Booking websites - Are they conning us?

[Hawaiian]

6 hours ago, Peterphuket said:

Booking.com is a dutch company with headoffice in Amsterdam.

It's an American company.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booking_Holdings

[Hawaiian]

On 8/11/2024 at 8:50 PM, impulse said:

My recent peeve (with Orbitz) is selecting a flight, clicking pay now, going through the CC process, and they come back with "that price is no longer available".  Caving, I agree to pay 10% more (+/-), then they come back with "price no longer available" for several iterations, until the price is 50% or more higher.  But if I close that tab and restart the process, they come back with the original price, and that's what I pay.  I don't delete cookies, or anything like VPN through a different country.  Overall, I like Orbitz, but that one's irritating.

 

Before Covid I booked through CheapOair until they started offering flights, but would not book them, no matter how many times I tried.  Then I found Priceline.

Tried booking directly with JAL.  They were more expensive than Priceline.  Our flight to BBK involves two stopovers, but segments all on one ticket.  May cost more, but better results if any problems arise like delays, etc.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

I have found the same thing mainly with Agoda.

Search via Tripadvisor, Google, direct to the website logged in, direct logged out, and all different prices. Come back next day and different prices again. Agoda does tend to be cheapest though. Prices on Booking.com are more consistent - tend to be more expensive - though lately they have improved and they might give one off cheaper prices or 5 per cent off.

Hotels.com and others such as Expedia etc tend to be a lot higher though hotels.com has the buy ten nights get 1 free deal which can make it worthwhile. 

[NoshowJones]

On 8/12/2024 at 12:49 PM, Scouse123 said:

Apart from the fact most booking sites such as Agoda, Bookings .com, etc are sub companies under the same umbrella company, I noticed a few things in my latest round of booking hotels whilst travelling around Thailand and the region.

 

I am a Platinum and a Gold member of Agoda.

 

I have found regularly by clearing my cache, logging out of both my accounts and going to either Google Maps and entering the name of the hotel or trip advisor and doing the same, whilst logged out, I can get offered cheaper rates as a non-member, that outweigh anything they offer me logged in as a Gold or Platinum member, in my view rendering these loyalty memberships useless.

 

Likewise, I have done this lately, booked as a non-member, then when it comes to the payment, logged into my account to get any future benefits they may offer, (Agoda cash etc) and the rate remains cheap.

 

When I book in through my member account, I get quoted more expensive flat booking fees.

 

This has happened about 80% of the time of late.

I know that Agoda and Booking.com are part of the same company, I have always said about Agoda and their small print booking hotels then finding 17% added on to the cost, but Booking.com?? While trying to book hotels in the UK, I would reply to an email they have sent me, then click on the "reply" box then get an email saying that the email I have replied to does not exist. This has happened at least 6 times so I would be wary of having anything to do with both of them if I could help it.

[JackGats]

Booking and Agoda are part of the same company, only Agoda has its head office in Singapore. The point of this I think is that Agoda is not required to play by EU rules.

 

Agoda jacks up the price at the last click. Agoda refuses to charge in Thai baht if you pay with an EU credit card, so instead of getting the good Visa exchange rate, you get the crappy Agoda exchange rate. IMO Booking runs Agoda as a non-EU compliant subsidiary.

 

[VBF]

21 hours ago, Kerryd said:

All "search engine" type sites like Expedia, Kayak, Agoda and so on leave "cookies" on your computer. In most cases it's so the next time you visit that site it knows your preferences and what you searched for last time.

And because they know the details (dates, times, destinations, etc) of what you searched for before, they know they can give you similar results - for more money - because now maybe you are a little more desperate.

It was a tip over 20 years ago that you should delete your cache, cookies and browsing history before visiting any of those sites - and again if you go back to one you'd recently visited. (These days it seems it takes an hour to finally delete everything.)

Some years ago when I was booking a lot of flights for myself (working out of  the country) I found a number of tips to make things better.

One time I searched for a flight from Dubai to Bangkok to Manila to Vancouver. The travel website (Expedia or Kayak I think) gave me a price that was $1,200 more than booking it myself through the airline's website(s). And that was after I'd cleared my browser data and after I'd tried different date/flight options.

But I'd learned to only use those sites to search for flights and find the flight/date/schedule that best suits you and note the airline(s). Also pay attention to any "code share" flights and look at where it says "operated by" because that is who you will really be flying with regardless of which airline you booked with.

Then go to the airline's website. Enrol in their frequent flyer progam !!!
They will give you a "temp" card and number and I've found that many of them (outside of North America at least) will give you a bit larger luggage allowance just for being a member.

Then, armed with the flight details from you search, go through the booking process. It's not that hard.
And normally, when booking direct through the airline, you can pick which seat you prefer (a free choice on most airlines) and even your meal preference (if any).
When you get to the "payment" section - look at the difference between their price and the search engine site. The search engine site is usually more.

Fun fact ! Don't be tied down to one airline !! Use the search engines and note what other airlines are flying the same route.

Go to their websites and see what they charge for that flight.

The company used to book me on Emirates from Dubai to Bangkok but that meant I had to sit in the airport for 8 hours before I could even check in for a flight leaving in 11 hours. Then I'd watch how many other airlines departed for Bangkok in that same period and wonder why the company's agent didn't book me on one of those.

I started booking my own and found that Gulf Air out of Bahrain had some super sweet deals. I could fly from Dubai to Bahrain (Business Class), spend a couple hours in the Business Class lounge, then board my Business Class seat for the flight to Bangkok that arrived about the same time the Emirates/Thai Air (codeshare) flight arrived.

