Hotel booking sites

[ballbag 2]

Are sites like Agoda AND Booking. com reliable,never used them before

[accyboy 78]

Never used agoda

Booking.com used every trip to thai for last 4/5 yrs

[tallguy 1,475]

Agoda works never used booking.com. Used sawasdee.com and Asia rooms before as well, both efficient.

Edited April 11, 2015 by tallguy

[Greg_B 306]

Agoda is a good one, I try to use the link on this webpage, as it helps pay for the site

[ozibill 546]

I always use Agoda - it is quick and efficient - On the odd occasion I had to cancel , the cancellation was no problem . In fact , the only times I have had problems is when I have booked direct .

 

[MM 6,562]

I used Agoda for my road trip last month, generally booking each day at a different hotel in cities where I figured we'd be staying. It worked fine.

 

I also used the link on this website to book, since it does add a small commission for the booking to the site (and I thank everyone who has already booked with them through our site, BTW).

 

I had one problem, and that was some strange keyboard error I guess, where I was using the mobile app, and must have accidentally scrolled the date wrong, because we arrived at a hotel in Udon Thani on March 16, reservation in hand, and they said, "Nice to see you, but your reservation is for June 16"

 

I had to cancel the reservation and book directly with the hotel at that point.

 

Other than that, I made last minute reservations at a half dozen hotels in 10 days, and had no issues.

[Billions 687]

I thought Agoda and Booking are owned by the same entity?

 

Agoda works for me,sometimes get surprised by the final price as vat and service are added to the billing,making it 17% more than what was showing on the screen.

 

All photos on the site are taken with wide angle lenses and even the smallest room looks like an aircraft hanger,something to consider too.

[Olded 243]

I read a review a man booked with Agoda said free airport pick up but when the man got to the hotel he had to pay for the pick up, he said free the hotel said no we never had free pick up from the airport.

[Gabor 296]

Agoda works for me,sometimes get surprised by the final price as vat and service are added to the billing,making it 17% more than what was showing on the screen.

 

 

 

As an officially called " Hotel " , my opinion...( I'm renting out my condos )

 

Agoda: When a customer booking the Agoda don't charge me any comissions... I lose my " comission " on their exchange rate, the PayPal transfer etc... On the other side, I can't cancel the booking once it was done - otherways I would be heavily penalized - even if I offer a better quality room - if the customer don't accept it. The main problem is with the Agoda, the hotel can't communicate with the customers until his arrival... the source of many misunderstandings as the customers usually don't read the fine prints...

 

Booking.com: The worst option for the " hotels ", but I personally receive the 70 percents of my bookings. No any additional costs for the customers, all comissions paid by the 'hotel". You don't have to pay anything until your arrival. There are published cancellation rules, but this is pure bullshit, even if you make your booking with the details of your credit / debit cards... The "hotel" can't do anything, even if you simple don't show... Yes, I will know the number of your card, but worth nothing without the security 3 digit numbers on the back side. When I moan to the booking.com because of the no show all they can say: sorry, no luck... The reason I send a PayPal deposit invoice for the possible customers.... The good one, I can communicate with the customer...

 

AirBNB... IMO the best system... I can choose to accept or not the booking, I can communicate with the customer... even before the booking . No any hidden fees... ( IF the customer read the fine prints what are really visible )

 

Just a side note for the possible customers: Once you arrived following a 10-20 hour travel, dressed in winter clothes... once you are arrived, the " hotel " will dictate the rules or you are on the street without any rights... Of course no one "hotel" wants any issues, any problems...just your money.... I had 3 issues with the mentioned online hotel booking sites... ( 1 with agoda, 2 with booking.com ) when they wanted to penalize me... Agoda was right, booking.com wasn't right.... Anyway, I paid zero penalties, they wanted to hold me as a future income source.... probably they swallowed the losses.... And I'm a really really small business for them with my two condos...

Edited April 11, 2015 by Gabor

[plahgat 523]

I use

www.hotelscombined.com

it searches all the other major hotelbooking websites including Agoda and Booking.com among many others

and comes up with the cheapest prices on the Internet, no need to waste time and go through them one by one!

 

Plahgat

[Gabor 296]

I use

www.hotelscombined.com

it searches all the other major hotelbooking websites including Agoda and Booking.com among many others

and comes up with the cheapest prices on the Internet, no need to waste time and go through them one by one!

