This was our first organised holiday apart from many cruises and we were a little apprehensive about being told where to go each day. We flew from Manchester to Milan and were met by the rep in the airport who escorted us to the hotel in Stresa. Reception at the Astoria hotel was extremely efficient and we stayed in a comfortable room overlooking the lake. We found the beds to be rather hard and mentioned it to the rep on the second morning.....within 20 minutes we had been provided with me or you foam mattress covers. Overall the service within the hotel was good, particularly that given by the waiters in the restaurant. Meals were good with a three course evening meal and choice of menus although they struggled to provide much choice for vegetarians. The excursions were very well organised and the particular rep in our hotel had exceptional knowledge of the area and was obviously well known by the locals. Any reservation we had were soon forgotten and overall we had a very pleasant holiday. Sufficient to say, we are planning to travel with Riviera again in September with a holiday to Lake Como.

My parents booked a tour of Berlin and Dresden through Riviera Travel. Unfortunately, I was in an extremely serious cycling accident and was airlifted to hospital where I spent 7 weeks and am still recuperating which meant that my parents were unable to attend the trip. They phoned Riviera Travel who said the trip could not be rearranged and charged my parents over £1000 (95% of the total cost) for the privilege of not going. Whilst we understand that the cancellation was just over 2 weeks before the trip, we are shocked that Riviera charged so much. They did not deem this situation exceptional enough to provide even a measly money off voucher. Completely shocked by the lack of sympathy and terrible customer experience provided by this company. We will be spreading the word and advising others not to book through this company!

I booked a party of 3 friends on the Barcelona and Highlights of Catalonia tour, April 2016, with the idea of us spending some quality time together. This idea was quashed immediately at check in, when we were told that we would not be sitting together on the plane, as Riviera had pre-allocated the seats and split us up. Others in our tour party had the same problem, and I suspect that some office jobsworth had probably seated us all in alphabetical order. On arrival at Barcelona airport, we were informed that our ‘Heathrow’ group would be joined on the holiday by the ‘Gatwick’ group, making a tour group of over 50 people. An unwieldy number which made the tours slow, but cost effective no doubt. My fault for not asking about numbers before we booked. We asked the tour manager to make sure that we would at least be on the same floor in the hotel. This was the case in Tarragona, but we were 3 floors apart in the Barcelona hotel and told that no change was possible. On the way to our first hotel, the tour manager asked us to pre-order our evening meal. We really should not have bothered. None of the menu choices were available when we sat down to dinner and vegetables were not available with the main course. This was explained as an error in translation. It’s just as well the wine was of good quality. In Barcelona, I had pre-booked a tour of the old town with a local guide who was knowledgeable and entertaining. My friends and I learned more from him in 2 hours than we had from the tour manager in 5 days. She talked incessant trivia whilst we were travelling, but nothing useful about Catalan history or culture, and spoke to us as if we were all 5 years old. She gave us some information about Montserrat which was read directly from a printed sheet. Unfortunately, she also gave us the wrong time for the choir performance at Montserrat, and when this time was queried, she said that our guidebook was wrong. And afterwards, no apology to those of the tour group who had completely missed the performance. In short, poor administration by Riviera, too large a tour group, and a patronising, not very knowledgeable tour manager. Despite the above, we enjoyed the trip enormously. Our local guide for Tarragona and Barcelona, the weather, the hotels (Ciutat de Tarragona and Catalonia La Pedrera),the coach and the places we visited were great. We had chosen Riviera because of the high standard of the tour guide and accommodation they provided previously in Berlin and Dresden. But will we do another tour with Riviera after this? Not unless standards improve.

Booked holiday in May 2015 for an April 2016 departure. Received communication in late 2015 to say one hotel on the tour had been changed - not an issue. Then were notified that the flight time had changed, meant we had to change our BA connecting flight and hotel booking to accommodate - annoyed but accepted this. THEN .... in January were informed the holiday had been cancelled as insufficient people on tour to make viable. Fair comment, but why didn't they let us know earlier. Surely their experience would tell the likelihood of getting further interest. Annoyed is an understatement and WOULD DEFINATELY NOT USE THEM OR RECOMMEND.

