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Opinions HEY ICELAND Reykjavík
Members' reviews on HEY ICELAND
4.8/5
30 reviews
Value for money
Service
Originality
The ratings and reviews below reflect the subjective opinions of members and not the opinion of The Little Witty.
HEY ICELAND
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Opening hours
Monday
09:00 - 16:00
Tuesday
09:00 - 16:00
Wednesday
09:00 - 16:00
Thursday
09:00 - 16:00
Friday
09:00 - 14:00
Saturday
Closed
Sunday
Closed
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I figured Hey Iceland!, to whom we had paid thousands of dollars to book this trip, must have at some point warned me of this rule. Nope! I scoured my few emails from them, scoured my itinerary, etc. There was absolutely no mention of this passport rule. In fact, you might think that a tour company providing accommodations from airport to return airport might even ask for your passport information to make sure all was well. Nope! This company only exists to mark-up cheap stays in Iceland and keep your money.
I immediately emailed Hey Iceland! to inform them that we were not allowed to travel and ask for a refund. This was a Friday, so their Hey Iceland! office was closed for the weekend. (Now, why would I , or ANYONE book from a tour company that closes on weekends, I’m not sure?). When Hey Iceland! received my email that next Monday morning (apparently) they informed me that I could be reimbursed for two excursions later in the week but could not be reimbursed for anything else. Not the rental car. Not ANY of the hotels. And not the excursions that had taken place after my email informing them of our trouble but BEFORE they reopened their office on Monday. Thousands of dollars – just gone.
Now, of course Hey Iceland! could have made this right in any number of ways. The hotels they contract with over and over surely allow them cancellations. And what car rental service takes 8 days of car rent when you never pick up the car? But they have greedily kept the money I could have used to rebook this trip. In fact, given my troubles, they offered me a 15% discount if I wanted to rebook with them! Ha! They were running a 15% sale on their website at the time – thanks for nothing.
Finally, their Marketing and Sales Manager emailed me back simply to say that, as a lawyer (my email signature says I’m an attorney) I should have known the rule that, even if your child has a valid passport, it must be valid for 90 days after your trip when travelling to Iceland. The fault, they explained, was “entirely” mine.
While less disturbing than the failure to refund, I also find it very telling that I was able to re-book my trip without Hey Iceland! in January, including all hotels (refundable of course), car, and excursions, for a FRACTION of the price that Hey Iceland had charged to do the same. We’re even in nicer hotels we got to pick out, rather than the grab-bag Hey Iceland foists on you. Take it from me, do NOT give this company your money. You could end up out in the cold – and not in the way you intended.
thank you for your feedback. We understand that it is heartbreaking as well as frustrating to miss out on a trip you have been planning and looking forward to for months because you don’t have valid travel documents at the start of the trip.
Hey Iceland sold you a self-drive tour package that starts and ends in Iceland. Flight tickets are not part of the package and not sold by us.
When booking our services, you agreed to our terms of booking and cancellation terms. You have already been refunded for all parts of the tour package that we will not be charged for even though our cancellation terms state that cancelling 3 days or less before arrival in Iceland should result in no refund.
We received an email from you only 9 hours before tour start, announcing that you would not be arriving in Iceland.
According to airlines’ conditions of carriage, it is the responsibility of the traveler to gather information about and obtain required travel documents, visas, and travel authorizations (as applicable) needed for entry into the destination country. Each customer traveling across any international boundary is solely responsible for obtaining all necessary travel documents.
According to the travel.state.gov website, US authorities recommend for all US citizens traveling to Europe:
- Have at least six-months validity remaining on your passport
- Check the expiration date on your passport carefully before traveling to Europe – especially children’s passports, which are valid 5 years, not 10 years like those issued to US citizens aged 16 and older
- Carry your passport when traveling to another country in the Schengen area. Even if there is no border check at the time, officials may reinstate border controls without notice.
If your passport does not meet the Shengen requirements, you may be:
- Refused boarding by the airline at your point of origin or while transferring planes
- Denied entry when you arrive in the Shengen area, regardless of how long you will stay.
If you look up Iceland's requirements for passport validity on the website, it clearly states: ‘Three months is required, six months recommended beyond your planned date of departure from the Schengen area’.
