Group of travellers posing on a hiking trail with sweeping green mountain ridges in the background under a cloudy sky

Seek Sophie
Reviews

4.9

793 reviews

518 reviews

1255

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ymae

Jul 2025

The tour is misleading - title alone suggests 3 day tour when day one starts at 3pm and day 3 ends at 1pm.Farmstay was good - Mr Yu is was funny and welcoming but cooking experience was over pretty quickly when were expecting 4hours worth of activity based on the itinerary.Food at the second accommodation was dire. All meals were flavourless and most dishes were served stone cold. I understand it's a remote place with limited resources but the least you'd expect is hot food. 'Set breakfast' was one pancake and one banana on the table with flies when we returned from the morning safari. Day 3 lunch was a box of watery rice and vegetables that had some questionable black marks on it.I totally understand that you can't predict what is going to be seen on the safari but we only saw monkeys and none of the animals listed in the itinerary which again is misleading.The staff at the raft house were not welcoming, felt like we were an inconvenience. The tour guide was friendly, chatty and knowledgeable.What I will say is, the customer service team at SeekSophie have been great and have responded to our feedback and dealt with our complaint well. I do hope they review the descriptions of this tour and the suppliers.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Yanah,

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback with us — we truly appreciate it. We're really sorry to hear that parts of your experience didn’t meet expectations, especially with the food and hospitality at the raft house. We understand how disappointing that must have been and have provided a partial refund in acknowledgment of that.

Regarding the 3D2N listing, we want to clarify that the tour is described as 3 days and 2 nights because it takes place over the course of three calendar days. This helps ensure that guests are aware they’ll need to set aside time across all three days. We also make sure to indicate the specific timings for the start and end of the tour in the listing so that everything is transparent.

We’re always looking to improve and have shared your feedback with our local partners to address the areas that didn’t go well. We're also reviewing the tour description to see where we can make things clearer.

Thank you again for your kind words about our customer service — we’re glad we could support you. We genuinely value your feedback and hope to have the opportunity to offer you a better experience in the future.

Seek Sophie Team

Yanah Arden-Scott

Jul 2025

Khao Sok 3D2N Farm to Floating Paradise - The tour is misleading - title alone suggests 3 day tour when day one starts at 3pm and day 3 ends at 1pm. Farmstay was good - Mr Yu is was funny and welcoming but cooking experience was over pretty quickly when were expecting 4hours worth of activity based on the itinerary. Food at the second accommodation was dire. All meals were flavourless and most dishes were served stone cold. I understand it's a remote place with limited resources but the least you'd expect is hot food. 'Set breakfast' was one pancake and one banana on the table with flies when we returned from the morning safari. Day 3 lunch was a box of watery rice and vegetables that had some questionable black marks on it. I totally understand that you can't predict what is going to be seen on the safari but we only saw monkeys and none of the animals listed in the itinerary which again is misleading. The staff at the raft house were not welcoming, felt like we were an inconvenience. The tour guide was friendly, chatty and knowledgeable. What I will say is, the customer service team at SeekSophie have been great and have responded to our feedback and dealt with our complaint well. I do hope they review the descriptions of this tour and the suppliers.

Response from Seek Sophie

Regarding the 3D2N listing, we want to clarify that the tour is described as 3 days and 2 nights because it takes place over the course of three calendar days. This helps ensure that guests are aware they’ll need to set aside time across all three days. We also make sure to indicate the specific timings for the start and end of the tour in the listing so that everything is transparent.

We’re always looking to improve and have shared your feedback with our local partners to address the areas that didn’t go well. We're also reviewing the tour description to see where we can make things clearer.

Thank you again for your kind words about our customer service — we’re glad we could support you. We genuinely value your feedback and hope to have the opportunity to offer you a better experience in the future.

Seek Sophie Team

John Wall

Mar 2025

They don't really provide any value at all. They just do a better use of marketing at Social Networks. Once you contact the product, they do the same with a 3rd party which contract with the final provider. So you are paying to three companies instead of just one. I did a Klias River excursion. Olivia Kota Kinabalu was the local seller and Klias River Cruise was the real provider. Furthermore all the rest of Travel Agencies had a representative there except us....

