The Wayfairer team training in our UK office
Wayfairer Travel
- Offices In:
-
United Kingdom
United States
- Size:
- 20-50 employees (Founded in 2012)
- Member Of:
- ATTA, ATOL & ABTOT
- Tour Types:
- Custom luxury tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $1,007 to $2,551 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
US
Email Mikael | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Bait and switch
We are 3 weeks into a trip with Wayfairer. So far they have greatly disappointed us. We requested, had confirmed and paid for 5 star lodgings. The average price we paid is $3,500 per day. They have put us in primarily $200-300 a night hotels.
We have multiple times asked them to correct hotels. They have corrected 2 hotels after we pointed out the big discrepancy. They have done nothing proactively.
Today we are checking into a $200 a night hotel by the airport. We are staying over night in Johannesburg for no reason. Their lack of planning has us here needlessly. We are taking a shuttle to a distant hotel when there is a hotel at the airport.
I am with my pregnant wife and our two children. I could not even have imagined such a bad experience for our family.
We feel ripped off. They claim to be a luxury travel company and they demand full payment up front. Then they book you in cheap hotels.
We believe that we have been scammed. Be warned.
US
Email Diane | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very helpful before, during and after our tour. Excellent choices of where to go and the lodges.
The people with the agency were all helpful and kept us informed and were able to answer any and all questions. I feel it was a good value for the money. We saw so many different animals we got to see all of the big five except for rhinoceros because due to poaching there isn’t any except for a few that are being protected. There’s also many beautiful birds to be seen. I especially enjoyed the baby elephants, we saw one that our guide said probably wasn’t more than a week old. The whole experience was wonderful.
CA
Email Venky | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wayfairer just delivered the best experience of our lives!
My wife and I were planning our long overdue honeymoon (yes - we got married during COVID)! We were directed to Aggie (Wayfairer) by my sister and what an amazing trip she pulled through for us. We went through 8 amazing itineraries before we landed on the perfect one for us! We spent 6 days of our Kenya trip through Wayfairer and planned the rest ourselves. Aggie and Chanelle were kind enough to even suggest some other great spots while we planned the rest of the trip.
What an absolutely amazing time we had in Kenya. It was genuinely the best 2 weeks of our lives! All the travel, accomodations, weather - better than anything we could have ever imagined. While Masai Mara (Ilkeliani) was just exceptional, it was Ol Pejeta and Andy's cottages that stole our hearts! The wildlife was great all-around and awed us throughout, but the level of service and attention we received at the Safari Cottages in Ol Pejeta was just so heartwarming! Every single thing - from our arrival, to having hot water bags in our beds and safari vehicles, the quality of food, but most importantly the staff - Hezzy (our guide), John, Peter, Victoria and Jairus were so special - it felt like home! I've been raving to everyone I've met since the trip to definitely visit Ol Pejeta once in their life - specifically Andy's cottage! Our only big regret - we forgot to take a group picture with everyone at the cottage!
Everything at Masai Mara was great too - however, just a tad bit more commercial. The camp was really nice, the tents were extremely nice and the staff were great! Only minor complaint would be about the game drives in Masai Mara - and the reliance on radios to spot wildlife. We loved our experience with Hezzy at Ol Pejeta - no radios, just pure instinct and knowledge!
I'm so glad we decided to go with Wayfairer. At first glance - the cost of the trip threw us off, but you undertand truly why that is only once you're on the trip! Everything from our pickup (in a Landover), to check-in at the airport (where someone dropped our bags off and got our boarding passes while we were sipping on some coffee), personal butlers, personal chef, personal safari vehicle, top of the line accomodation - everything was just so nicely thought through! Chanelle and Aggie provided all the necessary information in advance and when my visa didn't come through in time - they even tried to use their contacts on the ground to help expedite it!
Our experience with Aggie and Chanelle tought us how a true luxury holiday should be planned. While Kenya was a once in a life time kinda trip - we're surely going to be doing more trips through Wayfairer!
US
Email Alan | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Kenya Safari
We had an excellent 2 week safari to Kenya arranged by Wayfairer travel. Connections and transfers were seamless and easy. Accomodations and dining were superb. All our guides were first rate. A very pleasant and enjoyable and stress-free experience.
CA
Email Fahad | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wayfair travel made our dreams come true.
We reached out to numerous travel agencies to book our safari honeymoon adventure. We ultimately settled on Wayfair. Right from the get go they were very attentive to the experiences we were looking for and able to create a custom travel plan which suited our needs. They were also able to provide excellent recommendations which made our trip that much better. The package was also very competitively priced. Lastly, they were very responsive to any questions even after we booked our trip. First class experience from start to finish.
Email Nigel Hussain | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Remarkable Trip to Botswana and Zambia
Incredible and well-organised experience that was perfectly arranged by Toon and Josh at Wayfairer. Josh created the initial itinerary that was based off of my initial ideas/budget and Toon dealt with any other requirements or requests after the itinerary was created. This was a 2 week trip through Botswana and Zambia with multiple transfers and the professionalism, patience, communication and availability was both exceptional and reassuring. Looking forward to my next trip with Wayfairer!
US
Email Camila | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent pre-trip planning and support; room for improvement during trip - solved at the end
I planned two safari trips with Wayfairer this year. The first, in Kenya in March, went without a hitch. Planning was courteous and responsive and local partners were spot on for what we were looking for. Memorable staff, beautiful lodge, and astounding animal sightings. Logistics went smoothly.
