Has anyone used Travel Republic.ie for hotel?

Spanish Eyes

Hi,

Just saw a great deal for an hotel in a place I want to go to.

I've never used them before, so just wondered if anyone out there has good/bad experiences of this site?

Thanks.

coylemj

Ring the hotel, tell them about the deal you've been offered and ask them to match it. If they tell you that the price is crazy, do not engage with that crowd.

In many cases these intermediaries take bookings online, people pay them upfront, then turn up at the hotel only to be told that the hotel has no knowledge of the booking and haven't been paid so the would-be guest is sent packing.

netbeatz

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Hi,

Just saw a great deal for an hotel in a place I want to go to.

I've never used them before, so just wondered if anyone out there has good/bad experiences of this site?

Thanks.

I have used travelrepublic.ie countless times. Never had a problem with them - always did exactly what they said on the tin

Highly recommend them

keane16

netbeatz wrote: »

I have used travelrepublic.ie countless times. Never had a problem with them - always did exactly what they said on the tin

Highly recommend them

+1 Used them countless times for hotels in Europe and US never had an issue and always very good prices.

Spanish Eyes

Thanks for the info.

Much appreciated.

kingshankly

Probably my favourite site to book hotels never had a problem

Berberis

We used them 2 years ago for hotel in majorca, Got a great deal at the time, hundreds cheaper than booking direct with the hotel.
I emailed the hotel the next day to confirm that we hd a booking there through travel republic and they emailed back to confirm that we were booked and to just bring our travel republic voucher with us when we were checking in.
We even managed to arrange with hotel to reservein what part of hotel we would like our rooms

Swissarmyknife

Im in the same boat as the OP,looking at Travel Republics short city breaks,the flight is with aer lingus,and is €20 cheaper than their own advertised flight,while the hotel is €110 cheaper compared to the hotels website.
Looks a bargain,and maybe it is,but has anyone had any experience booking a short city break with them?

GampDub

A big fan of Travelrepublic, used them dozens of times and always the cheapest option I've come across!

Would have no problem recommending them!

Philip42

Ok, just had a recent bad experience with Travelrepublic.ie. I had used them before and cancelled hotels with them before with no problems, but recently made a one night booking for a stag in a hotel in Kilkenny. The plans fell through so I went to cancel (this was with about ten days notice. I was told there would be a 20 euro admin fee charge for cancelling because I didn't give at least 14 days notice. I argued that the hotel themselves allowed me to cancel up to 24 hours before my stay but Travelrepublic said this was their charge for cancelling with less than 14 days notice.

The thing that annoyed me was, they actually wrote and stated that the twenty euro charge for cancelling was detailed on my CONFIRMATION slip! ie I didn't become aware of this until I had paid for the hotel! It's only a small amount but it was only for a one night stay so worked out a third of my money for absolutely nothing.

Just seems pointless booking with a company that have this restriction when there are so many travel search engines with the same price but with no penalty.

Incidentally, I don't remember this charge before with them eventhough they maintained it was always there.

When I phoned and asked them to reconsider the charge I received an automated email stating my refund minus their "admin fee". It just seems like sharp practice to me.

Sofiztikated

Philip42 wrote: »

Ok, just had a recent bad experience with Travelrepublic.ie. I had used them before and cancelled hotels with them before with no problems, but recently made a one night booking for a stag in a hotel in Kilkenny. The plans fell through so I went to cancel (this was with about ten days notice. I was told there would be a 20 euro admin fee charge for cancelling because I didn't give at least 14 days notice. I argued that the hotel themselves allowed me to cancel up to 24 hours before my stay but Travelrepublic said this was their charge for cancelling with less than 14 days notice.

The thing that annoyed me was, they actually wrote and stated that the twenty euro charge for cancelling was detailed on my CONFIRMATION slip! ie I didn't become aware of this until I had paid for the hotel! It's only a small amount but it was only for a one night stay so worked out a third of my money for absolutely nothing.

Just seems pointless booking with a company that have this restriction when there are so many travel search engines with the same price but with no penalty.

Incidentally, I don't remember this charge before with them eventhough they maintained it was always there.

When I phoned and asked them to reconsider the charge I received an automated email stating my refund minus their "admin fee". It just seems like sharp practice to me.

