Travel Republic - Beware!

Stinicker

I'm just making this thread to warn people not to book anything with Travel Republic www.travelrepublic.ie due to the disgraceful way they recently treated my Cousin and her Boyfriend last week. Incidentally they were directed to Travel Republic by Trivago.ie

She booked a hotel in Dubai the Citymax Hotel Al Barsha Dubai and paid by Debit Card online to Travel Republic, around three weeks before Departure.

Anyway's her and her BF flew out to Dubai last Thursday morning and took a taxi to this hotel they had booked. The Hotel in Dubai had absolutely no record of the booking and refused to let them checkin. This was at 7am Irish time.

Due to the time difference they originally tried to get the issue sorted themselves and had rang Travel Republic but were given no satisfaction only told that someone would ring them back. Eventually they started to get worried and texted me at 7am which I didn't see for another hour as I was still sleeping. I had booked their flights and am usually the goto guy in these sort of online emergencies.

I rang Travel Republic and quoted them the reference as I was able to login to my cousins email from here as she gave me the passwords. Then I discovered that Travel Republic only act as some sort of Intermediary for Jumbo Tours a Spanish Company who according to Travel Republic should've made the booking for them.

I was given more baloney over the phone how they were working on it and that they'd call me back to try get the issue sorted. It was by now 10am and my cousin and her boyfriend had been sitting in the lobby of the Hotel for the previous 4 hours already waiting for phone calls to get it sorted. I had offered to book them into the same hotel separately myself at a cost of over €200/night except the hotel had no availability as they were wrecked having flown 8 hours to face this drama. Last minute Hotel Rooms in Dubai similar to what they had booked were ranging around €200/night anyway so rather than give up they decided to dig their heels in and wait it out until Travel Republic eventually did something about it.

Eventually I got a text from them that some guy from Travel Republic had rang them and promised to ring them back soon to get it resolved. An hour later and no contact.

In the meantime I had rang Travel Republic 5 times from here and stressed the extreme nature of the problem and how a speedy resolution was needed ASAP. And finally as we were getting nowhere I went online to twitter and started tweeting their twitter about my disgust with their company.

Eventually my cousin texted me that Travel Republic had made contact with them and asked them to move to an Ibis hotel in a different more non-central part of the city and they would be booked in there for the next 4 nights as they had a 4 day stopover in Dubai enroute to Australia with Emirates Airline. They lost almost 8 hours and effectively lost their first day in Dubai because of the mess this company created for them. 25% of their trip ruined.

Travel Republic then had the absolute cheek to offer them a 15% reduction and that they'd refund for the Taxi from the Citymax Hotel Al Barsha to the Ibis Hotel. Anyone who travels will tell you that Ibis are a bargain budget Hotel and this represented a considerable downgrade from what they had bought and paid for. Nothing wring with the Ibis but imagine paying for a Mercedes Car only to be told you had to settle for a Nissan Micra instead!

Travel Republic and their agents Jumbo Tours are an unreliable company who take your money and do not deliver what you booked. The 15% discount offer was a total and utter disgrace considering they had to wait almost seven hours before the issue was addressed and then to be put into an inferior hotel.

My cousin arrived in Australia today and they discovered that contacting Travel Republic and receiving their calls back had cost them €117 in roaming charges on Vodafone. Inevitably they were kept on hold for several minutes by this incompetent company.

Travel Republic should be liable for these charges and should re-imburse them back at least 50% of what they paid not the paltry 15% and Taxi cost they originally agreed to. And if they had any morals as a company they refund back most of not all what the booking cost.

I'm really wondering what should be their next course of action or if they have any recourse on this?

foggy_lad

On their return they need to detail all their additional costs including calls as well as the difference in cost between the two hotels and add this up. Then they need to email and "Write" to travelrepublic.ie and make a claim for the extra costs and ruining of their stay in Dubai. give the company a reasonable time/10 days to refund their quite reasonable costs before taking them to the small claims court.

Our Address:
Travel Republic,
Alexandra House,
The Sweepstakes,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4

apparently they claim to be ATOL protected so it should be easier to claim.
https://www.travelrepublic.ie/terms-and-conditions/agency-terms.aspx

9. We have arranged ATOL protection for Flight-Plus Holidays (defined below) booked through Travel Republic and our ATOL number is 10581. A Flight-Plus Holiday is where you purchase through us, at the same time or within a day of each other, a flight plus overseas accommodation and/or car hire from separate Travel Providers and as separate bookings (i.e. not a package holiday).

Tippex

foggy_lad wrote: »

On their return they need to detail all their additional costs including calls as well as the difference in cost between the two hotels and add this up. Then they need to email and "Write" to travelrepublic.ie and make a claim for the extra costs and ruining of their stay in Dubai. give the company a reasonable time/10 days to refund their quite reasonable costs before taking them to the small claims court.

Our Address:
Travel Republic,
Alexandra House,
The Sweepstakes,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4

apparently they claim to be ATOL protected so it should be easier to claim.
https://www.travelrepublic.ie/terms-and-conditions/agency-terms.aspx

Just so that you are aware ATOL is a uk based program and only applies to packages that originate in the UK. If the flights were booked seperatly (not as a package) you would not be covered under this program.

Stinicker

The flights were booked direct on emirates.com and the Hotel separately on travelrepublic.ie

says on their site

Travel Republic acts as agent for a vast range of travel providers. We do not sell package holidays, each product is booked separately by you with the travel provider and creates a contract directly between you and the provider of that product.

ben.schlomo

Its a good lesson in who you are booking with really and always read the t's and c's. Travel Republic should be offering to cover costs and refund a larger portion of the cost of the hotel too though.

the_syco

reick wrote: »

Travel Republic acts as agent for a vast range of travel providers. We do not sell package holidays, each product is booked separately by you with the travel provider and creates a contract directly between you and the provider of that product.

I'd wonder about this, as if they take your money, surely your contract is with them, for you never booked the holiday with the hotel, etc?

slimjimmc

the_syco wrote: »

I'd wonder about this, as if they take your money, surely your contract is with them, for you never booked the holiday with the hotel, etc?

I'm not so sure. I see it as being similar to buying insurance through a broker. You may pay the broker but the money goes to the insurer and the contract is with the insurer.

The OP says there was a travel agent in the middle. Without seeing the ad it's possible that the travel agent promoted the hotel on TR's website and the booking should have went from TR to the Travel agent who should have then booked the hotel.
If TR done their bit then imo they've fulfilled their end (assuming their T&Cs are considered fair) and the focus should go onto the other parties.

Tippex

The easiest way to look at this is who processed the payment Tr or jumbo tours? Whichever company processed the payment is the merchant or record and that is who you should deal with.

I will also advise you to read this if you are taking this further http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/honeymooners-lose-case-for-damages-290580.html