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi John,

Thanks so much for sharing your honest feedback—we genuinely appreciate hearing your perspective.

I'm sorry if it wasn't clear upfront, but we do mention on our site that Olivia arranges logistics directly with local providers. Olivia is a local woman entrepreneur from Sabah, and we genuinely love supporting amazing local people like her who pour their heart into their businesses.

Olivia partners closely with trusted local providers (like Klias River Cruise) to ensure travellers enjoy a great experience at transparent and fair prices, which is why we work with her. For context, most other online platforms offer the same Klias River experience at around 235–290 MYR, and these prices typically don't include an in-person representative either—that service usually comes at an additional cost. Olivia keeps it affordable at 190 MYR by providing seamless behind-the-scenes organisation.

I'm really sorry we didn't fully meet your expectations this time, but your feedback helps us do better. Thanks again for letting us know!

Best regards
Jacinta
Co-founder, Seek Sophie

Romain Ospital

Jan 2025

This rate simply highlights the price gap between Seek Sophie and the tours that you can find directly in town. Indeed, for a 2D1N experience in Khao Sok National Park, the tour is about 2500 THB (3250 THB in Seek Sophie). And unfortunately, the price difference is explained by... nothing. We get exactly the same experience than people who booked with other cheaper tour operators. Some people can say that booking online is a good way to secure a date... But we had to delay our tour with one day. However, this is important to highlight that the tour is really great, location, GUIDES<3, food, activities. This bad rate is simply because you should avoid using Seek Sophie and directly book in town.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Romain

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback—we really appreciate it. We’re so glad to hear that you loved the tour itself. That’s exactly the kind of experience we want every traveller to have!

We couldn’t find a booking under your name, but we’d love to learn more about your experience so we can improve for future travellers. Please drop us an email at chat@seeksophie.com—we’d love to understand what happened and make things right for you as soon as possible.

As travellers ourselves, we completely understand your concerns about pricing. We always strive to offer the best value and do match prices for the same experiences. The price difference you noticed isn’t due to hidden markups—it’s because we work directly with reliable local hosts to ensure a smooth, hassle-free experience. Some lower-priced options in town are offered by high-street agents who unfortunately overbook, leaving travellers without accommodation even after they’ve paid. We choose not to work with hosts who engage in such practices because we want every traveller who books with us to have peace of mind, knowing their experience is secure.

We’re really sorry if we fell short of your expectations this time, and we’d love the chance to make it right. Please reach out—we’re always here to help and want to ensure you have the best possible experience.

Best,
Jacinta
Co-founder of Seek Sophie

Vandana Khialani

Jul 2026

Yacht Why Knot 1 from Hanako Luxuries. One of the main reasons we hired the yacht was to enjoy the open water and spend time swimming. However, despite being in open water where everyone else was swimming, I was repeatedly whistled at by the captain for swimming no more than two metres away from the yacht. I found this unreasonable and unnecessary. It completely took away the enjoyment of the experience. I had specifically hired the yacht to relax and enjoy the sea, yet I felt as though I was constantly being monitored and restricted. If guests are not allowed to swim a short distance from the yacht, this should be made clear before booking. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of chartering a yacht. In addition, we requested to use the paddle board several times. Despite repeated requests, we only received it after approximately 30 minutes. Shortly after we started using it, we were asked to return it almost immediately, giving us very little opportunity to enjoy an amenity that was included as part of the charter. Furthermore, this all occurred before 7:00 p.m. I understand there may be regulations regarding swimming after certain hours, and I fully respect safety rules. However, it was not yet 7:00 p.m., so I do not understand why we were subjected to such unnecessary restrictions. Overall, this was a very disappointing experience. Rather than feeling relaxed and enjoying the freedom of being on the water, we felt restricted throughout the trip. The constant whistling, delays in providing the paddle board, and the rushed return of the equipment significantly affected our enjoyment.One of the main reasons we hired the yacht was to enjoy the open water and spend time swimming. However, despite being in open water where everyone else was swimming, I was repeatedly whistled at by the captain for swimming no more than two metres away from the yacht. I found this unreasonable and unnecessary. It completely took away the enjoyment of the experience. I had specifically hired the yacht to relax and enjoy the sea, yet I felt as though I was constantly being monitored and restricted. If guests are not allowed to swim a short distance from the yacht, this should be made clear before booking. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of chartering a yacht. In addition, we requested to use the paddle board several times. Despite repeated requests, we only received it after approximately 30 minutes. Shortly after we started using it, we were asked to return it almost immediately, giving us very little opportunity to enjoy an amenity that was included as part of the charter. Furthermore, this all occurred before 7:00 p.m. I understand there may be regulations regarding swimming after certain hours, and I fully respect safety rules. However, it was not yet 7:00 p.m., so I do not understand why we were subjected to such unnecessary restrictions. Overall, this was a very disappointing experience. Rather than feeling relaxed and enjoying the freedom of being on the water, we felt restricted throughout the trip. The constant whistling, delays in providing the paddle board, and the rushed return of the equipment significantly affected our enjoyment.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Vandana

