Travel planning is supposed to be fun, right? That’s what I think and what the team behind Routeperfect agrees on. They are a free travel planning website that allows you to be your own travel agent and save you time in their one-stop shop. They go beyond a normal booking site, and what makes them unique is that they really do create an itinerary specific to your interests and requirements and use a bundling technology that allows you to get 20% off hotel rooms when you book it all at once.

Easily Plan and Book Your Dream Trip With Routeperfect

The trip planner uses a unique algorithm to generate a personalized itinerary that focuses on what interests you and what will make the trip special for you by. It takes into account your interests, travel preferences, vacation type, transportation method, and budget. Check out this little video to get a peek at how it all works.

What I like from this video is that she says she is finding the “optimal trip for the time I have and what I love doing”. When you’re planning a trip, It’s so hard to find a balance between doing all of the “key” things and also not driving yourself crazy when you are short on time (and I would know, I’ve planned hundreds!). Maybe that famous museum that is a “must-see” will bore you to death. You have to do what is right for you. So, I like that you can decide what interests you, and if culture and history don’t, but beaches and food do, say it – then you get to say so!

Let’s try it out…

I love reviewing travel booking sites because I get to “pretend” to plan a trip and this site is a really fun one to play with. To start, I quickly made an account to use the Routeperfect free trip planning tool.

I decided to plan a trip in Italy and France because I haven’t been for so long. I wanted to do a mid-range (moderate) priced solo trip – because who doesn’t want to travel in Europe solo!? I chose public transportation because when I’m alone abroad, I don’t like to rent a car (I always worry I’ll get in a wreck and locals will yell at me or I won’t be able to parallel park somewhere).

What did I slide up? Small towns, culture, food (of course), and beaches.

What did I slide down? Nature, historic places, and nightlife. I never focus on nightlife on a solo trip and nature (trekking, hiking) alone is no fun for me.

Once you put in your dates and location, you can see a temporary trip that is generated for you. You can then start playing with the sliders and the itinerary will change accordingly. You can add or delete destinations as well according to how long you want to spend in each city.

I decided to start in Rome and end in Paris (that is what I put in) but I also wanted to see some small towns on my 10-day trip. So, the system gave me those two main cities and it then filled in the extra time with small-town vibes. If I had entered something else or had a longer time to travel, it would have added even more little towns.

I think adding these lesser-known places is what makes Routeperfect a unique platform. I was short on time and it would have taken me ages to find alternative destinations to visit, and how would I have known they were the best smaller towns to include? Routeperfect suggested a place called Vivey, which I hadn’t heard of. I looked it up and it’s a beautiful and small “commune” in France. I also haven’t been to Milan and love to shop so that’s a great suggestion, too.

Finding a hotel in Rome and Paris would probably be a nightmare, and they would also take a lot of time to explore, so I was really happy to see 3 nights in both cities. I have a feeling that’s part of their technology – giving you more time in big places and less time in smaller ones, which is smart.

They add in the full itinerary of what to do in each place. You can also “save” trips within their site so if you like what pops up but wonder what choosing “luxury” will get you, you can save the current trip, and then go back and change your preferences. Everything is also available as an app so you can look at your itinerary in full while you’re on the go.

How does the hotel discount work?

“Customers save up to 20% on their trip because Routeperfect allows access to hidden (Opaque) rates by bundling hotels together as a package. The access to this discount is possible as each individual hotel rate is unknown.”

The itinerary came to $753 for 9 nights / 10 days which was about $85 per night. Considering that Rome and Paris were two of the cities, that seems very fair.  The hotels listed were not 5 stars but that is because I chose to stay at moderately priced places. You can see the reviews which link out to TripAdvisor so you can see if the hotel is a match for you. They then suggest the hotel that seems the best option for you but you can change this easily by purusing other hotel options.

They actually have their own technology that they use for this and it took them 4 years to get it down!

What could be improved with Routeperfect

Right now, Routeperfect has a vast of European inventory, which includes many places I’ve never heard of. Every day they add more places and it’ll be great to see some more inventory added within Asia and the USA.

The information listed for each place is written by their team and links you to Wikipedia and top-rated things to do from TripAdvisor. From there you can then look and see what you want to do and where you want to eat while in you are in each town – they don’t make a daily itinerary but they do give you the resources to find the best places.

I also wasn’t sure if train tickets were included in the price, and reached out to customer service to find out. It’s only hotels that are included for now, but they are working on adding transportation which will be up in the next few weeks. Once transportation is added (rental cars and local trains and buses) it will surely be a “one-stop shop” which is pretty exciting.

Who is Routeperfect good for?

• People looking for good hotel deals (I love the trip planning but I think this is the main benefit)
• People who don’t want to waste time looking for those deals and just want to book it all at once and be done
• Those who want to use a travel agent but don’t want to pay for it (that is essentially what this is)
• People who want a trip personalized to their interests and enjoy discovery (maybe to some places they haven’t heard of).
• I would say solo millennial travelers would enjoy using this tool based on the fun, interactive style of the website
• If you want to discover new places but only have a short time frame to do it
• If you want everything planned in advance so you can just relax on your vacation

Pin this review of Routeperfect for later:

Join my email list and get exclusive updates & news straight to your inbox. 

I will never give away, trade or sell your email address. You can unsubscribe at any time.

SUBSCRIBE!

You have Successfully Subscribed!