We heard about Bookbedder thanks to our friend Marie we have met 3 years ago in Cape Verde. A friend of hers, Sébastien, is at the origin of this new project that would be interesting for us in her opinion. And after getting in touch and discussing with him, we were very excited and enthusiastic about this ethical, responsible and fair initiativ that we defnitely wanted to try it out in order to talk about it.

What is Bookbedder?

Launched in 2015, Bookbedder is a collaborative accommodation booking platform. The point is to make the hotel booking process more fair, both to the customer and the hotel owner. The idea here is to bypass the big booking platforms that often ask substantial commissions on each sale to the independent hotel owners. Bookbedder becomes a privileged intermediary between the customer and the hotel and works exclusively through word of mouth. Thus, advertising costs are zero, the commission requested to the hoteliers are more reasonable allowing them to charge lower prices to their customers while benefiting from better margin: everybody wins! The collaborative aspect of the platform is also very interesting as there is a sponsorship system for customers. If you invite your friends to try out Bookbedder they will have a 5% discount on their first booking. And each night they (or you) will book, will be rewarded by one point. After 50 points, you’ll be eligible for a free night! Not bad, right? Well we are head over heels for this concept and we will try to use it regularly during our upcoming trips. We are sensitive to the issues of sustainable economy and therefore we believe that this type of initiative needs to be welcomed and encouraged! To get a clearer picture of the company and its values, take a look at their video below:

Our experience with Bookbedder

So we decided to try out the platform during of our trip to Seville, which we will tell you about in details soon. After many hesitations, research and advices gleaned from Sebastian, it is ultimately the Patio de la Cartuja that caught our attention. They have apartments to rent located in the heart of Seville that seemed to have it all. Once there, we really were not disappointed! Upon entering the hotel, the beautiful and colorful leafy patio caught our eye. It exudes a very relaxing and soothing atmosphere so much that we would have loved to take the time to quietly read a book sitting on one of those pretty wrought iron benches. On the ground floor of the hotel there’s a small restaurant, Tomato Negro, which doesn’t really look like much but has the merit of being convenient if, like us, you’re tired when arriving there. Unfortunately it was closed when we arrived and we chose to eat out for the rest of the stay between visits.

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After exchanging some words in Spanish with the friendly receptionist (thank you high school Spanish course!), we headed to our apartment which was upstairs, on the other side of the patio. We went up with the elevator, turned the key in the lock and there is was : wonder and amazement! Our apartment was huge! A large living room, a separate kitchen, a bathroom and a large double room just for us! What a dream! We were very pleasantly surprised to have so much space and we were looking forward to try out the bed that looked damn comfortable! The decor was simple, a bit retro but definitely not lacking charm and the big convertible sofa was super comfortable. It’s really nice to feel at home abroad and it was yet another sensation than a friendly hostel or a somewhat austere hotel. We loved this option that would perfectly suit a trip with friends or family in the beautiful Seville and all for only € 70/night (depending on time of year), unbeatable! You should definitely check it out!

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We were invited to try out Bookbedder, but all opinions expressed here are our own and we haven’t in any case been subject to the influence of a third party. A big thank you to Sébastien who helped us find this beautiful place!