To be honest, http://www.travelrepublic.ie/terms-and-conditions/agency-terms.aspx T&C's.

Booking websites have to make their money somewhere. They sell reduced room rates, hotels pay them a commission, cancellations wipe out that commission.

Philip42

Sofiztikated wrote: »

To be honest, http://www.travelrepublic.ie/terms-and-conditions/agency-terms.aspx T&C's.

Booking websites have to make their money somewhere. They sell reduced room rates, hotels pay them a commission, cancellations wipe out that commission.

Yes, that may be the case, but these are automated computer systems. Do you really believe there is a lot of manual intervention involved in organising these bookings that warrants them hanging onto some of the customers money? So, the customer cancels - is that not the same as a customer bringing back an item to a shop after Christmas and getting a full refund? Also, I don't feel having these charges buried in their t&c's is fair to the customer. We can't get away from the fact that most other similar companies don't charge a cancellation charge and I wouldn't have used TravelRepublic if I had been aware of it.

Sofiztikated

Philip42 wrote: »

Yes, that may be the case, but these are automated computer systems. Do you really believe there is a lot of manual intervention involved in organising these bookings that warrants them hanging onto some of the customers money? So, the customer cancels - is that not the same as a customer bringing back an item to a shop after Christmas and getting a full refund? Also, I don't feel having these charges buried in their t&c's is fair to the customer. We can't get away from the fact that most other similar companies don't charge a cancellation charge and I wouldn't have used TravelRepublic if I had been aware of it.

The reason there are charges is because hotels have a certain amount of rooms. They have to maximise profits on these rooms. You booking this room at a reduced rate stops someone else booking the room at a higher rate. Cancellation charges are ways to ensure that you don't cancel this room, leaving it vacant and unprofitable.

Manual interaction comes in the form of reservations agents, reservation managers, revenue managers. It's a fairly big industry.

More and more hotels enforcing these charges now, maximising revenue.

The booking agent is a middle man in this instance. Should they shoulder the charge because of a change of mind? Of course they won't. They'll pass it on to you, and more often than not, add on a bit, because they are losing their commission paid to them by the hotel.

The way to circumvent these charges are to book directly with the hotel, agreeing to pay a higher charge. Hotels generally extend a more flexible cancellation policy directly to the public, because the rate is higher, and more profitable.

I don't work for this booking agent.

Philip42

Sofiztikated wrote: »

The reason there are charges is because hotels have a certain amount of rooms. They have to maximise profits on these rooms. You booking this room at a reduced rate stops someone else booking the room at a higher rate. Cancellation charges are ways to ensure that you don't cancel this room, leaving it vacant and unprofitable.

Manual interaction comes in the form of reservations agents, reservation managers, revenue managers. It's a fairly big industry.

More and more hotels enforcing these charges now, maximising revenue.

The booking agent is a middle man in this instance. Should they shoulder the charge because of a change of mind? Of course they won't. They'll pass it on to you, and more often than not, add on a bit, because they are losing their commission paid to them by the hotel.

The way to circumvent these charges are to book directly with the hotel, agreeing to pay a higher charge. Hotels generally extend a more flexible cancellation policy directly to the public, because the rate is higher, and more profitable.

I don't work for this booking agent.

Hi. I take your points but it doesn't answer the fact that other booking agents don't choose to charge customers this when they cancel and I'm 99% certain that TravelRepublic didn't do this either up until recently but no way of proving this. Obviously if you make a 500 euro booking for hotels, a twenty quid charge won't figure in your equation if you need to cancel but if you only book one night it could represent a significant percentage of your cost.

The bottom line is TravelRepublic do charge and others don't and it isn't made clear until you receive your confirmation email (obviously clear).

I won't use them again personally. Before you say it, I know that it won't register as a blip on their profits. In fact I asked the customer service rep in TravelRepublic why would anyone use them when they charge an admin fee for cancellations, when there are so many companies that don't charge, to which she replied "we've got lots of customers", the implication being that I didn't count. Well, I just don't feel it's a wise way of doing business in this economic climate. Twenty quid in the bank and one disgruntled customer- not really worth it in my opinion.

