Montecito Village Travel - Santa Barbara, California

daniel adams

Unfortunately, we did not have a good travel agent experience with Lisa, Certified Travel Counselor (CTC), Master Cruise Counselor (MCC) an independent contractor affiliated with Montecito Village Travel.

Lisa willingly re-engaged us for our trip that was cancelled during the pandemic. Our issues prior to travel were around clear communication. We reached out several times prior to departure and she did not return emails and denied phonecalls. It became obvious we were no longer being supported by the agent that made commission from us.

We found out less than a week prior departure that we had no ticket confirmations to allow seat selection and furthermore no communication that we needed to book our own seats for all our flights which were booked thru her. We had the unfortunate experience of finding that out all on our own just days before international travel. At that point, there were no seats available together for 4 adults and one child flying to Europe on very long flights. When we reached out, she offered no assistance and did not care that we were thrown all over the plane with four separate seat assignments with a 20 month old, really? We got more done on our own by calling the airline directly and doing it ourselves. What was the point of using a travel agent? The airline agent told us that seats are selected at purchase – she purchased the tickets for us. In addition to the above, our names were listed wrong on the flight manifest, the passport information given was not correct or missing, and our 20 month old grandson had no ticketing/boarding pass when leaving LAX and when returning to LAX thru Europe. Imagine being at an airport in another country and being told your grandson has no boarding pass. The counter agent told me I had to call Delta which I immediately did and was to be on hold for 41 minutes. Thankfully that ticket agent did work it out for us but this was the continuation of issues we’ve had since working with Lisa from the beginning.

At one point she sent us an email saying “nobody works for free”. It became obvious that we were not “luxury enough” for her because I can guarantee you that her “luxury clients” are not treated this way. We did not receive any support after full payment was made only forwarded emails that we were already receiving from Celebrity.

Nancy Lessig

We booked our cruise through Heidi Hart from Montecito Travel. May I say how fabulous she was. Through constant changes, even last minute ones, she was cheerful and encouraging. Any problems that came up she fixed even before I knew about them. Her tips and suggestions were spot on. I'll definitely book with her again.

Tom Tarantino

Quite simply... the best travel agency I've ever used! I needed to book a weekend trip for our 10th wedding anniversary, so I reached out to Chris and the MVT team. They bent over backwards to arrange a wonderful, quick getaway for us, and went out of their way to sprinkle in some extra surprise touches that made us feel truly special. Their communication is excellent, and they even contacted the hotel on our behalf AFTER our trip to straighten out a charge on our bill. If you want a worry-free experience with nice people you can trust, use Montecito Village Travel.

Gwyneth and Amiana Manser

This company promotes social media content that blatantly flys in the face of leave no trace principals, showing tourists crushing wildflowers and abusing natural landscapes in ways that are both disrespectful and illegal. If you profit off of outdoor tourism (no shame in that!), you should be promoting responsible outdoor recreation that protects the places you promote. I urge you not to work with a company that promotes irresponsible recreation that is also against federal regulations for public lands.

Cody Elwell

I reached out to MVT because we wanted to get the best value and class for a family trip to the Dominican Republic. I was very pleased with the attentive service we received, and very thankful that the professional staff made this international travel experience with small children much easier than if I would have handle it on my own. Many thanks MVT!

christina T

seemed nice when I 1st talked to Sharon on the phone. She said she would call me back with option but I never heard back. I called her and left 2 messages and she she never called back. NEVER POOR QUALITY

Laurnene Frey

David is a gem to work with! And others that I have spoken to are equally helpful. I highly recommend this agency

Shane LeFeber

Great Travel Agency!