Abercrombie & KentReviews of abercrombiekent.com

Do not travel with this overpriced company. During our trip to Africa, I was wholly dissatisfied with the customer service beginning with our trip coordinator who could not get our itinerary straight nor provide it in a timely manner. Then travel Day 1 when no one bothered to pick us up from the airport in Entebbe. We were stranded for over an hour after traveling from the West Coast of the United States for over 24 hours. When we called A&K we received conflicting stories as to why they we were not there. Out of the goodness of a driver from a competing company he also contacted A&K for us. The condition if our vehicle was unfit and unsafe. The seats and seat belts were broken, and no air conditioning on a 4 hour plus ride from Nairobi to our first camp. The driver and guide did not care or try to fix the seat belt or even trade positions. We had to call A&K from the car to force them to get us a new vehicle in working condition. For a once in a lifetime luxury expensive trip, we had several nightmare experiences. At our second camp our (different vehicle) broke down on the way from the airstrip. This was a very dangerous situation. After an hour, eventually we had to be towed into camp, thereby missing our restroom stop, lunch and afternoon game drive. The whole way through it was as though they did not care about us in fact, we had to shame them into providing a sun downer happy hour on the range. Finally, our driver became very sick, but he did not wear a mask. In addition, they put him on our small plane with bad circulation and no mask. He jeopardized all of our health knowing that we were all traveling back to the USA (don’t care). Bottom line, I would suggest using Micato instead for a high end and truly meaningful and “IN STYLE” experience. S

I contacted Abercrombie & Kent with the intention to book a honeymoon through them, but I couldn't even get a response after the initial telephone call! I spoke to an agent on the 19th October and discussed what we were looking for, she was then going to send a quote over in the next couple of days. I chased on the 5th November and still haven't heard a thing. I was fully prepared to part with 25k + on this trip but have had no choice but to take our custom elsewhere.

Like pulling hens teeth trying to get any sort of timely response. I thought his would be a straight forward hassle free way to book trips but is anything but. Just directed to their web page and told to pick something and then wait for a response.

I unfortunately became quite sick entering Egypt for our A&K tour. Also unfortunately I did not purchase insurance. Subsequently, I asked A&k for a small credit for a future trip, as we were unable to experience anything in Egypt. They refused to even credit us two cents for a future trip. Also, it took them more than 7 weeks to respond with a "no" answer. Awful!

