CA
I lost trust in Cedarberg before the trip even started
I am a Luxury Travel Advisor in Canada and personally spend 90 days in S Africa every year. I have traveled to 100+ countries and l just love S Africa and all it has to offer. I worked with Cedarberg to arrange a trip for 3 couples, Golf, Kruger, Cape town and the Garden Route. I found the agent I worked with to be very difficult and lost trust during the planning stages. My clients are very important so I was very concerned with the supplier that I selected for their trip. In general their trip was good however there was a big lack of communication, overcharges and hotel downgrades which was never communicated to me until I met with my clients on the last week of their trip. My clients finished their trip and it took me 2 months to finally have Cedarberg refund the clients for the hotel downgrades which was over $600. In 20+ year of selling luxury travel I have never had such a difficult time with a supplier.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Bad business practices and deceptive contracts
Do not let the Travelers Choice award fool you. We learned the hard way that Spirit of Kenya’s business practices are deceptive and predatory.
When we needed to cancel our $27,726 group booking they immediately began stalling, shifting their position with every email, and hiding behind hotel partners to avoid their obligations. They fabricated holiday closures to delay responses. They tried to reframe their own contract language to suit their position. And when all else failed they invented a cancellation fee calculation methodology that does not exist anywhere in the signed contract.
When we pushed back they went silent.
We have been forced to file credit card chargebacks, federal complaints with U.S. government agencies, and engage legal counsel just to recover our own money.
This is not a company that stands behind its customers. Their contract is written entirely in their favor with loopholes designed to trap you. Read every single word before you sign — or better yet, find a safari operator who actually values their customers.
I recommend you book elsewhere. You have been warned.