The combination of easy internet access and whiz bang behind the scenes technology allow customers to compare prices from all the best airlines, hotels and other providers of travel products. Customer internet searches clearly chasing value (“cheap holiday Majorca” or “cheap holiday Spain”) increased over 152% in 2009. Holiday makers are now working to a budget and want to fix their costs in advance – hence the boom in “all inclusive” holidays seen across all countries.

For all that, there is one cost holiday makers cut time and time again which we think is just simply a mistake. Over 1 million people travel with Travel Republic every year and that means we have access to an amazing number of holiday stories. Happily, most holidays booked through Travel Republic are a great success. Sadly, sight over so many holiday experiences also teaches us that things can go wrong.

Unfortunately, the events and mishaps we have in mind are not really things we can do anything to help you avoid. Holidays are meant to be about fun and happiness and perhaps because of that we don’t expect things to go wrong. We have seen it argued that holiday makers themselves play a role in this, pointing out people tend to drink a little more, care a little less and perhaps end up taking more risks as a result. Ultimately though, accidents happen because accidents happen.

The key difference is that a serious sudden illness or injury in the UK will give you immediate access to the NHS, which for all our grumbling, is a pretty effective healthcare operation with no charges on usage. If you are abroad at the time, on top of the trauma itself, costs can be another massive stress. Depending upon the scale of the treatment required this can be substantial – for example, an air ambulance home from the Canaries could cost £15,000 to £20,000.

Our view is simple – enjoy your holiday and expect to have a great time, but just in case your number is up, always make sure you and your party have travel insurance.

The Tenerife carnival starts in a couple of days time on Friday 12th February, with the opening parade in the evening. From then on it is non-stop action right through to Sunday 21st February. The streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife are flooded with musicians and dancers dressed in brightly coloured costumes, parading before lively carnival goers, often in equally outrageous costumes. The party goes on late into the night!

Watch out for the Carnival Queen, who is due to be chosen today.

A mid-point in the festivities will be reached on Thursday 18th February, with the “entierran la sardina” (burial of the sardine) when the carnival is officially dismissed. But don’t worry, it starts again the following weekend, known as the weekend of “piñata”, culminating in a massive firework display on Sunday evening (21st February).

The Tenerife carnival has a long tradition on the island, and was banned during the Franco era. However, it still went ahead, thinly disguised as a Winter Festival. They couldn’t stop the people of Tenerife celebrating this colourful and lively tradition then, and they can’t stop them now!

There are huge numbers of flights to Tenerife from many UK airports and a limited number of flights to Tenerife North itself. Grab a flight and book a Tenerife hotel or a Tenerife apartment in one of over 30 resorts featured by TravelRepublic.

The Tenerife Carnival is waiting for you!

In answer to the all important question how much is a pint of beer in Iceland the answer is £3.60 according to our favourite beer comparison site www.pintprice.com. This compares very favourably to the average price of £6.00 in that other Northern Lights favourite Norway and is only slightly north of the average price of a pint in London (£3.20).

Hotels are also now great value, with hotels in Reykjavik being the first port of call for most visitors. We just did a sample search and came up with the following absolutely amazing rates for a 3 night stay in February

Cabin hotel in Reykjavik – 3 star – £57 pounds for 2 people – that’s less that 10 pounds per person per night

Loftleidir hotel in Reykjavik - 4 star – £75 pounds for 2 people – a nice 4 star hotel for just £12.50 per person per night

You can fly to Iceland with Icelandair from Glasgow, Manchester and London Heathrow, all at great prices.

Some of you will be pleased to know that McDonalds pulled out of Iceland last year. Iceland joins Albania, Armenia and Bosnia Herzegovina as the only countries in Europe with no trace of the Golden Arches!

Onto the Northern Lights. BBC programmes like Joanna Lumley in the land of the Northern lights (admittedly filmed in Norway, the land of the £6 pint!) should whet your appetite. They are one of the natural wonders of the world and there’s never been a cheaper time to check them out.

