African Safari And Beach Holiday News.

We are delighted to have been nominated in the British Travel Awards 2018 in the “Best Safari, Wildlife & Nature Holiday Company” and “Best Holiday Company to Africa” categories.

These industry-leading awards are often called the Oscars of the travel industry, and the winners are decided by public vote and announced at a gala dinner in London later in the year.

Voting is really simple using the form here, and everybody who votes is entered into a prize draw to win one of a number of fantastic holidays and travel prizes.  It’s not limited to UK residents, so our overseas clients can vote too.

Voting closes at midnight on the 30th September, and the prize draw winners will be notified by email address week commencing 15th October 2018.

The British Travel Awards winners will be announced awards winners will be announced at a gala dinner in London on Wednesday 28th November. Fingers crossed that we can repeat the success we have enjoyed with other awards over the past few years!

Many thanks for your support, and good luck in the prize draw!

Well it was a long time ago, but we never forget a face!  We have written previously about how a holiday to South Africa inspired us to take a career break in 2003 which ultimately lead to us setting-up Travel Butlers…well imagine our surprise and delight when we bumped into our first safari guide when we stayed at Kafunta River Lodge  as part of our recent trip to Zambia.

Andrew was our guide on our very first safari back in 2002 when he was working at Savanna Private Game Reserve in the Sabi Sand, and his knowledge and enthusiasm helped spark our own love of the safari experience.   We had a great time at Savanna and were lucky to have some amazing sightings during our stay including leopard with three tiny cubs, a huge pride of lion hunting 300+ buffalo under a full moon and many others.  Following those few days we ended-up leaving the security of corporate employment, training to be safari guides ourselves, and then setting up Travel Butlers in July 2003.  So it was a truly life-changing experience for us, and is it any wonder that as we arrived at Kafunta to be met by the staff and management we were able to recognise Andrew immediately despite the intervening years?

This is not the first time our paths have crossed since 2002 – we bumped into each other at Dulini lodge in the Sabi Sands a few years ago – however it was fantastic to be able to catch-up again, and thank Andrew for his part in the Travel Butlers story.

We are delighted to announce the launch of our free Guest Information App for clients, and this is available on both Android and iPhone/iPad.

The App includes:

• day-by-day itemisation of services
• details of every booking
• emergency phone numbers
• static and interactive maps
• live flight status updates
• 5-day weather forecasts
• general information on immigration requirements, medical issues etc.

Before guests travel, the App displays a countdown to the start of their trip, and whilst they are away it will default to showing the current day’s activities and services, including automatically checking each flight’s status on the days that they fly.

Most content is available offline, however a data connection is required for flight status updates, weather forecasts and interactive maps.

Android users can download the App from the Google Play Store or search for “travel butlers” in the Google Play App.

iPhone and iPad users can download from iTunes or search for “travel butlers” in iTunes.

The App requires clients to enter their unique user details when they first download their itinerary, and we are currently in the process of contacting clients who have upcoming trips to make them aware of their details.  Clients who do not have their details yet and are keen to get access to the App should phone or email their usual contact at Travel Butlers.

Excuse us if this seems a little like we are blowing our own trumpet, however we are delighted to hear that we have just won a Feefo Gold Trusted Service Award based on independent reviews by our customers on Feefo.com.

As a company we always strive to offer the best possible service, advice, and support to our clients, and it is always a real highlight of the week whenever we receive positive feedback from a client…so you can imagine how much this award based on all our reviews over the last year means to us.

Our heartfelt thanks to all the clients that have given us such lovely reviews on Feefo, and also to the outstanding safari lodges, hotels, guest houses and transport companies who deliver such exceptional experiences to our clients and are always there to work with us in the event that something goes awry.

I think I’d better stop here before I start sobbing like a Hollywood A-Lister and thanking my mum and cat…