How we vet tour agencies

The four checks every agency passes

1. 1. Legal operating status

   We confirm the agency is a registered company in its home country. For countries that require a tour-operator licence (Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Albania, Bulgaria), we verify the licence number against the national tourism authority. Operators that can\'t produce a valid licence don\'t get the Verified badge.

2. 2. Working contact channel

   We send a verification email and a follow-up message to the phone number listed. Both must respond within 5 business days from a real human, not an auto-responder. Agencies that don\'t respond at this stage will not respond when a traveller has a problem.

3. 3. Business address

   A registered office address (not just a P.O. box) is required. We cross-check it against the company registry where available.

4. 4. Tour content review

   Each listing is read for accuracy: prices that match what the agency would charge directly, photos that the agency owns, and itinerary descriptions that match what they actually deliver. Listings flagged as misleading don\'t get published.

Ongoing monitoring

Verification is not one-and-done. Each agency profile is re-reviewed annually and any time we receive a credible traveller complaint. Patterns of unanswered enquiries, refund disputes, or quality drops trigger an investigation; confirmed bad actors are de-listed within 48 hours and barred from re-registering with the same business identity.

Reviews on FindToursIn come only from verified post-tour travellers. We do not import reviews from other platforms or accept agency-supplied reviews. Tours without verified reviews show no rating rather than an artificial one — we do not round up to manufacture social proof.

What FindToursIn does NOT do

Being clear about our role is part of being trustworthy. We:

• Do not run any tours ourselves. Every listing is operated by an independent local agency, not by FindToursIn.
• Do not process bookings or payments. Travellers contact agencies directly; the booking contract and money transfer are entirely between traveller and agency.
• Do not take commission on bookings. Agencies pay a flat subscription to be listed; the price you see is what the agency receives.
• Do not act as the refund authority. Refunds follow the agency\'s published cancellation policy and are between you and the agency.

If something goes wrong

First step: contact the agency directly using the email and phone on the tour page. They own the booking and have the authority to issue refunds or rebook. Most issues resolve at this stage.

If the agency goes silent or refuses a clearly-justified refund: file a credit-card chargeback if you paid by card (most countries allow 60–120 days), then email info@findtoursin.com with the booking details. We investigate every credible complaint and have authority to de-list any agency we cannot verify is still operating in good faith.

For serious issues (consumer fraud, safety problems), file a complaint with the country\'s national tourism authority — they have legal authority FindToursIn doesn\'t. We can provide the agency\'s licence number on request.

Recommended traveller precautions

• Read the cancellation policy in writing before paying. Save the email confirmation.
• Pay by credit card whenever possible — credit cards offer chargeback protection that bank transfers don\'t.
• For tours over €500 or any with a flight component, buy travel insurance.
• If something feels off (vague pricing, "free guide" approaches, pressure to wire money), trust the instinct and find a different operator.

Our booking-tours-safely guide covers this in more depth, including the four most common tour scams and how to recognise them.