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RussiaMarch 2022 was overshadowed by heavy sanctions events for Russia, which, as usual, primarily affected tourism and travel. In the "sanctions frenzy" against the Russians, the most popular international search and booking systems for hotels and housing Booking.com Agoda, AirBnB, Trivago, as well as other foreign sites completely closed the possibility of booking hotels and accommodation in the territory of the Russian Federation and Belarus. All previously created and confirmed reservations are canceled, prepayment for reservations is refunded (at least, this is stated by the systems). At the same time, you can still search and book hotels and accommodation outside of Russia and Belarus.
Of course, this is very unpleasant news for travelers, but by no means tragic. After all, for many years there have been and successfully operate domestic search and booking systems for tourist accommodation throughout Russia, including Crimea, which was previously sanctioned. We have been using them for a long time and we can say with confidence that they are no worse than popular international systems, and sometimes even better. So, in most cases, prices in Russian systems are lower, the support service works faster and in Russian. There are also Bonus systems that allow you to save points for subsequent bookings.
We have compiled a selection of proven and reliable search and booking systems for accommodation and hotels in Russia. Booking.com and others. We advise you to save this page in bookmarks, and use it during your travels:
- Hotellook.ru is a metasearch engine for hotels from the creators of the most popular Russian flight search engine Aviasales. Hotellook can be fully used instead of Bunikga, because it is looking for many other hotel booking systems and accommodation, including foreign Booking and Agoda, which allows you to choose the most profitable option. This is our choice for searching and booking, and therefore we use and recommend you Hotellook.ru primarily.
- Sutochno.ru - a cool system for finding and booking accommodation from private owners with a guarantee of settlement. It has been working for more than 10 years and during this time has established itself as very reliable, safe and convenient. In "Sutochno" there is a good bonus system: bonuses in rubles can be received for reservations and reviews left, and use them for new reservations. We actively use "Sutochno", especially when you need an apartment or house for a family trip with all the amenities and personal space.
- Yandex.travel – Yandex travel planner with hotels, hostels, tickets. There are many options, a lot of reviews about objects, a good filter with search conditions, you can use your own cashback system, and, of course, high reliability. There is nothing more to add, you just need to try and use.
- Ostrovok.ru - an old Russian system that has shown its reliability and convenience over the years. The results of hotels from the "Ostrovok" are in Hotellook.ru so today it makes a lot of sense to search separately on the website of the "Ostrovok".
- Dolphin Tour Operator – so far there are few hotel options, and those that exist are mostly expensive hotel complexes. But on the website of "Dolphin" you can immediately search for tours, hotels, resorts, cruises or excursions in the direction you need to choose what is more profitable and interesting for you.
- Turum – search and booking system originally from Crimea. Basically, there is private housing and mini-hotels in the Crimea and the southern regions of Russia. Quite a good search engine, you can safely use.
- Avito.ru - this is the most popular bulletin board, and now there are private ads for renting real estate for a short time with online booking. Sometimes you can find very good prices, but there are problems: a lot of ads with incorrectly stated prices and refusals of online payment and confirmation, and therefore a lot of deceptions. Therefore, be careful and do not agree to prepayment by transfer not through the Avito system, otherwise you may lose money and be left without a roof over your head.
- Mirturbaz is a specific and unique search engine where you can find and book online accommodation at campsites and recreation centers. As a rule, such objects are located outside the city, and therefore "Mirturbaz" is suitable for road travelers and lovers of outdoor recreation.
Here's what else I want to say in conclusion. Possibly joining the sanctions against the Russians Booking.com Agoda, AirBnB and Trivago will return to the Russian market after some time, although it is now completely impossible to guess when this will happen. But even if this happens in the very near future, the credibility of these search engines is very much undermined. After all, many tourists and travelers have suffered greatly from such a sharp and inadequate step to priotsanovke work. Therefore, we advise you to get used to the new realities and travel with Russian companies so as not to suffer from another round of tension and sanctions.
And just in case, we recall that all foreign companies do not work in Russian jurisdiction, and therefore at any time can "throw" the Russians not only with the cancellation, but also with finances, as was already the case during the pandemic. Then foreign airlines, flight and hotel search engines simply appropriated the money of Russian customers, knowing full well that there was nowhere for Russian citizens to apply for legal compensation.