Hotel was excellent food was fantastic -provided me with special meals because I am gluten intolerant -tour guide was wonderful -couldn't do enough for everyone -had lovely trips -well organized -can't fault any aspect of the holiday -wonderful value for money -our first holiday with riviera -would recommend them to anyone .loved Venice -the trip to the Dolomites -Verona -evenings in malchesne drinking coffee and wine -trip up the cable car to monte baldo -friendliness of the hotel staff -the beauty of the lake from our balcony -lots of shopping at the market on Saturday -beautiful castle everything was perfect

We were booked to go on a 12 day tour of Turkey during the October half term. We had paid in full, got visas etc then 6 weeks before rang to say that it was cancelled but would offer us a tour in November. Now I work in a nursey school and can't take holidays in term time so we had to cancel. NOW WHY NOT TELL US THIS BEFORE THEY GOT OUR MONEY? Bunch of charlatans and amateurs. Will NEVER use them again and will tell anyone who asks the same

just back from the beautiful city of Brugge, this was our first visit and my husband and I were delighted with our stay, the Grand Hotel Casselbergh was stunning , the staff were superb as was the food.. There are so many places of interest to visit , the architecture is fabulous. A comfortable pair of walking shoes is a must as the cobbled street are not suitable for flimsy shoes, I would say that was the only thing I did not like about our visit. The lace and chocolate shops are numerous and you are totally spoiled for choice, I don't think you are prepared for the variety so I would have a real good look around before you commit yourself to any purchases.

My daughter and I have just returned from a long weekend in Paris. It was wonderful from start to finish, very well organised. The tour guide was excellent in every way. The Hotel Mercure Hotel in Porte De Saint Cloud was spacious and comfortable and good food. The Decor was interesting with the old Film Stars photos in Black and White and posters on the walls. It was well planned and the tours well organised which enabled us to see many attractions. We had lunch on the Bateau Mouche too. We traveled from home to Picadilly station in Manchester to Euston and then by Eurostar to Paris. All went smoothly and we met some nice people too. I have been to South Africa with you and have recommended the Company to friends.Also when I rang the office to book it was a friendly service. Thank you for making our special break so enjoyable and I hope to carry on travelling with your company.

We had an excellent holiday with our friends in Croatia in early June. The trip was so well organised that we didn't have to worry about a thing, just turn up at the appointed time and the tour ran like clockwork. Tiahina, our guide, was always on hand to answer all our questions and solve all our problems. She and the bus driver, Mario, made a great team showing us all the places of interest and managing to get the coach as close to all the places of interest as possible. Tiahina had organised two other guides who had specialist knowledge about their cities to share that knowledge with us. We liked the way that we were shown round a city and then we had time to wander and explore for ourselves, have some food in the local cafes and buy our souvenirs at the local shops and markets. A great holiday!

Don't bother with Riviera travel. They were unable to provide me with travel tickets not once or twice but three times. No apparent reason for their incompetence. Their attitude towards customer service is shown in that if you send them an email..the guarantee a response in 28 days. Email!!! 28 days. Snail mail. We'll get back to you in our own sweet time.

Just returned from an action-packed and very well organised trip to Sorrento. The Hotel Villa Maria was clean, rooms small but ok and breakfast offered a good selection of food. However, the evening meal (as part of the package) was very poor. Food served looked and tasted unappetising, portions were small and even the 'fresh' fruit was tired. After 3 attempts we decided to eat out. All the local restaurants we tried, served generous portions of tasty, reasonably priced food and local fruit was cheap and delicious. As the holiday did not allow for a choice of opting out of dinner, we spent considerably more than we had intended on food. Riviera should offer a choice of eating in or out, or alternatively, ensure that the food provided is of an acceptable standard.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our trip with you to Austria. We were,however, very disappointed with the food offered to us at both hotels we stayed at. The hotels themselves were very comfortable and the staff were excellent,the food regrettably was not; and not up to the standard we have come to expect from Riviera Travel,although we did have two passable meals at Das Alpenhaus at the weekend. The courier, although very friendly did not come up to the standard that we have experienced in the past, and we felt that we had missed out on information on the trip. We were not alone in experiencing these difficulties, as several of our party commented on them.

On balance a good tour which would have been significantly better had the tour guide not relied on her family members contribution in parts of the tour. Absolute fiasco in what was a relatively expensive holiday. I didn't realise that Riviera is as "home spun" as it is. Found the tour guide highly patronising to the (very well travelled) fellow travellers and should not be bad mouthing about one of her travelling clients to another travelling client. Highly unprofessional. All this rather took the gloss of what should have been a very enjoyable experience. Guided tours were short and rushed and whilst en route between destinations ,nothing of any value about the area was forthcoming from the guide ( I am not really interested in her soup recipes!). Somewhat tiresome in costantly being reminded about "minding your knees" when getting out of the coach, checking whether everybody had used the facilites before leaving base- all totally unecessary. Tour guide punctuality left a lot be be desired.

I contacted Riviera Travel on 13th May 2015, stating I had not received my travel documents. I and my partner are travelling to Bruges on 27th May 2015. They informed me that the travel documents were being prepared and would shortly be posted. Wednesday 19th May 2015, still no travel documents. I contacted Riviera again. They said the documents were posted on 8th May, I said why did you inform me on 13th May that the documents were being prepared and yet you are now telling me today Wednesday 19th May they were posted on 8th May 2015, no positive explanation given, they did say they made a mistake and apologised They informed me I would have to collect rail tickets from station ticket office, needless to say I am not happy with Reiera Travel and would not recommend them.