How I can book the day 5 hotel night of the Test&Go program on Agoda?

[user70]

The Test&Go program requires individuals to spend day 1 and day 5 at a hotel.  How I can book the day 5 hotel night of the Test&Go program on Agoda?

 

I can book day 1 via Agoda by selecting "Thailand pass" as filter.

 

 

I want to use Agoda as I am used to do free cancellations with them: I don't want to deal with hotel staff directly. (and I plan to use the free cancellation as I'm making this booking to get a tourist visa. I'll decide my actual flight dates later)

[ThaiAl]

Note, most of the Test&Go-Offers are not refundable as usual.

[user70]

 

3 minutes ago, ThaiAl said:

Note, most of the Test&Go-Offers are not refundable as usual.

Thanks I see a few refundable eg:

 

[internationalism]

book 1st night and continue to booking 5th night.

pay for both and have one reference number from hotel.

I would never use agoda for anything to do with T&G

[user70]

9 minutes ago, internationalism said:

I would never use agoda for anything to do with T&G

thx, why not?

[internationalism]

many are scam (for example selling from as little as 192b in bangkok).

very long time to wait for confirmation letter, some 5 days, or never.

very questionable cancellation policy. Those bookings are usually not possible to cancel when dealing directly with hotel, or require minimum 14 days and only partial 50% refund. I don't think they would have those policies better on agoda, if they have to pay 30% commission to agoda.

Thai government has warned in the beginning of january against booking with agoda. There were hotels selling T&G packages while this program was suspended from 22.12.

Saving on agoda is marginal, some 200b for both nights. But might turn up immense hassle 

[Will B Good]

Cut the middle man out and book direct.

 

I used Citrus Hotel soi 11........Reservations were very responsive, very helpful.

 

Hotel is a little run down, but everything ran very smoothly from the get go.

[alex8912]

6 hours ago, ThaiAl said:

Note, most of the Test&Go-Offers are not refundable as usual.

Many are refundable if you don't get the Thailand pass. Also to op it's much better to deal with hotel directly. One of the biggest problems with Thailand pass is the the 30 hour timeframe that hotels have to confirm your day 1 and 5  bookings with Covid test. When you get rejected for this reason ( which thousands have ) you need to contact hotel and they will straighten it out AND you have to reapply for TP.  You do have to upload the official letter of booking you will get from hotel when doing Thailand pass but TP will also reach out to hotel to confirm this. Do you think agoda is going to contact them for you??

Edited February 21, 2022 by alex8912

[richard_smith237]

5 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Cut the middle man out and book direct.

 

I used Citrus Hotel soi 11........Reservations were very responsive, very helpful.

 

Hotel is a little run down, but everything ran very smoothly from the get go.

I have found the prices direct the same as Agoda’s pricing, however, Agoda provide better cancellation options (with their Easy Cancel) on a number of their bookings. 

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, alex8912 said:

Many are refundable if you don't get the Thailand pass. Also to op it's much better to deal with hotel directly. One of the biggest problems with Thailand pass is the the 30 hour timeframe that hotels have to confirm your day 1 and 5  bookings with Covid test. When you get rejected for this reason ( which thousands have ) you need to contact hotel and they will straighten it out AND you have to reapply for TP.  You do have to upload the official letter of booking you will get from hotel when doing Thailand pass but TP will also reach out to hotel to confirm this. Do you think agoda is going to contact them for you??

You book through agoda and receive their booking confirmation - that can be used for the Thailand Pass submission.

 

Then the hotel also contacts you to confirm arrival details etc.

 

 

IF the hotel are too slow to confirm the booking, then they are too slow whether the booking is direct or with Agoda.

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

15 hours ago, user70 said:

The Test&Go program requires individuals to spend day 1 and day 5 at a hotel.  How I can book the day 5 hotel night of the Test&Go program on Agoda?

 

I can book day 1 via Agoda by selecting "Thailand pass" as filter.

 

 

I want to use Agoda as I am used to do free cancellations with them: I don't want to deal with hotel staff directly. (and I plan to use the free cancellation as I'm making this booking to get a tourist visa. I'll decide my actual flight dates later)

Do exactly the same for Day 5 as you did for Day 1....

 

Just make two separate bookings... Simple (thats what I did though Agoda).

 

 

[ThailandRyan]

10 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I have found the prices direct the same as Agoda’s pricing, however, Agoda provide better cancellation options (with their Easy Cancel) on a number of their bookings. 

Never have had a problem with Agoda in the over 10 years I have used them.  The booking for my T&G went without issues and within 30 minutes I had the on-line booking confirmation number as well as the receipt to download into the T&G Thai Pass application when I did it in December.  Wondering now as I return in a few days if upon arrival they will force me to book a 5th night at the hotel as my Thai Pass T&G QR code only shows the 1 night as that was all that was required back then and within 90 days from my return.  I guess we shall see, as I can not modify the T&G already issued.

