On 9/13/2026 at 6:51 AM, georgegeorgia said:

Despite being an AGODA diamond member I get absolutely nothing in return and have written to the CEO many times to get a generic reply

I now find TRIP have better rewards as in "coins " etc to discount your next stay

I use both Agoda (where I'm also a Diamond VIP) and Trip. Sometimes the former is cheaper and sometimes the latter; it only takes me a few minutes to compare prices and book accordingly. Not a major inconvenience.

On 9/15/2026 at 12:07 PM, Thaddee said:

While apps like Booking.com or Agoda offer a better price, they also offer the hotel the opportunity to fill the ugly/bad rooms, usually the least desired rooms in a particular establishment. Beware also when buying flights with Agoda. Last year, flying Chiang Mai to India, they sold tickets, one domestic CM to BKK and another international BKK to Chennai. The return flight from India was late, missed the connecting flight by 30 minutes and had to purchase a 1 way BKK-CNX as per the rules of the domestic flight did not consider a missed connection, even within the same Air Asia system. The app mislead us to believe it was one itinerary when in fact these were 2 separate tickets with mismatching rules.

You can book suites with apps. Pure marketing as most people use them. If no app deal they lose business.

It is normally 10% cheaper via google maps as they compete for business.

The best deals offer no payment until a day before with free cancellation.

On 9/14/2026 at 10:38 AM, zzzzz said:

I hate agoda gives a LOw price at first glance cause they dont include tax which fools lots of people while booking.com gives the full prices including tax

That used to be down to your settings as shown here:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1377252-thailand-hotel-booking-costs/#findComment-20183692

But it looks like it's been removed altogether nowadays as the selection in the same place now shows this:

And a random search shows this:

I use booking.com for ease but I often check the hotel website for comparison. The commission is around 35% so it’s in the hotels interest to offer cheaper price. Booking in most cases also lets me cancel up to the day before whereas the hotel often want money up front so I bear that in mind too. In Australia our laws stop the booking sites anti competitive behaviour and all other scams they pull and their forbidden from preventing the hotel from offering a cheaper price. In Thailand not so.

44 minutes ago, Brettoj said:

I use booking.com for ease but I often check the hotel website for comparison. The commission is around 35% so it’s in the hotels interest to offer cheaper price. Booking in most cases also lets me cancel up to the day before whereas the hotel often want money up front so I bear that in mind too. In Australia our laws stop the booking sites anti competitive behaviour and all other scams they pull and their forbidden from preventing the hotel from offering a cheaper price. In Thailand not so.

Hotel websites are normally way more expensive. Walk in prices can be cheaper but not with larger hotels.

On 9/13/2026 at 1:43 PM, msbkk said:

Yes, I once booked one of the last 2 available rooms and the hotel was nearly empty. It just means last 2 available rooms of the booking companies reserved allocation.

True, but in some cases it's also just a lie. Multiple European countries have sued Booking and Agoda over deceptive practices, including introducing a sense of urgency by falsely claiming that rooms were almost gone.

On 9/16/2026 at 4:55 PM, treetops said:

That used to be down to your settings as shown here:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1377252-thailand-hotel-booking-costs/#findComment-20183692

But it looks like it's been removed altogether nowadays as the selection in the same place now shows this:

Funny, I have just booked several hotels over the last weeks for my holidays. I did my search with google. Every time I did click on the Agoda link, because they where cheaper then other Agencies, they added tax and service cost to the total. In the end they have been more expensive. That is the reason I never book with Agoda. I do not have an account with them, so I do not have the possibility to change settings with Agoda. But it shows that Agoda is still using net prices on price comparison pages like google. Your settings in the Agoda website when logged in does not change what google is showing when you compare prices.

I use mostly Booking and Trip.com. But I always check with the Hotel website. Many times, even in Thailand, they are cheaper or not more expensive. In that case I book with the Hotel.

3 hours ago, khunjeff said:

True, but in some cases it's also just a lie. Multiple European countries have sued Booking and Agoda over deceptive practices, including introducing a sense of urgency by falsely claiming that rooms were almost gone.

Agoda has a 1 hour sale but it repeats daily. Click out then go via google maps it is cheaper. Deceptive yes but once you know google maps is cheapest go there first.

1 hour ago, khaosokman said:

Agoda has a 1 hour sale but it repeats daily. Click out then go via google maps it is cheaper. Deceptive yes but once you know google maps is cheapest go there first.

I was skeptical, as thinking Gmap has own booking link ? NO, as never seen before, but, damn if you aren't correct.

Gmap will bring up the usual suspects that list the property, while comparing prices. And our go to at Krung Thep is 799 via B.com link on Gmap vs 890 via B.com link by normal Gsearch. I'm Genius Level 2 on B.com 🤬

Walk-in, phone in reservation, day of, was 800, no pet charge, no prepayment.

NOTE: 'pets not allowed' in B.com listing, but we've stayed there before and they know us well.

Opposite for Agoda's listing, so inconsistent results.

via Gmap 900+

vai Agoda 820

6 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

I was skeptical, as thinking Gmap has own booking link ? NO, as never seen before, but, damn if you aren't correct.

Gmap will bring up the usual suspects that list the property, while comparing prices. And our go to at Krung Thep is 799 via B.com link on Gmap vs 890 via B.com link by normal Gsearch. I'm Genius Level 2 on B.com 🤬

Walk-in, phone in reservation, day of, was 800, no pet charge, no prepayment.

NOTE: 'pets not allowed' in B.com listing, but we've stayed there before and they know us well.

Opposite for Agoda's listing, so inconsistent results.

via Gmap 900+

vai Agoda 820

It is cheaper via google maps because they are competing with others. App direct they offer you the 2nd best price if Top member then on down. I'm a Diamond Member with Agoda but google maps still beats it.

Bluepillow via google maps is an aggregator which links up with Agoda etc.

I now practically use only Trip. Interestingly, after you reach a certain status, Trip also sends you discounted entry tickets for events, usually taking place in Bangkok. Right now they are sending me a "two person package" for Jam Fest 2026, whatever that is. I am not much interested in such offers but it may be of interest to a certain kind of people.

I have found out I have got better rooms with Trip than with Agoda overall but that's not the only reason I gave up on Agoda. I found out Agoda contrived to jack up the price at the last click. They also ran an exchange rate scam: you book everything in Baht expecting to be charged in Baht and they (as usual at the last click) force the conversion to Euro at their own lousy rate if your credit card is a European one. Agoda knew I had Bangkok bank so when I tried to pay by direct transfer they listed all Thai banks expect Bangkok bank. Etc.

I gave up on Airbnb long ago.