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Testimonials

Please have a look at a little of the feedback we have received from clients over the years...

Here at South America we firmly believe in the feedback of our clients, be it good or bad, as it really is the key to us moving forwards and improving our service and the overall experience. With the price of hotels and flights only on the increase we feel it is important to know where we have gotten things right and where wrong. In the below, please see what our clients are saying about us and judge for yourself. (please note that ALL of the reviews we feature are 100% real and unedited. If you would like to speak to any of our past clients please let us know).

Furthermore, we have started to gather customer reviews through Trustpilot so please take a look at our page on there to see how we are doing. Trustpilot Reviews >>

Hi Holly,

As you know, booking travel with a company on the internet, with which I had no prior experience, and no personal referrals, was a little stressful for me. I've got to say that you and South America Specialists came through with everything as promised. The local tour companies were friendly, informed, and professional. The door-to-door pick ups and delivery were smooth and stress-free. The hotels in Santiago, Iquique, and San Pedro were great. Especially the Terrantai in San Pedro - a real 4-star experience. The Pan America hotel in Arica was well located on the beach and an easy walk into town. The facility itself is somewhat "tired" and not quite up to the standard of the other stays you arranged.

During our stay in San Pedro we were able to identify a local guide who spent three days with us - taking us to remote rock art sites which were only accessible through neighboring local indigenous communities. This is exactly the experience we were looking for. For example, we spent an 8 hour day exploring and photographing the Hierbas Buenas petroglyph site at Rio Grande outside of San Pedro - we witnessed the local tour companies coming and going from there, each spending 20-30 minutes before departing to the next place on their agenda..........

The guides you had arranged from afar, were more geared to want to take us along the normal tourist pathway and some "got it" that we had a slightly different agenda in mind and were able to accommodate us. In all, we were pleased with the time spent visiting geoglyph and rock art sites. We want to go back again in the future.

All the best,
Leigh

Leigh and Amy
January 1, 2016

Hi Holly

We had a great time in Argentina – saw amazing things so it really was wonderful. I think we probably did too much in two weeks but we did want to go to all of those places so there you go!

In terms of feedback, I would like to acknowledge that the service from you guys was excellent – you are very efficient, responsive and helpful. Thank you so much. Likewise, the travel agency on the ground was great – always picking us up early from the airport or hotel, helpful with the baggage. We loved the tour in Iguazu – it wasn’t clear exactly what we had paid for in advance (boat trip or no boat trip), so I would suggest that is made clearer for future customers. We paid extra for the boat trip onsite and it was definitely worth it.

In terms of the hotels… they were fine. I don’t know the breakdown of the rates etc., but my general feeling was that the overall cost was expensive for the quality of the hotels. They were all comfortable and clean, and the staff at all were incredibly helpful and efficient, but the cost seemed high for what we got. Some thoughts on each that might help you and your future customers:

- Mine hotel – very helpful staff, they were knowledgeable, spoke perfect English, made you feel very welcome. Lovely breakfast. Excellently located. The rooms are quite small, and I did ask to switch after one night as the walls in between each room are not sound proof, I could hear the conversation of the people in the room next door as well as their toilet habits!
- Iguazu lodge hotel – room was nice, large. Again very helpful staff. Common parts of the hotel were quite shabby. Food during the day was terrible, but lovely in the evening. Well located for the falls
- Parador del Angel – very simple and clean. On the basic side, which was ok for us, but might not be for others. Would really recommend a wine touring company called Ampora – they were absolutely fantastic, hugely knowledgeable. We had two amazing days touring vineyards with them
- Penninsula hotel – the most amazing breakfast, incredibly friendly and helpful staff, food in the restaurant in the evening very good. Beautifully appointed and located hotel (car definitely required), but the rooms did feel dated and I think require a bit of a refresh. Would definitely recommend that people upgrade rooms here as I think they had seating areas in the more expensive bedrooms which would have been much appreciated and would allow people to take further advantage of the view (rather than just staring out by sitting on the bed!).

Just some thoughts that might be helpful when you’re designing trips in the future.

Thanks again for all of your assistance, overall it was great! And thank you for booking Francis Mallman in Mendoza – that was wonderful.

Best wishes
Laura

Laura and Tom
December 24, 2015

Hi Holly,

We are home and all rested after the trip! We had an absolutely amazing time and everything went incredibly smoothly. We are very grateful for your help and certainly acknowledge the benefit of your expertise in planning. We loved every hotel. Hotel Clasico in BA was very accommodating, cute, clean, and their breakfast restaurant was one of our favorites. We loved the location of the hotel with easy access to shops, cafes, restaurants. La Cantera was also great. We loved the lake view and the helpful staff. The big ice trek was an amazing experience. Nibepo Aike was absolutely wonderful and our favorite day of the whole trip! We are so glad you suggested for us to visit the estancia. Of course Cavas was amazing; impeccable service, beautiful property, and very relaxing activities. All of our car transfers and flights were perfectly smooth. Overall it was a fantastic trip and with all of the possible difficulties in travel/flights/language barrier we are thrilled how seamless it went. Thank you for your help and advice, we will highly recommend your service.

