The figure beside a listing is a starting point, not a price. Across the 469 retreats in this directory, the headline "from" rate is expressed in around ten different ways. Most are nightly rates for a room, but more than sixty are quoted per person with meals and activities folded in, and a handful are priced by the villa, the lodge or the week. Two numbers that look alike can end up thousands apart once you establish what each one covers, and for how many people.
The nightly room rate, and what it leaves out
The most common basis, and the default in Britain and most of Europe, is a rate for the room per night, whether one or two people sleep in it. Within that there are gradations: room-only, bed and breakfast, and dinner, bed and breakfast (often called half board). Where a listing simply says "per night", read it as a room rate and check what, if anything, comes with it.
Ellerman House in Cape Town is a clean example: it is listed per room per night on a B&B basis, from around US$1,220. Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti is also priced by the room, from about US$950 a night, which is unusual among the directory's African safari lodges, almost all of which quote per person. A room rate in the middle of a national park invites obvious questions: are meals included, are game drives, what about park fees?
A plain nightly figure can also conceal more than it suggests. Amangiri in southern Utah appears at around US$3,900 per night, which reads like a room rate; its entry notes that the rate covers every meal for the two guests in each suite.
Per person, and per person sharing
Outside the European hotel model, per-person pricing is common: it is standard on safari and usual in New Zealand's lodges and Japan's ryokan. "Per person sharing" means the price for each of two people in one room, so a couple pays double, and solo travellers should expect a single supplement.
This is where headline comparisons go wrong. La Residence in Franschhoek is listed per person sharing on a B&B basis, from around US$714. A couple is therefore looking at roughly US$1,428 a night, more than Ellerman House's per-room figure, although La Residence's rate also takes in snacks, the minibar and a fair selection of drinks. In Namibia's Damaraland, Mowani Mountain Camp is quoted per person on half board, from about US$440: breakfast and dinner, with lunch and drinks worth asking about.
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons contributors — select to enlarge for full credits.
"All-inclusive" is a spectrum
The phrase stretches a long way. At Mara Plains Camp in the Maasai Mara, from around US$1,745 per person, the entry puts meals, premium drinks and laundry within the rate, along with morning and afternoon game drives. Singita Sasakwa Lodge, on a private concession in the western Serengeti, is listed per person all inclusive from about US$2,550.
Set that against the Four Seasons in the same ecosystem. For two people, Sasakwa's headline works out at around US$5,100 a night against US$950 for a Four Seasons room. The gap is real, but it is not a like-for-like comparison until you add everything the room rate leaves out.
New Zealand's lodges tend to use "inclusive" more narrowly. Rosewood Matakauri above Lake Wakatipu is listed per person all inclusive from around US$1,050, and its entry spells out what that means: drinks and canapés before dinner, four courses at the table, breakfast the next morning and the contents of the room's minibar. That is a generous dinner, bed and breakfast rather than a safari-style package, so ask about lunch, wine with dinner and excursions.
Whole-house pricing
Exclusive-use properties are priced by the unit, and the only sensible comparison is per head. Alfajiri Villas on Kenya's Diani Beach are let per villa per night, from about US$1,500, each staffed, with a private chef and pool; divide by the size of your party before setting it against a hotel. Amhuinnsuidhe Castle on North Harris is sold only by the week, from £29,200 for exclusive use, with the salmon fishing and a day's stalking for red deer in the tariff. On the standard let of twelve guests that comes to roughly £350 per guest per night for a staffed castle, which changes how the headline looks.
The extras outside the headline
Even a clearly defined rate may not be the final bill. The usual candidates:
- Taxes. In the UK, prices to consumers normally include VAT; in the United States and many other markets, sales and occupancy taxes are added at the end. In parts of Asia and the Indian Ocean, rates marked "++" have service charge and government tax still to come.
- Local levies. Many cities and regions charge a tourist tax per person per night, sometimes collected on arrival or departure.
- Service and gratuities. Some hotels add a service charge; on safari, tipping guides, trackers and camp staff is customary and rarely in the rate.
- Park and conservation fees. National park entry, conservancy fees and conservation levies may or may not be included. Mara Plains, for instance, notes a nightly per-guest levy that funds the Great Plains Foundation; ask whether charges like this are in the rate or added to it.
- Getting there. Light-aircraft, boat and seaplane transfers are frequently billed separately.
- Festive terms. Christmas and New Year often bring longer minimum stays, and at some resorts compulsory gala dinners.
Season matters too. A "from" rate normally reflects the quietest period: Mara Plains notes lower green-season rates from April to mid-June, while Ellerman House charges its premium rates from December to February.
How to compare like with like
Reduce every option to the same unit before deciding: the total cost for your party, for your dates, including taxes and the meals and activities you would otherwise pay for. In practice, convert per-person rates to your party size and per-villa or per-week rates to a per-person, per-night figure. Note which meals, drinks and activities each quote covers, and price in the gaps. Ask directly about taxes, service charges and park or conservation fees, and check the currency, the season and any minimum stay. Then get the final quote in writing with the inclusions listed.
The prices in this directory are indicative starting points rather than quotes, and they move with season, availability and exchange rates. Use them to build a shortlist, then confirm the detail with the property or your travel adviser.
