Not what was advertised - Important things to know

I took a trip to Italy and France with Dalani in August. I initially wasn’t going to write a review, but I think this will help future travellers know what to expect.

I enjoyed the trip overall and the host was pleasant; however, there are important issues to be aware of when booking with Dalani.

1. The administration is very poor. I had to keep my own detailed record of payments and provide proof repeatedly because payments were not allocated correctly.

2. For visa applications, we were sent forms to fill. I spent quite some time filling in the form only to get to the Visa centre and have to fill an entire form again because the form they sent was incorrect.

3. We were informed only about 4–5 weeks before departure that we needed to book visa appointments. By then, Johannesburg slots were unavailable, and I had to travel to Pretoria. Earlier communication would have made this much more manageable.

4. The itinerary advertised on the website is not what you get. There were several instances where the actual trip differed from what was advertised. An example of this is the itinerary on the website stated we would spend 2 days in Rome and 2 days in Naples. This ended up being only a day trip to Naples and we only had about 30 minutes to spend at the coast before rushing back to catch a train back to Rome. (These changes were made after all payments have been made and this is just one example)

5. The amount you pay on this trip does not include entrance fees. If you want to enter the colosseum, have a swim at the beach at amalfi coast etc, you will have to pay out of pocket (we only found out about this when we were there) As well as the ground transport which was also only communicated closer to the trip date, which I found misleading and should have been disclosed upfront.

My advice to Dalani would be to improve transparency and honesty in their advertising and communication, so customers clearly understand what to expect before making any payments.