Advant Travel 2025: Updated global investigation

Tourism Activity.

So, how does Advant (formerly Advant Travel) stand with this? If there is no legal entity – then the company is operating illegally and it resembles a financial pyramid. To check for a legal entity, all we need is the EDRPOU code. You can find it in the tour service agreement, which I highly recommend you read. It is automatically attached to the documents when ordering a tour. You can find it on page 4.

Here are the sought-after figures with the legal address and bank account details. We verify the data in state registers on the website of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

And we obtain complete information about the company.

For those interested, you might study it in your spare time; there is plenty of information. We found out that the company, on completely legal grounds, can engage in tourism activities. And that means it can just as easily send tourists as any other travel agency. Yes, there is nothing to pick on here.

License for Tour Operator Activity

In the company presentation it was stated that Advant Travel is a tour operator. However, according to the “On Tourism” law, this activity is licensed. Let’s look for the license.

It turned out that finding the license was a bit more complicated – well, they can’t make everything easy for us. A little difficulty is necessary to complicate life. We go to the website of the “Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine”. And what do we see instead of a register? Exactly, a link to a file that needs to be downloaded.

After endlessly scrolling through the file, on page 341, we find what we were looking for.

The license is present. And take note! The previous license was issued not by the Ministry of Economic Development, but by the State Tourism, Resorts and Recreation Agency. And the first company to receive a license after the reforms was Advant Travel. Anyone involved in licensing will understand that being the first to obtain a license is like going through seven circles of hell. They will examine you under a microscope, like an insect, and check everywhere for the presence of everything imaginable. But the guys passed this ordeal successfully. That means they have full legal rights to proudly call themselves a tour operator.

The legal side is clear. Everything is completely legal and there is no reason to call the company a financial pyramid; it is a genuine tour operator. But our questions do not end here.

Negative Reviews.

Of course, the world is not without “good people”. And every “expert” tries to leave their “mark”. Let’s look at it from different sides and analyze what is true and what is blatant deception.

Unfortunately, the tourism market is not perfect, rather it is the one most susceptible to various risks. This is because a large number of participants are involved:

• the travel agency, which consults and sells the tour;
• the manager or support service that accompanies the tourist before and during the tour;
• the tour operator who combines all the components (read, how a tour operator is different from a travel agent);
• the airline is responsible for the flights;
• the receiving party is responsible for the transfers;
• the hotel is responsible for catering and comfort;
• the insurance company for security;
• banks for the timely transfer of funds to the deal participants;
• the excursion company for entertainment and safety.

At each stage there can be both technical glitches and human error. But for the tourist, the travel agent is to blame for everything. Even if they themselves decided, in order to save money, to ride a quad bike. Having purchased a desert excursion outside the hotel from a shady local and breaking their arm – afterwards they are bound to vent all their righteous anger everywhere on the internet.

If everything is clear with the tourists, one must not overlook the competitive side. When a new powerful player appears on the market, quickly attracting a portion of clients for themselves, it stirs up many travel agents, and the first impulse that arises in their minds is to smear them with something black and foul-smelling. They just don’t know how to compete in a civilized manner. Hence the reasons for negative reviews online.

No One Guarantees That the Organization Will Last 15 Years.

Our person always has something to say. And on this trump card, perhaps not even the president of the country can respond. And ask such a question at the pension fund – “What will happen to my pension in 15 years?” They quickly show you the direction in which to search for an answer. Yes, unfortunately, no one guarantees that we will last that long either.

There is No Telephone Support.

Here, there is a peculiarity in the operation of the service’s support. In principle, I agree with them. Support is implemented in your personal account in the help section and works online. Let’s imagine such a situation.

You arrive in the Dominican Republic. And, for example, you are placed in a room class that is different from the one you purchased in the tour. Your actions:

1. Argue with the administrator, if your knowledge of English permits;
2. Call your travel agent;
3. Call the tour operator’s hotline;
4. Run around looking for a hotel guide;
5. Write to the support service.

The first option is classic; it either works out or it doesn’t. Many hotels around the world use this trick, especially in Egypt and Turkey, to charge you an extra $20 – $50. Options 2 and 3 are identical. Considering the cost of roaming and time zone differences, this would be expensive and ineffective. What is left in essence? Exactly, writing to the support service. Wi-Fi is available everywhere – in any airport, if you get lost after duty free and in the lobby of any hotel. What is easier: trying to fight your way through or writing to support, which works around the clock? And if something serious happens? Believe me, they will simply call you back. Yes, they call!