We’re sorry to hear that your yacht charter was disappointing. But this trip was not booked through Seek Sophie, so this review has unfortunately been posted on the wrong business page.

We’d be very grateful if you could remove it from Seek Sophie’s Google page and leave it on the page of the business you booked with instead. Reviews have a real impact on small businesses, and leaving it here may unintentionally mislead travellers into thinking this was a Seek Sophie experience.

Best
Jacinta
Co-founder, Seek Sophie

Robert

May 2026

We had a really bad experience with Seek Sophie. Their operator kept us waiting until the last moment (the evening before) that a trip starting at 8am the following day was cancelled when it turned out that they knew all along that they wouldn't be running it. This meant that it was too late to arrange an alternative and that we wasted a day of our short trip. Really upset and frustrated.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Robert, I'm really sorry to hear that your request to book with one of our partners was declined at the very last minute (our request to book feature allows our partners up to 24 hours to respond to requests, because many of our partners are away in the field, conducting experiences and may not always be able to get back right away).

As an avid traveller myself I know how frustrating it is when trying to make plans and not hearing back from experience operators in a timely fashion.

In this particular case, our partner, who are of an older generation and not great at technology, had forgotten to update their availability and had left for a team trip, being out of reach to respond to your messages.

Our customer service team had also tried to get in touch with our partner, but because they were out of signal coverage, were unable to do so.

Completely understand that this matters little for you as it ruined your day, but I did want to make clear on why that happened. We do try to give an opportunity to many local small companies that offer great service on the ground, but may not be the best at online communication, so issues like this do crop up. But we are always trying to improve our service - if you have any ideas on how we can solve this one, let us know!

Our customer service has reached out to you and we hope we can make up for this incident.

Kind Regards,
Lina

Sean keisu

Apr 2026

Highly recommend not to book by seek by Sophie‼️Me and my best friend went for the kinabatangan river safari 3D2N. The add ons they have which we realized by the time we were there, are insanely overcharged‼️This company lives by thinking that people will pick these add ons like we did and not double check the price in person. Especially when they are so influencer friendly with fake reviews. We added the Sepilok urangutang center and 2 night cruises. Seek by Sophie took 100US$ per person for the urangutang center which is insane! Directly there they charge 100 ringit (around 20US$).We spoke with several people and even the center told us it was a scam price. The night cruise same thing, seek by Sophie took 60US$ each online and the camp in person (run by locals) took 20 ringit per person. We got the money differ back from the night cruises but no net even an answer back when we pushed on for speaking with the management about the huge overcharge they’ve made. Seek by Sophie is a sneaky resell agency, this is how they earn a lot of money by thinking tourist are stupid. Please check out the prices before from the specific things you want to see.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Sean,

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us back in July 2025, we’re really sorry to hear that parts of your trip left you feeling this way. We completely understand how frustrating it must have been to feel that certain activities were seemingly priced differently from what you later saw on the ground.