Trip two comes along in June for a longer, two week adventure spanning Rwanda, Uganda an Tanzania. Things in Rwanda and Uganda did not go well. Local partner was unprofessional. Sent a guide that did not speak English, had next to zero professionalism or knowledge and did not know the way to hotel. This would have all been OK had we received a prompt response and solution from Wayfairer. Our emails went unanswered and private messages followed the same route. Eventually, I reached out to the local tour operator hired out by Wayfairer and it happened to be the case that Wayfairer had not even communicated the situation to the local travel partner. They were appalled and immediately sent another driver. This was a world away: professional, courteous, knowledgeable. As we tried to figure out what had happened, this is what we were able to discern: Wayfairer subcontracts to a reputable local partner for Uganda and Rwanda; lets call them "A". Said local partner then subcontracted the hotel for our driver/guide. The hotel then went on a third round of subcontracting and hired a small, new, non-reputable Rwandan agency to deliver the service. Agency "A" did not know the hotel had further subcontracted. Needless to say, neither did Wayfairer.
We completely understand that hiring local partners is normal and part of the way travel works nowadays. What is problematic is that in this case communication channels were not established, we got no response from Wayfairer which were the only ones with which we had communicated, and there was no accountability for what took place while we were there.
Once we left Rwanda and got plugged into their Tanzania partner, the trip was everything it should have been from day 1: engaging, professional, surrounded by experts during the game drives and caring staff at lodges.
Wayfairer did eventually react, apologize and issue a refund for the transportation costs of the Uganda leg of the trip.
All in all, I think it is a well put together agency with its values in the right place. It just needs to smooth out and address the growing pains of receiving more bookings and keeping track of their clients all the time, regardless of who they have subcontracted out to.
US
Email Yvonne | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
They did it all - and then some!!
I started looking at luxury safari options when I came across Wayfairer's vacation trip. It sounded wonderful. I just had to see Victoria Falls, so Rhian modified the itinerary to include that at the beginning. Then our companion traveler wanted to go to Cape Town and dive with the Great Whites, so Rhian added that at the end, along with a visit to Cape Point and to see the South African penguins (so cute!!). I also found a safari at a Game Reserve next to Kruger National Park. I loved the information about the company, the conservation efforts, the community support, and the great reviews from former travelers. So Rhian had to figure out how to add that to our trip as well. I wish we could have just extended out visit for at least another week, but our companion traveler was restricted to two weeks of vacation, so we just spent less time at each camp/lodge. It was perfect!!
As time got closer, Dahlia picked up our trip and helped us navigate all the last minute details, visas, and transportation information.
The day comes for us to leave, and Newark airport just totally messed with our plans. Our plane into Newark was delayed because of, well Newark always has an excuse, but we would have missed our plane going to Johannesburg by four hours. We started calling the company that booked our international flights to see if we could get to Africa the following day. Unfortunately, our airline didn't have another option until two full days later! There goes Victoria Falls!! They finally found an option that took us to Frankfurt, Germany, with a 12 hour layover, then on to Johannesburg, arriving in time to quickly get on a flight to Victoria Falls and salvage most of the things we would have missed there - just one day late.
Dahlia was able to get the team from Singapore working on changing hotel arrangements, flights to Victoria Falls, transportation to our hotel, rebooked our helicopter tour, and the transportation associated with that, and voila! We're back on schedule! That was an absolute miracle!! The remainder of the trip went as planned, I recovered from two consecutive overnight flights, and my stress level went back to normal.
The locations that Rhian selected for our lodging were exceptional (we did find that one, a true "tent camp" was a bit more rustic than we could easily navigate - no paved walkways meant walking to the main building was precarious for senior travels and we suggested that older travelers should be warned and decide if they are up for the challenge). The Ilala Hotel in Victoria Falls is beautiful, and the closest lodging to the falls so you could see the spray in the air from the decks. Chobe Game Lodge has everything you could want, and their safari guides are an all woman team that has earned Botswana's certification for safari guides. Great safari drives, wonderful information, and the fantastic team of staff! My absolute favorite lodge was Dulini River Lodge at Sabi Sands in South Africa. It is a private reserve, which allows them to follow tracks into the bush to locate the animals. It is located adjacent to Kruger National Park, with no fencing to separate the animals, so animal activity abounds! Every drive meant seeing all the animals every time. They have a five star chef that caters to your dietary restrictions or just your whims, your butler makes sure your favorite beverage is always available - at lunch, dinner, in your mini refridgerator, and the cooler for the sunset cocktails in the bush. The staff is so helpful and attentive to detail. We had a traveler that needed wheelchair assistance back and forth to the room, since it was a bit hilly and farther than was reasonable early in the morning and late at night - one of the staff (Jambo) was always there to help us out. He was so concerned for our safety and comfort. Our tracker, Tyron, was a super sleuth at finding those animals, and our guide, Wayne, was like an encyclopedia about the animals, the environment, and the activities that help protect it all. We never doubted him when a bull elephant walked right up to the side of the vehicle to check us out. Wayne said, "Trust me," and we did. What an experience!!
So Wayfairer (Rhian) planned the perfect trip, with the best accomodations and safari locations, while Dahlia kept us on track and frequently reached out to make sure everything was still going well.
The travel package is not inexpensive, but the trip was so much more than we could have wished for. It was worth it all and more!
Pretty flawless organisation of our trip. Fantastic knowledge and learning experience of wildlife
Wayfairer did a thorough job in meeting our objectives for the trip. Good planning and comms throughout with knowledgeable team members. No hiccups in the execution with all the transfers lined up properly. They use a good operator on the ground in Botswana. One improvement would be a strong recommendation to guests to bring enough cash for tips for the game lodge staff which is expected. This may have been embedded somewhere but it was not obvious enough.
FR
Email Evelyne | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
The team organised a memorable experience for us and supported us with every step of the process.
The team has been fabulous at suggesting a great itinerary for our family, booking exceptional accomodation solutions and friendly and efficient internal transport. They were also very responsive when we experienced visa issues and offered solutions and support. The trip was an amazing experience!