lastminute's "Top Secret hotels"

Gaoithin

Hi all,
Sorry if this has been asked here before, but I'm just wondering if anyone has ever booked one of the "Top Secret Hotels" on lastminute.ie? Basically, the scéal is they offer really cheap rates, but don't tell you the name of the hotel til after you've booked - "They are so low we are not allowed to tell you the name of the hotel, until you've completed your booking!"
Now to be honest I was a bit sceptical at first, but am off to Barcelona soon and they're offering a 4* hotel for €55 a night (for two), sounds too good to be true! So have any of you ever used this facility? If so, would you recommend it?
Thanks!

White-Teeth

Hi Gaoithin,

Yes, I have used that website before and it worked out fine. The deal is perfectly legitimate. The reason the hotels are "Top Secret" is because the more expensive hotels don't want cheap prices damaging their rep. They figure it's better to get some money for a room, rather than see it empty.

Gaoithin

Thanks White-Teeth,
I'm sure the deal is legitimate, I'm just always really cautious about booking accomm til I know as much as possible about it!

S.M.B.

I used this offer to book a hotel London but I was able to figure out which hotel it was before I booked.

I ended up getting a great deal.

Gaoithin

Haha, yeah S.M.B., I've been using Google to try and figure out which hotel it is... but there are just far too many hotels in Barca!

fast1

I booked one of these in Rome and it was a 5 star hotel but about 40 mins from the city centre.

I did it again using a few tricks and managed to find out the hotel name before I booked and it was accurate.

What I did was copy the first line of the lastminute.ie description of the top secret hotel. For example "5 star hotel in the centre of town with resturant and views"

Copy this line and paste it into a google search with the inverted commas so the search should look like this

"5 star hotel in the centre of town with resturant and views"

Hit search and it should bring up the exact same description of the hotel if they have that exact sentance anywhere else on the internet.

It worked once for me, but sometimes might not be 100% so use at your own risk!

zAbbo

I used it last weekend, and got The Hilton in London at a great price.

Only 4 & 5 * Hotels are included in the offer, so you're not going to get a bad place at all.

Details here - http://www.lastminute.ie/lmn/pso/catalog/Category.jhtml?CATID=107458&partnerId=9780

markpb

I used one a few weeks ago and ago a 5* hotel on Piccadilly in London for 2/3 of the normal nightly rate. In London at least, they give you the nearest tube station so you can decide if it's convenient or not.