We’d like to clarify that the prices listed on our site are provided directly by our operating partners, and they often include bundled elements such as coordination, advance booking, and securing availability — which can differ from walk-in rates at the destination, which are often times only the entrance fees such as the fee to enter Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. That said, we recognise that this wasn’t clear in your experience, and we’re sorry for the confusion caused.

Regarding your booking, we did review your case carefully and responded at the time, including arranging a refund for the transfer fee to the rehabilitation center where there was a miscommunication with our operating partner on the exact nature of your add-on. We’re glad we could resolve that portion, but we’re sorry that you felt your concerns weren’t fully addressed — that’s certainly not the experience we aim to provide.

Your feedback is important to us, and we’re taking it seriously as we continue to improve how we communicate pricing and inclusions more transparently. If you’d still like to discuss this further, we’d be more than happy to continue the conversation and see how we can help.

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts, and we truly regret that your experience didn’t meet expectations.

Sincerely,
Lina

Merlijn & Pleun

Nov 2025

(Translated by Google) Booked Khao Sok National Park but not recommended. Seek Sophie offers no added value, so definitely book directly with an organization; it will save you money too! (Original) Khao sok national park geboekt maar niet aan te raden. Seek Sophie heeft geen meerwaarde, dus boek zeker direct bij een organisatie, scheelt je ook geld!

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Pleun

Hi Pleun,

Thank you for sharing your feedback. I’m really sorry to hear you didn’t have a good experience. We actually visit every host in person to make sure they’re doing meaningful work for the environment and their communities, and that travellers are well taken care of.

We also look into every review carefully and work closely with our hosts (many of them are small family-run businesses) to help them do better. I couldn’t find a booking or any email under your name. Could you please email us at chat@seeksophie.com? I’d really love to understand what happened so we can look into it and make things right for you, and also help our hosts improve.

--
(I also took the liberty to use GPT to translate the response into Dutch - hope it makes sense!)

Hoi Pleun,

Dank je wel dat je even de tijd hebt genomen om je feedback te delen. Jammer om te horen dat je ervaring niet zo goed was!

We gaan zelf bij al onze hosts langs om te zien of ze goed werk doen voor de natuur en de lokale gemeenschap — en natuurlijk om zeker te weten dat reizigers goed worden verzorgd.

We lezen ook echt elke review en werken nauw samen met onze hosts (veel van hen zijn kleine familiebedrijfjes) om hen te helpen groeien en verbeteren. We konden geen boeking op jouw naam vinden — zou je ons even kunnen mailen op chat@seeksophie.com? We horen graag wat er precies is gebeurd, zodat we het kunnen uitzoeken en hopelijk goed kunnen maken, voor jou én voor onze hosts.

Best,
Jacinta
Co-founder, Seek Sophie

Piers Hughes

Oct 2025

Con Artists happy to take your money, but unable to deliver any experience! My wife bought me a dining experience for Christmas. We tried to use the voucher in March but their website had technical issues. I am now trying to book before my voucher expires in 3 months, the problems now are: - the venue is fully booked or on holiday until past the expiry of my gift voucher - the website given by their own message leads to a “missing page” - the voucher code provided does not work - Customer services are unresponsive to provide any answers even when we asked them if this was a con Basically AVOID, use someone trustworthy!

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Piers, we’re very sorry for the delay in coming back to your email as we were working out the availability with our hosts. They’re taking some time off so we had to check their calendar before coming back to you on some dates that work. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused.

We have issued you with a full refund. We would also love to make it up to you with a gift experience - please do let us know by email or WA some dates that work best for you. We’re very sorry once again - this is not the level of hospitality that we strive for. We hope that we can make it up to you.

Best
Jacinta

Sandra Schmidt

Sep 2025

unfortunately bad customer service :(

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Sandra, we have looked through all of our communications and have not been able to identify any messages or bookings from you.

Could you please get in touch with us at chat@seeksophie.com so that we can rectify what may have occurred.

