diff --git a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryRestHandlerMapping.java b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryRestHandlerMapping.java
index 62fa75e8e..58c6873a7 100644
--- a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryRestHandlerMapping.java
+++ b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryRestHandlerMapping.java
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import org.springframework.web.method.HandlerMethod;
 import org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.condition.ProducesRequestCondition;
 import org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.RequestMappingInfo;
 import org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerMapping;
+import org.springframework.web.util.pattern.PathPatternParser;
 
 /**
  * {@link RequestMappingHandlerMapping} implementation that will only find a handler method if a
@@ -63,6 +64,9 @@ import org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandl
  */
 public class RepositoryRestHandlerMapping extends BasePathAwareHandlerMapping {
 
+	private static final PathPatternParser PARSER = new PathPatternParser();
+	static final String EFFECTIVE_LOOKUP_PATH_KEY = "EFFECTIVE_REPOSITORY_LOOKUP_PATH";
+
 	private final ResourceMappings mappings;
 	private final RepositoryRestConfiguration configuration;
 	private final Optional<Repositories> repositories;
@@ -151,7 +155,15 @@ public class RepositoryRestHandlerMapping extends BasePathAwareHandlerMapping {
 			return handlerMethod;
 		}
 
-		return mappings.exportsTopLevelResourceFor(getRepositoryBasePath(repositoryLookupPath)) ? handlerMethod : null;
+		String repositoryBasePath = getRepositoryBasePath(repositoryLookupPath);
+
+		if (!mappings.exportsTopLevelResourceFor(repositoryBasePath)) {
+			return null;
+		}
+
+		exposeEffectiveLookupPathKey(handlerMethod, request, repositoryBasePath);
+
+		return handlerMethod;
 	}
 
 	/*
@@ -235,6 +247,26 @@ public class RepositoryRestHandlerMapping extends BasePathAwareHandlerMapping {
 		return secondSlashIndex == -1 ? repositoryLookupPath : repositoryLookupPath.substring(0, secondSlashIndex);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Exposes the effective repository resource lookup path as request attribute via {@link #EFFECTIVE_LOOKUP_PATH_KEY},
+	 * i.e. {@code /people/search/\{search\}} instead of {@code /\{repository\}/search/\{search\}}.
+	 * 
+	 * @param method must not be {@literal null}.
+	 * @param request must not be {@literal null}.
+	 * @param repositoryBasePath must not be {@literal null}.
+	 */
+	private void exposeEffectiveLookupPathKey(HandlerMethod method, HttpServletRequest request,
+			String repositoryBasePath) {
+
+		RequestMappingInfo mappingInfo = getMappingForMethod(method.getMethod(), method.getBeanType());
+		String pattern = mappingInfo.getPatternsCondition() //
+				.getMatchingCondition(request)//
+				.getPatterns() //
+				.iterator().next();
+
+		request.setAttribute(EFFECTIVE_LOOKUP_PATH_KEY, PARSER.parse(pattern.replace("/{repository}", repositoryBasePath)));
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * No-op {@link StringValueResolver} that returns the given {@link String} value as is.
 	 *
diff --git a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryRestHandlerMappingUnitTests.java b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryRestHandlerMappingUnitTests.java
index e6defd7fd..2dfbfc616 100755
--- a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryRestHandlerMappingUnitTests.java
+++ b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/RepositoryRestHandlerMappingUnitTests.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import org.springframework.mock.web.MockServletContext;
 import org.springframework.util.ClassUtils;
 import org.springframework.web.context.support.AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.web.method.HandlerMethod;
+import org.springframework.web.util.pattern.PathPattern;
 
 /**
  * Unit tests for {@link RepositoryRestHandlerMapping}.
@@ -270,6 +271,22 @@ public class RepositoryRestHandlerMappingUnitTests {
 		assertThat(mapping.isHandler(type)).isTrue();
 	}
 
+	@Test // DATAREST-1294
+	public void exposesEffectiveRepositoryLookupPathAsRequestAttribute() throws Exception {
+
+		when(mappings.exportsTopLevelResourceFor("/people")).thenReturn(true);
+
+		MockHttpServletRequest mockRequest = new MockHttpServletRequest("GET", "/people/search/findByLastnameLike");
+
+		handlerMapping.afterPropertiesSet();
+		handlerMapping.lookupHandlerMethod("/people/search/findByLastnameLike", mockRequest);
+
+		assertThat(mockRequest.getAttribute(RepositoryRestHandlerMapping.EFFECTIVE_LOOKUP_PATH_KEY)) //
+				.isInstanceOfSatisfying(PathPattern.class, it -> {
+					assertThat(it.getPatternString()).isEqualTo("/people/search/{search}");
+				});
+	}
+
 	private static Class<?> createProxy(Object source) {
 
 		ProxyFactory factory = new ProxyFactory(source);