Hotel booking site tricks

[Sparktrader]

Their prices go up at 5pm even for following evening.

[Jerno]

Who is they? Where? How about a few details... 

[DezLez]

????

[MrJ2U]

You'll usually get a better deal booking directly with the hotel.

 

I use sites like Agoda, booking. Com, Hotels.com, etc as a reference.  Then just book on the hotels website or call them.  There happy not to pay the commission and offer you a better prices. 

 

Although for small "Thai" owned  hotels it can be useful as the staff have little leeway when the Chinese owners aren't there. 

Edited November 7, 2022 by MrJ2U

[Sparktrader]

12 minutes ago, MrJ2U said:

You'll usually get a better deal booking directly with the hotel.

 

I use sites like Agoda, booking. Com, Hotels.com, etc as a reference.  Then just book on the hotels website or call them.  There happy not to pay the commission and offer you a better prices. 

 

Although for small "Thai" owned  hotels it can be useful as the staff have little leeway when the Chinese owners aren't there. 

80 baht cheaper online this time but then price went up.

[NanLaew]

19 minutes ago, MrJ2U said:

You'll usually get a better deal booking directly with the hotel.

 

I use sites like Agoda, booking. Com, Hotels.com, etc as a reference.  Then just book on the hotels website or call them.  There happy not to pay the commission and offer you a better prices. 

 

Although for small "Thai" owned  hotels it can be useful as the staff have little leeway when the Chinese owners aren't there. 

I had a situation in a Singapore hotel where I needed to extend my stay that was originally booked via agoda. I asked at reception if I could extend and they said they were full, no extension. I went to my room and checked the hotel's website and that confirmed what reception had just told me. I looked on agoda to see if any rooms were available in a nearby hotel. The hotel I was in came up as having availability so I called reception and mentioned this. The same person that had just told me they were full and couldn't extend told me to go ahead and book the extension via agoda and they would honor it.

[Sparktrader]

4 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

I had a situation in a Singapore hotel where I needed to extend my stay that was originally booked via agoda. I asked at reception if I could extend and they said they were full, no extension. I went to my room and checked the hotel's website and that confirmed what reception had just told me. I looked on agoda to see if any rooms were available in a nearby hotel. The hotel I was in came up as having availability so I called reception and mentioned this. The same person that had just told me they were full and couldn't extend told me to go ahead and book the extension via agoda and they would honor it.

They allocate certain number of rooms. Must be under contract.

[soi3eddie]

Numerous things that hotel booking sites do to get you to book. Statements such as:

• Only x rooms left at this price
• Last booked x minutes ago
• x number of people looking at this room now

I suspect, but cannot prove, that they use website cookies or account info, and then when you go back to book the price has increased as they know you are interested in booking a certain hotel/room.

 

As for booking direct with the hotel for a better price then unlikely as the booking websites have strong agreements/rules with the properties in exchange for taking a certain amount of rooms or to market the property. I use Agoda a lot simply for the convenience. Used to get Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus ROP miles but they quitely dropped that since late 2020.

 

Once, in Hua Hin in 2019 was at a hotel booked through Agoda and wanted to stay another few nights. Asked at front desk and offered to pay cash there and then. They said NO please book on Agoda! I said Agoda shows unavailable, they said "we'll open bookings again" so I booked and paid on Agoda. Would have thought they wanted a simple cash transaction but No. TIT.

 

[MrJ2U]

21 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

I had a situation in a Singapore hotel where I needed to extend my stay that was originally booked via agoda. I asked at reception if I could extend and they said they were full, no extension. I went to my room and checked the hotel's website and that confirmed what reception had just told me. I looked on agoda to see if any rooms were available in a nearby hotel. The hotel I was in came up as having availability so I called reception and mentioned this. The same person that had just told me they were full and couldn't extend told me to go ahead and book the extension via agoda and they would honor it.

It's almost like a game. 

 

Good for you!

It's a drag and time consuming to have to switch hotels.  

 

Well done. 

[Sparktrader]

17 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Numerous things that hotel booking sites do to get you to book. Statements such as:

• Only x rooms left at this price
• Last booked x minutes ago
• x number of people looking at this room now

I suspect, but cannot prove, that they use website cookies or account info, and then when you go back to book the price has increased as they know you are interested in booking a certain hotel/room.

 

As for booking direct with the hotel for a better price then unlikely as the booking websites have strong agreements/rules with the properties in exchange for taking a certain amount of rooms or to market the property. I use Agoda a lot simply for the convenience. Used to get Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus ROP miles but they quitely dropped that since late 2020.

 

Once, in Hua Hin in 2019 was at a hotel booked through Agoda and wanted to stay another few nights. Asked at front desk and offered to pay cash there and then. They said NO please book on Agoda! I said Agoda shows unavailable, they said "we'll open bookings again" so I booked and paid on Agoda. Would have thought they wanted a simple cash transaction but No. TIT.

 

Each day a new discount using different payment ie mastercard

 

 

[Lacessit]

I only book when I am outside Thailand, usually through Agoda.

 

For road trips in Thailand, we roll into a hotel and ask the price. 500 - 700 baht/night is acceptable. We then ask to see the room.