Would love to make it up to you as we pride ourselves in the attentive service we deliver.

catherine thuez

Aug 2025

Overcrowded places to see ; lots of time lost because of lack of organisation ; really bad communication with the agency, received so many messages from different number and most don’t tell the same thing and worse, telling conflicting informations ; Komodo site’s to see the dragons is ugly and smelly thanks to the pound of urines and feces behind the toilets, we stayed there for half an hour waiting for people taking pictures of themselves with a dragon ; and to finish don’t pay for the boat with 10 places, they will move you to the one with 25 visitors without any refund

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Catherine, we are very sorry to hear about your experience with one of our partners. We are still trying to verify what exactly happened and but we want to assure you that we take this matter very seriously and you and your party should never have been switched to another boat. Our customer support team is currently in touch with you and will be providing you a refund. Once again my sincere apologies that the actions of our partner have upset your holidays and we hope we can make it up to you.

Anna

Jul 2025

I am puzzled by the positive reviews from this company. We booked a turtle rescue experience in Bali 2nd July. Neither the host or the website directly were contactable at any time. Multiple messages did not get any response, despite the automated "thank you, we will contact you within 24 hours". Would never use this service again. Such a shame to miss what was advertised as a worthwhile experience, and seemingly no refund available despite not actually cancelling the booking. It was made clear there were no refunds, which is acceptable, but to have no further communication with a customer is completely unacceptable.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Anna, we are so sorry to hear you didn't hear from us in a timely manner. Our partner missed out on the notification email after your first messages due to incorrect settings on their profile which they have now updated. And our team didn't respond quickly enough as they were trying to find out what happened. We have also gone over these procedures internally and have improved our SOP. We appreciate customer feedback and truly take the time to improve.

I will note that we have reached out to you directly and processed a full refund for the experience which you missed out on due to bad traffic.

We hope you will give us another chance on another occasion.

Happy travels!

Edward L Albino Torres

Jun 2025

Avoid Using Seek Sophie We strongly advise against booking with Seek Sophie, based on our deeply disappointing and frustrating experience with this company in Southeast Asia. Our trip was poorly coordinated by three different individuals, leading to confusion and miscommunication. Key parts of our itinerary were never arranged, wasting both our time and money. We traveled specifically for this experience, and it unfortunately left us with a negative impression of the entire destination. Going all the way to Ende isn't a small trip and we expected more. Prior to full payment, Seek Sophie was highly responsive and attentive. However, once the payment was made, communication completely broke down until just a day before our scheduled pickup. When we finally arrived, we were confronted by a local host who demanded cash payment on the spot and refused to leave our accommodation until it was paid. despite us having already paid the company in full. Attempts to reach the company during and after the trip were ignored. WhatsApp messages all left on READ. This experience felt like a deliberate scam. We urge other travelers to avoid Seek Sophie at all costs to protect your time, money, and peace of mind. Our hard working money was wasted by this company.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Edward,

Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We are sorry to hear you had a poor trip with us 1.5 years ago. Shortly after your trip we stopped working with this particular operator to make sure that we don't disappoint anyone else during their hard earned travels. Although we do a lot of work to select our local partners, once in a while we have a mismatch with our partners, but we do our best to make it right by our customers.

We have sent you an email one week ago in hopes we could make it right by you, however we have not heard from you. Would love to make it up to you as well as to learn a bit more about some of the things you mentioned in your review, such as not being able to contact us during your trip as we do not have any record of messages being sent.

Once again, our sincere apologies for the negative experience and we hope we can make it up to you.

