Frosch

Just returned from trying to book some inter-​city Europe transportation + a short small-​group tour to fill a gap in the middle of my upcoming 4-​week trip.
This agency was not interested in my business, clearly because it was too small for them. Even mentioning a few possible short tours in France that I’d seen online didn’t help. They were not interested in my business.
They also advised me that no tour would want to take me because I walk with a cane — that I could potentially sue. (I’ve traveled to Europe 11x in the last decade, and know enough to carry the proper extra insurance).
I was absolutely stunned at the unfriendliness — really rudeness — of the staff at this agency. Now that I’ve talked to some friends and read other reviews of this travel group I am SO GLAD that I didn’t spend any money there.

I contacted Frosch Travel for help with travel insurance for a trip to Bora Bora and Moorea last year and spoke to Katherine. When I first called to ask about travel insurance, I also asked her how much she would charge to look at flights & hotels for us. She immediately got very defensive and said she does not give away her services, you have to pay her if you want help with these things. Right, that’s why I was asking how much she would *charge*. I wasn’t born yesterday; I don’t expect her to plan my trip for me for free. Anyway, she said that if we came in to her office and bought the insurance through her she would give us a few brief tips on what to do in Bora Bora. I thought that was really nice, and maybe she just didn’t communicate well over the phone, so we set up an appointment.
We arrived on time for our appointment but when we got there she was on the phone with someone else. My husband and I sat there waiting for her to finish her call for at least 10 minutes. When she got off the phone, she did not apologize for making us wait. We both thought this was rude. I think my husband was even more upset about it than I was — he is a very mild-​mannered person in general but he thought it really indicated a lack of respect for us and our time. We went over the insurance and she proceeded to do exactly what you can do online, which is go to a travel insurance website, enter the ages of the travelers, dates of the trip and the cost of the trip and get a quote. She didn’t seem to have any information about the insurance beyond was what easily available online. We looked at two different insurance companies with her and when we asked her questions about the differences in the two policies she just looked at the website and read off information to us.
As for her «tips» about what to do in Bora Bora? The only tip she gave us was to go there on a cruise ship called the Paul Gauguin which was apparently having a sale at the time. I know the Paul Gauguin is really lovely (my parents actually sailed on it a few years ago) but we explained that we didn’t want to take a cruise for several reasons (among them, that we wanted to stay in those awesome overwater bungalows) and she still kept pushing it. In addition, we were locked into very specific dates on both ends and I asked her if the Paul Gauguin would fit in our dates. She assured me it would. When I later looked at the brochure for the cruise that she gave us, the embarkation date lined up with our arrival date, but the disembarkation date was one day after we had to return to the US. We had told her our dates from the beginning and I had emphasized over and over again how inflexible the dates were on both ends. Yet she still kept recommending this thing that would obviously not work with our schedule.
At our meeting she said she would email us that night a policy with our information filled in, so that we could just fill in the total trip cost and send it back to her. She never sent us any email. I got busy and put trip-​planning on hold. A few months later I contacted her again with a couple of specific questions about the insurance, specifically about the insurance in the event of cancellation due to work reasons, because I wanted to make sure it would give us the coverage we needed before I bought the nonrefundable plane tickets. She responded with general information about the policy but she did not answer my questions. She also said that the regulations had changed and she was no longer able to buy insurance for us.
She also wrote me: «Normally, if you let your boss know the cost of cancelling your vacation, they won’t do so. I always get my vacation time pre-​approved, and I’ve never had a boss who reneged on that agreement (in 35+ years of working).» I work in an industry where cancelling planned and paid-​for vacations at the last minute is definitely not unheard of and I had repeatedly emphasized this to her on our phone calls and at our meeting (this was the whole reason we wanted insurance for this trip). Her experience with her bosses in a completely different industry is absolutely irrelevant to how likely I am to have to cancel my vacation and this statement was completely unhelpful (and, in my opinion, quite condescending).
We ended up purchasing online (by ourselves) one of the two insurance plans we had discussed. I’m still not 100% convinced we were covered for the things we needed, but in any event we did not have to cancel the trip and we had an absolutely amazing week celebrating our anniversary in Bora Bora and Moorea. So it turned out ok for us, but I don’t think we got anything out of consulting with her and I was really unimpressed by how little she seemed able to listen to us and help us plan a trip that met our needs versus pushing her pre-​planned cookie cutter itineraries on us.

We have worked with Meridian/​Summit Travel several times for overseas trips, and they are first rate. We worked with Sally Fleischer, and she helped us select the right fit for a cruise for our family and planned out all of the details seemlessly. My wife and I also just returned from an anniversary trip to Tahiti/​Bora Bora (fantastic!) and again it was a flawless trip — and the package they put together was a relative bargain. They have access to many deals that are not available to the general public, especially on cruise ships and packages, so definitley worth a call.

I agree with the above reviewer. The agent I work with, Sallie, has saved me countless hours as well as dollars with her careful planning!
The company goes by Summit Travel Group/​Meridian World Travel, part of American Express.

Ethan Allen is the one stop shop for any and all travel arrangements. I can’t tell you how many times they have saved me time and money when it comes to traveling. They are an American Express agency (direct access to Travelers Cheques) and from being in the business for years, they have access to a slew of markets, whether you are looking for an upscale vacation, a perfect honeymoon trip, an air/​hotel/​tour package, a group cruise or to use their corporate travel services for your company. Regardless, they are friendly, knowledgeable, efficient and have great deals.
Their Menlo Park office is the closest to me, but they also have offices in San Mateo and San Francisco.
If you’re even thinking of going through a travel agency for your travel, I can’t recommend Ethan Allen Travel enough!