Fantasy holiday in Mauritius turns out to be fantasy indeed

A week in Mauritius - in one of its most idyllic hotels, and including airfares - for just R10,000 per person: who wouldn't snap up that deal?

That was the promise of a package holiday marketed in the Cape and Gauteng that turned out to be too good to be true.

Attorney Dirk Kotze from Bellville in Cape Town, got a WhatsA pp from a friend advertising the deal offered by Travel-ibiki agency in Mossel Bay - seven nights' stay in the four-star La Pirogue Resort and Spa, with three meals a day, return flights from Johannes burg and airport transfers for just R9,900 per person. A trip like this with flights and accommodation would usually cost more than R50,000 per person.

"I was immediately suspicious of the low price," Kotze said, "but my friend said his mom knew the agency owner, and it was all legitimate, so I went ahead."

He paid a R13,000 deposit to Travel-ibiki in March to secure the package for himself, his wife and their two young children, departing in late December.

Still dubious, he checked the status of his bookings with Air Mauritius and the hotel and that's when he realised it was bogus, and shared his findings with Travel-ibiki owner Mart-Marie Pretorius.

"Then I got a call from a Michelle Botha of Avenues Travel in Pretoria, who appeared to be the source of the deal. She was emphatic that it was a legitimate deal, saying 'several' others had already booked the package and that even she was booked to go in December," he said.

Pretorius refunded Kotze and is left out of pocket, she told the Sunday Times.

It was tour operator World Leisure Holidays that lifted the lid on the rogue offer, having got wind of the "bargain" being marketed.

The company has exclusive selling rights in South Africa to a number of Mauritian resorts, including La Pirogue .

Beside the fact that "no other agent can legitimately sell bookings for [that hotel] in South Africa, R9,900 for a week's stay with meals and airfares is impossible", said World Leisure Holidays MD Ramesh Jeenarain. "If that deal was legitimate, it would be about 12 times cheaper than any other package specials to this destination - the hotel accommodation alone would be more than R50,000 per person for the week during the December peak season.

"We are very concerned that people who have paid for this holiday for their families are going to arrive at the airport and discover their bookings aren't valid," Jeenarain said.

"I confirmed with the hotel that there was no such accommodation booked, and the flights as quoted did not exist," said the operator's marketing relationship manager, Cathie Bester.

Contacted for comment, Botha said she did not initiate the deals but refused to say who did.

"Everyone has been refunded, so no one is going to arrive at the airport and find they have no bookings," she said.

Bester told the Sunday Times that she had received a call from a "Cindy van Rooyen" who claimed to be a director of Avenues Travel and who said the deal was sourced by another director at the company but would no longer be marketed.

This week, industry publication Travel News Weekly, in an exposé on bogus package holidays, established that the number for "Cindy van Rooyen" led to Kim Robbertse. Robbertse made headlines in 2015 in connection with an alleged travel scam.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila confirmed that Robbertse was arrested in November and released on bail of R10,000. Her case has been postponed to September.

Robbertse told the Sunday Times that she wasn't involved with Avenues Travel or the new Mauritius package.

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