Sincerely,
Mike and Gina

Gina and Mike
November 30, 2015
Sharon and Fred
November 17, 2015

Hi Holly
Just for your records the weekend was superb.
Highly recommend Puerto Valle Lodge to others.
If you want any more feedback let me know.

Regards
Camille Cooke

Camille, Kevin and Olivia
November 9, 2015

Hi Holly

We had a great trip and thanks for all the organising, it all went very smoothly!

Tierra Atacama was great. The Puna experience was amazing scenery, it is quite a rugged trip and by necessity there is a lot of travelling in 4 wheel drives. The scenery is amazing and the company charming, thoroughly recommended.

Finca Valentina is a beautiful haven of tranquility, both before and after a puna trip.

The museum in Salta and the central square are well worth a visit.

Dos Lunas was also excellent, staff food accommodation and tranquility - all top of the game.

La Faena was great. as usual the tango show was good and the hotel bar really lively.

All round an excellent trip in all aspects.

I will be going back to travel south and will be very pleased to do buisness with you again.

Thanks Angus

Angus and Alexia
October 17, 2015

Hi Holly,

"Our experience with the South America Specialists exceeded our expectations. All of our transfers were on time and where we were promised they would be. The hotels we stayed at were amazing! Our hotels were very friendly, accommodating, and stylish. We didn't have much time to plan our honeymoon beforehand, so we left it up to the South America Specialists, who did not disappoint. It was nice to know that everything had been planned ahead of time. All of the tours were exceptional, and we would definitely recommend the South America Specialists to anyone who asked! We look forward to using them on our vacations in the future."

Best,
Stefanie and Souad

Stefanie and Souad
October 17, 2015

Holly thanks for your email.

We had a fab trip and it went seamlessly. The hotels (bar one) were very good and the tours excellent. The top hotels were La Petit Peninsula and the Mine Hotel. The low point was El Refugio de Coquena….room was ok but the owner very strange and the breakfast very poor.

The tour guides were very helpful and the people in general went out of their way to help us. Our luggage went missing in Salta and the guy who did the transfer went out of his way to help us.

All in all we had a really great time and thanks for all your assistance.

Regards

Nicola and Pat

Nicola and Patrick
October 10, 2015

Our thanks to the South America Specialists for helping plan the holiday of a lifetime; from planning the incredible itinerary to arriving safely home, despite the unexpected obstacles along the way. Lost luggage, a diverted flight, an airport strike and an earthquake were no match for the team as they took care of everything and ensured we had a fantastic and relaxing time every step of the way.

Bests,

Meg

Meghan and Campbell
September 30, 2015

Hi Nick,

Just wanted to let you know we had a great holiday! And great pictures/movies.

Some highlights:
- hotel location Buenos Aires of Park Hyatt very good, and swimming pool very nice.
- Estancia in Valdes Peninsula friendly people. They made a cake for Luc's birthday. Nature is breath taking. Highly recommended!
- in Territorio hotel, when we can back from Palacido champagne and cakes were at the room.
- in Los Sauces, El Calafate, we stayed in La Casona, so not the Corner Room. Very luxurious. Service also very good, e.g. we had fresh breakfast-to-go on every early day tour. Great tours.
- in Córdoba I forgot my camera in the taxi when paying. Tourist information office and tourist Police (English speaking) helped a lot, and despite the fact we did not have the number of the cab, I got my camera back!!! Otherwise I would have lost all movies made in Peninsula Valdes....
- Cavas in Mendoza offers private tours which, compared to other tours I looked at, were very cost friendly (10-100 dollars) next to the fact it's convenient. Service of the hotel is excellent!
- Iguaza, followed your recommendation and booked private tour offered by the hotel. The bar in the hotel has excellent food if you don't want to dine after heavy lunch in Mendoza.
- the Rio tour guide was very good: he arranged my ticket of Christ Redeemer for my photo book and lunch location was top! Very knowledgeable and relaxed.
All transfers were perfect, and the tour operator in El Calafate even printed our boarding passes. That's what I call service.

Some suggestions/minor remarks:
- unfortunate room was not ready in Buenos Aires, but we spend our time well visiting the Cemetery (early open) and went back after our lunch in the Japanse Garden. Both worth visiting.
- it's an early and bit long trip to Peninsula Valdes, especially when you miss the direction to the Estancia. But unavoidable, anyway I was quite happy that we arrived at full daylight. Other guests arriving late also missed the sign and arrived in dark.
- Palacido in Puerto Madryn, okay, but not too special, I would go for the other restaurant you recommended. They told us they ordered a taxi, but taxi did not arrive? So we walked back to the hotel. Hotel is nice, but a bit far for from city center.
- Iguazu, one additional night would have been attractive. Now we only had one day and due to the annual marathon that ends in the Park it was very crowded and we had traffic jams when we went to visit the Argentinian side of the falls.
And the food in all domestic flights is very poor ;-) But in every location we visited, there were many good restaurants!! Some like the closed door one I Latina in Buenos Aires I booked upfront, was very nice, but indeed Los Sauces and Belmond a la carte restaurant are the best.

Thanks again for all your help,

Inez

Inez and Lucas
September 12, 2015

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