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Posted 24 April 2014
Lastminiute.com's Secret Hotels Hack - How to find out which hotels the 'secret' ones are
I have used lastminute.com before and always avoided the secret hotels for fear they were in a bad location or not good hotels. Just planning a trip this weekend and I figured out how to find which hotels they are.
The trip advisor widget that they add to the secret hotels has the number of reviews but they hide it with CSS. All you need to do is show the number of reviews and you can easily match which hotel it is.
I wrote a cheeky little bookmarklet to make it easy.
javascript:(function(){var%20s=document.createElement('style');s.innerHTML=".product.topSecret%20.reviews{text-indent:0px!important;}";document.head.appendChild(s);})();
Just add it to a bookmark in your browser and you can click it once on a page with a secret hotel to reveal the number of reviews.
Here is an example:
lastminute.com/tri…rue
The secret hotel at the top in the link is the Sheraton Grand, but 30% off :). Hope this helps someone!
Update:
For those who are struggling this may make life easier.
go here:
jsfiddle.net/VGsAK/
On Chrome:
If your bookmark bar doesn’t show on Chrome, here’s how to activate it:
- use the Ctrl+Shift+B keyboard shortcut (Command+Shift+B for Mac users)
Then drag the 'Show reviews' to the bookmarks bar.
On Internet Explorer:
Right-click "Show reviews" link and select Add to Favorites.
On Firefox:
Right-click "Show reviews" link and save it as a bookmark.
Then browse lastminute.com's hotels and if you see a secret hotel you are interested in click the bookmark (in the bookmark bar or from the file menu) and the number of reviews for the secret hotel should be revealed.
Then it should be a fairly easy task to match the TripAdvisor score and review count with the non secret equivalent
The trip advisor widget that they add to the secret hotels has the number of reviews but they hide it with CSS. All you need to do is show the number of reviews and you can easily match which hotel it is.
I wrote a cheeky little bookmarklet to make it easy.
javascript:(function(){var%20s=document.createElement('style');s.innerHTML=".product.topSecret%20.reviews{text-indent:0px!important;}";document.head.appendChild(s);})();
Just add it to a bookmark in your browser and you can click it once on a page with a secret hotel to reveal the number of reviews.
Here is an example:
lastminute.com/tri…rue
The secret hotel at the top in the link is the Sheraton Grand, but 30% off :). Hope this helps someone!
Update:
For those who are struggling this may make life easier.
go here:
jsfiddle.net/VGsAK/
On Chrome:
If your bookmark bar doesn’t show on Chrome, here’s how to activate it:
- use the Ctrl+Shift+B keyboard shortcut (Command+Shift+B for Mac users)
Then drag the 'Show reviews' to the bookmarks bar.
On Internet Explorer:
Right-click "Show reviews" link and select Add to Favorites.
On Firefox:
Right-click "Show reviews" link and save it as a bookmark.
Then browse lastminute.com's hotels and if you see a secret hotel you are interested in click the bookmark (in the bookmark bar or from the file menu) and the number of reviews for the secret hotel should be revealed.
Then it should be a fairly easy task to match the TripAdvisor score and review count with the non secret equivalent
Community Updates
35 Comments
sorted byI wish I was not thick
javascript:void(var s=document.createElement('style');s.innerHTML=".product.topSecret .reviews{text-indent:0px!important;}";document.head.appendChild(s));
It should stop it redirecting to a white page
For the people suffering the redirect problem this should do the trick:
javascript:(function(){%20var%20s=document.createElement('style');s.innerHTML=".product.topSecret%20.reviews{text-indent:0px!important;}";document.head.appendChild(s);})();
"[object HTMLStyleElement]"
I'm obviously doing something wrong, but three bottles of Rekorderlig is making this difficult.
(I actually considered myself quite tech savvy, ha!)
good work
Once you see how many reviews there are, you need to check on tripadvisor and match the no of reviews and other details given on lastminute to find a matching hotel. It won't show you the Hotel name/details on Lastminute page.
On your current webpage, click on favourites, then click on 'add to favourites bar'. You current page will be added to the top of your browser.
Now right click this, choose properties and paste in the below as the link to the URL
javascript:var s=document.createElement('style');s.innerHTML=".product.topSecret .reviews{text-indent:0px!important;}";document.head.appendChild(s);
and on the general tab, change the name to something like "Show#"
Now go to the lastminute link OP provided, look at the hotels listed as secret. The number of reviews are not displayed. Now click the link you added to your favourites bar. You will see that the number of reviews have been revealed.
Thanks OP! Having great fun already!
(edited)
This is W hotel in Leicester Square
lastminute.com/tri…ST1|POS1&numRooms=1&numNights=1&dest=LON&path=hotels&ac_country=GB&hotelRequestId=311517190811070
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186338-d1718977-Reviews-W_London_Leicester_Square-London_England.html
Compare the no of reviews and other details.
Yeah I get the same - although there are some secret hotels that don't and the javascript doesn't show them. Fantastic idea though - thanks to the OP.
Am I being particularly thick ?
You're fired!
1) Bookmark the script
2) Go to Last Minute and type in London as an example for todays date, 1 night
3) Result should come up for "Outstanding Rates in stylish Chelsea *4". Notice next to the Tripadvisor rating there are no review counts
4) Go to your bookmarks, click on the script
5) Look at the Tripadvisor rating - there's now a review count
(edited)