Beware of Urban Elephant Express, Cape Torwn.

If you are planning a holiday in Cape Town and happen to land on any of the Urban Elephant properties, e.g. The Flamingo, beware. I booked 9 nights at The Flamingo on 30 August 2025 through Booking.com, well in advance for a holiday in April 2026. As soon as I received the booking confirmation I clicked on the link and paid R9342.39. I received no further communication. Earlier this year I had to cancel the booking and, despite several phone calls to Urban Elephant Express, who keep telling me that they will have to confer with the accounts and then never get back to me. I also messaged them a number of times on booking.com, even indicating that the payment reflected as going to The Flamingo PayPal account, asking if this is how they take payments. No response! I have had a back and forward email conversation with booking.com but it turned out in the end that Urban Elephant Express elects to take payments directly, so I will have to deal with them. They did indicate though that my provision of the payment proof on my bank statement was acceptable proof of payment. I have emailed, no response. I called at 11:40am and received a response to call back in business hours. I, a pensioner, am R9342,39 down and that's the way it seems it will stay.