ComplaintsforAHI International Corp.

• Initial Complaint

  09/12/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  We booked travel to **** (**** and its People ~ Havana (******)). We paid $2,000 for an upgraded room with a balcony. The trip used a different hotel and it had no such room. After we arrived, the hotel, which had never been advised of our paid upgrade, provided a slightly larger room down an outside passage where we got wet every time it rained and which had no WiFi for the first four days. The windows were all blocked with growing bamboo, and not only was there no view, but almost no light came in. It was not a room for which we would have paid extra. We requested a refund of the $2,000. AHI Travel spoke once with my wife and then refunded $600, claiming " That is the difference between the category you received and the Jr. ***** lower category." That was not acceptable and we tried in writing to explain why. It has since ignored multiple emails and failed to communicate. We want our remaining $1,400 refunded. We have copied the email chain into a Word document and it is attached.

  Business response

  09/26/2023

  Travelers received the category they purchased.  We refunded $300 per person as a gesture of goodwill, and sent an additional communication to the travelers stating that they did receive what they paid for and what was advertised as follows:

  Dear Mr. and *******************:
  
  We have been contacted by the BBB regarding a complaint you submitted.  Please accept my apologies for not understanding the nature of your request following my August 9, 2023 communication and promise to you of a $300.00 per person refund gesture of goodwill refund. I understood from ****** that you were awaiting status of your refund, and was able to communicate with her that that our gesture of goodwill refund was scheduled within the week.  It was processed on August 28, 2023. 
  
  After reading your letter to ************************* and your complaint to the BBB, please allow me to further explain why we are not offering an additional refund.
  
  On August 18th, you had a tentative booking on our ****~The African Diaspora February 19, **** program with the Northwestern Alumni Association.  Any reference to an included balcony in the Deluxe Suite category would have been for this program.  The next day you canceled the booking, preferring our non-African Diaspora program **** and Its People - Havana March 17 - 24, **** offering.
  
  This is a completely different program at a different hotel with a higher price point.  Both programs do go to ****, but have a different hotel and itinerary. Notes in the booking history from August 19th (the day you made the change) said specifically you made the switch because you wanted to see *********** Finca Vieja and the *********************** neither of which was included in Cubi - The African Diaspora program. 
  
  For the **** and Its People program you received a Deluxe Suite (also known as a Master Suite).  For full frame of reference,pricing categories are:
  $6145.00 Deluxe Suite, per person
  $5845.00 Junior Suite, per person
  $5645.00 Standard room, per person
  
  Balconies are not included or advertised in the Deluxe Suite accommodations on the **** and Its People program.  You stayed in a Deluxe Suite category on the program.  As we sincerely regret your disappointed expectations, AHI Travel refunded you the difference between a Junior Suite and the Deluxe Suite as a gesture of goodwill.  We regret the other suites offered to you onsite were not easily accessible and therefore refused. 
  
  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
  
  Sincerely,
  *****
  
  *************************
  Vice ********** ******* Control
  AHI Travel
  ************************************************************************************; 60631
  Email:  ******************************
  Phone:  ************
  Fax: ************
  
  
  
  

  Customer response

  09/29/2023

   
  Complaint: 20590436
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I have written AHI Travel as follows:

  Dear ******************
  
  The facts are that I paid for a room with a balcony. It was to be a dream trip, and it was worth paying an extra $2,000. When we changed trips, you knew or should have known that such a room was unavailable. We would have asked for the extra money back had you told us. We did not want to be in a room without light at the end of an exposed outside passageway.
  
  When we arrived in **** and at the hotel, the innkeepers had no idea we were to be given an upgraded room. ***** arrangements were made to place us in the room we ultimately occupied. After a day without WiFi or a view, we asked for a regular room and were told the place was sold out. So we stayed without WiFi or view and got wet going to the room each time it rained.
  
  The whole issue could have been avoided if you had told us that ************* did not have such a room. You sold us a room that did not exist. I want that money back.
  
  If the base trip we took was more expensive than the one we originally booked, you are *********** that difference. Please calculate that adjustment and refund any difference after taking credit for the $600 already refunded.
  
  AHI Travel made a mistake when it failed to tell us that the room booked was no longer available. Now, make that mistake right.
  
  Although I think I am *********** more, my offer to settle for an additional $700 stands and I will take that and be done with this.
  
  *****************************
  

  I believe that I am owed $1,400 but have offered to settle for $700. Multiple letters to AHI Travel were ignored and it responded only after you contacted it. Hopefully, it will do right, and we can put this behind us. We will see.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

• Initial Complaint

  09/23/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  During April 2019, I signed up with AHI travel to tour *************** during March 22 - April 8, 2020. The reservation number was ******. That trip was cancelled due to the pandemic. I had spent $13,850.26, and I was given a credit voucher. The voucher had an expiration date of June 30, 2022.Using the voucher, I was rescheduled to travel to *************** during Jan. 11 - 26, 2022, reservation ******. That was cancelled due to the Omnicron pandemic. I was then rescheduled to reservation ******, Oct. 25 - Nov. 9, 2022, using the same voucher. Even with the expiration date, the voucher was accepted since the pandemic was still looming, and my trips were cancelled twice. With the trip only a month away, no one at AHI is responding to any of my repeated phone calls and emails. No one. I don't know which airline to take or where to stay when I get to *********.I have been trying for more than am month to communicate with AHI, to no avail. I call almost every day. No one answers.I request a refund because AHI has deplorable service. They ignore their clients' concerns totally. I want to sever my relationship with ***, and I cannot recommend AHI to anyone. They are totally unprofessional.

  Business response

  10/04/2022

  Hello,

  Even with many covid restrictions lifted, we recognize this is still a challenging and worrisome time for some of our passengers to travel.  But, we are up and running with covid protocols in place.  Our ********* ****************** called ********************** the same day of this complaint, September 20th.  She addressed the air issues satisfactorily and set her mind at ease regarding the program operations.  ********************** will be joining ** as planned.  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