On Saturday 20th March 2021, my husband and I sat down with our friends, who were to be travelling with us to the NT to plan our 10 day round trip to/from Darwin down through Katherine and Kakadu, starting this weekend on 11th July. This would be our first ‘holiday’ since Covid began and we were really looking forward to it.

Our first 2 nights were booked via a phone call to Banyan Tree where [Removed name] was pleasant and took my credit card details and booked us in. At no time did she mention any cancellation policy, including when I asked her to email me a confirmation of our booking.

When I phoned Banyan Tree last Monday 28th June to discuss our 2 night booking with them and the current Lockdown situation in NSW(which has no been extended) - asking if we could get a credit or move to another date, I again spoke to [Removed name], who turned very aggressive very quickly and informed me that ‘my online booking’ was non-refundable, had a no-cancellation policy and was non-transferable and that they were completely booked out for the remainder of the season. She advised that she was ‘sick of covid’ (we all are) and although she is completely booked out for the rest of the season, she could not refund me or offer me anything else – her attitude was appalling. All other accommodation hosts in the NT have been extremely kind and have offered us full refunds wished us well and hope to see us again, leaving us with a very favourable view of most NT people. However, Banyan Tree on the other hand took our money in full 3 months ago and were verbally abusive and extremely unhelpful on the phone when I tried to reason with them.

There are a small number of people/businesses who are abusing the system regarding Covid and profiting from others in unfortunate circumstances and it appears that Banyan Tree are a prime example of doing exactly this.

I did not book through any website, I booked directly through Banyan Tree by phone and was not made aware of any policies that they had in place at the time they took my booking and my money, so legally I believe I am entitled to have my money refunded especially since admitting to having full reservations for the entire holiday season

Finally, I note on Trip Advisor and Google reviews that we are not the only customers they are not refunding or giving credits too – Banyan Tree are so dishonourable, you should be ashamed!

We booked a powered site and had no problems with the park. The people running it were very friendly, welcoming and professional. The park offers shady sites and charge reasonable prices. We happened to be there on a night they were putting on a FREE BBQ for the guests.
If we are ever in the area again, we'll definitely stay at Banyan Tree!