The Ghana Debate: She Loved It, I Hated It. Here’s 4 Reasons Why

Posted By Marie JetLife Vacations on December 2025

By Marie, CEO of JetLife Vacations
Voted Best Travel Agency 4 Years in a Row

So yesterday I had a whole conversation with somebody about Ghana. And babyyyy when I tell you she said, “Marie, I loved Ghana!” Meanwhile I’m sitting there like… “Girl, I hated Ghana.”

And before y’all start clutching your pearls, let me explain.
We had two completely different perspectives. Hers was the JetLife customer experience — mine was the “running a luxury travel business while trying not to lose my mind in Accra during COVID” experience.

From the customer side, she was glowing.
She’s like, “Marie the energy! The nightlife! The people! I loved everything!”
Alright cool — I’m happy for her.

From my side? Nightmare. A thriller. A P-DIDDY documentary. A case study. And I know y’all been begging to go to Ghana, so let me go ahead and spill the tea on why this lady keeps trying to convince me to go BACK… and why I’m still side-eyeing the whole thing. But I’ll let the people decide.

1. Detty December. The Beyoncé of Ghana Trips ✨

Everybody and their cousins, ancestors, and spirit guides pull up to Accra in December.
Now y’all know me — I take accommodations very seriously.
I am a stickler for the details.

Accra has two hotels I’d even consider touching.

Kempinski and Labadi Beach Hotel.

Now look… Labadi is cute. But JetLife cute?
It’s giving 3.5-star in JetLife land.
And before one of y’all says, “Marie I don’t care where I stay as long as I can sleep and shower,” let me stop you right there.

Yes.
You.
Will.
Care.

Because three of my customers had NO AC. For TWO DAYS. And Ghana heat is not regular heat… It’s open-the-oven-door-and-lean-in heat. It’s “why is the sun personally attacking me?” heat.

2. The Handler I Had to Hire (Yes, Really) 💼

Now listen… this part deserves its own chapter, because I literally had to hire a handler in Ghana.

A whole human being whose full-time job was to help me navigate, handle logistics, and cuss people out on my behalf so JetLife didn’t fall apart on foreign soil.

From a business perspective, it wasn’t optional.
Imagine sending over $100,000 to a country across the ocean for a group of 60 people… and just hoping everybody does what they said they were going to do.

So yes — his fee was $15,000, to cuss people out DAILY.
Was it worth it?
For my JetLife customers… absolutely.
Because without him? Whew. It would’ve been a whole different story, and not the cute kind.

3. Kempinski. The Luxury Gateway of “I Know You Lying.” 💸

Kempinski in December STARTS at $700 a night.
Starts.

And during Detty December?
It shoots all the way up to $11,000 a night because the wealthy Black Africans, celebs, influencers, their glam squads, their cousins, and everybody else are staying there.

Now let’s be real…
If I have to secure rooms at those prices, that means I would have to charge you no less than 8K per person.

Do you really want to pay $8,000 for Ghana?

Exactly.

4. Villa Experience? Absolutely Not, Babes 🚫

The water in Ghana is delivered to villas like Amazon packages — big tank in the back. It works fine… until it doesn’t.

Now imagine we pull up, music playing, JetLife vibes flowing, and then boom — water shortage.
No shower. No toilet. No nothing.
And please trust me when I say:
You can scream, cry, stomp, throw yourself on the ground — NOBODY is coming anytime soon.

From a business standpoint, guaranteeing a luxury experience in those conditions?
Huge risk.
And y’all know I take pride in JetLife!

So Here’s Where I Stand ✈️

I can do Ghana… but NOT during Detty December. It’s too chaotic, too expensive, and too unpredictable for the level of luxury JetLife is known for.

BUT — If we did Ghana in November or August? We could stay at Kempinski, get good rates, and have the full JetLife Experience — without the headaches, the no-AC surprises, or the water-tank roulette.

So tell me this… do y’all REALLY want Ghana? 🤔

If you’re going with anybody, it should be with JetLife.
Because I know the behind-the-scenes drama, the risks, and how to prevent a vacation from turning into a horror film.