Specifications are clean, big bed, working aircon and plumbing. I test them.

I look at my GF, it's either a nod or a shake of the head.

I remember a guy in Sukhothai who quoted a price of 650 baht, then refused to let us see the room. Mai ow krap. We drove to another hotel less than a kilometre away, very good room, breakfast included, 550 baht.

[Sparktrader]

5 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I only book when I am outside Thailand, usually through Agoda.

 

For road trips in Thailand, we roll into a hotel and ask the price. 500 - 700 baht/night is acceptable. We then ask to see the room.

Specifications are clean, big bed, working aircon and plumbing. I test them.

I look at my GF, it's either a nod or a shake of the head.

I remember a guy in Sukhothai who quoted a price of 650 baht, then refused to let us see the room. Mai ow krap. We drove to another hotel less than a kilometre away, very good room, breakfast included, 550 baht.

Ok if have car. Easy check out 2 or 3. Not easy with tuk tuk.

[Lacessit]

15 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

Ok if have car. Easy check out 2 or 3. Not easy with tuk tuk.

Are you trying to get your post count up with inane responses? Who does a road trip in a tuk-tuk?

[SenorTashi]

1 hour ago, soi3eddie said:

I suspect, but cannot prove, that they use website cookies or account info, and then when you go back to book the price has increased

I've been staying in hotels a lot up until this week and the prices have been going up but I thought it was because of high season.

 

I was staying for a long time in one hotel and the first price I paid in August was 290, then it was 300, then 311, then 320 and last time I checked it was over 400. ( I did eventually get a monthly rate of 5000 when I realised I was sticking around) 

[Golden Triangle]

I was staying at a hotel and a friend wanted to stay at the same place, I asked reception, no problem they said, but he couldn't stay at the same price I was paying unless he booked online, it transpired that they had a daily allocation of rooms at a special price and these had to be used before they could accept 'normal' bookings, strange but true. 

[Sparktrader]

5 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Are you trying to get your post count up with inane responses? Who does a road trip in a tuk-tuk?

Travellers use tuk tuks and taxis. Think before you post.

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Travellers use tuk tuks and taxis. Think before you post.

AFAIK they don't use tuk-tuks to travel from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, unless they are complete masochists. Seems you don't know what a road trip is.

[Mac Mickmanus]

11 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

AFAIK they don't use tuk-tuks to travel from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, unless they are complete masochists. Seems you don't know what a road trip is.

The use songthaews/Red cars when the buses are full 

[2baht]

9 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

80 baht cheaper online this time but then price went up.

Wow! 80 baht, thanks for the "heads up" Sparky!

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

The use songthaews/Red cars when the buses are full 

I wonder how long a trip like that would take, what with picking up and dropping off, plus the slow speed of songthaews. The Green Bus between CM and CR takes about 3 hours, doing 80 km/hr.

IMO it would be a long and uncomfortable journey.

[w5phot]

14 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Their prices go up at 5pm even for following evening.

The big hotel chains use AI-driven pricing which take into account a lot more variables than time.

 

Things like the country you book from, IOS/Android, the number of times you've checked, the day of the week, how near to the booking date, etc.

 

So if you see the prices go up at 5pm, it might not necessarily be true for other people.

[Mac Mickmanus]

13 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I wonder how long a trip like that would take, what with picking up and dropping off, plus the slow speed of songthaews. The Green Bus between CM and CR takes about 3 hours, doing 80 km/hr.

IMO it would be a long and uncomfortable journey.

The Green bus takes about 3 hours and 15 minutes and a distance of 189 kilometres makes the speed about 60 KPH and a songthaew can do it in about the same time .

   The songthaew goes from bus station to bus station and no dropping off and they only run when the days buses are full and they have ten passengers  at 300 Baht per person .

   Really uncomfortable and dusty as well

[Sparktrader]

17 hours ago, Lacessit said:

AFAIK they don't use tuk-tuks to travel from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, unless they are complete masochists. Seems you don't know what a road trip is.

They take a bus then a tuk tuk or taxi.

 

[Sparktrader]

16 hours ago, 2baht said:

Wow! 80 baht, thanks for the "heads up" Sparky!

Most on here are paying 5,000 baht a month.

[Boomer6969]

16 hours ago, 2baht said:

Wow! 80 baht, thanks for the "heads up" Sparky!

Yep, it made the room 30% cheaper.

[Lacessit]

16 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

They take a bus then a tuk tuk or taxi.

 

I get it, you want to be an ASEAN oracle. Permit me to doubt you will achieve that with statements of the bleeding obvious.

You won't be doing it with vacuous putdowns such as "Think before you post" or " You obviously haven't been there" either.

[Sparktrader]

3 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I get it, you want to be an ASEAN oracle. Permit me to doubt you will achieve that with statements of the bleeding obvious.

You won't be doing it with vacuous putdowns such as "Think before you post" or " You obviously haven't been there" either.

You are an angry guy. Bye.

[2baht]

7 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Most on here are paying 5,000 baht a month.

My wife owns my houses! ????????

[Lacessit]

9 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

You are an angry guy. Bye.

You may be right, people who go out of their way to be annoying have that effect on me.