My husband and I went on a wonderful Kensington arranged tour to Southeast Asia this past January. I could say many nice things about the company and certainly the trip we enjoyed. However, I must concur with Andy and say that there were several incidents that did cause us discomfort. For one thing, I felt like it was almost impossible to get clear information and instructions from the agent that I was working with. For example, we arrived in Bangkok at midnight, naturally exhausted after the long plane ride and perhaps a bit apprehensive since this was our first trip on the Asian continent. We were expecting someone to greet us at the gate holding a sign with our names on it, but none was there. Now a bit of panic set in, but we went to Baggage Claim and retrieved our luggage. Now what? We did notice a Tours desk with a woman sitting there, so I went up and asked her if she might have a clue as to where our transportation was. When I told her the name of our tour company was Kensington, she checked her list but said that name wasn't on her list! My husband and I sat down and tried to organize our thoughts. We could take a taxi, but our hotel was a "small boutique" that would be very difficult to find. Finally, a frantic young lady came running in and apologizing for being late, as she was caught in the Bangkok traffic (once we saw the traffic, we could understand why). What we hadn't been told by Kensington was that in Bangkok our tour would be conducted by a company called Asian Holidays, or something like that. That was very understandable, but what was difficult to understand was why we hadn't been given that information! Throughout our tour we used various companies, some better than others, but frequently something would happen that would make us wonder why Kensington was so stingy in giving us information that would have made the trip run a bit smoother and certainly would have put us more at ease.

Having said all that, I must also comment that our accommodations were outstanding, and they weren't all five star either. Our agent did a fantastic job in suggesting places that were in great locations, unique, or historic and atmospheric. We were thrilled with each place we stayed for one reason or two others. In several of the places we were upgraded, which I felt was most probably due to Kensington. All in all ours was a great trip, and as a result, I have recommended Kensington to friends. However, I have to say that after reading what Andy went through and the bit of discomfort we experienced due to a lack of preparation and information by Kensington, I would have to attach a disclaimer to any future recommendations that I would give the company.

I wish I had seen this,post before I spent a fortune paying Kensington for a family trip to Budapest, Vienna and Prague. They utterly failed to provide the required services and left us abandoned rather than guided. Their hotel recommendation was poor and they have responded to my inquiries with rudeness and insult. I would never use them again or recommend them.

My Kensington Tours experience could not have been more different. I’ve done two trips (Kenya & Tanzania 2010 and Peru 2013). Their staff were extremely knowledgeable and always quick to answer my frequent emails and questoins. Our guides were always on time, super friendly and really knowledgeable. In Peru and especially Africa they went out of their way to keep us happy and exceed our expectations. Our guide Godfrey knew the craziest details about every animal and bird. On our last day in Maasai Mara my friend who is a photographer was disappointed to not yet have gotten the perfect elephant photo. So Godfrey changed our entire day and we focused on tracking the herds until he got the perfect shot. I’m planning Myanmar next – won’t hesitate to call Kensington.

I agree with this review wholeheartedly. I am also an experienced traveler - more like 45 countries. I agree that I have had good and bad experiences but thought that I knew what to ask for in order to get close to what I wanted. My "expert" at Kensington tours, however, rejected every good idea I had for our trip. This wasn't just incompetence; it was an arrogance.

I decided to take my wife to Iceland for her 55th birthday as she always wanted to see the Northern Lights. This year was the best year in 60 years. There were Northern Lights 27 out of 28 days in February and 4 out of the 5 days we were in Iceland. Although we saw them faintly from the city, we never really saw them. I suggested booking 2 nights to see the Northern Lights, since that was our main reason for going to Iceland, but I was told that it would not be necessary because Kensington Tours would take care of picking the right night. Just before I got to Iceland, the forecast for our first couple of days looked clearer than the rest. I then sent several emails requesting that our Northern Lights tour be moved up from the last night to one of the first nights. Instead of doing as requested, Kensington Tours managed to move our trip to the week after we left Iceland but failed to tell us of this change. As a result, after hearing people talking day after day about the amazing Northern Lights, on the day we expected our tour no one showed up. As a result, we booked a much more expensive tour to chase the Northern lights. Unfortunately, we took this tour on the only day we were in Iceland that the Northern Lights did not appear. The tour companies in Iceland have a policy if you do not see the Northern Lights, they will let you go for free until you do see them. Unfortunately, as Kensington Tours booked us for our last night in Iceland instead of the beginning of the week as I had repeatedly requested, we could not take advantage of this guarantee.

