My Honest TrovaTrip Review as a Host – Why I Backed Out of My Trip With Them

If you follow me on social media or are subscribed to my newsletter, you have likely seen me promoting a group trip to the Galápagos Islands via TrovaTrip. Unfortunately, I will not be hosting that trip with TrovaTrip anymore. (BUT, I am still hosting a trip to the Galápagos Islands! Just cutting out the middle man a.k.a. TrovaTrip, and going directly with a local operator. Read more about that here.)

I really hate writing negative reviews, but I also want to be truthful and provide my readers and fellow content creators with the most accurate information so they can make informed decisions about who to travel with.

So, today’s review is all about my experience as a host with TrovaTrip and why I won’t be going forward with my Galápagos trip with them. I’ll go through this experience in extreme detail so you can best understand the TrovaTrip process, you will know what to expect if you decide to host a trip with them for yourself.

What is TrovaTrip?

TrovaTrip is a platform based out of Portland, Oregon, and helps influencers, content creators, and travel enthusiasts organize and host group trips with their followers. It provides tools and support to plan, promote, and manage trips, handling logistics like accommodations, activities, and transportation.

The platform partners with local guides and tour operators, allowing trip hosts to focus on engaging with their group and creating content. It’s popular among creators who want to offer travel experiences to their audiences without needing to manage the complex details of travel planning themselves.

TrovaTrip then takes an 8% cut of the trip price to organize and help the creator host the trip.

TrovaTrip Red Flags

As I was noticing that my trip was no longer bookable, my account was also in the process of being transferred to a different Host Success Manager, as my current manager was about to be out on maternity leave. I didn’t really think anything of this, as everyone I had dealt with so far was great, and I assumed it was just a technical issue due to the transfer.

So, they took it upon themselves to take the tour offline but did not consult with me prior. I had also informed them of the dates I would be posting to social media, and I had already published several social media posts before this had come to my attention. This was a huge red flag, especially because we were still 11 months out from this trip! How in the world could hotels already be sold out during the shoulder season? And even if this was the case, why in the world was it not communicated to me?

I then had a call with both Host Success Managers (which was supposed to be introducing me to my new account manager), however, we now had other things to discuss.

This is how that went:

New Success Manager: So Hi, Lindsey. Nice to meet you, too. So I did hear back on the Galapagos. And we are able to do the same dates, but just with a standard package. So I can kind of share with you what the expected hotels are. And so just to kind of show you what that would look like. And what it might help to do to is, I think we were kind of thinking, if we are able to lower the price, maybe that will encourage more bookings to. Okay. So give me one second, let me try to hunt down that information really fast.

Previous Success Manager (about to leave on maternity leave): And Lindsey, I’m sorry, again, for just like not being quicker to communicate all that with you. It kind of just like, came up on us. And they were like, Hey, we have this issue. And we’re like, Oh, weird. Like, this literally never happens with our operators. Like, when we request dates. Usually they tell us yes or no. So I’m not sure what happened on their end. But this isn’t like something we typically have to deal with. So we were like, just trying to make sure we find the best solution for you.

I asked: Is this the typical operator that holds the trip for TrovaTrip. Or is this a different new operator?

Previous Success Manager (about to leave on maternity leave): I believe it’s the same one we’ve been using for a while. So yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know what their deal is.

New Success Manager: Yeah. And I’ve never heard anything bad with this itinerary at all, or even the operator I think, unfortunately, what happens just dealing with different countries, like every country is different and just stuff kind of pops up and it’s not always perfect. And this is just kind of one of those instances of that.

And this is where I’m going to stop this for a moment…I lived in and traveled around South America for years. Yes, things operate a little differently than in the U.S. However, I am here to tell you that in major tourist destinations, booking hotel rooms nearly a year in advance is something that is very standard and should not be posing so many issues. The fact that this Success Manager was chalking this up to “oh, that’s just different countries for ya” was an incredibly unacceptable answer. This is not the kind of person I wanted to entrust my and my follower’s trip to.

They then proceeded to show me the “standard” hotels I would have instead. I had already seen these, as you go through this all when you make your itinerary selection, and these “standard” hotel options were the reason I went with the “premium” selection. They had some pretty poor reviews, and some rooms would be sharing bathrooms (so more like a hostel-type accommodation).

