Olivel Travels and Sarath Kumar are frauds. We had a horrible experience booking a Maldives package with them in March 2024. We regret having chosen Olivel and trusting them. Worst experience ever. They have no responsibility or morals.
We had booked an inclusive package in Oblu Ailafushi Maldives for 5 nights. Full payment was paid to Olivel Travels 1 month before our travel date as committed.
When we reached Male airport the resort staff informed us that they cannot allow us to board the speedboat and check into the hotel as the Travel Agent has not paid the money to the resort. We called Sarath Kumar and informed. He said he will check. We waited for 4 hours at the airport with kids. No resolution. Finally Sarath Kumar says there is some delay in payment and we should pay the resort and check in. Imagine arriving in a foreign country and then you understand that Travel Agent has defaulted on payment!
We had no choice. We told the resort that we will pay, we were travelling with kids and there was nothing else we could do. Since we were paying the resort directly they charged us 1.5 times. So we ended up paying full to Olivel and again had to pay 1.5 times to the resort.
Resort was kind enough to say they will refund our money if Agent's money reached them. We stayed for 5 nights 6 days, but Olivel did not pay the resort. In fact even after we have now reached Mumbai, Olivel has still not made the payment to the resort.
Sarath Kumar promised us that he will ensure payment reaches the resort on Day 1 end of the day.
- On Day 1 EOD, he finds an excuse saying he cannot reach his partner because it's a weekend.
- Again on Day 3, he says it's a public holiday so he cannot reach his partner.
- On Day 4, he says payment has been made but when we checked with the resort they said no payment was done.
- On Day 5, he says he will reimburse the money we paid the Resort to our bank account. But he didn't transfer money as promised.
- On Day 6, he then says he cannot transfer the money but has to wait for the money he paid to Partner to reach him.
Every day he comes up with some excuse or the other. We have still not received our reimbursement. We have ended up spending more than twice the amount of money from our own pocket
Our trip was spoiled because of Sarath Kumar. We will be filing a Police complaint against him. He has no morals. Any other Travel Agent would have immediately compensated the customer but Olivel Travels has till date even after the trip is over and 20 days have gone by, he has not reimbursed us. Forget paying the resort, they are not even reimbursing us.
Don't trust this Agency. They are not professionals. They don't know anything about customer service. No morals as well. Your trip can get spoiled just like ours did. Don't make the same mistake we made.
