Glenworth Valley Wilderness Adventures — Hotel in Glenworth Valley

BEWARE OF THE HIDDEN CHARGES!!

This is the first, and probably the last time that our family of 7 will be coming back to Glenworth Valley. The extra charges we were billed without our consent was unprofessional, their communication is very poor, the 90 min quad bike tour only comes with 39 minutes of actual riding time and some of the staff are rude and not what you would expect from what should be a countryside haven.

HIDDEN CHARGES - We booked the quad bike tour for 4 = $440. I made our booking over the phone, using my credit card. We were emailed a receipt and to my surprise, the total charged was $478.40!? This was $38.40 more than what we were quoted on the phone just moments ago. They apply these ‘surcharges’ which break down to $20 for helmet hire however their website states, “Tour includes helmet...” and then $18.40 for a “Booking Fee, includes all bank and third party platform fees.” I do not know what banks are forcing this company to charge 4% in bank fees and as this was a phone booking, I am unsure what ‘platform fees’ they are referring to?! Regardless, you cannot tell a customer that the total is $440 and then charge their credit card $478.40. This is misleading. 3 emails in a week to solve this and they have been completely silent. Now I am taking to social media to let everyone know just how unprofessional they are.

QUAD BIKE TOUR - The website states a 90 minute tour. We timed our tour and while we were there for 90 minutes, we only got 39 minutes of actual ride time. Their helmets are sprayed for hygienic purposes but mine stank of sweat and other peoples hair, and while I wore an additional three hairnets, the helmet was somewhat damp inside, which was super uncomfortable and pretty disgusting. After a basic video, they provide training to ensure everyone is fit for riding, but this eats into your 90 minute tour so dependant on how fast or slow other groups are, can depend on how long you are sitting, stationary on the bike, in the blazing sun waiting for your turn to do a short figure of eight manoeuvre and then coming to a complete stop. A total of 47 minutes is how long the total training session ran for, then 13 minutes of riding along a dirt road at a slow 10-20 kph to reach their race track where they allow to you go at it….for a whole 12 minutes! Then, they call everyone in, take a couple of group photos, remind you not to take your newly found adrenalin fuelled system onto the slow dirt road ride back to the drop off zone, which took 14 minutes, all up giving us a total of 39 minutes bike riding time. Bel was our instructor and she was lovely, but a couple of the other instructors require training on how not to set fear into the minds of guests by mentioning, at least 3 times during a 5 minute introduction, that “You are now responsible for the bike that you are sitting on and any damages that you inflict during this tour, you will have to pay for before you leave here today.” Safety and warning messages are important, however, repeated emphasis right at the very beginning does not set guests up for an exciting quad bike adventure. Does Glen Valley’s insurance not cover damages? Do they even have insurance? Who knows, but what they do not highlight is the little wallet-sized sticker on the bottom left of the quad bike, which has a list of damage costs ranging from $150 to $5700. This is also a bit contradicting when they emphasise safety throughout the tour until you get to the race track where they allow you to unleash your inner bike demon. Safety and training is very essential (as a professional trainer, I know), however, you should be thinking about how your staff introduce such messaging, and guest training should be prior to the tour and not take up almost 50% of it. Essentially this means as a group of 4, we paid you $220 to catch a tan and start and stop quad bikes for 47 mins.

SUMMARY - There are plenty of fun activities to do in Sydney, this is not...

Visited to attend quad bike activities. It was a nice drive-in from Sydney, and it was not too long. The private roads can be a bit rough on the way in and aren't super low car friendly but still possible to do with no damage. The car park can be busy so allow more time to find parking. For EV owners, there are charging stations.

The estate has a lot of activities to do, and you can really spend a full day here. They also have full day packages where you have multiple activities passes you can purchase and save a bit of money.

There was a large family trying to do something at reception and caused a long queue but staff quickly came out and started to address the queue and we moved onto our quad biking activities with minimal wait time so kudos to the staff for actively monitoring the queue and ensuring we can get to our quad biking on time.

