Frequently asked questions

The main difference is that R-U combines technology, access to the professional travel market and personal support.

Public booking services mostly show dynamic rates that are open for sale. R-U additionally works with offers from Russian tour operators, international B2B platforms, DMCs, direct hotel partners and other professional suppliers.

The same hotel, room category and meal plan can have a different price, payment and cancellation terms, privileges and even availability depending on the source.

R-U compares the available options and helps you choose not just a free room, but the best offer for your particular trip.

A personal manager and a team stay with every trip and support you before, during and after it.

Yes. In some cases the difference between a public rate and a professional supplier's offer can reach 30–40%.

This does not mean that every booking with R-U will necessarily be cheaper than any price on the internet.

Our job is to check the sources available to us and find the best combination of price, terms and inclusions at the time of booking.

Sometimes the main advantage is the price. Sometimes it is a more convenient payment schedule, cancellation terms, a better room category or included services. And it is always the additional privileges and the support of R-U.

If you have already found a cheaper offer, just send it to your manager. We will check whether the room category, meals, taxes, transfers, cancellation terms and other parameters really match, and compare it with the options available to us.

Besides the prices a hotel offers in open booking systems, there are rates for tour operators, DMCs and other professional participants of the travel market.

Their terms can be agreed in advance and differ from the hotel's public price.

That is why the same room for the same dates can be offered at different prices and on different terms through different channels at the same time.

Some of these offers are confirmed instantly, and some require an additional availability check with the supplier or the hotel itself.

On the contract market, availability and special terms are not always updated in real time.

In that case R-U sends a request to confirm the specific room, price and terms. The check usually takes from a few hours to a day.

As a result the offer may be confirmed in full, the supplier may update the price or offer another room category. Sometimes the chosen option becomes unavailable in the meantime.

If the terms change, we always agree them with you first. Nothing is confirmed automatically.

We do not consider a high rating a sufficient reason to recommend a hotel.

R-U Collection is our own hotel guide, which we are gradually building on the site. At the start it will hold a limited number of hotels and destinations: the quality of the selection matters more to us than the size of the catalogue.

The R-U team visits hotels regularly, tests them first-hand, inspects different room categories and the facilities, talks to the teams on site and shoots our own reviews.

The guide can also include hotels we know well from working with our clients, from their strong reputation and the quality of the product itself. What matters to us is not only how a hotel looks, but how its team handles guest requests and reacts to non-standard situations.

Inside R-U Collection we put together themed selections for different travel scenarios: new discoveries, family holidays, high privacy, strong gastronomy, good beaches, wellness, romantic trips, long stays and others.

At the same time, a hotel missing from R-U Collection does not mean we do not work with it. If you have chosen another hotel, we can check the available terms separately and arrange the booking.

Yes, of course.

The hotels on the R-U site do not limit what we can book.

If you have already chosen a specific hotel, just send your manager its name or a link along with the dates and the guest list. We will check the available sources, compare prices and terms and come back with the best offer available.

If the hotel is not on the site yet, that does not prevent us from arranging the booking.

They depend on the specific hotel, rate and available terms.

• —a room upgrade
• —early check-in or late check-out
• —a $100 voucher for the hotel's paid services
• —a spa certificate for two
• —compliments from the hotel
• —special accommodation terms
• —additional services and gifts from R-U

Some privileges are confirmed in advance, some are provided by the hotel subject to availability.

Before booking, your manager will tell you which additional terms are available for your particular trip.

Yes. R-U can arrange the entire journey and run all of its parts within a single request.

We can help you arrange:

• —scheduled flights
• —business aviation
• —private transfers and a car with a driver
• —insurance
• —Fast Track and airport assistance
• —visa support
• —restaurants and events
• —private excursions and experiences
• —special requests during the trip
• —questions of foreign payments and payment instruments through specialist partners

If a particular task requires a specialist or an external service, we bring in a suitable partner and keep coordinating the process on our side.

For you the whole journey stays in one place and with one manager, even if several different providers are involved behind the scenes.

Every booking at R-U starts with a conversation with a personal manager.

You can reach us in any way that suits you. From there the whole context of the trip stays in one chat: the request, the offers, the terms, the changes and the documents.

You can come with a hotel and dates already chosen, or simply outline the basics: destination, guests, budget and what you want from the trip.

Your manager clarifies the details, after which R-U comes back with an offer. It can be a single option or a selection of several hotels and scenarios.

For every offer we show:

• —what is included in the price
• —the preliminary or final price
• —the payment terms and schedule
• —the change and cancellation rules
• —the available privileges
• —whether additional confirmation is required

Once you choose a suitable option, a prepayment is made and we start the booking.

If the offer is available with instant confirmation, the booking is made right away.

With contract rates, supplier confirmation is more often required. R-U then submits the request on the chosen terms and reports the result once availability has been checked.

If the price, room category or other material terms change, we agree them with you first.

After a successful booking the documents appear in your account, and your personal manager keeps supporting the trip in the same chat.

On the contract market the payment procedure can differ from the usual flow of dynamic booking services. A prepayment is normally required to start a booking, but paying for the whole trip at once is far from always necessary.

The size of the first payment and the schedule that follows depend on the specific hotel, supplier, dates and rate.

