We are obviously disappointed to receive any negative reviews about the lodge as we do take customer satisfaction very seriously. However, with the best will in the world and with the best intentions it is not always possible to please everybody and we believe we do exceptionally well at pleasing the vast majority of our guests (3500 per year). Our trip advisor reviews over the past 8 years are testament to this.

In this instance, we have made a thorough investigation with our management and staff and have established the following:

- these clients drove to the lodge from Mikumi National Park which is at least a 7 hour drive, against our advice. We recommended they fly in. As a result they arrived, as you can imagine, feeling rather jaded, hot and bad tempered. Seemingly they were not impressed by being greeted by our competent African staff and were insulted that our European managers had not greeted them. It is not always possible for our managers to be present for every check-in especially when we are not aware of the clients exact arrival time. Our staff very quickly sensed hostility and unfriendliness towards them which continued for the duration.

- interestingly this client is not able to recall on their review, any of the names of our staff and has used the name of a waiter who has not worked at the lodge for 2 years.

- it was clear to us at the outset that these clients were not happy with an aspect of their stay which they would not relay to our managers and we had a suspiscion at the time that these clients were going to leave early.

- whilst preparing this client's holiday itinerary we had numerous conversations about the lodge and its' environment and the client was particularly concerned about security. Not surprisingly to us, whilst at the lodge the client then claims to have had his boots and an alarm clock stolen from his room. This is despite there being numerous electronic gadgets; iphone, ipad, etc. on display as witnessed by the manager when he went to inspect the room and as admitted by the clients when they spoke to us on their return.

- we trust our staff implicitly and in 10 years we have never had an incident of theft at the lodge and whilst we are not saying that a theft did not happen, there is equally no proof it did. It is also important to point out that the housekeeping staff found the client's door open on a number of occasions whilst the clients were sitting on the beach and swimming in the sea. We do advise guests to lock their doors when they leave the room as you would in any hotel anywhere in the world.

- we do not know of any tour operator who would offer a full refund for a holiday over an alleged theft of walking boots and an alarm clock. After the alleged incident the managers offered to upgrade the clients to the garden suite which is off the beach front and therefore more secure.

As a gesture of goodwill we did refund these clients an amount equal to the cost of meals not taken and interestingly the client did not, at any time, ask to be compensated for the loss of his boots and alarm clock.

It was of no surprise to receive this review as this client, whom we are fully aware of, threatened us with such a review on our refusal to waive our cancellation fee after this client departed one night early without appropriate notice. We reject in its entirety all comments made as they are made with malicious intent. This client was a business client and not a holiday maker. On the 27 February this client emailed us at the booking office asking for a refund of one night. We refused this on the basis of our terms and conditions of booking. At this point there was no suggestion that this client had any complaint of the lodge, indeed, quite the opposite as on departure from the lodge the client had complimented our managers on his stay particularly emphasizing the quality of the food. The client came back to us and said he could put future business our way if we adhered to his request. We again refused and with this the client came back and threatened to place a negative review on tripadvisor specifically mentioned fish dinners and power problems. On the 28 February the client followed through with this threat.