The other thing that we really wanted to do while in Iceland was a 3 hour hike on a glacier. When we arrived at the glacier there were two buses from the same tour company one for a 1 hour tour and one for a 3 hour hike, and total pandaemonium. We got off the bus and were called by a guide from the tour company to get our crampons. It was only after we were on the glacier that we learned that we and 2 other couples from our bus were on the 1 hour instead of the 3 hour hike.

When our concerns were raised with Kensington Tours after the fact, pointing out the dozen or more emails making it clear that the Northern Lights were the primary reason we were going to Iceland, requesting to pay for multiple Northern Lights tours, requesting our Northern Lights tour be moved to the beginning of our trip, and the fact that had any of these requests been honored we would have seen fabulous Northern Lights, Kensington tours initially only would not even refund the costs we incurred for these failed events. They had no understanding of the thousands of dollars we had wasted on a bounced tour. Nor did they appreciate that two professionals have difficulty taking time off from work and use them to arrange a vacation so it will be perfect when they do. Eventually, after multiple emails Kensington tours reimbursed us for the failed trips but totally refused to take responsibility for the failed trip or the cost of going again to see the Northern Lights.

If I have the time, I arrange our own vacations, but when pressed by the demands of my jobs, I rely on tour companies. I will forever regret the Google search that came up with Kensington Tours as experts for Iceland travel. I would not use them to book me a walk across the street and hope that you will read this and avoid the same mistake that I made.

If you want any more details on how unprofessional and unknowledgeable Kensington Tours was during out trip to Iceland, please contact me at mroberts@mcrobertslaw.com.

ArcticMark - It is not advisable to post your personal email address in a public forum like this, as spammers and other miscreants can harvest it for abuse. I suggest you have the post deleted and then repost your feedback without email addresses included.

We too are very experienced world travelers. We chose Kensington to plan our family vacation to Thailand because we wanted a high quality customized tour that would include small children. Custom tour? No! Every excursion was a hotel lobby pamphlet tour that I could have arranged myself. We did not have one guide accompany us throughout our entire trip as we were led to believe. A guide would pick us up at the airport and deliver us to our hotel. The next day a different guide would show up to take us on our "custom" pamphlet tour.

We were booked in hotels very far from the planned excursions. It took more than an hour in Bangkok to go to our Palace tour. Then an hour back to the hotel. Then another hour to go on our evening "foodie" tour, and an hour back. Don't go for the "foodie" street food tour.

Then in Chang Mai we were booked into a substitute four star hotel (I'm not sure how they got four stars!) instead of the five star hotel on the itinerary. One family of four were split into two separate rooms on two different floors, even though we had requested and paid for connecting rooms for them almost a year in advance!

Then in Phuket we were an hours drive from our beautiful (but remote) hotel to the launch site to visit the Phi Phi Islands. Then more hours in the boat. The entire day was spent traveling in a van or in a boat with very little time to enjoy any sights.

So, after we drove more than 3-1/2 hours north in a van to get from Phuket to the tented camp of Elephant Hills, we had a scorpion in one of our tents and a rat in another (and, of course, the expected more common insects). The electricity was out because of heavy rains. The mangrove tour was cancelled due to rain. We only had fans in the tents which ran on generators. They turned the generators off during the night because they thought the noise would bother the guests. But actually, it was the lack of moving air and heavy raining that prevented guests from sleeping. After our heavily rained out stay at Elephant Hills (which was not as described in Kensington's itinerary), we had to drive 3 hours back south to the Phuket airport for our flight north to our last night in Bangkok (even though there was a full service airport just one hour north of Elephant Hills).