For example, it can be 10%, 20% or 30% at the time of booking and the remaining amount closer to check-in. For certain hotels, villas and special rates the first payment can be 50% or 100%.

Before payment R-U shows the amount of the first payment, the schedule of the following ones, the deadline for full payment and the cancellation terms.

If a particular payment arrangement matters to you, tell your manager. We can look separately for offers with later payment, payment on site, free cancellation or no prepayment, if such terms are available for the chosen hotel and dates.

This way we compare not only the price, but the financial terms of the booking as well.

R-U supports all the main payment methods.

For individuals:

• —bank card
• —SBP and QR-code payment
• —bank transfer by invoice details
• —cash payment

For companies and sole proprietors:

• —bank transfer by invoice from a current account
• —SBP or a QR code from a business account
• —payment by corporate card

For some bookings a loan or instalments through a financial partner may also be available.

If payment is made from abroad, your manager will suggest an available option for the particular booking in advance.

This can happen with contract offers: while the supplier is processing the request, the chosen room or rate may become unavailable.

In that case we immediately check the alternatives: the same hotel through another supplier, another room category or another suitable option.

The amount already paid can be used for a new booking that you choose and confirm.

If you decide not to go ahead with the booking, the money is returned at your request.

You always see the final price before payment and know in advance what you are paying for.

For hotels and tours R-U shows the final booking price.

For air tickets and certain special requests a service fee may apply — fixed or percentage-based, depending on the task.

We always agree any additional costs in advance. If fulfilling a request requires a separate fee or extra spending, we do not start it without your confirmation.

No unexpected fees appear after the price has been agreed.

The change and cancellation terms depend on the specific rate and are always known before the booking is confirmed.

If your plans change, your manager checks every available option: moving the dates, changing the guest list, replacing a service, a refund or another solution.

We do not stop at the supplier's formal answer about the penalty. Even if the rate rules provide for a charge, R-U contacts the hotel, tour operator or other provider and tries to agree better terms: reducing or waiving the penalty, moving the trip, a credit towards a future trip or another option.

The decision in such cases rests with the supplier, so an exception to the rules cannot be guaranteed. But we always use every available opportunity to protect the client's interests and achieve the best possible outcome.

After the booking is confirmed, your personal R-U manager keeps running the trip at every stage.

Before departure we check the documents and the key details, pass your preferences on to the hotel and confirm transfers and other organisational matters.

During the journey the R-U team stays in touch 24/7 and helps with any questions about the trip. For example:

• —resolve an issue with the hotel or the receiving company
• —adjust a transfer or particular parts of the itinerary
• —arrange a restaurant, an event or an extra service
• —prepare a celebration or a special occasion
• —add new services while you are already travelling
• —coordinate several suppliers

The whole context of the trip stays with one manager, so you do not have to contact different services yourself and explain the situation from scratch every time.

Our job is not only to react to your messages, but wherever possible to learn about changes before they need your attention.

During the journey R-U tracks the key parts of the trip, including flight status and the services connected to it.

If a flight is delayed or cancelled, the arrival time changes or another situation arises that we can see in advance, the team acts immediately: it contacts the transfer, the hotel and other suppliers, works out the possible solutions and adjusts the related services.

Where a question can be settled without you, we try to handle it ourselves and not take up your time.

If your decision is needed — for example, choosing between several options, changing the itinerary or approving extra costs — your manager gets in touch promptly, already with the necessary information and the possible solutions.

If a problem arises at the hotel itself or while another service is being provided, R-U takes over communication with the supplier and tries to resolve it while you are still travelling, when the situation can still be put right.

The principle is simple: you travel, and we make sure the organisational side of the trip takes as little of your time and attention as possible.

R-U is responsible for the quality of its own work and for everything within our control.

We guarantee:

• —the best of the offers available to us for the agreed terms of the trip, in price, inclusions and conditions
• —full transparency before payment: the price, what the offer includes, the payment schedule, the change and cancellation rules and other material terms
• —no material changes without your consent
• —prompt information and ready courses of action if a situation arises that needs your decision
• —support throughout the trip and protection of your interests in dealings with suppliers

We cannot rule out a flight delay, a technical problem at a hotel or another event beyond our control. But we can guarantee how R-U will act if such an event occurs.

Yes. R-U works not only with private clients, but with companies and entrepreneurs as well.

We can arrange individual trips for owners and employees, group travel and team offsites, along with the related services: flights, hotels, transfers, insurance, visa support, meeting rooms, restaurants, events and other requests.

A company can be assigned a single manager who knows its travel history, the travellers' requirements and the client's internal preferences.

This means every business trip does not have to be assembled from scratch with different suppliers, and travel stays in one context.

Yes.

For corporate clients R-U can work under a contract and accept bank transfers from the current account of a company or a sole proprietor.

We provide invoices and closing documents for the transaction, so a company does not have to set up its own arrangements with every hotel, carrier or other supplier involved in the trip.

Where there is a business purpose and the necessary documents, travel costs may be accounted for under the applicable tax regime. The exact treatment is best agreed with the company's accounting department in advance.

If needed, we agree the format of the documents in advance with the responsible employee or the accounting department.