Ivory Tree Game Lodge — Hotel in Moses Kotane Local Municipality

We got to the Ivory Tree Game Lodge, which is located next to Bakgatla Gate and Pilanesberg National Park in the North West Province, South Africa, on August 16, 2016, at 1400hrs, where we had booked to stay for three nights. Upon our arrival, we were welcomed and asked first to have lunch. Our wish was to settle in then eat later, but this lodge staff was adamant. We obliged and were led to the restaurant where we had our meal and some drinks. We were taken aback, however, when we received a bill for the drinks as we made out of the building for our rooms. We were forced to pay for an extra bill for drinks and never received changed of close to seven dollars we never received from the lady who charged us. Never mind that this was an amount we could have used on extra drinks. This incident left us feeling disappointed considering that we had paid for an all-inclusive stay, which made us regret why I had not done good research on the hotel. What is more, everyone kept giving us mysterious stares, which felt creepy. I have been to forty-three countries in the world and have never experienced anything of this nature. Our rooms were quite a distance from the reception. When we got there, we noticed a sign of “Video and Audio Surveillance” in the location and around the area. Concerned for our privacy, we asked the General Manager why they were making audio recordings from the rooms to which he cited security as the reason. I appreciate the security measure by the hotel, but I fail to understand why they would need to make audio recordings of their visitors. We got in and were welcomed by the horrible sight of dead flies lying around while the live ones flew around everywhere. We could also spot mosquitoes that lay around waiting for their moment. A good shower was all we needed now that we finally had the chance to settle in. To our dismay, the showers were located outside the room, which we thought was another intrusion of privacy and comfort. This was nothing close to what we had bargained for, considering that, the hotel was classified as a five-star hotel, meaning that we had to dig deep into our pockets to pay $13,200 for the trip. What we were experiencing was not worth the deal, and we were feeling the pinch and wishing that we had just stuck home and watched National Geographic, which would have saved us this money plus the trouble we had to bear. We decided to cut short our stay once we discovered a condom wrapper in our room. We also learned that all the other rooms were dirty and that the Ivory tree game lodge security box was not operational. Tired of this experience, we packed our bags and decided to leave. To our surprise, we learned that we needed to pay $300 for them to take us to the airport. In addition, the hotel staff tried to charge us for an additional environmental fee of $230, which had been included in the program that we had already paid for. They insisted that we had to pay despite our objection until we produced the itinerary, which confirmed our payment. During our short stay at this hotel, we had noticed that the safari game did not include Black safari drivers, and my impression was that it was discriminatory. In addition, the internet services were poor. Customer care was also terrible. I remember an incident after we had been made to pay for drinks and we needed to confirm later if we would be charged for coffee to which a lady verified that they would not cost anything. It was how she responded with an attitude and giggled that I cannot forget. When I went to get my Danishes, she walked to her coworkers, and they all chuckled about it. I thought that this was very unprofessional. On the day of our departure, our misery heightened when we learned that the hotel crew had not booked for our ride in the morning, and we had to wait until after 1100hrs. We learned that the intention behind the late booking was to make an additional charge on us, which could only happen after 1100hrs. and dont call us liars Sir becuase we woould have not left if that...

We had a wonderful 5 day, stay at the Ivory Tree game lodge. It was our anniversary and the room was decorated beautifully and we received a complimentary bottle of wine. The food was delicious and majority of staff very friendly.

Unfortunately there is no consistency with their game rangers. The unprofessional behaviour from one of the rangers made us uncomfortable and very willing to not want to drive with him again. Our first game ranger was arrogant with a couple side comments and this made the drive quite unpleasant. He had few rules which only included no standing, calling of any of the animals or sticking your head out of the van. Not once did any ranger or staff member state there was no vaping allowed on the game drive.

The following morning we were placed with another game driver as the vehicles were empty after the week departures. Our second game ranger was wonderful, he advised us to sit closer to the front of the van to avoid the bumps at the back, to which we politely said that we enjoy the adventure and also vape. There was no issue at all, he said no problem and went to start the vehicle.

When we returned after our game drive with the second ranger, we made a request to drive with him again that afternoon. That afternoon when we arrived to the meeting area for the drive we saw that our request was not fulfilled.

This time for the third game drive the van was full. While we are all waiting to leave, our game ranger proceeded to shout at us from across the road to not vape on the van. Infront of our whole van which was now packed and the other 9 or so vans waiting to leave.