When you’re there, Northern Lights Tours are easily found and relatively inexpensive. Reykjavik Excursions has daily tours from £24 and Iceland Excursions from £30. Remember, as with all natural phenomena, you can’t guarantee a sighting, but you will often be offered another tour the next day if nothing is spotted. The best chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis is between October and March.

The Northern Lights in Iceland are a joy to behold – cross them off that ‘to do’ list now!

My recent sortie was rather depressing. I walked right past the location where the Borders branch once proudly stood, occupying a commanding position next to the historic market square. I arrived at Waterstones only to find that they didn’t have the book I was looking for. They offered to order it for me but said that it would probably take about a week to arrive. I politely declined, walked home and ordered the book on Amazon. It arrived the next day.

I’ve rather reluctantly concluded that this experience was probably the end of the road for me in terms of popping into my local town centre to buy a book. Borders (my favourite by some distance) has gone and Waterstones seem to devote so much space to books from celebrity chefs that there’s no room left for the business and marketing books which I’m looking for (yes I probably should find some other interests!)

Waterstones was widely expected to benefit from the demise of Borders, as the collapse meant that they became the only specialist bookseller with High Street stores across the UK. However, yesterday the HMV group (which Waterstones is part of) put out some very disappointing numbers showing that same-store sales in Waterstones declined by 8.5% in the five weeks to 2 January.

Waterstones and other book stores are clearly under enormous pressure from the supermarkets and the likes of Amazon. If they didn’t have enough to contend with electronic reading devices such as the Kindle are also becoming more and more popular.

I do wonder what all of this means for the travel industry though. The days of spending an hour or two in the travel section of the local bookshop and coming away with three or four travel books to read before making a final decision appear to be coming to an end.

Maybe there’s an opportunity in all of this? Perhaps it’s time for us to open our first high street shop, piled high with great travel agents and the best travel books, guides and maps. In fact come to think of it I know just the place …

Paul Furner – Travel Republic

Processions take place day and night with up to 20 floats telling the story of this year’s carnival theme, the “Blue Planet”. The floats all converge on the Place Masséna in an explosion of colour and gaiety. More than a thousand musicians and dancers from across the world perform in the dazzling parades.

The Promenade des Anglais, so long the playground of the rich and famous, forms the backdrop upon which the flower battles take place. From floats strewn with all manner of flowers, extravagantly dressed performers, dancers and singers create floral showers, consisting of such beauties as mimosas, gerberas and lilies.

Lasting more than two weeks, the carnival turns Nice into a fairy tale destination. Book your trip and let the Carnival of Nice transport you away from the snow and slush here in the UK!

TravelRepublic can offer everything you require if you plan on visiting the Carnival:

Flights to Nice to get you there!
Hotels in Nice to stay in!
Transfers, car hire, insurance, airport parking!

An alternative to staying in Nice for the Carnival would be to holiday in Cannes. Nice is easily reached by the train that runs along the coast. Cannes SNCF station is very convenient for the Croissette where most of the hotels are.

Finally, you can get tickets in advance from the Carnival website for the special events/parades, or buy them on the day from temporary ticket offices on the parade circuit. These open 2 hours before start time.

Kick start Spring with a visit to the Carnival in Nice!

In the case of the footballers from Peterborough United and the rugby stars of Warrington Wolves, the reigning Rugby League challenge cup holders, the answer appears to be to catch a flight to Tenerife for some warm weather training. There are also unconfirmed reports that a number of the QPR squad were spotted in Linekers Bar in Tenerife at the weekend enjoying a few ‘isotonic’ drinks.

Peterborough are rock bottom of the Championship and are clearly hoping that some hard training and a holiday in Tenerife will transform their season. Their next match is on Saturday 16th January against Derby County. We will be watching with interest to see whether the Tenerife sun has had the desired effect.

