Is This Deal Too Good To Be True?

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dave62350
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:55 pm

Is This Deal Too Good To Be True?

Post by dave62350 »

My sister is planning a vacation for her family at the NOW Larimar Punta Cana all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic over New Years and has invited my family to join them. She booked rooms through Apple Vacations and got preferred club deluxe king size bed tropical view rooms at a rate of $1,858 per person or $3,716 for a room for two adults.

I always look for deals, so I searched the popular hotel booking sites and found rates close to my sister's. However, I discovered a bargain rate on Tripadvisor at a booking site I knew nothing about, Venere.com. Their room rate is $2,389.31 for a savings of $1,336.00.

I researched Venere.com and found it is a brand owned by Expedia Inc. which also owns the brands Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire and Trivago. Venere.com touts itself as the online hotel reservation specialist in Europe.

I checked for differences between the Venere.com reservation and the reservations from others that would account for the price difference, but couldn't find any. The dates, location, resort, room type and bed are the same. Also, in every case, the bill is prepaid by credit card when the room is booked with free cancellation until 26 December.

I need to reserve three rooms so the savings could be $4,000. My dilemma is I love to save money, but this deal is so good I wonder if it is too good to be true. I cringe at the thought of arriving at the resort with my sister's family courteously checked into their rooms, while my family encounters some unpleasantness when we attempt to check into our rooms jeopardizing our entire vacation.

I want to book the rooms, save money and feel assured that there will be no problems with the reservation. Thanks in advance to Bogleheads for your advice, suggestions or thoughts.
texasdiver
Posts: 3935
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:50 am
Location: Vancouver WA

Re: Is This Deal Too Good To Be True?

Post by texasdiver »

I've done the all expense paid thing to Punta Cana before to attend a medical conference with my wife. I think we actually stayed at that same exact resort. The name sounds very familiar. All the big resorts are pretty much run by American companies. If you are nervous I would just call the resort and ask them about booking through that company. And then perhaps ask the resort if they will match the price offered by Venere. Perhaps the resort will be happy to sell you the rooms at that price and you can just eliminate the middle man and have a confirmation directly from the resort.
NoVa Lurker
Posts: 690
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:14 am

Re: Is This Deal Too Good To Be True?

Post by NoVa Lurker »

I have booked hotels on venere.com before. I never had any issues. But I don't recall ever having to change itineraries, etc., and I don't remember any perks being included (i.e., we weren't doing anything all-inclusive, and I don't think we even had free parking, breakfast, or special room requests) -- those are the scenarios when you often encounter problems with any online booking site.

Good suggestion from texasdiver above. Another approach might be to book the deal on venere.com quickly to lock in those prices, then wait a few days and contact the hotel (preferably by e-mail so that you have a written record) to confirm your reservations and make any specific requests. Then print everything and bring it with you on the trip.
dickenjb
Posts: 2941
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:11 pm
Location: Philadelphia PA

Re: Is This Deal Too Good To Be True?

Post by dickenjb »

And given that venere.com is a European site please double check that the price is in USD and not euro!
dotnet
Posts: 52
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:39 pm

Re: Is This Deal Too Good To Be True?

Post by dotnet »

I learned about venere when I went to Europe. It worked great.
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in_reality
Posts: 4529
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2013 6:13 am

Re: Is This Deal Too Good To Be True?

Post by in_reality »

dave62350 wrote: I researched Venere.com and found it is a brand owned by Expedia Inc. which also owns the brands Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire and Trivago. Venere.com touts itself as the online hotel reservation specialist in Europe.
I like really like expedia.com

I booked Disneyland and another resort in CA (this is an international flight for us), discovered I mistook our dates, canceled, and rebooked.

Of course we got charged for the first booking and had it refunded. There was no trouble though.

Do this. Make the reservation and then call the hotel to confirm. That's what I did. Yeah the hotel had me by name in their system and so I was assured before getting on the plane that we had a place to stay.

So beyond the low price, the things I liked were:

1) The Expedia Hotel Cancellation Confirmation was prompt and specified the exact amount I'd be refunded.
2) The itinerary was very clear. When the airline later changed our flight information, Expedia relayed it very clearly. What it was, and what it is now. Nice to know the layover details well in advance!
3) The confirmation code was accurate. We needed to get an adjusted final bill from a hotel (since our last charged breakfast didn't make it on to the bill when we checked out). Sometime after we got back, I just sent them the confirmation code that Expedia had given me originally and they had it their system and produced our final version [yes we compare paid charges to receipts].

So this is for expedia.com which own the site you mentioned. I both like and trust expedia.

So yeah, I'd book and call the hotel to confirm the details.
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