A&K REVIEW OF JAPAN TRIP Guides were simply accompaniers, gave the basic of information ( that you can read on the museum signs), were not the most fluent in English and usually shabbily dressed. The Kyoto guide was not bad, the transport guide to airport return was exceptional in helping (Misaki)). They were all very nice, respectful and helpful, just not very informative for the amount of time they spent with us. Most of the time they simply talked to the driver. I would expect guides working for A&K would be more learned in the history and more fluent. Comments like “this is a bank, this is a school” really don’t cut it. The activities were very standard tourist attractions (except for the manga, samurai (best activity) and noodle making activities) . The sushi making was stupid, just showed us how to press fish onto a rice ball. Nothing about the prep of rice (as advertised in the A&K itinerary), the way to cut fish, other things about sushi i.e. wasabi, etiquette, etc. Nevertheless the guy was very sweet and very funny. My son was very excited to go to the main Pokémon store in Tokyo (as in the itinerary), but we were taken to a small Pokémon store in a mall. Hotels were very good. The Ritz in Kyoto and Gora Kadan were excellent. St Regis was not on par with the others. Meals reservations I believe were made by the hotel concierge. (The cancellation policies are ridiculous) The restaurants were good, but not exceptional. The best restaurant was at the Kyoto Ritz Hotel. Would not recommend Hamayashi in Osaka, the chef is the antithesis of personable. It would have been helpful to know that this is the time of year when thousands of school children go on their school trip and every site and museum was unbelievably crowded. Ground transportation for the most part was very good. Overall we had a good and interesting time, but what it really comes down to is that for 60K (without airfare and dinners) I would have thought it would be more tailored and most importantly that the guides would be more educational, communicative and interesting. We met several other A&K travelers at the hotels and they pretty much were on the same itinerary as us. I believe I would have done a much better job myself with as, or more, luxurious accommodations with some leg work for less than 30K. As a goof, I entered “Arrange an ultra-luxury 9 day trip to Japan and price it out” on an AI platform. See below what AI came up with in less than 15 seconds! A very similar trip for $21000 (which included a $2000 shopping spree) ! I would suggest that for the kind of money that A&K charges, there would be more tailored itineraries with better guides. Maybe one on one communications with someone in Japan would be helpful prior to the itinerary. Bottom line: definitely not worth going with A&K, I consider it a rip off. BELOW IS WHAT AI CAME UP WITH: - Stay at the luxurious Mandarin Oriental Tokyo for 3 nights: $3,000 - Private guided tour of Tokyo's top attractions: $1,500 - Fine dining experience at Michelin-starred restaurant: $1,000 Day 4-5: Kyoto - First-class Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets to Kyoto: $500 - Stay at the historic Hoshinoya Kyoto for 2 nights: $2,500 - Private guided tour of Kyoto's temples and gardens: $1,500 - Traditional tea ceremony experience: $500 Day 6-7: Hakone - Private transfer to Hakone: $1,000 - Stay at the luxurious Gora Kadan for 2 nights: $3,000 - Private onsen (hot spring) experience: $1,000 - Private guided tour of Hakone's scenic spots: $1,500 Day 8-9: Osaka - First-class Shinkansen tickets to Osaka: $500 - Stay at the Ritz-Carlton Osaka for 2 nights: $2,500 - Private guided tour of Osaka's food and nightlife scene: $1,500 - Shopping spree at luxury boutiques in Osaka: $2,000 Total Cost: $21,500 BY THE WAY: I GAVE VIRTUOSO AND A&K EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS MY CONCERNS AND IT IS NOW 5 MONTHS FROM NUMEROUS EMAILS WITHOUT A RESPONSE, SO THERE YOU GO....EVEN THOUGH I HATE BADMOUTHING PEOPLE, MY THOUGHTS MADE PUBLIC

I spoke with three different people and kept chasing for a response, but still haven’t heard back. When I visited the store, I was politely told to go elsewhere. I felt humiliated by the experience. Extremely disappointed with the customer service!

I feel like this travel agency is scamming clients. They advertise a generous offer on Amex, but it's impossible to actually use it. They come up with terms and conditions that were never mentioned in the Amex offer. Stay away! This shows how poor their customer service is and their complete lack of willingness to help. Even if you have money to waste, you'd be better off going somewhere else! **It's amusing to see Abercrombie and Kent's response here, especially after they first tried to have my review removed by flagging it as defamatory. Clearly, Trustpilot reviewed my experience and saw that it was valid, so now Abercrombie and Kent are pretending to be open to feedback. What a joke! This only reinforces my initial point about their poor service. Instead of taking responsibility, they’ve tried to silence an honest review, which speaks volumes about how they handle criticism.

This was our 5th A & K trip and unfortunately they have slowly gone from offering an exceptional to a disappointing experience. So, never again. The itinerary was banal, missing highlights of the Northern Italy. No Duomo in MIlan? Just a boring visit to an Egyptian museum. Everything they offered we would have been able to do on our own. (for 1/2 the price) They used to offer several unique experiences each trip such as visits to local homes or private concerts. The guide, who although nice and competent had a vicious cold and without a face mask coughed for days inside the bus we travelled in. Three weeks later and I am still suffering from her cold. My husband has COPD and is trying to see a doctor as his breathing is impaired. A & K should never have allowed the guide to work and should have had a back up plan. Guests would be expected to cancel with this illness. A & K did not offer a luxury experience with regard to accommodation or food. In fact, it was clear they spent as little as they could. The hotels were well located but small and most (not all) had views of alleys. Smells from the kitchen or of smoke drifted into our room. The breakfasts were basic and the meals offered at restaurants were consistently the same. This was a shared experience for 10 days with 20 other people and on the first night we introduced ourselves by first name only and it was difficult to connect with anyone throughout the trip even though we sat next to them on the bus or in restaurants. Even name tags for the first night would have been helpful. So A & K make your money now for awhile but your loyal customers will be drifting away.