Barker Tours and Travel - Los Angeles, California

Lisa S.

We went on the Rose Parade Tour last week and it was wonderful. Our hotel was excellent, our tour guide Sheri was awesome. She is from Pasadena and had so many stories to tell about the parade. You could just see the love she has for Pasadena and the parade! She gave us a great tour of LA, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica. She took excellent care of all her passengers and made us all fell welcome and included. Our bus driver did a marvelous job maneuvering that giant bus in and out of some tight parking spots. It was impressive. The lunch after the parade was amazing. I would definitely do another trip with Barker Tours! Thank you for a wonderful experience!

Bob P.

We were looking for a package deal for the Rose Bowl game and parade. I found Barker Tours by googling packages. Their price looked good for the package so we went with them. Everything went well and they also were willing to modify the package to meet our needs. Anytime I had a question they return my call or email right away. I would definitely use them again!
Bob P. - Muskego WI

Judith B.

We were very satisfied with Barker Tours and Travel. We had wonderful accommodations; the itinerary was perfect. Our bus travel to the float barn, the Rose Bowl Parade, the Rose Bowl and a tour of LA was very enjoyable and so convenient.
Our tour guide, Matt, was exceptional in his knowledge of Pasadena and informing all of us what was the itinerary each day.
I would recommend Barker Tours for a stress-free, most enjoyable 3 days of Rose Bowl activities .

John D.

I used this tour company for the 2019 Rose Bowl Parade, and Football Game. The day we were supposed to go to see a preview of the Parade floats being decorated, we boarded the bus and was halfway there when Marie, our tour guide figured out she left the tickets for us at the hotel, so we had to return. When she returned she still did not have our tickets. She announced over the intercom, that she realized that she had thrown them away. But told us the other tour guide had 14 extras. There were 40 of us on this bus. some minutes later she was passing out tickets that she must have had in her purse. Great we have tickets, but now we are late. So we get there and she tells us all to just go left and follow the people. While we were in line some 20+ of us, she came walking by, telling us we were supposed to come with her to go in as a group. None of this was said on the bus prior. She was disrespectful to all of us, making it as though it was our fault we did not hear her say something that was truly never communicated to the group. That many people can't be wrong. She told us we would never make it in time, to get to the bus leaving time. All the time being very ignorant to us all. I took the initiative to call the owner of the Company Winston Barker and relayed the concerns of the group of us, and about how we had been treated. He apologized and gave the normal pleasantries one would give in this circumstance. We returned to the bus and were waiting to leave, Marie thought there were still people missing and was waiting outside the bus. As a group we were sure everyone was back so I went to tell her this. She looked at my name tag, and said to me, "oh you are John D..., maybe you should ride on the other bus since you called my boss and complained about me." This was unprofessional for her to even suggest such a thing. But what I find most disturbing is that Winston Barker felt it was appropriate to give my name out directly. At that point I contacted him via email to tell him that this had happened, and again same pleasantries...what business owner singles out a customer like that. I came to find out later at the hotel that Marie had been telling everyone of my complaint as well as my name.

Beyond all that, the hotel was great, and the bus driver was great. But after looking at the other tour companies at the same hotel, Barker Tours had no organization or structure to their tour. Al Brooks Company really looked as they had it goin on.

I saw Winston Barker at the Football Game, where he had the opportunity to search me out to discuss this situation, sadly he did not.

I would not suggest this company at all.

Pam R.

The seats at the Parade were wonderful, well worth the price of admission! The Parade and decorating site was the main reason for our trip anyway. Our guide Sheri was a native with some fun Pasadena insight. However, I felt this may have been her 1st time on this specific tour. There were a number of situations about which she had not been informed, i.e. the float decorating site, the bus location in Hollywood, or the food/drink items allowed at parade.
The Farmer's Market was a disaster! We had no idea where to eat, sit or shop. We weren't terribly interested in the "LA/Hollywood" sites, but understand that it was a multi-interest tour. The non-functional toilet on our bus was unfortunate.
All in all, it was an enjoyable experience and a wonderful way to celebrate our 40th!

Megan M.

This was a bucket list, once in a lifetime trip for me- and it was largely ruined by the awful tour company!

When they arrived they were very disorganized. Once on the bus to head to the parade float viewing, we were about half way there when she realized she didn’t have our tickets. The bus had to return to the hotel for her to find the tickets. At the hotel, she couldn’t find them either, and we headed back out without them. Eventually the tickets were found in her belongings.

Obviously we were late for our time to view the floats because of this. She didn’t seem to know exactly where we needed to be, and wondered around a bit before leading us to the front of the line once we got there, and then proceeded to get into an argument with both another tour guide from a different company as well as the Rose Parade staff, which was very unprofessional. Eventually we did get in to see the floats (they were amazing!). Our scheduled departure time was adjusted to allow us time to see the floats which was great. Upon arrival back to the bus after the floats, it was realized that about half our group had been left behind and they ended up having to wait in a long line to see the floats. It was obvious she had had no clue how many were in our group, if everyone had followed her to the front of the line, or if everyone got in ok (she didn’t go in to see the floats with us either- we were on our own).

The next part of the day was the city tour, but we had to return to the hotel to pick up people first, and so we were very late for that as well. Very unimpressed with this part of the tour.

New Year’s Day we left for the Parade on time according to the paperwork we received in our packets (5-ish). We had to stop to pick up our lunches from another hotel (why?) then headed to the parade. We got stuck in horrific traffic. Our bus driver said he’s been doing this for about 10 years, and most tour groups leave for the parade much earlier. He made the decision to try an alternate route as we weren’t going anywhere and it was after 7am (the parade started at 8am). Had he not done this, we would have missed the entire parade. As it was, we still had to run, and made it just in time to see the start of the parade. Again, our guide did not go with us- we had to figure out on our own how to get from the bus to our parade seats. Some of our group didn’t make it to the beginning of the parade as they couldn’t run (mobility issues). (Tour company trying to blame the bus driver for being late- saying they took the wrong route, which is untrue- the route the company wanted to use doesn’t allow buses like the one we were in).

So, basically what I’m saying is that my experience with Barker Tours was terrible. I would never recommend them or use them again. They were incredibly unorganized and weren’t proactive about fixing any problems, nor did they want to accept responsibility for their problems (trying to blame the bus driver for us being late, etc). For the amount of money we paid, everyone on the tour was very dissatisfied with the level of service received. To be crystal clear- the hotel was great, seeing the floats, the parade, and the game was great, the food was very good (only 1 breakfast & 1 lunch were provided). The negative experience comes directly from Barker Tours and their tour guides.

After contact with the company regarding this awful experience, they still refuse to accept any responsibility & are not offering even a partial refund!

I also found out there was another tour company in our hotel, with the exact same package. They charged the same price as Barker Tours, but were much more organized- their customers had a much better experience!

Pam R.

Really enjoyed the start to finish part of the tour... pickup at the airport (although that part took way too long), hotel was great with a great location, Rose Parade and Rose Bowl game were great and then dropoff at the train station went smoothly. Wasn’t crazy about the “behind the scenes” tour of the floats since it was very disappointing to see so few floats. Hollywood and Beverly Hills tour was not good. Seemed like a waste of time since we didn’t see much but Graumann’s Chinese Theater and Farmers Market.

Kathleen M.

The Rose Bowl trip was fantastic. Barker Tours had everything very organized and well communicated. They went above and beyond trying to accommodate my dietary restrictions, which I greatly appreciated. I would highly recommend Barker Tours.