I have since I been in LOS used the same online agency for hotels.  Today I ran into something I never dreamed of.   I talked to the hotel and tried to cancel a booking and they said ok. Talked to the booking agency and they did not have a problem.

 

HOWEVER, it turns out that the agent did not deal directly with the hotel but a 3rd party that wanted me to pay 2/3 of the total price to cancel the hot el booking.

 

As I said this is one of the top sites and its name Rhymes with pagoda.

 

I am now leery of using these sites anymore.

 

has anyone here run  into this.

Yep, years ago. Disputed it with Visa and was refunded 100%.

 

I never use any of those sites. I go direct or not at all.

 

Had a buddy who ran a small hospitality business. Had rave reviews. One day the "site" called and offered an upgrade for a yearly fee. He declined politely. The caller insinuated, in so many words, that his reviews would soon be a problem. (I don't remember the exact threat, it was a few years ago.)

 

Sure enough, most of his 5-stars vanished, and all manner of 1 and 2-stars appeared in coming weeks. None of which could possibly have patronized his place.

 

Evil.

Nope. I've used Agoda & Booking often and for years. I always book rooms which have the free cancelation option. Have cancelled numerous times without any problems. 

3 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

has anyone here run  into this.

It happens all the time.

 

Book directly with the hotel.

 

Use the booking app as a price guide.

 

You'll get upgrades or changes easy. (Or easier).

It's normal and exceedingly common to use 3rd (and even 4th) party for hotel reservations depending on agent and location. But your business and contract is with the booking agent, in this case the company that rhymes with pagoda right? So whatever their cancellation policy is stated to you when you booked IS the cancellation policy.

 

You weren't clear whether the agent was pagoda or they just used pagoda.

My experience to book only with an agent like Booking.

Just before corona I visit Honk Kong and went to hotel to book the room.

I don't know exactly the price but it was more than 30% if I booked with the agent.

They only will  give me the room for this price if I booked with the agent.

So I sitting in the lobby, go to the website of the booking office and booked that room instantly.

I had problems with that company. A little different scenario. I got a room online, that turned out to be 2300B higher, for 1 night, when I hit buy, then looked at the charges/recept page that pops up, <deleted>! I cancelled immediately, sent e mails to them, called the hotel and paid the original price on arrival. Still getting a reversal of charge took 2 months. Even though they had apologized profusely and said they were reversing it, they of course did not. They tried to string it along week after week. Likely the reason I finally got a refund, I had copies of all their emails, their admission of being wrong, plus receipts of me paying in cash for the room. If they get your money it is a bloody fight to get it back.

They have great prices.  I will never use them again.

Agoda bookings have been known to show at the hotel as sometimes coming from booking.com or vv as they're all part of the same company and their systems must have some sort of link.

 

No big deal in most cases and no conspiracy theory.