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Don't Waste Your Money
Chile | Dec 27 - Jan 2, 2026

J
James D.
Los Angeles, CA | Reviewed on Jan 13, 2026

I cannot express enough regret for booking my trip to Chile through Kimkim. If it could go wrong, it did. At the end of the second day, every part of my trip that they were responsible had gone south.
Starting with the airport transfer- our driver was a road raging lunatic. With six tourists in the back, he spent over thirty minutes chasing down another vehicle trying to pin it in. He was finally successful and then went to confront the other driver while completely forgetting he had customers in the back. Some of the other travelers were shocked while others were terrified. To me it was beyond unprofessional, and my partner and I ended up having to walk to our hotel
The hotel provided by Kimkim was pleasant except for terribly rude staff. Then our first tour was cancelled with little notice. We were not offered to have it rescheduled or provided a refund. Turning to the second tour, we were promised English speaking guides. When the tour operator picked us up, he told me that he didn’t speak any English and whoever we booked the tour though (Kimkim) dropped the ball because his company did offer English speaking guides. When I contacted Kimkim about this, they said there was an emergency with the English-speaking guide, so we got put on the other tour.
The part of my trip I was looking forward to the most was going to the port city of Valparaiso for New Year’s Eve. After paying in full, Kimkim told us that we could not do that tour on that day because it would be too crowded and we could do a food tour instead. After the second day and the tour going horribly, I reached out to our tour operator and told him to cancel everything and refund the remainder. We paid Kimkim $3,590 for a 7 day tour, cancelled after the second day, and they refunded $370.
After cancelling the remaining trip, I rebooked hotels and went through Viator. It was much smoother with zero headaches. We even made it to Valparaiso on New Years Ever and had an amazing time. I would avoid this company at all costs.

Hotel Review
Hotel Pueblo de Tierra
San Pedro de Atacama

Hotel is nice. Unpleasant is a generous way of describing their staff.

Authenticity & Character
Location
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Activity Reviews
Astronomical Tour - Atacama Desert
Astronomical Tour - Atacama Desert
San Pedro de Atacama

You cancelled this on me.

Baltinache Hidden Lagoons and Vallecito(magic bus).
Baltinache Hidden Lagoons and Vallecito(magic bus).
Chile

Thank you for the guide that didn't speak English, it really came in handy seeing as I don't speak Spanish.

Quality of Experience
Local specialist: Francisco Torres
Francisco
Francisco Torres
Local specialist in Santiago & Quito | Replied on Jan 14, 2026
Dear James,
Thank you very much for your feedback. We appreciate your opinion and always strive to improve our services.
When you told us about your experience during the transfer, we contacted the local operator and some of the other passengers, and they told us that another car hit the side mirror of the van and that later the drivers exchanged their insurance information. I am sure that the sound of the other car hitting the mirror caused an uncomfortable moment, and I apologize for that.... Read more

Dear James,
Thank you very much for your feedback. We appreciate your opinion and always strive to improve our services.
When you told us about your experience during the transfer, we contacted the local operator and some of the other passengers, and they told us that another car hit the side mirror of the van and that later the drivers exchanged their insurance information. I am sure that the sound of the other car hitting the mirror caused an uncomfortable moment, and I apologize for that. I understand that you decided to walk the final distance to the hotel, while the other passengers continued with the van, as it was still completely functional, but we also offered you a private transfer to finish the way.
While you were happy with the hotel itself, it seems you did not connect with the staff and felt that the staff did not treat you the way you expected. We are very surprised to hear that, as we always receive good to excellent reviews about the hotel, including especially the staff, but we take your feedback seriously and have asked the hotel to revise and, where necessary, improve the quality of their customer service.
When the first tour, a stargazing tour at night, was cancelled due to bad weather (you would not have seen much with the night sky covered by clouds) it was rescheduled for the next night. Nevertheless, as you cancelled everything in the morning, unfortunately you could not enjoy the tour then.
You are right about the second tour, the guide who had been confirmed for that tour had to cancel due to an accident, and the guide that replaced him at such short notice did not speak English. We apologize for the inconvenience this caused you, and while you made the trip, we understand that the tour with a Spanish-speaking guide was not what you booked, and we made a full refund of the tour price. Still, you decided not to go on with the rest of the program, which was completely organized, including your excursion to Valparaiso with one of our guides. Of course, we tried to recover as much as possible from the payments made to the different service providers (hotels, guides, transportation), but being a no-show/last-minute cancellation, I am afraid the amount recovered was less than you hoped for.
We are very sad that you decided not to go on with your trip, as we are convinced you would have enjoyed it very much, as so many travelers who leave their feedback here. Nevertheless, we are glad to know you did make it to Valparaiso and had an amazing start to the new year there!

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