Warrington Wolves return from Tenerife in time for a friendly match with Leigh Centurions on January 17. They open their Super League campaign on Sunday February 7 against Harlequins.

If you fancy taking a leaf out of their book and heading to Tenerife at the first opportunity, there are some amazing flight deals to be had on our website (prices are current at time of writing).

Flight from Luton to Tenerife – Fri 15th Jan – £69 per person
Flight from Bournemouth to Tenerife - Fri 15th Jan – £70 per person
Flight from Gatwick to Tenerife – Thurs 14th / Fri 15th / Sun 17th Jan – £70 per person
Flight from Stansted to Tenerife – Fri 15th Jan – £70 per person
Flight from Glasgow to Tenerife – Sun 17th Jan – £80 per person
Flight from Birmingham to Tenerife – Sat 16th Jan – £104 per person
Flight from Manchester to Tenerife – Fri 15th Jan – £119 per person

With hotels in Tenerife from £10 per person per night a 7 night break for two can come in under £20 per person per day when you add the price of the flight and the hotel together. A week in Tenerife could prove cheaper than the gas bill in the current climate!

By the middle of August the story had even caught the attention of the BBC – Tourists face car hire shortage.

The recommendation this year is to book early.

In order to help you on your way, TravelRepublic is able to offer cheap car hire prices for those prepared to book now, but you need to be quick!

Our car hire partners have reduced rates by 25% in a number of destinations, for a series of 48 hour periods, as follows

USA
Tue 12 – Wed 13 Jan

Italy
Thu 14 – Fri 15 Jan

Ireland
Sat 16 – Sun 17 Jan

Portugal
Mon 18 – Tue 19 Jan

With worries about the strength of the £ in the coming months another factor to take into consideration, it would be prudent to take advantage of one of these sales to get your car hire booked early.

The sales last for 48 hours for each country.

With snow falling throughout the UK, and forecasters predicting the onset of several weeks of freezing weather, we thought it might be helpful to list what we think are the UK’s 12 highest pubs. If you too fancy the idea of 72 hours or so stuck in a remote country pub you could do a lot worse than head for one of these at the first opportunity!

Tan Hill Inn, Swaledale, North Yorkshire
1,730 ft

The Cat & Fiddle Inn, A537 between Buxton and Macclesfield
1,690 ft
Webcam

Traveller’s Rest, near Flash on the A53 between Buxton and Leek
1,500 ft
Webcam

Kirkstone Pass Inn, between Patterdale and Windermere, Cumbria
1,480 ft

The New Inn, Flash, Derbyshire
1,470 ft

Royal Cottage, on the A53 between Buxton and Leek
1,470 ft

Wanlockhead Inn, Wanlockhead, B797 Dumfries & Galloway
1,440 ft

The Mermaid, on the A53 near Leek, Staffordshire
1,440 ft

Winking Man, on the A53 between Buxton and Leek
1,440 ft

Sportsman’s Arms, A543, between Bylchau and Pentrefoelas
1,430 ft

Warren House Inn, Postbridge, Devon
1,421 ft

Miners Arms, Nenthead, Alston, Cumbria
1,410 ft

So, without further ado, which hotels received the best reviews during 2009? When reviewing a hotel customers are asked to rate their experience from 1 (Terrible) to 5 (Excellent).

