Website of the week: www.gekko.com

By FRED MAWER
Updated:

I've reviewed quite a few hotel booking websites on these pages, but Gekko
claims to be a bit different. Says Michel Cassius, Gekko's chief exec: "Our
aim is for users to stop searching and start finding their kind of place."

Here's how. You state the city you're planning on visiting, then name a
hotel you know and love - and presto, you're shown a selection of places to
stay in your chosen city that are similarly desirable to you.

Mr Cassius is unwilling to reveal quite how it all works, beyond the fact
that it's down to a special algorithm developed from the predilections
expressed in a global survey by 7,500 hotel guests.

So, can Gekko deliver? I put it to the test.

Ritz doorman

To your taste: Gekko.com promises to find the hotels that best suit you

Strengths

I imagined that I was after a hotel in Barcelona. I've visited Madrid
recently, and came across a great little trendy but affordable hotel called
Abalu. Would Gekko be able to come up with somewhere similar in Barcelona?

In a word, yes. It picked out hotels such as Chic & Basic Born and the
Market in the Catalan capital, which I know are intimate, trendy and
affordable, as I've visited them.

Other plus points. The process is incredibly easy (two clicks basically).
You can make several selections from the suggestions offered, and compare
the rates and facilities of your hotel choices side by side on a single
page.

The information on each hotel is clear and detailed, there are
TripAdvisor punter reviews for second opinions, and the booking agencies
used - Expedia and Booking.com - are two of the biggest players.

Gekko website

Consumer-friendly: Fred fund the website inspiring and easy to use but it does not yet cover enough travel destinations

Weaknesses

With the Barcelona example, I was given a match of 26 hotels. That's way too
many to be really helpful, and, from my first-hand knowledge of some of the
hotels, not all were a close match in style to Abalu.

Despite the fact that Gekko boasts of having a database of 130,000 hotels in
184 countries, currently you can search for hotels only by city, and not by
area.

So, for example, I discovered it's useless for finding an appropriate
place to stay on a Caribbean island.

Moreover, only certain cities are covered by the matching service at the moment - about 100 popular ones will be by the end of this week, says Mr Cassius. That said, the website is still being developed, and its coverage will gradually increase over the coming weeks and months. Likewise, more booking agencies will be added.

Ratings

Inspiring 4/5
Useful 2/5
Easy to use 3/5


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