Felt 35 Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Hi! I usually book hotels through asiarooms.com or asiahotels.com. However It seems from their webpage that www.agoda.com is cheaper for the same hotels. Would like to hear if anyone have experience with using them! Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gzu88bv Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Hi!I usually book hotels through asiarooms.com or asiahotels.com. However It seems from their webpage that www.agoda.com is cheaper for the same hotels. Would like to hear if anyone have experience with using them! Regards I have been using them over the last two years. Booked with them several times and never had a problem whatsoever. Can recommend the service and since company is based in Singapore my credit card is safer. Even their chat service in connection with bookings is excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tw25rw Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Hi!I usually book hotels through asiarooms.com or asiahotels.com. However It seems from their webpage that www.agoda.com is cheaper for the same hotels. Would like to hear if anyone have experience with using them! Regards I always use agoda.. They are fine.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felt 35 Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 tw25rw & gzu88bv Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimjim Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 In my own searches at least, it seems that for Thailand, at least, agoda.com is always cheaper. Also try hotelscombined.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporting Dog Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 (edited) I have found sawadee.com (and r24 which is affiliated) is often cheaper than Agoda (they are often a killer because they add the taxes after the initial price quote). I always check both sites to compare as sometimes some have special deals (stay 5 pay for 4nightrs etc). The variations in price can be surprising. Also latestays.com can have really good prices if you are booking within two weeks of staying. I have used all three sites numerous times and never had any problems with credit cards, or reservations when I've got to the hotel I also always check the hotel website, very occasionally they have the best deals. I also use tripadvisor.com/ - they have reviews of nearly every hotel there is - from past customers. Can have some useful info about hotels, locations etc. Edited June 17, 2008 by Sporting Dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citizen33 Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 (edited) I have found sawadee.com (and r24 which is affiliated) is often cheaper than Agoda (they are often a killer because they add the taxes after the initial price quote). I always check both sites to compare as sometimes some have special deals (stay 5 pay for 4nightrs etc). The variations in price can be surprising. Also latestays.com can have really good prices if you are booking within two weeks of staying. I have used all three sites numerous times and never had any problems with credit cards, or reservations when I've got to the hotel I also always check the hotel website, very occasionally they have the best deals. I also use tripadvisor.com/ - they have reviews of nearly every hotel there is - from past customers. Can have some useful info about hotels, locations etc. Agree with the above. I have noticed that some of the online sites seem to be trying to increase margins and are now actually more expensive than the hotels' own websites. Booking direct can indeed ocassionally be cheaper than the agents, especially if you do not want breakfast. Examples where I found this to be true earlier this year were the Sofitel and Chareon Thani Princess - both in Khon Kaen. Edited June 17, 2008 by citizen33 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bino Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 and since company is based in Singapore my credit card is safer Agree - good service from Agoda, but they are based in BKK, not SG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaytonSeymour Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 and since company is based in Singapore my credit card is safer Agree - good service from Agoda, but they are based in BKK, not SG. Not according to other sources including their own website. The credit card charges always show as Singapore too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHotels Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 and since company is based in Singapore my credit card is safer Agree - good service from Agoda, but they are based in BKK, not SG. Not according to other sources including their own website. The credit card charges always show as Singapore too. Agoda was one of the pioneers in online booking and is incorporated in Singapore for tax reasons and as they are able to us E-Clearing to process credit card payments. They may advertise in Thai Baht, but they cannot process in Thai Baht. E-Clearing is a Dynamic Credit Card processor which offers merchants kickbacks for each transaction. You must process in one of 12 currencies such as Gbp, Euro, Yen, Sgd Usd to name a few. Basically the customer is losing 2-4 % on each transaction( May be more as Agoda is a big player) Not only that, Agoda add on a minimum of 21% on their nett rates from hotels/wholesalers. Thats at least double what the cheapest companies do. Thats to pay for their reward programme. They only show you the price with taxes and service fees at the end screen when a minimum of 21% is added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britmaveric Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Asia Travel is top notch too, and def worth a look! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsfbrit Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 (edited) I have found sawadee.com (and r24 which is affiliated) is often cheaper than Agoda... I also use tripadvisor.com/ - they have reviews of nearly every hotel there is - from past customers. Can have some useful info about hotels, locations etc. ...Booking direct can indeed ocassionally be cheaper than the agents, especially if you do not want breakfast. Examples where I found this to be true earlier this year were the Sofitel and Chareon Thani Princess - both in Khon Kaen. Agreed. I just used R24 for my booking in Mukdahan and they were very good. What I like about them as well is that you dont have to provide credit card details when you check for availability like some of the other sites mentioned. Some of them want credit card details up-front and IF the room is available then you have to book. Fair enough if you are booking way in advance, However, I got into a really annoying situation just before Xmas, when I had provided my credit card details and could not get any feedback about availability of a hotel room later that week. I had to wait 3+ days for the online agency to tell me they had no availability in that hotel. Their terms and conditions said I HAD to take the room if it was available and as they had my credit card details I just had to wait for them to respond or I would have been stuck with the room. So I then had to find a room in a hurry ! Hardly the end of the World I admit, but who needs the hassle if it can be avoided. If R24 were to take this long I could at least have started looking elsewhere immediately I thought there was a problem. Edited June 19, 2008 by dsfbrit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machlad Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 I have always used sawadee.com prices are usually competitive and I have never had a problem yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricZ Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 We used Agoda many time. Found them good to deal with, responsive and usually less than some of the other booking companies. Go with the least cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrubbery Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I have always used sawadee.com prices are usually competitive and I have never had a problem yet. I agree. They also respond quickly to booking enquiries. I will always use them if I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niggle Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I have only used agoda once and it wasnt until too late that I noticed that tax is added on AFTER their quoted price - sneaky trick Now I am back using sawasdee.com - always cheaper, up front with prices and always very efficient Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jandajoy Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Hotels2thailand have never let me down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawndoc Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I just booked a couple hotels. I found the same hotels at all the major sites (Asiarooms, Agoda, Sawasdee, latestays) and compares total cost after taxes/fees/etc. For one of the hotels Agoda (first time using it) was several hundred baht a night cheaper. For the other Sawasdee was cheaper by just a few baht/night. Sawasdee was much faster at confirming the reservation, but I don't know if the delay is due to the booking site or the hotel choice. So if you don't mind spending a few extra minutes, you might be able to save yourself some baht over a long holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevemcqueen Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 I've used hoteltravel.com for the past 4 years,simply because wherever I went ,and with the transaction,everything went smoothly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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