We were scheduled to have a jungle safari walk in the morning (remember the rain), have lunch, drive the three hours to Phuket airport and arrive in Bangkok in the evening for a 6:00 am flight the next morning to go back home. Of course, international flights require you to be there two hours ahead of time, so we had to be at the Bangkok airport by 4:00 am. Terrible scheduling for our last two days. I called a local travel company and begged them to rescue us from Kensington's inept planning. So we got to Bangkok in the late afternoon instead of late at night. That helped even though we had to pay extra to Elephant Hills for the change in plans.

I didn't see any schedules for our in-country flights until we got to Thailand. I had vouchers for all the hotels and the little guided tours. So, I actually was the guide in charge of overseeing the trip, not Kensington!

For the price they charge for their off-the-shelf "custom" tours, you can do a lot better than Kensington. We will definitely never use them again.

We have been on 3 major trips with Kensington and are in the planning stages for a 4th trip with them, next year. Honestly, I read your email multiple times trying to somehow relate the negative things that you said to the Kensington with whom we have had consistent wonderful travel experiences. Firstly, are you talking about US dollars? Our 4 previous tours for four people in our group didn't come to the amounts of money that you are talking about "combined for all four of us". In fact, Kensington's tour prices are what brought us to them in the first place. We have stayed in 4 and 5 star hotels, in locations where they are available--where they aren't available, we have been booked in lovely places that provide all the necessities for a good night's rest and meals. We have had only fantastic experiences. Our Kensington vans/ 4X4's pulled up in the hotel parking lots next to the other high end luxury tour company vehicles and we are paying a fraction of what their clients have paid. We, too, are world travelers and usually shy away from organized "tours". But, being a world traveler yourself, you know that some locales are best done as a tour. We have been to Africa, India, Nepal, Malaysia and 5 countries in SE Asia with Kensington. Yes, other than our Africa trip, they contracted with in country tour agencies and guides. We never encountered the problems you have listed. We have arrived hours late on 15.5 hour flights from the US to foreign airports and never did Kensington fail to have our guide/drivers waiting patiently for us with a name sign. Yes, we have encountered several minor travel glitches on previous trips--hindsight being 20/20, without exception, they were most probably caused due to miscommunication and or cultural differences with guides.

Never on any previous trip with Kensington have their representatives failed to accommodate our group with suggestions and or requests for changes in our trips during the planning stages and or during the actual trip. In fact, they have gone out of their way to work with us. They are easy to communicate with while in country--I have emailed our representative before we turn in for the night and by the next morning, our answer to any question and or solution to any problems--potential or actual-- is waiting for us. In Nepal, our rep actually called the corporate offices of the airline we were flying with and made it possible for us to check our bags straight through to NYC instead of having to re check everything onto our connecting flight from Katmandu to Delhi.

I find it regretful that any individual feels "OK" about publishing such a negative review. I guess that one person's idea of adventure travel is not another man's idea of adventure travel. And, perhaps if our previous trips with Kensington had cost even a fraction of the amounts of money that you are mentioning....well, perhaps we would have "sweated the small stuff" more. Wow...an $11,000 charge. Glad you have a platinum card...we travel the world quite nicely with our green one.

I would not hesitate to travel with Kensington again and I highly recommend them to anyone thinking of traveling with them.

PS It is every US citizen's responsibility to be aware of travel warnings. That is not the responsibility of your tour company. I strongly suggest that you register with the US State Department prior to your next trip. The app for you smartphone--US State Department Smart Traveler-- is free and you will receive any warnings regarding in country related warnings to US citizens 24/7 directly to your phone.