[donx]

I booked all the hotels for my family's trip via Agoda. They used the same hotel going to Bangkok and just before returning to the US. Both times, immediately after booking the nights with Agoda, the hotel emailed me directly regarding the Test & Go package. Of course they only needed it for their arrival. I also booked a different hotel in Bangkok for my wife after her 11 day quarantine before returning to the US. Again, this hotel emailed us about the Test & Go package immediately after booking it with Agoda.

[Jotho]

Unless you really really have to go to Thailand for family or similar, then it is just much better to avoid it until they remove this all togeather far out nonsense of tripple tests, booked nights, prepaid this and that, and all that with a risk of getting rejection for something that is totally out of your hands, or testing positive between day 1-5 and not having any symptoms what so ever, but still having to face all kind of hassle.

[alex8912]

15 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

You book through agoda and receive their booking confirmation - that can be used for the Thailand Pass submission.

 

Then the hotel also contacts you to confirm arrival details etc.

 

 

IF the hotel are too slow to confirm the booking, then they are too slow whether the booking is direct or with Agoda.

 

 

 

 

So again if there is an issue agoda certainly isn't going to contact hotel for you. Why bother with a middle man? I've never used and I get some of its popularity. I as well as others prefer to book direct and I get better deals and points/ credit with my Bonvoy hotel group reservations. 

[user70]

FYI I called the LA embassy: they told me day 1 suffice, no need for day 5.

[MajorTom]

3 hours ago, user70 said:

FYI I called the LA embassy: they told me day 1 suffice, no need for day 5.

From what date? when do you arrive? Is it possible to get the Thailand pass approved now with only day 1 T&G booking if your arrival date is after 01/03?

 

I already got my Thailand pass QR using the old requirements (day1+5). I assume its ok if i just cancel the day 5 booking now since my arrival is after March 1st?

[richard_smith237]

On 2/22/2022 at 3:31 PM, alex8912 said:

So again if there is an issue agoda certainly isn't going to contact hotel for you. Why bother with a middle man? I've never used and I get some of its popularity. I as well as others prefer to book direct and I get better deals and points/ credit with my Bonvoy hotel group reservations. 

Here’s why...   the middle man is more reliable and the costs directly are very rarely better than agoda can provide, additionally, I’m not locked into a specific chain such as Marriott with Bonvoy group.

 

The Day 5 Test & Go has been cancelled... Booking through Agoda with ‘easy cancel’ means I can cancel at any time (up to 3 days before travel) for any reason and get money back to my card instantly. 

 

Agoda’s cancellation and refund policy is far more reliable than many hotels.

 

Additionally, many the same hotels which have ‘easy cancel’ on Agoda do not offer a favourable cancellation policy (i.e. half back if cancel within a week of travel etc... or have to submit proof of inability to travel such as a Positive PCR test etc) - Additionally, the hotels will tell you the PCR test part of the booking is non-refundable etc whereas Agoda books he package. 

 

I’m on my 5th return to Thailand through this process - I’ve researched a lot of hotels through the various rule changes as the policies of the hotels change back and forth depending on how customer service orientated they want to be - Agoda has been consistently ‘better’.

 

On Agoda contacting hotels: Recently I’d booked a long weekend at a decent resort... (20,000 baht - non-refundable) - 3 weeks before travel the hotel e-mailed (via agoda messaging) to inform me that due to government regulations they will be closing the pool and there will be no buffet restaurant (breakfast), only Ala-Carte ordered to the room at cost.

I e-mailed to cancel the stay, no point going if there was no pool etc. The hotel responded that the booking was non-refundable. 

I contacted Agoda customer support and told them that as the hotel have changed the product the terms and conditions are not longer valid, whether they changed there product because of a government mandate was irrelevant - they were not supplying the product I had agreed to. 

Agoda instantly refunded the cost of the trip to ‘Agoda cash’ and said they’d take up the issue directly with the hotel. I refused the Agoda cash and requested a full refund back to my card which I received. 

I didn’t like the idea that Agoda tried to ‘keep the money in their system’ with Agoda cash, but they changed that quickly when I refused. 

I did like the fact that Agoda refunded me and then took their case to the hotel and forced them into positive action - This is the power Agoda have to force fair treatment from the hotels. 

 

I don’t particularly like large companies and the way they ‘can’ usually bully their customers locked into terms they’ve agreed, however, I have always found Agoda to be excellent. 

----

Another, I booked a ‘cheaper’ SHA Plus + hotel for ’Test & Go’ - the hotel was refundable up until the day before travel. Something wasn’t quite right as the hotel was cheap, the booking didn’t state it included Transport (from Airport) and PCR tests. 

I made alternative arrangements (Hotel which included PCR test and transport), and through the 1st week of Nov with he debacle surrounding the Thailand Pass in its first week of operations and the ridiculous issues with that, I completely forgot that I’d made the initial ‘cheap booking’.