Staff were witty and friendly and made a fun service delivery of the experience. The waiver process is a bit tedious as you scan your booking, and it knows you have multiple people, but it doesn't prompt you to do multiple waivers and seems to be a common thing where visitors need to go back and repeat the process for each person but a minor inconvenience.

There is a huge focus on safety and multiple trainings, and on-boarding activities are performed before we are set free to go and explore. Staff are quite detailed to ensure people are explained of how to ride the quad bike and is through, e.g., I noticed some people missed the onboarding as they had to sign more waivers, but staff explained instructions to them again once they came back. There was also sunscreen available for free to visitors and eye protection wear for those who didn't bring sunglasses. Also free lockers to place belongings in before going out for a ride. Just feels like they've refined the safety aspects multiple times to ensure a better experience.

The ride was fun, we got to explore the valley a bit before going to a dedicated quad bike track for some laps. The quad bikes are well maintained, and there was no issues with ours. You're also advised if you don't like your quad bike during training, raise your hand so they can inspect or swap you for a better one, which was fantastic service.

Bathroom facilities were also well maintained and exceeded my expectations for a camping ground bathroom.

Wanted to name drop staff but attended a while ago so can not remember all the staff but should be Zoe and co. Also, shout out to Joe for going the extra mile and sending us our photos as we didn't originally get them and took some digging to find and resend to me.

Overall was a fun experience, and it felt like safety and service were refined over and over. Staff all had a plan and clear communication with each other on how to organise the groups and get things going. It's a pretty interesting case study for business owners to study and exceed our expectations as many similar places in Sydney are run disorganised and don't feel refined.

Plan to come back again to do more activities but with our...

Warning - Rude Reception Staff!!

PROS: Tory at reception was friendly over the phone and answered all my question as a 1st time camper.

The bathroom blocks below reception are very modern & clean. There's about 8 shower cubicles & 4 toilets from memory. With power points for hairdryers. If you're set up further away from reception be prepared for small demountable toilets & showers. And after 9pm the generator cuts off so not light or hot water.

The surroundings nature is beautiful with shallow fresh water creeks for the kids to play in. The small animal farm is a cute attraction for the little ones too.

The Abseiling staff (James & Anna) were AMAZING, professional and funny! Dispite James staying past his shift to make sure the people in line would get there turn. The group of 15 ppl between 2 guides was just too big. We only got 2 turns Abseiling for $105 which was disappointing.

CONS: Huge letdown by the reception staff (aside from Tory), most of the ladies at reception were dismissive, unprofessional, inconsistent & rude!

Natalie at reception would roll their eyes & squeezing her temples when a customer (non English speaking) took too long to understand or needed time to relay the information with their family. Snatching forms from customers hands & slapping it on table was also unnecessary.

Could be due to lack of training but lots of inconsistency with tour availability and some staff will tell you, you can't book an Adventure Package on split days if you want the 10% discount while another staff will say you can. Also be aware of hiden fees, like $5 helmet charge that is compulsory to wear with most activities as per their T&C, and 4% processing fees.

A staff at reception didn't minus the 3x Redeemed Dine & Discover vouchers off the our activities total. When I called to seek a refund Chloe said she would look into it. I followed up 4 days later and spoke with Leah (or Lee?). She said I would get a credit to which I disagree with, and tried to explain why but she would continually cut me off mid-sentence and talk over me. After I asked her not to, because it was rude she said she was too busy listen to my long replies, and that it was wasting her time listening to me telling her she was being rude. (LOL then stop being rude!)

I get that Customers Service isn't always an easy job, that they may have been busy at 9AM or they were perhaps short staff... whatever the reason, Leah (or Lee?) felt my 3min 9sec call was too long and warranted her rude attitude & replies!

A shame this last encounter has left a bitter end to what would have been a fun camping trip with my friends & family.

Will wait & see what happens with this refund but a word of WARNING, check your receipts and book online to avoid the...