The question arises, so why are there no telephone numbers? The answer is simple – so that people don’t call for trivial matters. When describing your problem, you might even think whether to send a request or not. And you can attach photos of the problem for extra proof.

You Might End Up on the Street Upon Arrival.

Of course you can, even if you are flying with a renowned tour operator with a long unblemished reputation. There is no guarantee that you won’t end up on the street. Many times, even seemingly powerful companies have disappeared along with tourists’ money. And have you heard of tour operators going bankrupt? For that, you need to choose not only through whom to fly, but also with whom to fly. When analyzing the database of tour operators represented in the Advant Travel service, you will not find any unknown tour operators. Although I assume that they might have offered very low prices on tours and all sales could have been built on them, shouting about it on every corner and luring with astronomical discounts.

The reason is simple and correct – reliability. It is easier, in case of suspicions about the financial instability of a tour operator, to disable their offers in the service. And when everything is resolved, to enable them back, rather than losing clients’ money and reputation.

A Verified Travel Agency Gives a 10% Discount.

Yes, it does! The question is – from what price? Let’s understand right away that tourism is a business. Read the announcements of courses for training travel agents:

• Psychological aspects of working with clients when selling tours.
• How to sell an expensive tour.
• How to shift the responsibility to the client.
• and so on…

And if you were sold a tour at twice the price but left as happy as an elephant, thinking that you received a great discount, then they did a wonderful job!

Sometimes, of course, they can indeed sell with a real discount of 3%-5% off the tour operator’s price. And here you can check the tour price from any tour operator without leaving your computer. This information is not hidden. A good discount is the one you can verify, not one that you simply take on faith.

Hidden Bonus

When paying for your tour through a bank, you do not consider that the bank commission is also added to the cost of the tour. The hidden bonus is that the bank commission of 1% of the tour price is paid not by you, but by Advant. So in fact, you always end up ahead.

Prices Change Right Before Your Eyes.

This is not a problem, but an advantage. The tourism market is very dynamic. There is no price regulation here and the automated pricing systems of the operators change prices dynamically based on:

• the number of queries for the hotel and destination;
• the devices you use to access the internet when booking the tour;
• the day of the week and time of day;
• the political stability of the destination country;
• the number of seats on competitors’ flights and many other factors.

And the ability to track price dynamics gives you the chance to catch exactly hot tours at excellent prices.

Price Comparison with Tour Operators.

Let’s check this as well. The simplest and most logical way to be convinced that the tours are indeed from honest operators is to take any tour in the Advant service and compare the prices on the website of the chosen operator. If the prices are the same, then they are not lying; otherwise, they are manipulating the prices themselves.

Let’s choose such a popular destination as Egypt. There are always many package tours to Egypt from different tour operators. Let’s see what the first hotel we come across will offer from Advant Club.

We do not take into account the extra cool “cashback” that is received by the members of the Advant Club. We only consider the retail prices.

It should be understood that Advant Travel works like a huge search engine for package tours. It is like Booking, but for package tours, or like Aviasales for finding airplane tickets. It scans the entire tourism market, searches for all the tour operators’ offers and collects them, grouping by each hotel, departure dates, showing all market offers.

For the sake of experiment clarity, we choose the 5-star hotel Il Mercato, for one departure date, and check the prices from different tour operators.

We received 3 offers from Kompas, 3 from Anex Tour, and 2 from TPG.

Comparing Advant (formerly Advant Travel) and Kompas

Amazingly, we have not only information about the tour, but also full information about the flight:

As we can see, everything is transparent. The prices match exactly.

Comparing Advant (formerly Advant Travel) and Anex Tour

As expected, the prices at Anex Tour and Advant are absolutely identical.

But Anex Tour presented us with an unpleasant surprise. It turns out that for morning and evening flights, you have to pay an extra $25 per person. Here is how it sounds on the Anex Tour website.

Extra Charges for Morning/Evening Flights

Dear colleagues,

Please note when booking that for morning flights (departure time up to 12:00) and/or evening flights (departure time after 15:00), an additional charge may be applied in the amount of

Egypt – $25 net / per person / per segment.

Turkey – $15 net / per person / per segment.

When booking online, after clicking the “Recalculate” button, when selecting a flight, the price is automatically recalculated.