Sofiztikated

Philip42 wrote: »

Hi. I take your points but it doesn't answer the fact that other booking agents don't choose to charge customers this when they cancel and I'm 99% certain that TravelRepublic didn't do this either up until recently but no way of proving this. Obviously if you make a 500 euro booking for hotels, a twenty quid charge won't figure in your equation if you need to cancel but if you only book one night it could represent a significant percentage of your cost.

The bottom line is TravelRepublic do charge and others don't and it isn't made clear until you receive your confirmation email (obviously clear).

I won't use them again personally. Before you say it, I know that it won't register as a blip on their profits. In fact I asked the customer service rep in TravelRepublic why would anyone use them when they charge an admin fee for cancellations, when there are so many companies that don't charge, to which she replied "we've got lots of customers", the implication being that I didn't count. Well, I just don't feel it's a wise way of doing business in this economic climate. Twenty quid in the bank and one disgruntled customer- not really worth it in my opinion.

I pulled that from their website, not from an email confirmation.

I can link to other websites as well, if you want.

Lastminute http://www.lastminute.com/lmn/banner/ie/help/terms-and-conditions-ie.html?POSITION=replaceme#linkhotels Section D, point 3.
Expedia http://www.expedia.ie/p/support/reservations-terms-and-conditions Section 2.2

It's always there. Always has been. All found within 2 minutes looking at the T&C's. I know, I know, they're the least read thing on the internet, but whether or not you read it or not, ignorance of the fact doesn't remove responsibility of the act. Whether or not they have pursued the charge is down to the individual company.

As I mentioned, the only way to circumnavigate these charges is to book directly with the hotel. But you'll pay a higher price for the priviledge.

Is it wise in this economic climate? (I hate that term, by the way. I feel dirty just using it in response to you.) Limit their loses or potentially lose more business. All depends on which is the bigger risk to revenue. Unfortunately, a lot of these business look at it like this. If you are shopping around on price like this, then it's a lot harder to guarantee your repeat business. Chances are you might use them one or twice, but should someone come along with a better price, you'll easily go with them. You are not brand loyal to them. If they lose out on their commission, and on cancellation charges, it still won't solidify your loyalty to them.

Some places do take the piss with the time on their cancellation policies. But when they tell you before you book, which they do, and you continue to book, then there isn't a whole lot of come back.

fehenry

Hi,
I’ve noticed this thread just now so I hope no one will mind me re-opening it again.
I have been using TravelRepublic to check out some flight+ hotel deals and, while some of the search returns interest me, I can’t figure out how to make a reservation online.
I can’t find a booking process associated with any of the hotels I’ve looked at so I guess I’m missing something that should be obvious.

Could someone please tell me how to go about making a booking with this company?

kerry4sam

fehenry wrote: »

Hi,
I’ve noticed this thread just now so I hope no one will mind me re-opening it again.
I have been using TravelRepublic to check out some flight+ hotel deals and, while some of the search returns interest me, I can’t figure out how to make a reservation online.
I can’t find a booking process associated with any of the hotels I’ve looked at so I guess I’m missing something that should be obvious.

Could someone please tell me how to go about making a booking with this company?

Hi there,

Well I don't mind you re-opening this thread anyways.

~ Click into travelrepublic.ie
~ On left panel, fill in details i.e. location, dates, num pax etc
~ List of hotels appear & You chose your one (you'd like to book)
~ Chose the room-type & click select room
~ On next page, click continue to next step if you're okay with t&c
~ Input all details requires eg name; address; cc details
~ Click boxes at end for t&c etc and click book now
~ Receice confirmation e-mail

Hope that helps you,
kerry4sam

Twickers

Have used them once.
Were efficient, got what I looked for.
Recommend them

fehenry

kerry4sam wrote: »

Hi there,

Well I don't mind you re-opening this thread anyways.

~ Click into travelrepublic.ie
~ On left panel, fill in details i.e. location, dates, num pax etc
~ List of hotels appear & You chose your one (you'd like to book)
~ Chose the room-type & click select room
~ On next page, click continue to next step if you're okay with t&c
~ Input all details requires eg name; address; cc details
~ Click boxes at end for t&c etc and click book now
~ Receice confirmation e-mail

Hope that helps you,
kerry4sam

Thanks very much.
I knew I was overlooking something simple but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
I was in too much of a hurry at the time to think clearly.
It was a case of “The more the hurry, the less the speed,” as the old saying put it.:)