New Board format

[KhorTose]

I like the new format.  It is so much cleaner.  I use Agoda often and will link to it here. 

[TotallyOz]

I have never used Agoda but I will try it as well.

 

I grew up knowing one booking site for mass searches and that was Expedia. Old habits are hard to break. I have used it for as long as I can remember. I never really ventured into other sites for hotels, cars, etc. But, I am willing to try Agoda as I have heard great things about it.

[Guest thaiworthy]

If I book on an airlines own web site, I am offered a seat selection. If I book on Expedia, or any other booking site, I do not get my seat selection, they just tell me to call the airline, and the airline just me excuses or tells me to go back to Expedia. Now I only book on the airline web site, since the prices are the same and there is no real advantage to booking elsewhere that I'm aware of. It's all a racket.

[Guest fountainhall]

In my experience, agoda almost always has the best rates for Thailand and certain other Asian countries. Occasionally you'll find a small saving on another site, but you have to spend a lot of time checking around to find it. And as I have posted occasionally on this Board, travelzoo will sometimes (once every month or two) come up with an offer that no other site comes close to matching.

 

The problem all booking sites have, though, is that hotels are increasingly offering guaranteed lowest prices on their own websites. Almost invariably, these are non-refundable rates and dates can not be changed. But that is true with agoda and many search engines as well. For example, checking today for the Courtyard by Marriott, one of my favourite Hong Kong hotels, I looked up dates when I will be in HKG in May. The Courtyard's own site lists 4 nights at a non-refundable rate of US$688. Agoda's non-refundable rate is $713. If you are a points junkie, booking direct with the hotel qualifies for Marriott points; agoda's does not.

 

Then I checked with hotelscombined.com where you get a whole array of search engine results on one page. The cheapest is from onhotels.com which also offers $668. getaroom.com offers $674. The best expedia can come up with is $894 - also non-refundable! I have never found expedia good for hotels, despite its now having a Thai site!

 

The only caveat about agoda (and many other sites) is this: they do not add in the taxes and services charges until you get to the booking page. So do not assume that the price you see on the first page is the price you will end up paying. Always go to the "Book This" page to find out the exact total cost.

 

Despite all that, I still recommend agoda as your first site to check for hotels in Thailand.

[TotallyOz]

I am looking into Agoda for one 3 night stay in Salvador, Brazil. There are no hotels in this area I use points with. So, my question is, if I book with a Credit Card, do you think that is safe? I have used Expedia 1,000 times and never an issue but with a site I don't know, I am always worried that someone will get a hold of the card.

[ceejay]

 

if I book with a Credit Card, do you think that is safe?

I have only used Agoda a few times, always with a credit card and no problems of any kind.

 

As Fountainhall says, it's always worth checking the hotel's own website for a price comparison - it can be the cheapest.

I have found a number of benefits from using Agoda:

Some hotels (such as the Rose in Bangkok) ask for credit card details to be sent to confirm a booking. They ask for this to be done by normal, unencrypted email - I hate that idea! So, I'll use Agoda to avoid doing it.

Some hotels (esepcially in the more rural parts of Thailand) do not reply to emails. Booking via Agoda may be the only option.

I have, on one occasion, booked a hotel through Agoda (The PhuPhanam Resort in Dansai) to visit a local festival (the Phi Ta Khon). The hotel was charging a near 100% premium for festival time, but I got it via Agoda at the standard rate,

Generally, I find Agoda has a much better range of hotels (from guest houses to 5 star resorts) than any other site I have used. They also cover some very out-of-the-way towns.

[Guest fountainhall]

I have never had any problem with any hotel booking site anywhere - and I have used a lot. I just checked Salvador and see that agoda do not get many bookings for Brazil as there are client comments for only three out of more than 200 hotels. Most of the other regular agencies like booking.com, hotels.com, venere.com clearly do much more business there.

 

When I book hotels direct and they do not have an encrypted webpage, I will always fax my cc details during working hours and ask them to confirm receipt by email. Like ceejay, it's a rule that I never give my personal or cc details by email. Of course a fax can get into the wrong hands, but so far I have had no problem.

 

SInce I assume agoda does little business in South America, I'd be tempted to use another search engine for that continent, specifically one that has a few dozen or more client reviews for its hotels. For two small hotels in Lima and Cusco, I used venere.com. They had the best deals and everything worked very smoothly.

[NIrishGuy]

"As Fountainhall says, it's always worth checking the hotel's own website for a price comparison - it can be the cheapest."

 

As well as checking their website I would also highly recommend ringing the hotel direct and speaking to reservations as a lot of the time ( especially in Thailand I find) the hotel web site prices are sent to the web programmer at the start of the season and are rarely changed, whereas in reality "actual" hotel prices can tend to flucuate wildly and if the hotel is not busy some great rates can be achieved.

 

I was told by a Pattaya hotel manager that his (and most if not all ) hotels sign a contract with Agoda and their like to promise that the hotel will never knowingly undercut the Agodas published rate - at risk should they get caught of losing their Agoda bookings status, hence why the hotel website rate may not be the "actual" cheapest negoiatable rate, also sometimes taxes and other various Agoda add on's can mysteriously "disappear" when booking directly with certain hotels if perhaps cash is being paid etc.

 

For instance I have just confimed a room with a nice Silom hotel which was shown on Agoda at an all in price of around 3300 baht a night and have secured EXACTLY the same room directly for 2400 baht a night ( to be fair that should have been 2800 Baht but I was given a further discount as a regular visitor, but still even the original 500 baht a night over 11 nights all adds up I guess so it was worth the original inital phone call to the hotel directly in my case.  

 

"Some hotels ask for credit card details to be sent to confirm a booking. They ask for this to be done by normal, unencrypted email - I hate that idea! "

 

I would second that and after attending a crime prevention course on internet security would STRONGLY suggest that no one ever sends unencrypted credit card details via email as criminals are currently using many forms of botnets to infect machines worldwide which then  trawl through emails trying to indentify strings of numbers that suit the "shape" of credit card details i.e card number length and expriry dates all in one email etc and then copy and send them in bulk once collected to the criminal gang, so if asked I always refuse and if I HAVE to send my details at worst I will agree to send them by fax and nothing else.  

[Guest]

For my last hotel booking, Agoda required me to pay for the entire 2 week stay up front.

I e-mailed the same hotel to book and didn't pay a penny until arriving at the hotel.

 

Now for a hotel to make a reservation, I'm happy to pay something like one night's charge as a non-refundable deposit.

 

Paying for 2 weeks is a backward step. If the consumer unavoidably has to change arrangements, he's paid for 2 weeks and a good proportion of the time, the hotel can probably let the room out for some of the period anyway.