Suppose that we are flying as two people to Hurghada and back on good flights, then for such a flight you would have to pay an extra $100. Moreover, if Advant warns us about it, Anex Tour does not particularly advertise this anywhere.

Comparing Advant (formerly Advant Travel) and TPG

And our final check is with the tour operator TPG.

In all three cases – with Kompas, Anex Tour, and TPG – the prices coincide. As we have verified, everything is transparent and the prices truly match those stated. And the presence of the club program, which I strongly recommend you look into, will allow us to save even more on our travels.

Tour Operator Application Number.

There is another not-so-obvious way to double-check everything. After paying for the tour and having it confirmed by the tour operator, you receive in your orders an application number from the tour operator or an order ID. To avoid hassle and quickly check the application with the main tour operators, a compilation of links has been made to the user’s personal account on the tour operator’s website. Believe me, travel agents, unlike Advant, are reluctant to mention the availability of such an option.

By entering the application number and your passport number on the website of the tour operator with whom you are flying, you will obtain all information about the order:

• the composition of the tour participants;
• passport details, which I recommend double-checking;
• departure times;
• flight numbers;
• the cost of the tour.

And you can verify for yourself:

• the cost of the tour from the tour operator;
• the cost of the tour from Advant Travel;
• and how much money was charged to your card.

In all three cases, the cost should be identical. And try to get the order ID from your travel agent. Haven’t you heard of such a thing? To be honest, I only learned such an option exists after I began exploring the service.

The “Consumer Choice” Award and “Leader of the Year”.

Despite all the negativity present on the internet, the company is proceeding in a civilized manner, putting the customer first. The existence of its own professional 24/7 helpdesk, and the care and attention to every traveler, has brought the expected result. Deserved awards in prestigious nominations “Consumer Choice 2018”, “Consumer Choice 2019”, “Industry Leader 2019”, “Industry Leader 2020” and “Industry Leader 2021” based on growth and financial-economic indicators.

For some reason, I am convinced that these awards are the pride of the company and the subject of wild envy for those who said that Advant Travel is a scam and a rip-off. This conclusively proves the legality and customer orientation of the company.

Why Network Marketing Resembles a Pyramid.

Network Marketing (multilevel marketing, MLM, structural marketing, partnership marketing) is a system for selling goods and services in which every participant is an independent sales agent (distributor). They have the right to sell goods or services and to recruit partners. Distributors receive income according to the marketing plan in the form of commissions, based on the volume of goods and services sold, along with various bonuses that depend on the volume of sales from the partnership network they have built. The essence can be summed up in one phrase.

“I like it, I use it. I recommend it!”

Such a sales form practically reduces advertising and regional office rental costs to zero. So why not share some of the saved funds with the partners in the network? This is how Advant is built – a community of conscious tourists that offers additional bonuses and privileges. And participation in it is entirely voluntary and personal.

Of course, where there is money, there are also scammers. That is why network marketing is often equated with a pyramid. And here you need to understand the main difference between network marketing and a pyramid. In MLM, the basis is an actual product or service that needs to be promoted. The principle behind a financial pyramid is the constant influx of funds from new participants.

If Advant were to disable its partnership program, the company would not disappear. Everything would remain – the service, 140,000 existing clients, awards, and contracts with tour operators – only the funds would be redirected to advertising, and that’s it – it would be a travel agency.

What’s the Bottom Line?

In the end, after the verification, there is no legal ground for criticism. There are peculiarities in the company’s operations, but that is a personal matter of how one runs their business. The fact that Advant (formerly Advant Travel) uses an unusual, non-classical approach to operating a travel agency is simply something you need to get used to. The world is changing, and the tourism market is no exception. Overall, nothing criminal – everything is very convenient, simple, logical, and most importantly, transparent. A reliable, modern company with an impeccable reputation and with honorable awards.

I recommend, at the very least, trying out the Advant Travel service. And get to know the loyalty club program, through which you can, for example, receive an additional “cashback” of 4% to 12% on any tourism services. And with an average tour cost of $2000, saving $80–$240 for the family budget is very pleasant, and all this without travel agency markups. This money can be spent on excursions, entertainment, shopping, or saved for your next trip.

P.S.

Participation in the Advant club allows you to fully purchase tours without markups, utilizing all the capabilities of the service.

Including club benefits:

• a discount on all tourism services;
• partnership program;
• bonuses for recommendations;
• trips at the company’s expense;
• car bonus and other perks.

So join the Advant Club and get the most out of life and travel.

Wishing everyone a great vacation!