ARYYVE Vacations Shuts Down Abruptly, Leaving Advisors and Clients Reeling

06.08.2024 - 19:19 / travelpulse.com / Laurie Baratti

This week, wholesale tour operator platform ARYYVE Vacations announced that it was going out of business and shutting down operations as of August 2, due to “deterioration of our financial standing”, as the company said in an email.  

ARYYVE did say that it would “ensure all future air reservations from today onward remain secure and unaffected”. However, travel advisors and other industry providers who have worked with the company will need to find alternative booking solutions for all land-related arrangements, including hotels, transfers, trains and tours from August 5. 

“We advise all our esteemed customers to swiftly seek out alternative arrangements with other reputable carriers for their upcoming travel needs,” ARYYVE wrote in its announcement. 

Tammy Levent, who runs TASK Consulting Inc., told us that more than 50 agencies she is affiliated with have been impacted by ARYYVE’s abrupt shutdown in some way. Levent is also President at Elite Travel Group, which she said has been directly affected by this unforeseen development. 

“Some of our clients are traveling to the destination, and some do not have any reservations; they have been canceled,” Levent told TravelPulse in an email Sunday. “I asked my clients to call their credit card companies and dispute the charges.” She said that, aside from a brief phone conversation on Friday with Randy Alleyne, president and founder of ARYYVE, attempts at communication with the company have been fruitless.

“For bookings past this weekend, we rebooked with other tour operators, asked our clients to dispute the ARYYVE charges, and rebooked with new vendors. However, we have found that most, if not all, the rates are much higher, and we will absorb the costs, not our clients,” she said. 

It seems as if advisors and their clients are being left high and dry when it comes to following through with land-related travel arrangements made through ARYYVE. “We also have group bookings for the hotels that show no availability, which is a huge issue,” Levent said. “TASK agents have also been affected by their clients, and most are out thousands in commissions.” 

She said that her agency has reached out to ASTA, and been in communication with Zane Kirby and Peter Lobasso. When she had previously asked ARYYVE if there were USTOA, the company replied in the affirmative. “We would have been protected under that…maybe. Not sure how we find out who is listed and not with them,” she shared.

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