Emergency phone not reachable & no communication during natural disaster – very disappointing experience
Our underage daughter booked a trip to Hawaii with Belo USA. Right at the beginning, there were serious issues: Due to the US lockdown, there were extremely long lines at immigration in Houston, and she missed her connecting flight.
During the wait, she tried several times to contact the supposedly 24/7 emergency phone provided by the organizer. Nobody answered. The callback came about an hour later – at a point when it was already too late to solve the situation. For a youth trip, we expect an emergency contact to be reliably reachable, especially when minors are involved. This was not the case.
During the travel period, there were also floods in Hawaii. In our view, this would have been a clear reason to cancel the trip or at least proactively inform the travelers and parents. We received no information from Belo USA about whether the situation was safe or potentially dangerous.
Our request for a refund has not been answered to this day.
Overall, we were very disappointed with the level of support, communication, and responsibility shown toward underage travelers.