This week, wholesale
tour operator platform ARYYVE Vacations announced that it was going out of
business and shutting down operations as of August 2, due to “deterioration of
our financial standing”, as the company said in an email.
ARYYVE did say
that it would “ensure all future air reservations from today onward remain
secure and unaffected”. However, travel advisors and other industry providers
who have worked with the company will need to find alternative booking
solutions for all land-related arrangements, including hotels, transfers,
trains and tours from August 5.
“We advise all our
esteemed customers to swiftly seek out alternative arrangements with other
reputable carriers for their upcoming travel needs,” ARYYVE wrote in its
announcement.
Tammy Levent, who
runs TASK Consulting Inc., told
us that more than 50 agencies she is affiliated with have been impacted by ARYYVE’s
abrupt shutdown in some way. Levent is also President at Elite Travel Group, which she said has
been directly affected by this unforeseen development.
“Some of our
clients are traveling to the destination, and some do not have any
reservations; they have been canceled,” Levent told TravelPulse in an email
Sunday. “I asked my clients to call their credit card companies and dispute the
charges.” She said that, aside from a brief phone conversation on Friday with Randy
Alleyne, president and founder of ARYYVE, attempts at communication with the company
have been fruitless.
“For bookings past this weekend, we rebooked with other
tour operators, asked our clients to dispute the ARYYVE charges, and rebooked
with new vendors. However, we have found that most, if not all, the rates are
much higher, and we will absorb the costs, not our clients,” she said.
It seems as if advisors and their clients are being left high and dry when it comes to
following through with land-related travel arrangements made through ARYYVE. “We also have
group bookings for the hotels that show no availability, which is a huge issue,”
Levent said. “TASK agents have also been affected by their clients, and most
are out thousands in commissions.”
She said that her
agency has reached out to ASTA, and been in communication with Zane Kirby and
Peter Lobasso. When she had previously asked ARYYVE if there were USTOA, the
company replied in the affirmative. “We would have been protected under that…maybe.
Not sure how we find out who is listed and not with them,” she shared.
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