Online Travel Agencies

[jonniebkk]

I do a fair amount of traveling, mostly around SE Asia, and on occasion, back to the States. For the past 2-3 years, it seems to me that the prices I get when I book directly with the service provider (be it an airline or hotel) is often cheaper or about the same as the prices quoted by the various online travel agencies and hotel room agencies. In the early days of web travel bookings, it was often the case that these online agencies often had cheaper prices for air flights and hotel rooms as the whole concept of online bookings was somewhat foreign to the providers. Now, however, it doesn't seem to be the case.

Some providers, like Marriott, even have low price guarentees. If you find a cheaper room rate online than what they quote direct, you get the difference of the room free of something like that. And though I have never had a problem with a room or flight booked online with an agency, it seems like if there ever is any problem, you have a better chance at satisfactory recourse if the booking was made directly with the service provider.

The online agencies of which I speak include expedia, travelocity, asiatravel, asiarooms, octopus, hotels.com and some others I can't remember. I also find that storefront travel agencies also generally don't have any better rates that what I can get directly.

Does anyone else feel the same...is there some great online agency that I am unaware of that is truly cheaper than direct bookings?

[onzestan]

Does anyone else feel the same...is there some great online agency that I am unaware of that is truly cheaper than direct bookings?

Not that I know off.

However it is my experience that if you shop around sometimes it is possible to save a fair amount.

It all depends how thorough you search and how much time you want to spend searching.

cheers

onzestan

[onethailand]

Depends on what you are looking for.

Airfares - for the most part, it won't be cheaper online, however it can be the same price as what you will find at an agent. If anything, it's jmostly a matter of convenience.

Hotels - generally the booking sites will be cheaper, sometimes by a significant margin - but sometimes you will find promotions on the hotel sites which are pretty close, but usually not less.

Do beware, however, that if you see the same price at a hotel as you do at the booking site, the hotel will almost always add 17.7%-18.7% in taxes and service charges on top of their price, whereas the booking site price is typically inclusive of taxes and service charges.

One other caveat - booking a Thailand hotel on an overseas (meaning company registered overseas) site will cost you more, especially if in the UK - simply because you will be paying up to 17.5% more in VAT. Make sure whomever you book with online has a Thailand office.

[Jingthing]

Sometimes a good travel agent will know about special promotions on airlines that you aren't even checking online. Also, some airlines don't participate in Expedia like sites at all. I would say shop around every time for the best deal, there is no hard and fast way to get the best deal every time for every trip.

[torrenova]

I'll give you an example in Pattaya.

You can book the Marriott much cheaper with a local Pattaya based agent than you can with the Marriott itself. Why ? because the Marriott guarantee does not work as the products are different. With agents, you often get breakfast included which, for 2 people, is something really worthwhile in the Marriott (costs something like 650++ each). Very few of their online rates include breakfast.

When you compare say Bt4500 including breakfast with an agent and Bt5500 before taxes and not including breakfast from the hotel website then there is a significant saving. Not always available for sure but often.

Then you get hotels who are just stupid. They want Bt4000 but will discount to Bt3500 when you can get it from an agent for Bt2500. They obviously get less than Bt2500 because of the commission so they either get that or nothing !

[jonniebkk]

I'll give you an example in Pattaya.

You can book the Marriott much cheaper with a local Pattaya based agent than you can with the Marriott itself. Why ? because the Marriott guarantee does not work as the products are different. With agents, you often get breakfast included which, for 2 people, is something really worthwhile in the Marriott (costs something like 650++ each). Very few of their online rates include breakfast.

I suppose that might work if you were going to a place you had been before and know a locally based agent who you could contact to get you a reservation. But if you are going to a new place it would be more difficult. I take Jing's point that for every trip, one just has to shop around (net and on foot) to see what the best prices are on the route/place you want to go at the time.

PS: The breakfasts at all hotels in Asia are a joke and all overpriced...usually US$10-20 for same crappy soggy Chinese noodles and congee and a smattering of soggy bacon and egg dishes. Besides, I am usually too full from the dinner the nite before or up too late to even want their breakfasts. Prefer places where I can get a room without the breakfast charges.

[zink]

I'll give you an example in Pattaya.

You can book the Marriott much cheaper with a local Pattaya based agent than you can with the Marriott itself. Why ? because the Marriott guarantee does not work as the products are different. With agents, you often get breakfast included which, for 2 people, is something really worthwhile in the Marriott (costs something like 650++ each). Very few of their online rates include breakfast.

I suppose that might work if you were going to a place you had been before and know a locally based agent who you could contact to get you a reservation. But if you are going to a new place it would be more difficult. I take Jing's point that for every trip, one just has to shop around (net and on foot) to see what the best prices are on the route/place you want to go at the time.

PS: The breakfasts at all hotels in Asia are a joke and all overpriced...usually US$10-20 for same crappy soggy Chinese noodles and congee and a smattering of soggy bacon and egg dishes. Besides, I am usually too full from the dinner the nite before or up too late to even want their breakfasts. Prefer places where I can get a room without the breakfast charges.

It's not really difficult, even if you haven't been before at the destination (booking through a local agent isn't any more difficult than booking through a foreign agent).

However, there are some cheap hotels that aren't usually available through agents, in those cases one should contact hotel directly.

Edited October 31, 2007 by zink

[jfchandler]

After 5 years of staying periodically in Thailand (now permanently) and flying to and from the U.S., I have two observations:

For hotels, I almost always have had better pricing booking through Asia and/or Thai based online travel agencies compared to booking direct with the hotels. Until a year or so ago, it seemed asiarooms.com would have the best pricing on hotels in Thailand as a general rule. But lately, passionasia.com seems to be beating them every time. Also, their pricing includes all taxes and fees, and typically includes breakfast as part of the hotel rates. I'd say this situation certainly applies for Western-service-level hotels, though not so much for Thai-market based properties.

For airfares, especially between LOS and the U.S., EVA Air has super saver fares always available direct from their web site, which seem to regularly be the best I can find anywhere. They also have a nice frequent flyer program that allows members to use their accumulated miles to purchase further discounted tickets. And once you reach silver level (the second highest of four tiers), you're entitled to free Internet use on their computers and very nice free food and drinks in their airport lounges, which are very good in both BKK and their hub in Taiwan.

JAL sometimes advertises better special fares to Los Angeles. But after one trans-Pacific flight on a JAL 747 where I couldn't fit into the economy seat, and had to sit in the cabin crew's pull down jumpseat in the back of the plane, I banished JAL from my travels. But, I'm 6-8, so I have some unique travel challenges not faced by most.

John, formerly from Los Angeles.

[ClaytonSeymour]

I've just booked two nights at the Sofitel Le Sphinx in Cairo through an online agent, total cost £66. Same room, same dates on Sofitel's website = £225

No comparison - dealing with the hotel's directly is hardly ever cheaper, sometimes you'll see them round about the same but, more often than not you wont be getting breakfast unless you pay extra. The only real exceptions I've found are certain hotels at the cheaper end - sometimes my Wife can obtain them at the Thai rate cheaper, an example was when we stayed at the Louis Tavern Airport Hotel, I can't remember the exact cost but, it did work out a bit cheaper than with the well known online agents.

Airlines are a different matter and it always pays to check their rates, both on the net & directly, as they can be cheaper than online agents.