And it was only about $300 more than an economy ticket on Emirates !
Way better all the way around, from separate check-in lines, separate Immigration queues, Business Class lounges, priority boarding, larger luggage allowances, better seating of course - and meals. First off the plane on arrival, separate "Fast Trak" Immigration counters.

Another tip. If flying Economy, select an aisle seat on the left side, 2nd or 3rd row from the front.
Planes always load and unload from the left side.

The front row usually has to share a small TV mounted on the wall ahead of you and that is also where they put the "baby bassinets" if there are infants on the flight.

The aisle seat means you are free to get up and go to the bathroom or stretch or whatever without hassle. Being in row 2 or 3 means you usually get served drinks/meals before everyone else as well.

As soon as I feel the plane starting to make it's descent towards the destination airport, I get my carry on and pack everything away and stick it under my seat (or back in the overhead).

When the plane stops at the gate, I've got my carry-on and am standing near the exit door while everyone else starts to think about what bag to stuff what junk in and blocking the aisles for everyone else.

I had one flight where I sat in the Emergency row at the back of the plane. It literally took me 1 hour after the plane stopped before I stepped out of the plane.

But on the first flight where I sat in row 2/left aisle/aisle seat - I was through Immigration and heading for the exit barely an hour after the plane stopped.

Another tip. Everyone and their dog usually starts their holiday "after work" on Friday and has to come home on a Sunday to be ready to go back to work on Monday.

As a result, airlines often (as in - always) charge more for "weekend" flights.

Try to schedule your departure/arrival dates for Tue/Wed/Thu. There's a good chance that not only will the flights be cheaper, but you will have an easier time picking your seats and when it's time to fly, the flights may not be as full (more food and drinks for you) !

People use "booking agents" because they think they are "experts" at finding the best deals.
But they aren't.
Booking agents working for companies like Flight Center try to put you onto flights where they've bought blocks of seats at a discount from the airline and then they have to sell them to try and make a profit.

Their priority is often more about filling those seats than optimizing your travel plans. If they can't sell the seats, they lose the money they paid for them. (And then the airline can maybe stick some standby passengers in those seats.)

Booking agents - and their companies - also get paid to "promote" some destinations more than others. They may get discounted flight deals, hotel upgrades and "companion fares" for example if they can book people into (where ever) on (what ever) airline.

In another case of "shopping around" - I flew Vancouver to Bangkok a couple times on China Air. Very nice airline flying through Taiwan and better prices that Japan Air Lines (or any North American air line for that matter).

But then I found that I could book flights on Philippines Air and for a couple hundred $$ more, fly Business Class !

But the drawback was - the flight to Vancouver had a 22 hour layover in Manila.
But the good part was, the flight from Manila to Bangkok (on the return) left about 3 hours after the flight from Vancouver landed.

(And again, by travelling Business Class, it was much easier to get on/off the planes and go through Immigration.)

(Had to laugh the first time I flew Business Class on Philippines Air. I was looking at how much room there was on the floor between seats and wondering if the cabin crew would have a problem if I stretched out there.
Then the woman across the aisle from me reclines her seat full flat, puts on the (free) eye shades that come in the little kit they give Business Class flyers, wraps a blanket around her and goes to sleep.

And we're still loading passengers ! And the crew didn't make her sit up and "put her chair in the upright position" when we took off either.

Yeah, had a good sleep on that flight.

And time travelled too !
Left Manila on a Tuesday at 16:00. Arrived in Vancouver on the same Tuesday - at 14:00. Went back in time nearly 2 hours.

 

Excellent post - however I disagree with you where you say   "These days it seems it takes an hour to finally delete everything."

 

Use a program like CCleaner where you can delete the cookies etc of your choice and it will take about 20 seconds.   I've also used a Chrome extension "Awesome Cookie Manager" with some success.  Other similar options are available for both.

 

Another tip is to have more than 1 browser on your PC - on mine I have Chrome and Edge, logged into different accounts  and with shortcuts to Chrome Incognito and Edge InPrivate on the desktop.

 

I have opened the same booking website on both simultaneously, done the same search and observed the different results!

 

[treetops]

On 8/14/2024 at 4:50 AM, NoshowJones said:

I have always said about Agoda and their small print booking hotels then finding 17% added on to the cost . . . .

 

That's down to your settings and can be changed.

 

[NikoMcneil]

Sometimes they can be sneaky. You think you're getting a great deal, but then you find extra fees popping up, or the hotel differs from what you expected. It can be super frustrating!
From my experience, it's best to shop around. I check a couple of different sites before I make a decision. Some places might have hidden charges or show you the price without tax included. A little homework goes a long way! Also, checking reviews and ratings helps a ton.
Have you ever tried looking at travel safety info for your destination? It can give you peace of mind. For example, this site about Clarksville offers some great insights. You can check it out https://www.travelsafe-abroad.com/united-states/clarksville/ .

Edited 20 minutes ago by NikoMcneil

[KannikaP]

On 8/13/2024 at 1:10 PM, freeworld said:

They are all part of the same US company Booking Holdings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booking_Holdings

 

Take a look at the recent reviews on trustpilot for booking and agoda.

 

There is some interesting info on booking.com wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booking.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agoda

There are only two, booking.com and Expedia. All the others are offshoots.

[KannikaP]

6 minutes ago, NikoMcneil said:

For example, this site about Clarksville offers some great insights

Does it say when the last train is?