Lastly, our office is closed during weekends, but we have an emergency phone line that you could have called. You received information about the emergency phone number with your travel information.
What a fantastic country to visit and all with the stress free help of the guided tour on a tablet, car rental and accommodation sorted for you! It’s my first ever time using a travel agency and I couldn’t rate them any higher!!! THANK YOU!
Enigmas: No swimming...Do people really swim with glaciers? We came to a road to a site blocked by 3 large boulders..an interesting though difficult way to close a road.
Of interest: The planting of birch trees on ridges, around homes and surrounding greenhouses, the forest..brilliant, of course the geothermal energy
The itinerary was brisk so we had almost no wasted time (though we skipped a few thigs for the occasional rest). we saw almost everything we wanted to except the northern lights, but you can't control that. They chose our accommodations and they were for the most part great. Love that there is breakfast included because food is a big expense there, and the breakfasts were varied and delicious. I would recommend this agency to anyone.
The tablet is where they lost a star - In theory its great, super easy to use with lots of activities and sites booked, however, for us the tablet only half worked, it stopped reading out exits when navigating on day 2, and we never figured out why. Additionally, a road was closed because of flash flooding and we were unable to cross, the GPS kept rerouting us through that road which was super frustrating, so map was not up to date, as there was notices for several days already that the road was closed. Furthermore, there's a lot of details they could add for each stop; such as entrance fees, parking, accessibility (walking distances, stairs), facilities on site (bathroom, restaurants), we showed up at a lot of sites totally clueless. And for my tour there was several area I found on google maps that I wish were included on the tablet! My tablet tour went right past blue lagoon without mention!
When I emailed about a payment issue, I received a prompt response that same day.
Additionally, this was probably my fault, but the rental car was a manual car, so I would recommend looking closely when booking to ensure you can drive the car you're given. I didn't have to swap cars, not sure how difficult that would be.
Overall, I really enjoyed the experience, and sites I was introduced to, and I have recommended Hey Iceland to several people already, and will continue doing so.
I only wish that every country had it's own Hey Iceland! It is the best way to travel!
First the positive - it was super easy. The car was great, the tablet in the car was great and almost everywhere we stayed was great. Low budget but clean and comfortable.
It CAN be a great solution but you have to be careful about what accommodations they offer you or really know the geography in advance.
The negative - we got ZERO (borderline unclear) support in advance. We booked our trip months ahead but there was largely silence for extended periods from Hey Iceland to answer questions. I repeatedly asked for ideas about what to do in each place and the suggestions offered usually involved things we had to pay for (which were far more expensive through Hey Iceland that direct booking) versus what to see. I specifically asked for hike ideas and the person helping me said "look on AllTrails."
Once we got to Iceland, we found the locations of our accommodations were often no where near the "town" listed for the location. One place supposedly near Egilssadir was actually 45 minutes out in the east fjords - totally out of the way, nowhere near what we wanted to see/do, no food nearby, and no food offered at the hotel. When we arrived, we found that our room's slanted ceilings meant we could not sit up in bed. The owners were warm and welcoming but the room was not.
Also - we specifically and repeatedly asked to change one accommodation to be closer to Myvatn (we were put in a hotel 45 minutes away in the wrong direction for two nights). The agent just would not budge. The place she chose required significant backtracking. Moreover, it was far closer places we had seen already than the places we needed to reach. Again - no food anywhere nearby and no dinner offered at that location (despite the website's description offering dinner).
We had to pay out of pocket to stay somewhere more convenient and we are still waiting for our refund for the night we did not want nor use.
One hotel they chose was completely out of character. Outside Vik we landed in a hotel geared toward large tour groups with a massive dining hall with long tables. It felt like a catering hall with zero personality The wait staff had no idea how to deal with individual travelers like us (and probably was a Covid super spreader).
Finally - support by chat or phone, offered on the tablet was nonexistent. No one is around on the weekends and no one responded to our issue about the Myvatn hotel mentioned above.
Again - this CAN be a great solution IF you know where things are located in advance but otherwise it's a bit of a crapshoot and buyer beware. You have to be VERY careful and do your research ahead of time.
We are sad to hear that our service did not meet your expectations. What you describe does not sound like the type of service we pride ourselves in providing. There seems to be room for improvement in regards to communication on our part and I am sorry for that.
I am going to look into your booking and what happened.