My husband and I had a fabulous tour experience using Kensington Tours in July 2013 for our private guided trip to Tanzania. I honestly cannot say anything negative about our private travel with them. I was a little big hesitant at first, especially about arranging a guided tour because we definitely prefer independent travel but decided Africa was not the best place to be self-guided. We arranged our airfare ourselves, first to Switzerland for a short stay, then to Nairobi for a short stay, before flying to Arusha. I requested a wildlife guide who was also a birding expert, to fulfill my husband's wishes and that's exactly what we got but far more than that, we were blessed to have the delightful Jackson as our companion for our stay in Tanzania. Jackson Naiman met us at the airport exactly on time. He was friendly, courteous, professional and immediately began teaching us Swahili words and phrases. We were immediately comfortable with him and knew we had a gem! The Kensington representative also stopped at the hotel to give us all our paperwork, answer any questions we had and make sure we had everything we needed. After a great night's sleep, Jackson picked us up to begin our trip of a lifetime. The vehicle was very comfortable for the three of us and I couldn't imagine being "squashed-in" with as many people as I saw on some other agencies. We visited Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. Tarangire is a haven for birds of all types, including many eagles and Jackson's vast knowledge and love of the avian world provided us with memories to last a lifetime. On to the Crater, where a fellow guide phoned Jackson to say he'd had a flat tire. Jackson graciously asked us if we minded waiting and we were thrilled to stand at a viewpoint for an extra 20 minutes or so while he assisted. We stayed at Ngorongoro for two nights, then departed for Serengeti, where we saw all of the Big Five within the first hour of our arrival. We had been upgraded to Kirawira and loved this lovely tented camp. For the entire tour, Jackson was patient, interesting, cautious when necessary, good-humored and when it was time to depart from the small airfield to fly back to Mount Kilimanjaro, he refused to leave until we were safely on the plane. When we arrived in Arusha, our Kensington representative was waiting for us and accompanied us to a day hotel in Arusha so we could get lunch before our long trip home. She was once again very helpful and professional. We found Jackson to be a treasure and will never forget our time with him and the wildlife of Tanzania. From our experience, I highly recommend Kensington and their tours to Africa.

I was recently asked for some recommendations on an Africa trip so looked up some old emails and itinerary to send a good friend. I took my mother there for her 60th birthday in 2009 through Kensington Tours. A close friend knew the founder of the company and highly recommended it. I did not expect any special treatment, but was surprised by the level of abhorrent service and after service. I had initially tried to sort out things directly with the company rather than post a negative review as I know how damaging that can be for a company that is dependent on online reviews. However, the only compensation we were offered was a credit to travel again through Kensington Tours, which my mother and I will never do again. Since I was looking up my old itinerary, I was curious to see whether others had experienced the same poor service for such an expensive trip such as a Safari and was relieved to see that others had taken the time to post the reviews.

There appears to be some others in this thread who have had good experiences with the company and I'm sure that some of the dealings must be positive or the company would find themselves out of business. However, I was surprised that there was an accusation that people take lightly posting negative replies. I think it is safe to say that when you consider online reviews, many are hesitant to post negative reviews so those who have taken the time must have truly had horrible experiences. We paid the company nearly $20,000 USD for a trip of a lifetime for my mother - it is not because we have platinum cards or travel that way typically, but my mother had wanted to go to Africa all her life. I wanted the experience to be the best it could be.

The main issue was our driver. He was horrible. He was lazy, rude, unhelpful, unwilling to accommodate and at times, scoffed at us. When we were travelling through an area where tze tze flies are abundant, he refused to close the windows and turn on the a/c in the vehicle despite our being attacked and bitten. We paid to have a private safari and the level of service was insulting. We tried our best efforts to give the driver a chance, but he was completely ruining our trip. It was so bad that by the 4th day, we contacted the company contact (which was very difficult to do) and requested a new driver to be sent. There was a great deal of resistance to this and I had to insist that either the company sent a driver or we would hire one and seek compensation from them even if that required legal proceedings. They did in fact send another driver who was a huge improvement, but by the time he arrived we were half way through the safari portion of our trip.

When we arrived at the Ngorongoro Crater, there was a confusion in our room booking. Apparently, Kensington had only booked us for one night instead of two. I had intentionally booked us for two nights at the accommodation there in order for my mother to have an opportunity to have a little rest before we continued through the safari (there were many nights we only spent one night at an accommodation in order to cover what we wished). Because of the mistake, the hotel manager was only able to offer us sub-par family accommodations in a much lower category room than we paid for. Not only was this a poor substitute for a great deal of planning on my part, but this meant we had to pack up and move again the second night to get the room we had paid for for at least the second night. When this was brought up with Kensington Tours on our return, they blamed the hotel for overbooking. There was no effort by the company to seek any refund for the rate of room we were offered nor was there any compensation offered to us for the money they took in payment from us.

Overall, the company seems to be ok, but is not a high quality product. If you are paying a substantial amount for a special trip, I would suggest considering another company to plan your details.