Kind Regards,
Lina

Kathleen Gosling

Jun 2025

My husband and I are back on the road again, and yesterday we found ourselves reminiscing about our last big adventure. As we talked, one particular stop came up - Kelimetu Indonesia with Seek Sophie - and it hit us that we never actually got around to reviewing it in Jan 2024. Nearly 1.5 years have passed, and honestly, at the time we were so drained and disheartened by the experience that we just wanted to move on. Especially as we’d had no response from them at the time. I always knew the post needed time and space to be written properly, but life took over and it kept getting pushed aside. Now, with fresh perspective (and a bit of distance), it’s time - because if our experience can help someone else avoid going through the same thing, then it’s worth sharing - so here it is. We booked our Kelimutu trip through Seek Sophie, hoping for a smooth, thoughtfully organized experience. What we got instead was one of the most frustrating and disappointing tours we’ve ever taken. Really my other half is still traumatized and finds it one of the worst 24hrs of travelling in a long time. To start with the good: Kelimutu itself is absolutely worth visiting. But everything else - from the booking process to the actual tour - was a mess. Seek Sophie was super responsive and communicative until we paid. After that? Radio silence. Even when things started going wrong and we reached out, our messages were ignored. It honestly felt like we were ghosted - they archived the chat and left everything unread. There was zero support or accountability when we needed it most. We were sold a private tour of Ende and Kelimutu, with a clear itinerary and the understanding that everything was taken care of. What actually happened was that Seek Sophie clearly subcontracted to a local operator, who then passed us off to someone who had no clue what had been arranged. When he picked us up, he literally asked, “Where are you going?” and then flat-out refused to go to the stops listed in the itinerary. Instead, he took us to two completely shut-down villages that were striking against the government - places we never asked to go and had no context for. Things only got worse from there. • At check-in, the host tried to charge us again, claiming we hadn’t paid. We had to dig up confirmation emails and make a call to prove it was pre-paid. Extremely awkward. • There was no running water in the morning, so no shower. • No WiFi, no phone signal, and a blackout meant we had to get ready in total darkness. • We had to wake up the host ourselves to get to the volcano, and he was grumpy and annoyed we’d done so. • He slept in the car while we hiked Kelimutu. ( I mean in a way we liked this so we had freedom to do as we wanted). • Also we had to set off in the dark with no torches or anything - which made for a comical situation - but also not cool to not have been mentioned in the booking. we could have easily prepared ourselves otherwise. We were completely dependent on this guy for the duration of the tour, which made the whole situation feel even worse - we were stuck, with no real way to leave or switch plans. The only positive moment came when we got back: he made a nice breakfast with fresh fruit and coffee. But by then, the damage was done. We paid a lot for this tour, assuming it was a necessary and well-organized way to visit Kelimutu. In hindsight, we feel totally ripped off and taken advantage of. We would have had a better experience renting a motorbike and doing it ourselves - the road is good, the hike is short, and it can easily be done in a day from a place that actually meets your needs. This isn’t just about a bad guide - it’s about poor vetting, zero follow-up, and a total lack of accountability from Seek Sophie. We expected better. I realise we’re late doing this, but just felt it was necessary for others so they don’t get into a similar situation. 02JUN I’ll be reaching out to Seek Sophie with my booking confirmation (which I’ve just managed to dig up!) following their response here.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Kathleen,

We are very sorry to hear about your experience and take your feedback seriously.

We do not have any bookings under your name. We also haven't been offering the Kelimutu trip for close to one year now. If you may have booked some time ago and under another name please do contact us at chat@seeksophie.com and we would love to hear from you in more detail about your experience so that we can take action to prevent any such future incidents.

We hope to hear from you soon!

Shop 1 (Glaste)

Nov 2024

(Translated by Google) We booked a boat trip to Ha Long in Vietnam, but the evening before the trip, the trip was cancelled, leaving us stranded in Ha Long without a boat trip… (Original) Schiffsreise in Vietnam Ha Long gebucht, und ein Abend vor der Reise wurde die Reise abgesagt und wir standen ohne Schiffsreise in Ha Long…

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi there!

Thank you for your feedback, and we’re really sorry for the confusion and frustration caused—we completely understand how upsetting this must have been.

We think we’ve found your booking, and it seems this was a request to book a trip, which was still pending confirmation from the host. As mentioned during the booking process, requests for next-day trips depend on the host’s availability, and unfortunately, the host wasn’t able to confirm your request, so it was declined.

If we’ve misunderstood your situation, please do let us know—we want to make sure we address this properly. In the meantime, we’d love to help you find another trip and will get in touch with you to arrange this as soon as possible.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and we hope to turn this around for you!