I then said “no, thank you.” This was not what I was telling my readers they would be getting when they signed up. They also made it apparent in their answers that the majority were not interested in hostel-type accommodations. To which I got this response.

New Success Manager: In that case, I mean, we could talk about maybe just changing to different dates, if you wanted to, we could look at that.

Me: I think I am just going to pass on doing this trip. I had a similar experience with a competitor, and this is turning out to be just like that. I’m not getting into that situation again.

New Success Manager: Okay, so we’ll go ahead and just cancel the trip then. And then if anything changes in the future, you can feel free to let us know. Okay.

Previous Success Manager (about to leave on maternity leave): Lindsay, I’m just curious, have you had any of your audience or followers like reach out and express like interest in doing the trip with you?

Me: Yes, I did have several. They’re mostly people I know, personally, so I’ll reach out to them and let them know.

Previous Success Manager (about to leave on maternity leave): Okay. Um, yeah, I just wanted to add, like, we’d be happy to try and like look at other options. I know you’re, like, have some, like, concerns about like things changing which I understand from your past experience. So we don’t want to like drag you through the mud or anything but um, We’re happy to help. If we can, like think of other solutions or just like pivot to make it work for you and your audience if if you felt like the interest was there, okay? So if you want to like think about that and get back to Brandon, like, I won’t be here, but just want to make sure we’re supporting you in whatever way you want to move forward. Okay. Yeah. I’m sorry about that.

Me: All right, I will think about it and I will follow up.

Previous Success Manager (about to leave on maternity leave): Okay, sounds good. Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you. Bye Bye.

So, the New Success Manager could not have cared less about this trip. But my previous Success Manager was really great; I think that’s apparent in the call transcript above.

Realizing I would now be working with someone who knew nothing about my brand or traveling in general, I went ahead and asked them to cancel the trip the next day after the call.

My previous Success Manager was out on maternity leave now, and the new Success Manager did not bother to respond or even take down the trip. It’s still up on their site 2 months later; you can see it here.

Final Thoughts on TrovaTrip and Hosting Group Trips

If I had stayed with the same Host Success Manager, I likely would have continued forward with this trip, and I believe I would have had a great experience with TrovaTrip and traveling with my audience.

However, the transfer to the new Host Success Manager was alarming. This person clearly did not care one iota, and this trip would likely have been very stressful and poorly planned.

I do think there are great people who work at TrovaTrip who are very knowledgeable and make sure creators and their audiences have a wonderful experience. I just unfortunately did not have one of them for this experience.

I am grateful, though, that this happened, as it gave me the courage to remove the middle man in this scenario and branch out on my own. I researched and interviewed tons of tour agencies located right in the Galapagos. I landed on Galakiwi as my trip provider, and I could not be happier! They are so knowledgeable and had so many great suggestions for ways to improve on my itinerary. You can read about that here.

I am going to continue to host group tours through my website, but I won’t be doing it through a third-party provider like TrovaTrip ever again. I want to know the tour company I am working with and vet them personally.

I also encourage other creators not to be afraid to work directly with local travel companies. If you are a travel creator, I can assure you, that you have the skills to put together a trip on your own with a local company. It will also be far less hassle than going through TrovaTrip, as you have full control and are just working with the tour operator. I mean, if you read the above part, I dealt with 2 sales people, 2 host success managers, and at one point there was also a tech person involved and none of these people were putting together the itinerary or booking, that’s a “trip designer” and then there is the local company who you never even know their name or get to interact with until you arrive at the destination. WAY too many cooks in the kitchen. With Galakiwi, I have 1 point of contact throughout the process, who actually lives in the destination. That’s it. And she has been incredible.

Phew, I know this was long, but I wanted to share this to help other creators who are thinking about hosting a trip through TrovaTrip. Yes, you very likely could do this and have a great time! But, if you are noticing red flags this early in the game, get out NOW. I’ve gone through this process twice with third-party operators, and if you’re having these many difficulties already, it’s not going to get better.

Thank you so much for reading my TrovaTrip Review. If you have questions please reach out in the comments at the end of the post.

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