! haha

What a disappointment!
My husband and I bought 2 round trip fares from San Diego to Las Vegas off the daily save for $ 65 each. Included was SUPPOSED TO BE a continental breakfast, 2 free drinks and a glass of champage each. On the way back a lunch. If the day was to be slow, a stretch escalade would be provided.
NO BUS
NO CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
NO DRINKS
Just 7 people SMASHED into a car for 5 hours to vegas.
They were an hour late to take us back to San diego, with NO phone call until and HOUR late.
I’ve left 3 voicemails trying to talk to someone and no one ever calls me back!
If I would have known it was just going to be a shitty cramped ride in a car… I would have just rented my own!!!
Can’t wait to finally get ahold of someone in this company and get my money back!