Abigail Cheam

Sep 2024

One day komodo day trip TL;DR: Do not recommend SeekSophie, especially for the Komodo day trip. They lack ESSENTIAL safety protocols and emergency preparedness, alongside unprofessional behavior. The food and boat arrangements were subpar. We found much better and cheaper options with local tour companies. Avoid this company, especially given the glaring safety issues. Emergency Preparedness Issues: Our experience exposed SeekSophie's incompetence in passenger and crew safety. Shortly after departure, one of our boat's engines failed, leaving us stranded in the ocean for an hour. Despite attempts to arrange rescue, we were informed no backup boats were available, and we had to return on one engine. This lack of foresight in emergency planning is alarming for a company reliant on boat trips. Lack of Professionalism: When we had to reschedule due to a flight delay (caused by the global microsoft outage which affected many airports and completely out of our control) , the local operator's response was hostile and unhelpful. They blamed us for the situation and refused to discuss alternatives civilly. This unprofessional conduct included gaslighting us about our flight delay's cause, rather than offering constructive solutions. Such behavior is unacceptable in customer service. Overall, SeekSophie's disregard for safety and professionalism ruined what should have been an enjoyable experience. Look elsewhere for reliable and respectful tour operators in Labuan Bajo.

Response from Seek Sophie

Dear Abigail,

We share your disappointment that your trip didn't go as planned. We know that travel disruptions can be really stressful, but please know that we did everything in our power to resolve the situation and ensure your comfort and safety.

We understand that your Komodo boat host offered a full refund on your trip. They also offered additional compensation, such as a free tour of Labuan Bajo's caves and surrounding areas. For guests who didn't want the land tour and preferred to return to Bali on the same day, they even offered free business class tickets back to Bali.

Addressing your concerns:
1. We understand the CrowdStrike flight disruption was a major inconvenience for travellers. While we always recommend travel insurance for unforeseen events like this, we understand that even with insurance, such disruptions can be upsetting. In recognition of the stress caused by the flight disruption, your boat host went the extra mile to find a replacement for your original trip, so that you were able to get a partial refund on your original trip booking.

2. We sincerely regret the boat's gearbox issue. Such incidents are uncommon, but we do advise our guests that Komodo's remote nature means occasional issues can happen. Please know that at no point was anyone's safety at risk. The crew acted swiftly and professionally, prioritising the well-being of all passengers. Everyone had life jackets readily available, and the boat returned to shore at a cautious pace to ensure a safe return.

3. We understand that your boat host did his best to make amends: providing full cash refunds to all guests, offering a complimentary land tour, and even purchasing business class tickets back to Bali for guests who didn't want the land tour and preferred to return to Bali sooner.

4. As for lower priced options in Labuan Bajo, the cheaper 1-day boat trips you may have seen are on slower wooden boats that visit 3 islands in a day. The option you booked was for a faster speedboat that covers 6 islands in one day. This is why it is more expensive. The speedboat options you'll find in Labuan Bajo are generally the same price or even more expensive than what you paid.

While we can't undo the events that occurred, we hope you recognise the genuine efforts made to address the situation and ensure your comfort and safety.

Exploring off-the-beaten-path destinations like Komodo comes with its own set of challenges, but we're committed to working with the best local partners to provide exceptional experiences, even when unexpected situations arise.

We appreciate your feedback and wish you all the best in your future travels.

Floove Thomson

Jul 2024

One-day Komodo tour My experience with SeekSophie was unfortunately far from positive. I decided to spend a bit more money this time on a one-day Komodo tour to have a better experience, but that was a huge mistake. First of all, the pickup was 45 minutes late. Because the pickup was much later than planned, I missed my breakfast and we fell off schedule. The early start that SeekSophie promised was one of the main reasons I booked this tour. Lunch was okay, but all other snacks and drinks were of poor quality. The fruits were spoiled due to the heat and how they were stored. At one point, we were forced to board the boat via the beach because they didn’t want to wait for a free spot at the bridge. This caused some people to slip while trying to get on the boat. I could list more negative aspects, but I think that's enough. It wasn’t worth booking with SeekSophie. I could have gotten the same tour from the same company on the street for much less. Very disappointing.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Floove,

Thank you for sharing your feedback. We were very concerned to hear about your experience with your host and want to express our sincere apologies.

