Travel Republic_PNA_SUN_Value for money

Booking through a company with great customer service baked in, cake-makers Nikki and Paul discovered the perfect recipe for holiday peace of mind

PAUL CADBY and his wife Nikki, from Poole in Dorset, love their holidays. Their company Rustic and Retro Cakery keeps them busy all year round – but being able to afford an annual getaway really is the icing on their cake.

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The hotel they’d booked in Marrakech, although luxurious with a water park on site, was breakfast-only. The Oludeniz Beach Resort was all-inclusive – and who needs an onsite water park when you’re bang next to the sea? “Turkey itself offers great value,” Paul says. “Prices have gone up a bit recently but it’s still cheap compared with most places. “We had a lovely holiday taking a cruise down the Dalyan River and a trip to the mud baths. And we hired a pedalo with a water slide, which was great fun.”

Muddy fine ... clean up or cast off in Turkey's Dalyan region, where mud baths and rivers cruises are on hand

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Family value ... the Cadbys – Nikki and Paul, top and Lola, above right – saved hundreds of pounds with the help of their Travel Republic adviser

“We save for holidays all year, they’re our treat,” Paul, 55, says. “Nikki is a real bargain hunter, always seeking out the best value-for-money deals. She knows what day and time to log on to find the cheapest flights – she reckons Wednesdays at 2am is best. “Travel Republic is one of our favourite holiday companies to book with, as they always have great deals on a wide selection of hotels, including five-star places.” So Paul, Nikki and their children Lola, 14, and Elijah, 9, were looking forward to their holiday to Marrakech in May 2022, booked with Travel Republic. But a couple of weeks before, Paul noticed coronavirus travel advice to Morocco had changed on the UK government website and visitors were advised to exercise caution. “That unnerved me a bit,” Paul says. “Then, even though we’d had three Covid jabs, I discovered that all four of us would need to take a PCR test before travelling, with another test on arrival. That put me off even more – if one of us was positive, the holiday was stuffed.”

And that’s what Travel Republic is all about – top quality, super-fun hols with peda-low prices. The company’s Power to the People manifesto commits it to a Lowest Price Guarantee – so if you find your holiday (or hotel) on an Abta and Atol-protected travel website at a lower price than Travel Republic is offering, it’ll match it. Travel Republic’s other pledge is great customer service and, as Paul discovered, holiday heroes like Gavin ensure that promise is kept. Paul only had one grumble about the holiday – the teatime buns served at the hotel weren’t quite as tasty as Nikki’s creations for their bakery back home. But at least with Travel Republic, finding the best deals really is a piece of cake.

Paul rang Travel Republic customer services to ask whether it was possible to cancel the family’s original travel plans and choose another destination. “I didn’t think they’d be able to do much – it was our decision not to go to Marrakech,” Paul says. “In fact, a lovely chap called Gavin answered. He was amazing, so helpful and totally understanding of why we were nervous about travelling to Morocco. “I told him that we love Turkey so he promised to research destinations there and call me back. Within a couple of hours, Gavin had everything sorted. “Amending our four flights and booking new flights to Turkey would have cost around £600 but, because Gavin had negotiated a good deal with a hotel in Oludeniz, a resort we’d visited before, we came out of the swap £200 in credit. “I was impressed – he’d pulled out all the stops to change the holiday and save us money. So, though I’m not usually one for writing reviews, I posted my praise for Gavin on Trustpilot.” In fact, it wasn’t just £200 that Gavin had saved the Cadby family.

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