 

Plahgat

 

I think not...( Agoda or booking.com ) I can't find my own offers... However true, good prices for the low class guest houses in the middle of the nowhere... ( My search was: South Pattaya and Apartment... no Jomtien option )

Edited April 11, 2015 by Gabor

[ThaiLearner 18]

I have used booking.com and had no issues

[teelack 9,640]

I recently used Expedia and it was an interesting experience. I have used them in the past because they have a branch located in my home country and it makes life easier if you can phone free and chat with a local. Anyway, the price that I came up with was great and payable in my home currency without any extras and so I rang the free number. I had a good experience with the operator and happened to ask him where he was located. India! No matter, everything came through as per our conversation and I was happy with the experience.

 

In the past I have used mainly Sawasdee and Agoda without issue.

 

One final point. The reason for me doing the homework was because I was booking accommodation for a side trip to Chiang Mai later this year. I looked on the hotels own web site and it was horribly more expensive than using a booking agency. Go figure. Having said that I would ALWAYS look at the hotels own web site when booking. I stayed in Pattaya for years at the same hotel and used their Internet Rate and it was the best deal around. I never had to pay a deposit and usually paid at the end of the trip or sometiine half way through and when I booked out. As these were on the credit card I got quite some weeks of free credit.

[ballbag 2]

Thanks for all the help guys,huge help

[Chang_paarp 253]

I read a review a man booked with Agoda said free airport pick up but when the man got to the hotel he had to pay for the pick up, he said free the hotel said no we never had free pick up from the airport.

 

Had the reverse happen.

 

Got to the airport and tried to get a cab to the hotel as I had not tried to get the promised transfer. The taxi people said you get free bus and rang the hotel. Transfer arrived in a little while took me to hotel and back to airport the next day.

 

It would seem your mileage will vary.

 

Never had a problem booking Agoda in Thailand, Philipines and Singapore. Had to cancel a booking and no problem with refund.

[jacko 8,815]

I have used Agoda quite a few times without issue, it was just one incident that really soured me but I have 'learned my lesson'....

 

Look really close before hitting that pay button.

 

My bad incident was a last minute decision to get a room in Pattaya for New Years Eve after a friend let me down on stopping at his place.

 

A non-refundable Gala Dinner for 2 I didn't notice tore me a new one!!!!!

[SunnyValentine 173]

I'm using Hotels.com a lot for my Hotel Bookings, in Bangkok, Manila and quite a few other places around Asia.

A few things you have to be aware of:

They always quote prices as "net", i.e. exclusive of taxes, which will be added to the total price later. Once you are aware of this, it is easy to take into consideration.

I am wondering if they request Hotels to quote their prices as "net", even in the case of small Pensions or Guest Houses which most likely never pay or charge VAT or a service charge? Gabor, what are your experiences with this? Assuming your business is not registered for VAT, do your rooms show up "net of taxes" first too, and fairy taxes are added?

Another thing is the cancellation rules. They vary greatly from Hotel to Hotel, for some offers you pay directly to the Hotel upon arrival, with no cancellation charges apart from a one night penalty for a no show (Which I personally find more than ok), others are prepaid to Hotels.com with cancellation windows (And I found them reliable and on-time in case I cancelled these) or some with a no-cancellation policy. Often you find the same rooms at the same period on different prices, depending on the cancellation policy.

 

To get the best price, you have to do your homework though. Don't log in with your account first, just search for your Hotel and, once you found a fitting offer, check the same Hotel on the same dates after logging in with your hotels.com account. You might be in for a big surprise!

If this happens (Same offer with higher price once logged in) just sent them a message and they will grant you the better price. But they try harder than the most hardened Pattaya Gogo girl to milk you as much as possible during the transaction.

You should also download the Mobile Apps and check the prices against the Web site prices, I found the Mobile prices sometimes 5 - 30 (!!!) percent cheaper!

It pays to register in the end, as you can collect points against free nights, which I am using quite a lot!

[Grandpollo 366]

I use Asiatravel.com for Bangkok and sometimes Hong Kong bookings, because they have actual humans who read, write and speak English, they have a physical office in Bangkok (and HK also.) and the prices are as good as anywhere else.

 

If you need support you can actually reach effective and competent people who can communicate.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Grandpollo

[nkped 1,208]

I find an increasing number of booking rates on Agoda to be nonrefundable, but always with notice on their site. If they say it is refundable, never an issue if I provided the required not ice.

[Severn 109]

I first check priced with Wego.com which compared the prices of a hotel from all the leading booking firms including taxes. I then log onto Quidco and check the discounts offered, for example with booking.com it is usually about 10% discount. I follow the link and book. A few weeks later Quidco credits my bank account with the discount.

 

Posted from my phone using predictive text, please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors.

[redwood13 56]

I thought Agoda and Booking are owned by the same entity?

 

Agoda works for me,sometimes get surprised by the final price as vat and service are added to the billing,making it 17% more than what was showing on the screen.

