Travel Republic

[m.dowdi@hotmail.co.uk]

I HAVE USED TRAVEL REPUBLIC 7 TIMES AND HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM BUT VERY HARD TO GET THROUGH TO ON THE PHONE AND NOT VERY GOOD AT E-MAILING BACK

[kaz1958]

I have booked both flight only and also accommodation. Never had any problems. At the moment they had 20% discount. Just booked Hotel America, Majorca for June. 1 week for 2 people. AI Total �317 including card charge. Beat every other agents prices. Some where looking for almost �500 for same.

[margaret65]

Booked last year for 1st time - so satisfied that we did it again this year. No problems - easy booking - booked flights and separate accomodation. Go for it.

[JILL71]

We booked with Travel Republic in September last year for our holiday in August 08. We have just been informed that Med Hotels who supplied our hotel (Kephalonia Garden Village) have overbooked and we have to be transfered to Cephalonia Palace. We cannot find out the type of room we will have at the Cephalonia Palace and no-body at Travel Republic seems to know and are not interested in finding out for us. We can cancel our accomodation but not our flights as they were booked separately, which means we are stuck with what they have offered us. Has anyone else had this problem with booking flights and accomodation separately

[eastleigh]

to all that want to listen, do not have anything to do with travel republic. they say they are not a package holiday. they are!!! they took our booking for the hotel flight and transfers then, when the balance was due, they told us there was a mistake with the hotel they say it is their mistake , ask for more money, then offer a inferiour hotel, we say no, we want our money back, they say no we can only have the deposit back for the hotel we booked, not the flight or the transfers. we went to trading standards and advice from the legal team from which magazine. trading standards tell us it was a package, we had all our money back, which legal advice was very helpful , so beware its a con

[kazl]

just got back from luxor . booked the hotel with travelrepublic , again no problems.

[loretta]

We have book to go to Sharm with Travel Republic. We booked our flights with them (but are flying with XL). We were only given 15Kg each when I phoned we were told it would be an extra �15.00 each to go to 20Kg. Are there any ways of getting round paying this or getting it at a reduced price (there are 4 of us), Also are there any further flight surcharges that we may have to pay?

Cheers

[wilsonjenny]

Hi Loretta - I doubt whether you will be able to get out of paying the extra baggage allowance charge. It is apparent that all charter and low cost airlines are lowering the permitted baggage allowance and it always pays to look at this first. They are all jumping on the bandwagon and charging extra for whatever they think they can get away with. We have booked to go with XL at Christmas and have paid upfront for the additional 5kgs each. Before all this extra charging came into force it was the norm to get 20kgs. RyanAir are the worst for charging for everything, even for checking in at the airport. I don't think it will get any better as all airlines are starting to charge for extras that used to be included just to claw back money any way they can and blaming the high cost of fuel etc etc. If you can wear anything that is heavy. I would love to see people weighed along with baggage but this won't happen. We have booked a hotel and car with travel republic and fly out next Thursday to Crete, so hope everything goes well.

[eastleigh]

travel republic may be the cheapest but be carefull we had lots of problems with them

[Matt Le Tissier]

My advice to those looking to save a few pounds is to book accomodation, flights and transfers/car hire separately.

The first thing to do is decide on options for where you would like to go on holiday.

Then check-out which airlines fly to these resorts. I'm flying to Tenerife with Monarch (cheapest from Luton), but if you wish to fly to other resorts such as the costa del sol (malaga) you can get great deals with easyjet, bmi etc. Also factor in and check airport parking (if required) as this cost can offset any saving from a particular airport. Birmingham internation have great airport parking prices and the sites away from the airport that provide a shuttle bus are really good. Flying from Birmingham would have worked out cheaper for my booking in combination with the airport parking, but the flight times from luton (not a night flight) were preferable.

Sorting the flights direct with the airline gives greater peace of mind in my opinion and i'm a bit of a worrier about the whole internet malarky so if you'reikeme i'd definitely recomend this.

Once you've sorted your flights and booked them book your accomodation. TravelRepublic worked out cheapest for where i wanted to stay, but it's swings and roundabouts. SunshineHolidays have been recommeded to me and they are cheap too for example. Use a site like travelsupermaret to get rough ideas, but don't book using them as of course you don't get anything for nothing. In short try and deal with the organ grinders, not the monkeys.

Now you've got your accomodation and flights all you have to worry about is transfers/car hire. Not a problem. All airports have shed loads of taxis outside and they're not a rip-off (in mot cases) like in the UK. Just make sure you agree a price before using them and you'll probably get a faster, cheaper transfer than incorporating this in your booking.

Car hire is also best done separately. Go on travelsupermarket and you'll get a rough idea. Personally i'd stick with either booking car hire direct with a reputeable firm, or by using a reputeable agent i.e easycar or holidayautos. I have used the latter so can vouch for them. The prices offered change all the time with each company periodically being cheapest so before you book don't rely on any old research.