Nobody Does It Better (octopustravel.com)

Member Name: meah

Product:	octopustravel.com
Date:	28/07/03 (1414 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Website is clear and easy to use, Cheap prices, Travel Guides

Disadvantages: Most of the hotels are in Europe

With offices in London, Sydney, Osaka, Hong Kong and Los Angeles and special rates on more than 15,000 hotels in 112 countries, Octopus Travel (www.octopustravel.com) is one of the biggest hotel discounters on the web. I first discovered them through their affiliate scheme with easyjet and have had absolutely no cause for complaint since.

BOOKING YOUR HOTEL

Their homepage is split into three vertical sections, general information on the left (travel guides, currency converter, weather reports and passport/visa information), special offers on the right and booking facilities for hotels, excursions, apartments and group bookings (nine people or more) down the centre. Everything is clearly spaced and, with the choice of translation into German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French, Chinese and Japanese, extremely user friendly. The travel guides are particularly helpful - written by independent experts and covering more than 200 destinations from Amsterdam to Zurich and Xian to Bangalore. I especially like the See & Do sections, with discount vouchers, opening times and up-to-date information on closures and special exhibitions. There's even a selection of useful phrases with phonetic spelling to help your pronunciation.

The booking process is simple. Drop-down boxes allow you to select your country of residence and the currency you wish to see prices displayed in, your destination, check in date and the length of your stay. You then select your room type and number of beds from a list that helpfully includes both single and twin for sole use options. Another interesting feature is the 'Special Events in this City' search, allowing you to time your stay to coincide with or avoid major events and peak periods.

The available hotels are listed vertically, cheapest at the top, with details of facilities, location, star rating, meals included and price (including all taxes and charges). The confirmation status will be either Immedi
ate or On Request. In the case of Immediate bookings the rooms are held exclusively for Octopus Travel, who will send you a confirmation email within a few minutes of your booking and forward your name to the hotel 72 hours before arrival. On Request means that no pre-assigned rooms are available, in which case Octopus Travel will contact the hotel to check availability. You're guaranteed a reply within 48 hours - an alternative will be offered if the request is unsuccessful. Before you proceed any further you can also view a more detailed report on each hotel, giving information on location, number of rooms, type of food served, the lobby and a general overview. Click on the camera icon to the right of the hotel name to view photographs of the exterior, reception, restaurant and bedrooms.

The remainder of the booking process takes a maximum of five minutes, including an option to request adjoining or non-smoking rooms and to notify the hotel of a late arrival (after 7pm). Payment can be made using American Express, Visa, MasterCard and all UK Switch and Debit cards. If it's your first booking, you'll need to enter your home and billing address; if you've booked before your email address will suffice. You will then be given a unique booking number and an account that can be accessed using an email address and password.

YOUR ACCOUNT

Each individual account is accessible from the site's home page. As well as a list of all previous bookings this is also the place where your hotel voucher can be found, which you'll need to print off and present when you check in to your hotel. It's not quite as professional looking as other companies - Hotel Connect (www.hotel-connect.com) send you a glossy pamphlet for each hotel as well as your booking confirmation for instance - but this is reflected in the price, which is usually at least a couple of pounds cheaper than similar sites. As well as the booking details the voucher
also has a basic map showing the hotel's location.

CHANGING BOOKINGS

Amendments cost £10 if made more than 72 hours prior to departure rising to £20 for last minute requests.

There is a 24-hour cooling-off period on all bookings made more than 72 hours in advance of arrival. After that, cancellation charges start at £20.

CONTACT DETAILS

Their call centre is open 8 - 10 Monday to Friday and 9 - 5 at weekends. Calls are charged at national rate.

0870 9090191.

You can also send an email to customerservices@octopustravel.com

Remember that in the case of Immediate bookings your name will not be forwarded to the hotel until 72 hours before your arrival. If you have any problems before then, you'll need to contact Octopus Travel.

OTHER SERVICES

Aside from hotels you can also book sightseeing tours on the site, searching by city, date and language. A quick search under Acapulco brings up a boat ride on the Coyuca Lagoon costing £46.75 for six and a half hours. Closer to home, I found a York City sightseeing tour for £5.75.

The Apartments service is new so there is no on-line booking facility just yet. Locations include France, Cyprus, Italy and Spain and bookings can be made through the Call Centre.

MY EXPERIENCE

As I said at the beginning, I've used Octopus Travel on several occasions without any problems at all, as have my two sons. The prices are very competitive, the hotels I've used have all been clean and well located, and there is ABTA protection if anything does go wrong. I'll definitely be using them again.

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