 

All photos on the site are taken with wide angle lenses and even the smallest room looks like an aircraft hanger,something to consider too.

 

Yes, Agoda, Booking and more.

 

"The Priceline Group [NASDAQ: PCLN], is a provider of online travel & related services to consumers and local partners in over 200 countries through six primary brands: Booking.com, priceline.com, agoda.com, KAYAK, rentalcars.com and OpenTable. Collectively The Priceline Group operates in over 200 countries and territories in Europe, North America, South America, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa in over 40 languages."

[Gabor 296]

 

I am wondering if they request Hotels to quote their prices as "net", even in the case of small Pensions or Guest Houses which most likely never pay or charge VAT or a service charge? Gabor, what are your experiences with this? Assuming your business is not registered for VAT, do your rooms show up "net of taxes" first too, and fairy taxes are added?

Another thing is the cancellation rules. They vary greatly from Hotel to Hotel, for some offers you pay directly to the Hotel upon arrival, with no cancellation charges apart from a one night penalty for a no show (Which I personally find more than ok), others are prepaid to Hotels.com with cancellation windows (And I found them reliable and on-time in case I cancelled these) or some with a no-cancellation policy. Often you find the same rooms at the same period on different prices, depending on the cancellation policy.

 

 

 

Agoda and Airbnb plays with the taxes, extras etc... probably to show the lower price, than the final price... I have no words in it, I can't manipulate it. All I can do is to show them a fix price I want ( on Airbnb I can give daily, weekly and monthly prices ) and they will cut it for tax etc... and they cut the comission from the full sum. Booking.com shows as it is, you will pay the sum you see, and what is more important, you must pay upon your arrival, not in advance, and I pay them the comission.

 

The cancellations and the no show is a pain in the ass, so more and more hotels wants some kind of guarantee... For example the booking.com. The customer don't have to pay anything until his arrival, I can't use the customers cards, the booking com will not use it. I had a few no shows and the booking.com only told me: Shit happens and that's all.. I don't have to pay the comission. If I would be a shark I could ask my friends to book for months all my competitors and simple no show. Or to do the same on the other sites, just to cancel the booking before the time frame. This is the reason why many of us try to get some guarantee, it will be a real and not a fake booking.

[plahgat 523]

 

I think not...( Agoda or booking.com ) I can't find my own offers... However true, good prices for the low class guest houses in the middle of the nowhere... ( My search was: South Pattaya and Apartment... no Jomtien option )

I found your place without problems!

You search using Pattaya and then choose the option Jomthien Beach!

 

Plahgat

 

https://www.hotelscombined.com/Hotel/Search?fileName=View_Talay_2_Condominium_Building_A_managed_by_Gabor&destination=place:Jomtien_Beach&radius=0km&checkin=2015-04-30&checkout=2015-05-01&Rooms=1&adults_1=2&languageCode=EN&returnPath=%2FHotels%2FSearch%3Fdestination%3Dplace%3AJomtien_Beach%26radius%3D0km%26checkin%3D2015-04-30%26checkout%3D2015-05-01%26Rooms%3D1%26adults_1%3D2%26pageSize%3D15%26pageIndex%3D5%26sort%3DPopularity-desc%26showSoldOut%3Dfalse%26propertyType%3D0%2C9%26scroll%3D3734%26HotelID%3D%26mapState%3Dexpanded%253D0%26languageCode%3DEN

Edited April 12, 2015 by plahgat

[Gabor 296]

I found your place without problems!

You search using Pattaya and then choose the option Jomthien Beach!

 

Plahgat

 

https://www.hotelscombined.com/Hotel/Search?fileName=View_Talay_2_Condominium_Building_A_managed_by_Gabor&destination=place:Jomtien_Beach&radius=0km&checkin=2015-04-30&checkout=2015-05-01&Rooms=1&adults_1=2&languageCode=EN&returnPath=%2FHotels%2FSearch%3Fdestination%3Dplace%3AJomtien_Beach%26radius%3D0km%26checkin%3D2015-04-30%26checkout%3D2015-05-01%26Rooms%3D1%26adults_1%3D2%26pageSize%3D15%26pageIndex%3D5%26sort%3DPopularity-desc%26showSoldOut%3Dfalse%26propertyType%3D0%2C9%26scroll%3D3734%26HotelID%3D%26mapState%3Dexpanded%253D0%26languageCode%3DEN

 

Hmm... you are right... seems smarter, than myself...

[THE_DRUID 21]

From a Customer's point of view i like Booking.com and have used them several times.No hidden fees/extras/no deposits,easy cancellation rules,and you pay directly with the hotel once you are there.