About Exotic Vacations

Who we are

• South Africa's first online travel agency. Marthinus and Heidi Strydom founded Exotic Vacations in April 2005, and our website was taking holiday enquiries by May 2005. Travelstart opened in South Africa in July 2006.
• Senior consultants, online. Our consultants are senior, long-serving island specialists who look after clients all over South Africa by phone, WhatsApp and email. We work online, so there's no walk-in office.
• Island specialists:
  • Mauritius first;
  • then Zanzibar, the Seychelles and the Maldives;
  • Thailand and Bali as well. We sell fewer places so we can know them properly.
• An authorised Beachcomber partner. We see Beachcomber's live availability for its eight Mauritius resorts and can price and confirm them online. For other hotels, a consultant builds the quote.
• Beachcomber's number-one agency in South Africa, nine years running. At Beachcomber Tours' annual Premier Awards for South African travel agencies, Exotic Vacations was ranked number one every year from 2008 to 2016, then second in 2017 and third in 2018 and 2019. We were in Beachcomber's Top 10 every year from 2006 to 2019, and again in 2023 and 2024.
• Beachcomber's top consultant in South Africa, eleven years running. An Exotic Vacations consultant won Beachcomber Tours' Top Consultant award every year from 2008 to 2018. Heidi Strydom won it five years in a row, from 2008 to 2012. From 2013 to 2016 our consultants took first and second place four years running. Salome du Toit won in 2017 (Travel News), and Cian De La Pierre won in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

In numbers

• More than 10,000 holidays booked since 2005, for over 30,000 travellers.
• Mauritius: more than 5,300 holidays, for over 17,400 travellers. More than 2,700 of them at Beachcomber's resorts, and more than 860 at Victoria Beachcomber alone.
• Zanzibar: more than 3,400 holidays.
• What clients said: About 700 clients rated us after their trips between 2005 and 2019 (763 ratings), and our service averaged 4.9 out of 5. Between 2017 and 2024, clients rated their consultant 9.7 out of 10 on average.

How booking with us works

1. Ask. Use the enquiry form, WhatsApp us on 062 082 1262 or email info@exoticvacations.co.za. Beachcomber holidays can also be priced and booked online.
2. Get one price. Your consultant quotes flights, transfers, your room and your meal plan together, in rand.
3. Book. A deposit secures the booking. The amount depends on the hotel and airline. We confirm in writing once it's paid.
4. Pay the balance. It's due 60 days before you travel, unless your quote says otherwise.
5. Before you go. You get your travel documents from us. Travel insurance is a condition of booking, and your passport must be valid for the trip.
6. While you're away. Your consultant is on WhatsApp at 062 082 1262 if anything goes wrong.

How your money is handled

• You can pay the supplier directly wherever the hotel, airline or tour operator allows it.
• Flights on the packages we put together ourselves are ticketed through Sure Travel. On Beachcomber, WLH and other tour-operator packages, the tour operator issues the tickets.
• When an airline failed, we paid. When Air Tanzania collapsed in 2006, and again in 2019, we refunded every affected client from our own funds: about 200 people.
• No booking fee. You pay the price we quote. The hotels, airlines and tour operators pay us, not you.

If you need to cancel

Cancel in writing to info@exoticvacations.co.za. The standard scale is:

• more than 60 days before you leave: you lose the deposit;
• 31 to 60 days: 50% of the package;
• 15 to 30 days: 75%;
• less than 15 days: 100%.

Some hotels and airlines are stricter, and we tell you when they are, before you book. The full terms are on our terms page.

When we work

• Consultants: Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 17:00.
• The website takes enquiries and Beachcomber bookings at any time.

The company

Exotic Vacations is the trading name of Exotic Island and Ski Holidays CC, registration number 2010/020819/23, VAT number 4740204955.