Reviews
This profile includes reviews for WorldStrides's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see
Customer Review Ratings
1.39/5 stars
Average of 94 Customer Reviews
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Review fromSarah T
Date: 03/17/2025
1 starThose considering a trip with WorldStrides need to read the fine print on page 2 of the terms and conditions. In a sectioned entitled KEEPING YOU SAFE ON TOUR, parents will see that the children themselves are liable for *********************. There is a WS policy suggesting that the program leader is responsible - but the two documents are in conflict, and it is the legal terms that govern. I learned this after my middle school kiddo didn't get his daily prescription medication on a school trip. I reached out to the school who blamed WorldStrides - reached out to WorldStrides who directed me to the terms and conditions, clarifying that the mistake was actually my son's fault as it was his responsibility to manage his own meds.This obviously puts children at risk and is meant to allow schools and WS to deflect legal accountability - APPALLING, irresponsible, and negligent. Likely also ************ of experience: February 23, 2025Review fromJeffrey G.
Date: 03/13/2025
1 starJeffrey G.
Date: 03/13/2025
If i could give zero stars, that would be more accurate. This company scams students AND donors out of money. I donated to a student and her parents and was given the run around. They don't answer the phone and when you send an email, they tell you to call. This is not a well-run nor credible organization. One email response promised by money to be returned to my credit card, and they instead sent a check to an already disappointed student who was unable to participate in the trip.WorldStrides
Date: 03/26/2025
Dear ****,Thank you for contacting us regarding your recent experience. We greatly value your feedback and want to assure you that customer concerns are taken seriously.We strictly adhere to established guidelines to ensure the safety and security of personal information. These measures are designed to prevent unauthorized access and uphold the integrity of our processes.Your understanding is appreciated. If you have any further inquiries, please do not hesitate to reach out. Our team is here to assist ******** regards,Channel SupportJeffrey G.
Date: 04/03/2025
The response/comment from WorldStrides is a perfect example of the vague "non-answer" and zero resolution to the problem. Two months later and they still have not refunded the money to my card as they promised. ****! Stay away from anything this company does.Review fromVinny G
Date: 03/11/2025
5 starsVinny G
Date: 03/11/2025
Had an amazing trip to ************* and ************ and couldnt have asked for better service or care! Every member of the WorldStrides staff team I encountered was amazing ranging from our amazing tour guide, *******, to our fun and enthusiastic bus driver *********. They both stayed with us the entire trip and made it a welcoming environment. The amount of detail that was added to the itinerary was insane as well as the amazing facts and personal experiences our guide had. It was an absolutely perfect trip and I couldnt have asked for anything better. Please give ******* and ********* the ***** and gratitude they both deserve!! They are both amazing people and I am so glad I met both of them.WorldStrides
Date: 03/21/2025
Dear customer,We sincerely appreciate your thoughtful review! Your kind words mean a lot to us, and were thrilled to hear about your positive experience with WorldStrides. Its customers like you who inspire us to keep striving for excellence.Our entire team works hard to create memorable experiences, and your review validates our efforts. Were proud to have made a difference for you. Your input helps us improve, and we hope to have the opportunity to show you even more amazing sites next time. Thanks again for choosing us!Review fromSamuel R
Date: 02/05/2025
1 starSamuel R
Date: 02/05/2025
Very disappointed with their customer service. People should be aware if the trip is canceled and was out of your control you will lose a good amount of $. Even with their over $300 insurance you will lose if trip is canceled. I lost over $300 even with the insurance. If you cancel less than 45 days from the trip they keep all of your money if you don't pay for their insurance. And getting my refund took over 2 months. If I wouldn't have continued following up with them on refund I believe it would have gone ********** are better off hiring guides yourself and getting your flight, hotel and transportation yourself. Save your families the money and head ache. I hope to never have to deal with this company ever again.WorldStrides
Date: 03/21/2025
Dear customer,Thank you for taking the time to share your review with us. We appreciate your honesty and value your feedback. Were truly sorry that your experience fell short of your expectations. Your comments are essential to our continuous improvement, and we take them seriously.We apologize for any inconvenience you may have faced, please know that we are committed to making things right. Your input is invaluable in helping us achieve this goal.Thank you once again for choosing our brand, and we hope to have the opportunity to serve you better in the future.Review fromJennifer W
Date: 01/31/2025
1 starJennifer W
Date: 01/31/2025
Our club was offered an uninspiring trip, by a *** that would barely answer our questions. Needless to say most of the team didn't want to go. We asked if we would get a full refund if we didn't get enough people. Our *** assured us we would and acted like that was a crazy question. Same goes for the travel insurance. We have this all in writing. The trip never got enough people and we cancelled in NOVEMBER. It is now January 31 and we are still waiting on our refund and get the run around from customer service. On top of that, at one point I was triple charged and it took weeks and finally my bank cancelling it because nobody would respond to my bank and I got nothing but lies. Our team is still waiting for a full refund. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE THESE PEOPLE MONEY! Save yourself from this long headache.WorldStrides
Date: 03/21/2025
