Alternative Travel Group - Oxford

Adam S.

ATG Oxford: See Update Below: ATG Oxford organized our hiking tour of Sicily. We have traveled with many outfitters in the past 20 years and only one, ATG Oxford, provided very poor and unprofessional service. 1. Poor communication: Emails were either answered after many days or not answered at all. Deposits where requested in one instance when we had already paid it 2. Misrepresentation of Accommodations: We paid and expected Superior Rooms or better. We understand that in some locations, there are few options due to the remoteness or size of the town/village. However, on at least 3 days, ATG boarded us in sub par accommodations (for example, in one location, there were other people's clothes/toiletries in the cabinets) and the food served could be best described as cat food. Furthermore, when we refused to stay there, we investigated and found several other much better lodging choices. Thanks to the local ATG local fixer, who went beyond what was expected he found us an alternative place to stay. 3. When we contacted ATG Oxford, and detailed what transpired, they never responded to our complaints. We also asked to be reimbursed for the the nights we paid out of our own pockets and they ignored that request along with everything else. I would not recommend this outfit. UPDATE; only after waiting for weeks and then us posting on social media did ATG Oxford respond acknowledging their incompetence w/promises to improve ops. Some reimbursement was offered. Great but please stop blaming COVID for business incompetence.

Adrian G.

The routes are great, and the service is very good - until you actually arrive on site and find that the bikes are cheap. The hybrid bikes for the "Roman roads to Orvieto" had rim, not disc brakes, and when this was pointed out to them, the claim is that this is modern technology. One can certainly find rim brakes on bikes these days - all the cheap ones. Disc brakes brake more evenly and provide greater braking power - so one would hope for tours that are *expensive*, decent biking equipment would be provided. But no. On complaining about this, we received neither a little bit of refund nor an apology - so my son did the tour on foot.

Chris S.

Disappointing response from a company that may be spreading itself too thinly these days - We travelled with ATG in May on a two week trip after last travelling with them 25 years ago. Whilst most of the trip was very well supported locally and of a high standard, there were two issues relating to the overall planning which we were not happy with and compared badly with our previous experience. We advised ATG of this via their post-trip feedback request and were disappointed to receive a fairly arrogant "big company" response from them.

The issues related to the planning of the trip rather than the execution and thus I would place responsibility with the head office staff. ATG offer many more trip options now than they did when we travelled previously and I suspect a resulting lack of attention to detail may be the root cause of the problems. Unfortunately they still price at a level where such issues should not occur and thus I am likely to consider smaller more specialist providers in future.

Harvey S.

Hi all

We completed the classic Alsace trip involving 6 days of walking. ATG were very efficient with map book arriving well before we left. We were impressed with our extremely helpful walk manager Matthieu. All went like clockwork. The Alsace is a real delight, alpine landscape with fine food and wine. We would have no hesitation in recommending this trip.

Regards

Harvey et al

thomasgeorge F.

The team of dedicated helpers and guides. Make your trip memorable and effortless these trips are customized to you there are walking \ cycling and group you choose.

Family P.

Great experience! We have been on two trips and we highly recommend ATG.

CharLotte T.

Long service at desk but really easy to book online now

Jim B.

Great time. Great company. Never had a bad trip.