We're unable to locate your booking in our system based on the name used in your review. To help us address this situation promptly, could you please email us your booking details (either name or booking number would work!) at chat@seeksophie.com please?

We want to assure you that we take your feedback very seriously. We'll thoroughly investigate this matter to ensure that the host understands the importance of meeting our high service standards for all future guests.

K W

Nov 2023

Would give 0 stars if possible. I booked a private dining experience through them but was cancelled by their vendor due to insufficient seating. Received email that refunds have been processed but takes up to 60 days to see it in my statement. It has already been 59 days and no sign of refund. Who in the world likes to get their money stucked due to unforseen cancellation by vendor? I have emailed them chasers but have not received any updates. Very disappointing first time experience.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi KW, we are so sorry about this. Your refund should have been provided immediately. It was an oversight on our side. We have now processed the refund and it should be in your account shortly. We will also be in touch via email with a gift.

Merlin IJzerman

Oct 2023

(Translated by Google) Incorrect prices on the website. After booking, they reveal that it is more expensive after all. (Original) Verkeerde prijzen op de website. Na boeking komen ze in de lucht dat het toch duurder is.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Merlin, sincerest apologies that you have had a negative experience with us.

As background, we work with a lot of local operators, small mom and pop shops, that don't have regular access to a computer to manage their listings, and on occasion may fail to update their pricing.

We work with them as best we can to keep their listings current, but once in a while errors will happen. Despite the occasional discrepancy, we believe that working with such local partners is really impactful and worthwhile as it brings tourism dollars to communities that otherwise wouldn't receive them. And best of all, this gives travellers an opportunity to see places and meet people that are not on the routes of the big tour companies.

We appreciate your understanding and we hope you will give us another chance in the future!

Melanie Bubak

Sep 2023

Terrible customer service!!! Do not book through this agency!!! I wanted to book trough this agency, because I've read some recommendations in different forums, which I now can't relate. We wanted to book a 3 day tour through the Deramakot jungle through this agency. First we chose our desired date on the website (the whole month was still free according to the website). After 2 days the feedback came that this date is already fully booked and they offered the tour as an alternative one day later. On our question whether we can be dropped off at the airport on our return instead of in the city, then after another 2 days we received a message that this tour is no longer available, but its would be one day earlier. We would have accepted that as well and asked to book this tour, whereupon we received a booking link by mail. This link led us to the website, but suddenly the entire month (including our supposedly free dates) was already fully booked. Thus, a booking was not possible. We then asked if it would be possible to complete the booking by mail or phone, or any other way. On this question never came back an answer, even after 2 times asking. After 9 days of back and forth writing and no answer, we gave up. In the end, we were able to book the tour on our desired date with another agency.

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Melanie, I'm so very sorry to hear we have disappointed you with our service. As a company, we strive to not only provide top quality service, but to delight our customers. Reading your review did make my heart drop that we have really dropped the ball. But we will take your feedback and put it into action to do better next time by improving our process.

Our team will be in touch with you to send you a small gift from us. We hope you accept this as a heartfelt apology from us for the distress we have caused🙏.

Separately, I did want to let you know that the back and forth for some of our trips is unavoidable, as we work with small mom and pop shop partners. They are not always able to update their calendars and respond immediately as they are located in remote areas where connection is not very stable. However we believe that bringing business to these small companies delivers the most impact to local communities and therefore we continue to collaborate with them despite the occasional logistical hiccups.

We thank you again for your feedback and sincerely hope you enjoy your trip to Sabah and Deramakot 😊.

Jean-Etienne ROETING

Aug 2023

Just there to sell package Response time is a real shame

Response from Seek Sophie

Hi Jean-Etienne, we are very sorry to hear you had a poor experience with us. We know and appreciate how important a quick reply is to our customers and always aim to get back as soon as possible, but we do have busy periods where we are not able to respond within the same day. Our customer service team has been in touch and has provided you with a gift card. I hope you can give us another chance 🙏.

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