Dear customer,Thank you for taking the time to share your review with us. We appreciate your honesty and value your feedback. Were truly sorry that your experience fell short of your expectations. Your comments are essential to our continuous improvement, and we take them seriously.We apologize for any inconvenience you may have faced, please know that we are committed to making things right. Your input is invaluable in helping us achieve this goal.Thank you once again for choosing our brand, and we hope to have the opportunity to serve you better in the future.Review fromMaia S
Date: 01/29/2025
1 starMaia S
Date: 01/29/2025
I am beside myself. I am a teacher who has led several trips with WorldStrides. My school travels almost every year with them. Last year, due to a major mess-up on their part, we had to take a bus from ****** to *** to get on our flight. As a way of making amends to the students and parents, they agreed to issue food vouchers. They wrote a letter to the parents and to my school system stating this. They issued the check for all the money to me (my first mistake), and I cashed it and handed it out to the kids. The principal was with me when I did this. Today I received a 1099 for income of $2500. When I reached out to the people with whom I've been working for my next trip, they said WorldStrides automatically issues a 1099 for any income over $600. Fine, but this wasn't income! They then said, well, for any stipend. Yes, but they put in writing that the stipend was to be used as food vouchers. I am furious that I will be paying taxes on this due to their miscommunication, and, I believe, miscoding/misrepresenting the "stipend." This was essentially a reimbursement to the kids for flights out of *** when they should have been flying out of ******. I have spent the last two hours trying to get in touch with someone at World Strides, to no avail. There is no customer service number for teachers for something like this, which seems deliberately elusive. I feel that they took advantage of me and my students, and it's actually not the first time.WorldStrides
Date: 03/21/2025
Dear ****,Thank you for taking the time to share your review with us. We appreciate your honesty and value your feedback. Were truly sorry that your experience fell short of your expectations. Your comments are essential to our continuous improvement, and we take them seriously.We apologize for any inconvenience you may have faced, and well work diligently to prevent similar situations in the future.If theres anything else youd like to share or discuss, please feel free to contact us directly. Were here to listen and learn from our mistakes.Thank you once again for choosing our brand, and we hope to have the opportunity to serve you better in the future.Review fromBodee K
Date: 01/15/2025
1 starBodee K
Date: 01/15/2025
Following up with the our ************* Trip Director, we found out that we weren't going to get off the waitlist in early October 2024 for a late November ************************************** late December 2024 to see the status of my refund of almost $3000 on the full deposit of the program. They said the refund is scheduled to be processed to original payment form (Debit card) in January 2025. Today is January 15th and no refund has been sent or recorded on my debit card that was used to pay for the trip. I didn't feel great about this company at the beginning and now coming across all these reviews, I know World Strides has shady business practices such as keeping funds of their prospective customers for months for free. I feel bad for the customer service folks in the *********** that have to deal with customers that are upset with the company's poor business practices so I am going to go online and complain instead. Let's see how many of those reviews I can posted on various platforms through this app.I also wonder how many families from our school are in the same boat as us? Perhaps, they've kept over $30,000 interest fee deposits so far????WorldStrides
Date: 03/21/2025
Dear *****,Thank you for reaching out and sharing your experience with us. We apologize for the inconvenience and frustration this situation has caused you. We deeply regret any negative impressions you have of our company and want to assure you that we take your concerns seriously.We understand this process has been disappointing, please know that we are committed to improving our processes and providing better service in the future.We value your business and hope to regain your trust. Thank you for choosing us, and we look forward to serving you better next time.Review fromCarol G
Date: 09/19/2024
1 starCarol G
Date: 09/19/2024
I paid World Strides for a school trip to ****** for May 2024 for my child and myself. I purchased the extra trip insurance for both of us for $ 400. The trip group did not find out the travel details until about a week before the trip. The flight to ****** was set up as connecting flights from ********* to ******* and then ******* to ******. This caused the group to have to meet in the middle of the night to make the very early morning flight to *******. Late the night before, an hour before we were supposed to meet and board a bus, we found out from our trip leader that all flights to/from ******* were canceled for the next morning. Our trip leader was on the phone with World Strides for over an hour but, unfortunately, World Strides was unable to reschedule the flights without breaking up the group and causing everyone to miss a day of the trip. To our dismay, the trip was canceled and not rescheduled. The group was told that World Strides would refund (even those who did not purchase trip insurance) or allow a credit for next year's school trip to **********. Also, those that wanted a refund would not be refunded any trip insurance fees. I called World Strides and requested the trip insurances fees be refunded also. I was told those fees would not be refunded. After several emails to/from World Strides I was told again those fees would not be refunded. I was also told repeatedly I would be refunded the rest that I paid by July 23 but was not. After many emails from me and excuses and unnecessary delays from World Strides, I was finally refunded the rest in mid/late August. I still feel it was unfair to refund those that didn't purchase trip insurance but not refund those fees to those that paid for it. So, we were all packed and ready to go but didn't even get to go on the trip (mostly due to poor flight scheduling by World Strides) and I lost $ 400. I do not recommend this company.WorldStrides