I’d landed in Thailand by the time I was past the cancellation deadline, my fault I was going to lose the 3000 baht. I noticed that the Agoda page for the hotel had changed, it was no longer SHA++, it was just SHA. 

I wrote to Agoda and informed them that the hotel had been miss-sold as SHA++ when it was only SHA. Agoda quickly provided a refund to my card. 

[richard_smith237]

28 minutes ago, MajorTom said:

From what date? when do you arrive? Is it possible to get the Thailand pass approved now with only day 1 T&G booking if your arrival date is after 01/03?

 

I already got my Thailand pass QR using the old requirements (day1+5). I assume its ok if i just cancel the day 5 booking now since my arrival is after March 1st?

I'm in the same situation and returning next week.

 

I figure I will simply cancel the Day 5 Test & Go booking. But, there is no urgency to cancel that at the moment (can do so 3 days before).  I can cancel closer to the time once better details have been published. 

[user70]

Sorry I thought I was in a different topic. The LA embassy told me day 1 suffice, no need for day 5, for the tourist visa application on https://www.thaievisa.go.th/. No idea about test&go, I haven't reached yet this step.

[alex8912]

On 2/23/2022 at 11:49 PM, richard_smith237 said:

Here’s why...   the middle man is more reliable and the costs directly are very rarely better than agoda can provide, additionally, I’m not locked into a specific chain such as Marriott with Bonvoy group.

 

The Day 5 Test & Go has been cancelled... Booking through Agoda with ‘easy cancel’ means I can cancel at any time (up to 3 days before travel) for any reason and get money back to my card instantly. 

 

Agoda’s cancellation and refund policy is far more reliable than many hotels.

 

Additionally, many the same hotels which have ‘easy cancel’ on Agoda do not offer a favourable cancellation policy (i.e. half back if cancel within a week of travel etc... or have to submit proof of inability to travel such as a Positive PCR test etc) - Additionally, the hotels will tell you the PCR test part of the booking is non-refundable etc whereas Agoda books he package. 

 

I’m on my 5th return to Thailand through this process - I’ve researched a lot of hotels through the various rule changes as the policies of the hotels change back and forth depending on how customer service orientated they want to be - Agoda has been consistently ‘better’.

 

On Agoda contacting hotels: Recently I’d booked a long weekend at a decent resort... (20,000 baht - non-refundable) - 3 weeks before travel the hotel e-mailed (via agoda messaging) to inform me that due to government regulations they will be closing the pool and there will be no buffet restaurant (breakfast), only Ala-Carte ordered to the room at cost.

I e-mailed to cancel the stay, no point going if there was no pool etc. The hotel responded that the booking was non-refundable. 

I contacted Agoda customer support and told them that as the hotel have changed the product the terms and conditions are not longer valid, whether they changed there product because of a government mandate was irrelevant - they were not supplying the product I had agreed to. 

Agoda instantly refunded the cost of the trip to ‘Agoda cash’ and said they’d take up the issue directly with the hotel. I refused the Agoda cash and requested a full refund back to my card which I received. 

I didn’t like the idea that Agoda tried to ‘keep the money in their system’ with Agoda cash, but they changed that quickly when I refused. 

I did like the fact that Agoda refunded me and then took their case to the hotel and forced them into positive action - This is the power Agoda have to force fair treatment from the hotels. 

 

I don’t particularly like large companies and the way they ‘can’ usually bully their customers locked into terms they’ve agreed, however, I have always found Agoda to be excellent. 

----

Another, I booked a ‘cheaper’ SHA Plus + hotel for ’Test & Go’ - the hotel was refundable up until the day before travel. Something wasn’t quite right as the hotel was cheap, the booking didn’t state it included Transport (from Airport) and PCR tests. 

I made alternative arrangements (Hotel which included PCR test and transport), and through the 1st week of Nov with he debacle surrounding the Thailand Pass in its first week of operations and the ridiculous issues with that, I completely forgot that I’d made the initial ‘cheap booking’.

I’d landed in Thailand by the time I was past the cancellation deadline, my fault I was going to lose the 3000 baht. I noticed that the Agoda page for the hotel had changed, it was no longer SHA++, it was just SHA. 

I wrote to Agoda and informed them that the hotel had been miss-sold as SHA++ when it was only SHA. Agoda quickly provided a refund to my card. 

I absolutely need cliff notes for that speech...

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, alex8912 said:

I absolutely need cliff notes for that speech...

I type as quickly as I speak....   its easy enough to rattle off a page before I realise.. ‘bloody ek - I’ve rattled on a bit there’.... 

 

Anyway... Its all a moot point... no need for Day 5 bookings.

 

I’m cancelling mine (booked with agoda) - refund will be instant, meanwhile the government has asked for the cooperation of hotels in refunding direct bookings... hmm...