http://www.travelrepublic.co.uk/

I found this website from one of the reviews in tripadvisor and I was shocked with the prices they offer. Usually rates from one website to another are pretty similar (bookings, venere, the actual hotel website, etc). This site though offers reallyyyyyyy lowwwwwwww prices so I wonder if anyone has used this site before. I am planning a trip to amsterdam for April 17 thru 20 2008 and Ive gone everywhere and I could not find a rate for relatively "good" hotels for less than 130 euro per night. This site shows 4 star hotels for 120. How do they do that? I really am not looking for an explanation on how they do that. I want to know if anyone has used this site and some feedback before I book. Thanks

I posted this in the UK group even if I am traveling to amsterdam since this site is based in the UK.

Though I work at a hotel and see that some of our "neighboring" hotels are listed on the site, I've not heard of this booking agency. We receive solicitation emails from booking agencies (new ones) frequently, offering to get registered, etc.

I do notice all prices are per person, meaning that 4 star hotel could be much higher. I was a tad concerned when I read some of the faqs on hotel bookings. But that's not to say it's not legit! It looks to be that they make their money off the deposits paid, and not hotels paying a commission. I suppose they can offer low prices in the same way that Superbreak was able to offer a three-nights-for-price-of-two when no other website had that offer.

I know this didn't answer your question, and I can only speak to the hotel aspect. They must deal a lot with Spain, because every time I hit "home" it reverted back to Spain being the country listed to choose.

I have heard of them - mostly in relation to people from the UK putting their own Mediterranean beach holidays (ie 2 weeks on the Costas) together, rather than buying a package from one of the big companies. This might explain Maria's comment about Spain being the 'default' country. Can't comment about their service/reliability or reputation, though.

As mentioned, their prices are per person, so no big deal for Amsterdam.

If you want a good deal in Amsterdam, I'd suggest Priceline or Hotwire, although you will possibly sacrifice location. For example, a commonly "won" Priceline hotel is the Moevenpick, which is not quite in the city center, but it is certainly a nice hotel and frequently available for less than $120 USD all-in. See betterbidding.com for more details.

Twice I've been lucky finding good deals with the Best Western Eden (and I've heard of good deals with other Best Western hotels), but rates can also be very high. These deals were found at the BestWestern.com site and at booking.com .

In searching for good hotels rates I have found that also, sometimes tied to an asterisk,per person. In general, that pushes the price way beyond other properties. IMHO that is really trying to deceive the consumer so I never bite.

I haven't looked at the website, but as someone who works in travel daily I agree that pricing per person for 'regular' hotels in the UK is pretty sneaky. There are places in the world that do price "per person," such as elegant manor houses in the UK or old-line hotels in Switzerland that also include dinner, but it is by far the exception for normal hotels in the UK or anywhere else to give their costs that way, and it makes me not feel good about that website.

On the other hand....see this article that makes it sound at least legit... www.travelmole.com/stories/1122192.php
But, this one shows just over a 50% satisfaction rate from past users -- not acceptable in my book!
www.reviewcentre.com/reviews94353.html

Best wishes,

A friend of mine used this site for a hotel in Portugal recently and was most satisfied.

Hi RobinD.

I visited this site and noticed that the prices are listed in British Pounds not Euros and they are per person. People in the U.K. might have good luck with this site but, with the low value of the dollar, I would hesitate to use it in the U.S. at this time.

When I visited Amsterdam a couple of years ago, I found that I got the best price by using the hotel's own website.

I stayed at Hotel Piet Hein and was very happy with it.

Good luck with your search.

Tracey

Hey you all,

Thanks for shaking and waking me up to these facts that I totally missed. I guess I was just so tired and frustrated with searching for hotels in all these different websites so when I found these rates I jumped up and down. First I realized that it was GBP so I said hmmm well thats still cheap then i saw some of your comments that it was per person and then theres the deposit that you really cannot fully take back so forget that. Thanks you guys for all your inputs and as for me, I need to get back searching. Ill check that hotel Jetbuny1.

Hi again RobinD,

Piet Hein was a wonderful place to stay. And I would stay there again.

The only problem was that our window opened to Vondel (sp) Park so we had some street noise.

It was unseasonably
hot outside so we had to keep the open window open. I don't believe that would be a problem in April.

hope this helps,

Tracey