Date: 09/27/2024
Dear ******,Thank you for taking the time to share your review with us. We appreciate your honesty and value your feedback. We sincerely apologize that your experience fell short of your expectations. Your comments are essential to our continuous improvement, and we take them seriously.We have reviewed the circumstances that led to the flight delay and the cancellation of your trip. Unfortunately, several aspects were beyond WorldStrides control. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have ********* address this situation, we decided to go beyond our standard policies. We offered a refund to all parents enrolled in the Full Refund Program (FRP), minus the cost of the program itself. For those who did not purchase this protection, we refunded their investment, less a fee equivalent to the cost of the Full Refund Program. We are committed to doing the right thing for all participants. Thank you once again for choosing WorldStrides. We hope to have the opportunity to serve you better in the *********** regards, ****** *****Review fromChantel H
Date: 08/22/2024
1 starChantel H
Date: 08/22/2024
This was the worst experience for my 12 year old that I have ever seen. She not only helped save up her hard earned allowance for her school trip, but I did fundraising and raised most of the money from friends and family donating, only to have it stolen by World Strides. They not only stole it, but wouldnt refund me anything. They actually charged my in laws card twice and for the wrong amount, causing us to call and get that fixed with the bank for them, then world strides expected us to fix the problem they created telling us she was caught up on her payments, but failed to tell me how their mistake would cost me extra money in the end. I found out a few weeks before the trip about the mistake with my in laws card, fixed the mistake and called World Strides who would not removed my in laws card from the files after I told them to the first time! This company is a bunch of corrupt horrible people and Im working now on suing this company for the money that we worked so hard to earn but had to tell my daughter no two weeks before her scheduled tripWorldStrides
Date: 09/06/2024
Dear *******,Thank you for taking the time to share your review with us. We genuinely appreciate your honesty and value your feedback. We are truly sorry that your experience fell short of your expectations. Your comments are essential to our continuous improvement, and we take them very seriously.We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you may have faced, and we are committed to making things right. Our team is actively addressing the issue you raised, and we will work diligently to prevent similar situations in the future.Upon reviewing the details of your account, our records indicate that we received a total payment of $3,088.00, all made over the phone using the payment method you provided. However, $1,542.00 of these payments were refunded to your **** ending in 6510 on 01/02/24, leaving a total amount paid of $1,454.00. Additionally, we received back charges for $775.00, which reduced the total amount paid to $679.00.Our records also show that we reached out to you several times to advise you to bring your account up to date. Unfortunately, after receiving no response, your account was canceled on 02/21/24 due to the lack of payment. As per our terms and conditions, the cancellation policy applicable to you at the time was 50% of the trip price, and therefore, no refund was due to your account.If there is anything else you would like to share or discuss, please feel free to contact us directly. We are here to listen and learn from our mistakes.Thank you once again for choosing our brand, and we hope to have the opportunity to serve you better in the future.Best regards,***********************Review fromKym L
Date: 08/12/2024
1 starKym L
Date: 08/12/2024
The lodging is not well vetted. We had to room with geckos and cockroaches, mold, broken facilities, etc. When we walked out of the hotel and found our own lodging that was clean, safe, and vermin free at 9:45 p.m., we were told later that because our tour leader is the one who emailed them about the concerns (with photos attached of the disgusting conditions) that this didn't qualify, and it should have been us that called. They will not compensate us anything. The representative said they offer insurance, which we thankfully purchased, to remediate any problems. I asked point blank, "So Explorica and World stride don't accept responsibility for the lodging or what happened?" and he said, "That is correct." Are you kidding me? $10,000 and no support. When we were in the foreign country our tour guide was helpful, kind and very knowledgeable. Given the experience with the company however I would not recommend a tour by Explorica to anyone.WorldStrides
Date: 08/23/2024
Thank you for sharing your review with us. We appreciate your candidness and apologize for any inconvenience you experienced. Your feedback is invaluable as it helps us identify areas for improvement.We understand that your recent experience fell short of expectations, and for that, we sincerely apologize. Our team is committed to rectifying the situation promptly. Here are the steps were taking:Investigation: Were thoroughly investigating the issue you raised to prevent similar occurrences in the future. Unfortunately, there are natural events that fall out of our control, such as the hurricane that caused the delay on your flight.Training and Improvement: Although some of the concerns you've raised are related to our providers, your concerns have been passed along to the corresponding department for our staff to undergo additional training to enhance service quality.Resolution: We aim to make things right. Please allow us the opportunity to address your concerns directly. You can reach out to us at your convenience and ask to speak to ***********************, who will be happy to continue assisting you.Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience caused. We value your business and hope to regain your trust. Thank you for choosing us, and we look forward to serving you better next time.Best regards,
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