Brightspark Travel

Our class trip to DC was cancelled in April of 2020. It is now September of 2020 and still no refund. I even paid $80 for the stupid (non refundable!) trip insurance in case something happened. I received 1 response in June that they were issuing refunds in the order the trips were cancelled. It shouldn't take over 5 months to issue a refund. I know the pandemic was out of their control. However, they are in total control of how they respond to it and they have failed miserably. They should be embarrassed.

I canceled our trip on May 20, 2020. To date, still no refund and I cannot get anyone to communicate anything. They are not answering calls or emails. Our school’s trip was rescheduled until next year, so there are no vendors to communicate and/or work with. . .

I have been waiting for a refund for months. I purchased the refund guarantee like so many others that have left reviews and have not gotten a penny back. Every time I try to contact them to get a refund, I get the same copied message back. I understand the volume.nnThey told me it would be two months from departure date that I would receive my refund. My daughter was set to leave on May 1 and it is now July 1 with zero contact from BrightSpark.nnSchools & Organizations - please beware before booking!

My Girl Scout Troop planned and saved for more than a year, and Brightspark travel gave them the best customer service and most wonderful trip to Costa Rica that we could imagine! Over 18 months, they helped customize a trip that included all the things the girls asked for, while still keeping it affordable for our small Troop. The customer service Team was amazing! Any time we had a question we were responded to promptly and always dealt with the same two people, so I felt they really knew us! We even had some date shifts and a person drop out, making me think we would have to pay extra fees or costs, and they worked SO hard to make it all work for us, and with only an incremental (less than $100) per person increase!nWhile on the trip, our Travel team out of Chicago, reached out several times directly to me, to check on our activities, travel arrangements and accommodations to be sure we were satisfied. I felt so comfortable that were anything to go awry they would act quickly to correct it. But nothing did. In fact, our activities and accommodations EXCEEDED all our expectations. As a group on a tight budget, we chose Brightspark for its affordability and fully expected to stay in lower budget accommodations, Hostels, etc., But each place was beautiful and unique, every location felt totally safe so that we could explore and shop, some girls even asked more than once, 'How did we afford this?'nWhile in Costa Rica we had a dedicated Guide and a driver that went with us everywhere, and were there to manage all the reservations, meal plans and activities. It was seamless and wonderful. When we had slots of extra time, they made suggestions of additional stops or activities that turned out to be some of the favorite memories of the trip! (fruit tasting at a local market, fish tacos at a food shack on the surfing beach, a Celebration in town that included watching 15 local marching bands!). It really was the trip of a lifetime for these girls. We are saving for Europe in 2021, and we will get quotes from several companies, but Brightspark is already top on our list of who we might choose for booking our final adventure together!

2 great experiences, until the 3rd trip was cancelled for April. Now in late August waiting for 3/4 of the refund. Company had no issues taking Large monthly payments directly from my bank