How can I find out if this tour company is legit?

[raccoon]

This is the tour I'm interested in:

http://www.beatletour.com/

However, I found an article on smartertravel.com that said a tour company should be a member of United States Tour Operators Association, National Tour Association, or American Society of Travel Agents.

I didn't find anything about this company in any of those organizations. Nor did I find it in Greensboro, NC Chamber of Commerce.

I just found it today, and I haven't committed any money....and now, I would be scared to unless there's some way I can verify that they are legit.

Well, they exist--I found them listed at BBB.org for Greensboro. They aren't BBB accredited. On edit: I did find it in Greensboro, NC Chamber of Commerce. I had to do some looking around before I found out the name was Pilgrimage, LTD.

BBB site says: "Businesses are under no obligation to seek BBB accreditation, and some businesses are not accredited because they have not sought BBB accreditation."

[KittyWampus]

1. Great questions and I hope some DU'ers can shed some light on crediting tours.

I was daydreaming of saving up some money for a tour of Ireland.

[edhopper]

2. look for comments on

TripAdvisor.

If you can't find any forums where people commented, I would stay away.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Hard to tell. Looks cheesy and is also VERY expensive. You can book this stuff yourself.

Check out their FB page. Not many comments. https://www.facebook.com/pg/BeatleTour/reviews/

[MineralMan]

4. I'd be a little skeptical. However,

You can set up your own Beatles tour with a well-established tour company in Liverpool, and just arrange your own transportation and lodging through an airline that includes hotel bookings. Here's a website for such a company in Liverpool. You might save a bundle.

http://www.beatles-tours.com/index.html

The site you linked to has a facebook page, too, but very few actual reviews from people who have taken the tour. Their graphics capabilities on their website are pretty awful, as well. I wouldn't book such a trip without a long conversation with the tour operator.

Anyhow, you have other options you can follow that might be as good or better, and you could combine some other interesting activities on your own.

[raccoon]

5. Thank you, everybody, for your input and suggestions! nt

[Daemonaquila]

6. I'd avoid it.

Look, I'm anti-tour to begin with. You can have more fun going the same places on your own without the extra charges, cheesy promos, rushed schedule, and so on. But the tipping point here is the cheesy work and no customer feedback. A good tour company should have rave reviews... or at least some significant feedback. If people had a good time, they should be sharing memories and photos and recommendations.

There are a ton of semi-legit tour operators out there, with lots of ways to part a sucker and his money. Lots of small print, non-refundable costs, sudden cancellations, and so on. Before you sign, look for others that do have lots of happy people talking about them, and then ask yourself if there's any reason you need someone to take you on that your rather than DIY.

[rufus dog]

7. I second this

Take Mineral Man's approach above.

My wife had to use a tour company for our trip to Ireland. Yes everything is all planned, which is good and bad. They come up with a schedule to fill a day, some things are worth the time, some are not. Issue is that you are stuck sitting around for things that are not worth the time because you are stuck with the schedule. In our case we rented a car for two days in the middle of the tour. Driving was hard for about 5 minutes until you realize, just follow the flow!

In the London/Liverpool area you should have plenty of Public and other options to get around.