Hotel website booking vs Agoda, Booking.com etc.

[phetphet]

Looking to book a one week break in Krabi in July.

School summer holidays for our daughter, and I know it can be wetter on the west coast at this time of year..

 

Was searching the internet and came across a nice hotel on booking.com for under THB25,000. Similar price on Agoda.

 

Decided to check the hotel's own website as I have always found it as cheap or cheaper to book there. But not this time. THB73,000 for the same room.

 

How do these discounts work? Do the hotels just sell off a block of rooms at cheap rates to fill the hotel? Why would a hotel not offer similar discounts on its own website? Surely they would save paying a commission to these other companies.

 

[4MyEgo]

8 minutes ago, phetphet said:

Surely they would save paying a commission to these other companies.

Booking.com and Agoda who I believe is owned by Booking.com have the biggest platforms for bookings, hence the hefty 17% booking fee the hotels pay.

 

It is also part of the contract that the hotels prices be much higher than Bookings.com and Agoda so that they do not compete.

 

I once waked into a hotel knowing what they charged and what Bookings.com charged and said, look, I don't want to book on the website, but will book direct with you and pay cash, same price as Booking.com and they looked at me as if to say W-T-F- I said don't worry I don't work for them but know you pay 17% to them, just give me a good clean room and breakfast and I will be happy, they jumped at the opportunity, however don't know if others will as a contract is a contract.

[mancub]

Enter the hotel name into the Tripadvisor website and you'll be able to compare prices from a selection of the biggest booking sites.

[richard_smith237]

Agoda or Booking.com nearly always cheaper...  They generally offer a better cancellation policy when using ‘easy cancel’ as well.

 

 

[KhunLA]

36 minutes ago, mancub said:

Enter the hotel name into the Tripadvisor website and you'll be able to compare prices from a selection of the biggest booking sites.

TripAdvisor ... the worst for pricing.

Try https://www.hotelscombined.co.th/

 

[internationalism]

Agoda. 
but with rainy season i would not book in advance more than a day or two. You can ruin holiday by being forced to sit at hotel. 
Also i would not stay more than 5 days in one place, gets boring after that. Moving just a few km would make a more interesting stay. 
When booking for a long period there is a risk that you won't like that hotel, for example poor location. Once already there you will have a feeling if other locations are more suitable. 
 

as to price 25k for 6 nights is 4k per night. I would chose something cheaper and stay longer. Travel to krabi from home would take some total 4h by airplane and much more if done by car or other mean of transport. 
 

i would also swap to samui archipelago, which suppose to be yet dry. Likely to start wet only from September, so July still pretty safe to be there. 

Edited June 6, 2022 by internationalism