Haka Tours 27 Gillies Avenue, Newmarket, Auckland 1023

"Advertised as being “created for travellers in their mid-thirties and upwards”, it was stated that “the biggest difference on a Haka Plus New Zealand small group tour is the style of accommodation. You’ll stay in trendy hotels, boutique motels, lodges, and rainforest retreats - no backpackers and no dorm rooms". Unfortunately, this certainly was not the case. We were to be provided “A Night of Glamping Under Southern Stars: Luxury camping experience on a historic farm surrounded by breathtaking scenery and enjoying high country hospitality. The alternative accommodation provided was completely unacceptable. Instead of twin share accommodation in a comfortable, hygienic setting with a private bathroom, we were presented with a rooms in the YHA Backpackers hostel with unclean shared bathrooms- toothpaste had been left in the sink; odorous dorm rooms with old and worn furnishings, and wifi unavailable in the rooms. Feeling unsafe being in this unhygienic Backpackers accommodation setting with no privacy or cleanliness, we paid $450 out of our own pocket for these two nights for accommodation in Wanaka of the standard that was promised- NOT BACKPACKERS & DORM ROOMS- as stated on the website regarding Haka Plus Tours. We were promised Twin-share hotel style accommodation and this was not provided at Wanaka. As a compensation we were promised a dinner paid for by Haka Tours at the Pub on Dec 28th 2022 - not including drinks. The tour group attended this dinner at Lake Bar, Wanaka. As we had finished eating, the tour guide left with the 2 male members of the group to play pool and left the girls at the table. As everyone was leaving and settling the tabs for their own drinks, the last lady to pay for her drinks was then told that none of the starters had been paid for by the Haka Tour guide and that she would be financially responsible for this. This is unacceptable, underhanded and dishonest behaviour on behalf of the tour guide and shows a complete lack of responsibility or care for the wellbeing of the tour group participants. As stated on the Haka tours website: “ All these New Zealand escorted tours come with an experienced and knowledgeable driver guide who is extremely passionate about showing off New Zealand. In their safe hands you will be sure to fall in love with the gorgeous country that we at Haka Tours call our home.” On the whole, the behaviour of our tour group leader was very flippant and juvenile; and he seemed disorganised and disinterested in giving us information or providing tour participants an educational as well as enjoyable experience. For example, when asked if the tour group members were staying at the YHA Backpackers Hostel Accommodation at Wanaka, he refused to answer the question and said that he would talk about that issue later, constantly deferring and deflecting when asked for information. He also repeatedly used expletives when speaking, spoke about getting ‘sh*tfaced’ and drinking- where his favourite drinking holes were and listened to heavy metal rock music in the bus where swearing was featured constantly. There were mature ladies in their 50s and 60s as part of the tour group. Vaping was a constant activity on his part and care was not taken to avoid exposure of the tour participants to the nicotine vapours. He certainly did not present as a “Passionate and knowledgeable local Kiwi guide” as stated on the Haka tours website. ​Hello team at Haka Tours, It has been over a month since our last correspondence and we are still awaiting our FULL refund of: * 20% of the original tour price ($3999 for each person which would equal $799.80NZ refund per person) PLUS * the refund we are both owed for the Heli Hikes at Franz Josef that did not occur due to the weather conditions, fully pre-paid (a refund of $499NZ per person) Please refund the 2x(799.80) + 2x($499) = $2597.6 TOTAL (minus $749) directly to the original credit card used for payment IMMEDIATELY"

"A fab time had all round, especially impressive considering it was a ski tour and there was not a lot of snow! Connor and the guys kept it flexible and relaxed so that we could make the best of the conditions, whilst squirreling away in the background to keep everything moving smoothly and making it feel effortless. A really friendly and laid back attitude helped the whole group mesh well and get the most from our trip. Thanks guys, it was a corker ☺️☺️"

"Just did the 10 day Southern Pioneer tour, with the awesome George as our guide and it was by far the best experience! First time solo travelling outside of Aus and we were so lucky with the beautiful group, but also the amount of beautiful scenery and activities we did. George was very warm, welcoming, down to earth and relaxed and he most definitely made the experience enjoyable. I absolutely loved the trip and would do it in a heartbeat again, highlight was the 2 night glamping experience on Wanaka, loved having the property to ourselves! Some discrepancies between Intrepid’s itinerary but nothing major. Loved the greenstone carving that was extra special! Could not fault the smoothness of the trip and the accommodation was fantastic! Especially in Lake Tekapo/Lake Ohau - the lodge was lovely and would have been nice to stay an extra night there actually. Special props to George for providing daily Māori word of the day’ and giving us such a wonderful, memorable experience."

"I did the 23 day "epic" tour. I'm disappointed with the overall running of this tour company, it was quite stressful some days due to the lack of organisation/communication between head office, guides and businesses. I feel I've payed for and experienced a substandard tour than what's advertised/other groups have had. We had 3 different tour guides non of which worked for haka and only one of them kiwi. Our second guide had a different itinerary to the one provided and some stops where missed in the South Island. Its says max 16 people on any tour, but over the 3 weeks, multiple tours are running within it so there's a constant rotation of people leaving and new hoping on in different cities, this adds to the overall disorganisation. Lack of information when prebooking activities what companies/activities were running or not during holiday season (25th Dec to 4th Jan), subsequently turning up to activities that were closed. Lack of communication between head office and the buisnesses they work with, being informed of cancelled activities by guides the night before. Some of the itinerary stops have been closed down for a while due to effect of the pandemic and not been reviewed. The bus had issues with its starter motor during the whole trip and had to get AA out, it didn't get fixed so we potentially could have broken down at any other point. Definitely shop around different tour providers if you're thinking about doing a NZ tour, as I sadly can't recommend Haka."