1 Day Private Tour in Cocora Valley Hike

We want to make a complaint about a very bad experience with Salento Hikers, with whom we booked a one day hike in the Cocora Valley in Salento/Colombia: • Wednesday, Aug 7, 2024 – 3 adults • 423.78€ • confirmation number: 1539161281 • booking reference number: 1153970101 • booked via TripAdvisor, paid via ViatorTripAdvisorUK on the 3rd of July 2024 We booked the hike one month in advance. We did not cancel the tour: according to the conditions with the reservation, this had to be done 24 hours in advance, which we did NOT do. So, as prescribed by the conditions in the reservation, we were at the office of Salento Hikers (cra 5#9-33 lote 1, Salento) at 7h30 on the 7th of august. The office was closed, contrary to the indication on the reservation form, where the opening hours were indicated: from 7h30 to 18h00. After waiting 30 minutes, we tried to contact the Salento Hikers by telephone with the numbers indicated on the windowpane. Nobody answered. It was after 1h30 minutes that we had contact with ‘Gustavo’. This person told us he did not expect us that day because we did not answer a few messages via Whatsapp (again: we did NOT cancel). These messages contained no information (We thought this could be spam).(cfr attachment) He also pretended to have sent an email or whatsapp-message with the request to come to the office the day before to organize the tour. We did a research: we never received any mail nor whatsapp-message. (and above all: this is a very strange way of excusing: what if we had arrived in Salento only the evening before the day of the event…?) Gustavo declared that this was the reason for him not to show up at our appointment. After a long discussion on the phone, Gustavo was willing to declare by writing that the cancelation was due to a lack of communication: this condition of cancelling is not mentioned in the reservation form at all. This is the text he sent us on the 7th of august in Whatsapp: ‘Hi Martine, good morning, Gustavo here from Salento Hikers team. This message is to be clear about the cancelation of tour to the Cocora Valley, booked through Viator. This cancelation is due to we couldn't communicate with you, despite the fact that on several occasions we wrote to you via WhatsApp (July 8yh, July 22th, July 30th), we never get a answer, reason why we tried to get Viator to communicate this situation, but unfortunately we couldn't go into the platform, as it wasn't working well’. 'For us is important to meet in our office 1 day before the tour, to get info about the medical information, allergies, food restrictions, among other things that ensure the safe completion of the tour, that is way we were try to contact you since a month ago.' 'We apologize about this situation, is the first time this happen to us, but please understand that for us the most important thing is our customers safety.' Our request is clear: we want the complete fee (423,78€) to be paid back as soon as possible, at the utmost within 2 weeks. If not, we will contact consumer organizations to communicate our experience with TripAdvisor, Viator and Salento Hikers.

Francisco guided us through the Valle de Cocora. He was very informative. We started early so we had the cloud forest to ourselves and beat the afternoon rains. Everything went smoothly he provides water, snacks, a lunch afterwards in town, all the transportation and entry fees, rubber boots and trekking poles if needed. The views, orchid and hummingbirds are amazing. Great company

The hike with Salento Hikers was excellent from beginning to end! Francisco was our guide and he was an expert with his knowledge of the history, plants, birds, and animals of the area. The pace was perfect and the views spectacular! The hummingbird sanctuary should not be missed. I had no idea there was such a variety of hummingbirds and we could sit and sip our hot chocolate and watch them flit around. They were so plentiful! Francisco provided us with snacks for the hike and then we ended back in town with a delicious lunch! I highly recommend this company and this experience!

Very professional company and well trained guides. Everything was perfect on our tour and well thought. The scenery, landscapes and flora and fauna are unique and unforgettable. Will recommend 100% this tour.