1. Villa Cortes Hotel in Tenerife
   Average Rating: 4.87
2. Corinthia Grand Royal Hotel in Budapest
   Average Rating: 4.81
3. Turquoise Hotel in Side, Turkey
   Average Rating: 4.81
4. Eden Mar Hotel in Funchal, Madeira
   Average Rating: 4.81
5. Elysium Beach Resort Hotel in Paphos, Cyprus
   Average Rating: 4.79
6. Qubus Hotel in Krakow
   Average Rating: 4.79
7. Concorde De Luxe Resort Hotel in Lara, Turkey
   Average Rating: 4.78
8. Tivoli Marina Vilamoura Hotel in Vilamoura, the Algarve
   Average Rating: 4.77
9. Costa Los Gigantes Suites And Spa Resort Hotel in Tenerife
   Average Rating: 4.74
10. Pestana Alvor Park Hotel in Alvor, the Algarve
    Average Rating: 4.74
11. Iberostar Costa Calero Hotel in Lanzarote
    Average Rating: 4.74
12. Bitacora Hotel in Tenerife
    Average Rating: 4.73
13. Arona Gran Hotel in Tenerife
    Average Rating: 4.72
14. Cordial Mogan Playa Hotel in Gran Canaria
    Average Rating: 4.72
15. Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas
    Average Rating: 4.71
16. Las Marismas De Corralejo Hotel in Fuerteventura
    Average Rating: 4.7
17. Porto Bay Falesia Hotel in Albufeira, the Algarve
    Average Rating: 4.7
18. Mare Nostrum Hotel in Tenerife
    Average Rating: 4.68
19. City Inn Westminster Hotel in Westminster, London
    Average Rating: 4.68
20. Marina Luz Hotel in Majorca
    Average Rating: 4.67

* To be eligible a hotel needed to receive 25 or more reviews during the year.

Many congratulations to the 20 hotels listed above, which have clearly delivered an excellent customer experience to Travel Republic customers during 2009. Given that we now have over 70,000 hotels on the website a spot in the top 20 is an amazing achievement.

If you’re looking for inspiration about where to stay during 2010 then why not have a look at the reviews of these hotels?

“We arrived to the hotel early morning, and was amazed at what we where pulling up to. It looked better than the pictures. The reception staff where very warm and welcoming, they gave us everything we needed know. The room was more than we expected, with a lovely balcony, mini bar, bath and shower with very comfy beds. The views by the outdoor pool where breathtaking, with orange cliffs and sea views. The food was lovely, we never had a horrible meal once, just perfect.”

Just one of the reviews of the Porto Bay Falesia Hotel in Albufeira, for example – sounds pretty tempting to us!

We then checked the home page of the BBC news website and saw that it too was carrying the story. A quick search for Monarch airlines on Google right now reveals that the link to the Monarch website at the top of the organic search results has been displaced by the news story and its array of damaging headlines

“Monarch Airlines has hit back at bookmaker Paddy Power for running a book suggesting it could be the next carrier to collapse.”

“Monarch Airlines denies it is in financial trouble‎”

Now put yourself in the shoes of a potential Monarch customer. Are you feeling nervous yet? Is that alternative flight which you were looking at, albeit a few pounds more expensive, suddenly looking a lot more attractive? It’s not hard to imagine that a potentially significant proportion of people seeing these headlines are going to be more than a little concerned.

Let’s do the maths for a moment. The bookmaker states that it has taken a hundred bets and the odds have shortened from 50-1 to 4-1. The Telegraph reports that the potential payout is £7,000. Say the average odds were 7-1 (the average was probably higher). This means that a hundred punters have bet ten pounds each on the carrier’s demise. It’s not exactly a wall of money is it? Indeed, if you were being very cynical you might wonder, given the pick up in bookings that many travel companies experience at this time of year, how many of these bets were placed by Monarch’s competitors.

This form of betting should be outlawed. A very small number of people, betting tiny sums of money, coupled with a quick press release from a publicity seeking bookmaker now have a highly regarded carrier hugely on the back foot. Monarch has been around for over 40 years and employs nearly 3,000 people. Tim Jeans, Monarch managing director, has said “If people make their travel decisions on the back of what an Irish bookmaker thinks, I need to rethink my business plan. It’s not helpful but it’s tomorrow’s chip paper.”

Let’s hope he’s right and that this story fades as quickly as it has come into view. However, something does need to be done so that Mr Jeans, and the CEOs of other airlines, can be left to devote their energies to something a bit more worthwhile than dealing with the backlash from this irresponsible form of bookmaking.