At first we thought he was joking, as he smirked and laughed. Surely he did not just shout at two guests who have paid to be there, infront of all the other guests like we were two children. Did his rules suddenly change out of spite as we had asked to drive with someone else? We truly thought better of him, but to our dismay we were very wrong. No rule was given the first or the second time, but now there was an issue made known public. Halfway through the game drive we stop at the hyde, while climbing off of the van our game ranger decided to shout at us again about being serious on no vaping. Infront of everyone. Absolutely uncomfortable and embarrassed we walked to the hyde to get away from the group.

It is unfortunate that he behaved in such an unprofessional manner, it is absolutely disgusting that Ivory Tree Game Lodge allows their game rangers to treat their guests in this manner as well. The arrogance and immature behaviour of this game ranger is surely unacceptable, I am unsure of why he felt the need to handle this situation so badly, unprofessionally and with such arrogance.

If there was an issue from the beginning, it would have been appropriate to call us aside. We are always respectful guests at the destinations we visit.

The second ranger informed us during another drive that no smoking was allowed as he did not want an issue from the other rangers, he also told us that the first ranger had gossiped about the issue to the other staff members and specifically asked “What happened with him, was it the smoking?” After multiple requests to move we were still not assisted, we then had a discussion with the head ranger to try enjoy the rest of our stay.

As professionals in the marketing field we know how to easily convey a message utilizing different social platforms, one such as this is not something to be swept under the rug. It is unfair for any guest to experience the abuse that we had experienced, if only he had a more diplomatic approach to handling the issue our holiday would not have been spoilt.

The lodge is beautiful but being made to feel uncomfortable by a member of staff not even two days into your five day trip can can make things feel very unsettled, we did not know how he would react to us each drive. This is definitely not the experience we were we were hoping to have at The Ivory...

Overall our stay at Ivory Tree Game Lodge was very positive and we had a wonderful time, but I will share aspects of our stay that disappointed us.||The lodge is busy and rather chaotic at 4pm when we arrived because the game drives were scheduled to start at that time. As a result, we were stood outside waiting for someone to take us and our luggage to our room and we stood there not really knowing what to do or who to ask until the manager assisted us and had to drive us to our room himself because of the chaos.||We stayed in a luxury suite, and first impressions blew me away. They are completely stunning and luxurious, but I don't think they are worth the money. The luxury suites are definitely luxurious - they have this amazing bedroom with a huge bed. The mattress, linens and duvet are to die for, the bathroom was beautiful with double sinks, a gorgeous outside shower, and this huge bathtub. The suite also has a living room area and an outside private patio that includes a private heated plunge pool with sun loungers.||On our first day the plunge pool was as warm as a Jacuzzi, however, it had a disgusting brown scum on the tile at the water line and bees or wasps were constantly swarming on this scum line that made enjoying the pool impossible. The next day we suspected that the heating wasn't working on the pool, but it was still comfortable enough to get into but I lasted five minutes because of the bees/wasps. The next day the water was stone cold and I reported this to the front desk, but it never recovered in temperature for me to be able to use our plunge pool after that first day and it was such a shame because it was the most luxurious private space to spend the time between game drives.||Housekeeping was also disappointing. Every morning when we came back to our room, there was a guy cleaning out the swimming pool meticulously so, however the entire patio was covered in tree debris and blossom that was never cleared up and within five minutes of him leaving, the pool was covered in the debris again, and every time we went outside, we ended up treading the blossom through our bedroom and bathroom, and for the entire four nights we were there the blossom was never swept up from the floors. I would have cleaned the patio and bedroom floor myself if there was a broom, but there is nothing in the room to allow you to do that. I don't think it's worth the money staying in a luxury suite. I think that a standard room is just as beautiful and would have been perfectly adequate for what we needed.||On more positive notes, the food at this lodge is outstanding. The presentation is like a fine dining restaurant, and the menu changes daily - the choices are varied and excellent, and we thoroughly enjoyed all our meals. The Boma night was great (we had stayed at another private game reserve and their Boma was not as good as Ivory Tree's). The waiting-on staff are all lovely, helpful and attentive. However, sometimes it's disorganised or short staffed and there will be 3 or 4 different staff members asking you the same question - whether you have ordered a drink, whether you have ordered your food, and other times the services is very slow. Frequently, we waited a long time for drinks, or our appetizer was brought to us before our Amuse Bouche, or we had our appetizer, but didn't have any bread and butter on the table - all very small things like that I'm nit picking about, but it can be disappointing.||Our game drives were wonderful. We had Lee as our game driver - he is very knowledgable about the wildlife and flora & fauna, answered all of our questions, but having been to a private game reserve prior to Ivory Tree, I didn't like how the game vehicles were crammed to capacity, and it's just very busy in the national park when significant...