Be Carefull If You Book With Asiarooms

[peter124]

I thought I would share our recent experiance of using AsiaRooms with other members of ThaiVisa.

We booked our chosen hotel in Bangkok through the AsiaRooms website, well in advance of the date we intended to stay there. However, on our arrival at the hotel, sorry we don't have a room for you, full up. I contacted AsiaRooms via telephone, the person who answered wanted to speak to the hotel staff which he did, on my mobile. After the conversation had finished my phone was given back to me, the AsiaRooms representative had gone and we still did not have a room. We ended up stoping in a "short time hotel" on Nana which was not up to the required standard, well not where you take your Wife anyway.

I have contacted AsiaRooms regarding a refund, no refund as the hotel has charged us for your stay. But we did not stay there, sorry no refund as the hotel has charged us for your stay, you get the picture.

I did contact the group/chain of hotels directly and informed them of our experiance, to thier credit they offered us a complimentary stay for two nights in any of thier hotels in Thailand. We have since enjoyed real hospitality at one of thier resorts in the North and will certainly use them again. I can't say the same for AsiaRooms, so be carefull, AsiaRooms will take your money, but you may not get what you paid for, or as in our case you may get nothing at all except a credit card bill.

Peter & Wi

[staniraj]

I thought I would share our recent experiance of using AsiaRooms with other members of ThaiVisa.

We booked our chosen hotel in Bangkok through the AsiaRooms website, well in advance of the date we intended to stay there. However, on our arrival at the hotel, sorry we don't have a room for you, full up. I contacted AsiaRooms via telephone, the person who answered wanted to speak to the hotel staff which he did, on my mobile. After the conversation had finished my phone was given back to me, the AsiaRooms representative had gone and we still did not have a room. We ended up stoping in a "short time hotel" on Nana which was not up to the required standard, well not where you take your Wife anyway.

I have contacted AsiaRooms regarding a refund, no refund as the hotel has charged us for your stay. But we did not stay there, sorry no refund as the hotel has charged us for your stay, you get the picture.

I did contact the group/chain of hotels directly and informed them of our experiance, to thier credit they offered us a complimentary stay for two nights in any of thier hotels in Thailand. We have since enjoyed real hospitality at one of thier resorts in the North and will certainly use them again. I can't say the same for AsiaRooms, so be carefull, AsiaRooms will take your money, but you may not get what you paid for, or as in our case you may get nothing at all except a credit card bill.

Peter & Wi

Thanks Peter for that.

I have booked several times with AsiaRooms and have never had problems (and even a discounted refund for a cancellation).

But will note your experience as may be their services and standards are following!!

I hope you enjoyed your stay.

Just one question, if you had booked with a credit card can you not get a refund from your credit card company, are we not proctected? That's why I tend to book using a C/Card!

StaniRaj

[bkkjames]

Interesting, wonder if you will get a more fav response now as the company in question is a sponsor of the general or main page I believe of TV.

[peter124]

I thought I would share our recent experiance of using AsiaRooms with other members of ThaiVisa.

We booked our chosen hotel in Bangkok through the AsiaRooms website, well in advance of the date we intended to stay there. However, on our arrival at the hotel, sorry we don't have a room for you, full up. I contacted AsiaRooms via telephone, the person who answered wanted to speak to the hotel staff which he did, on my mobile. After the conversation had finished my phone was given back to me, the AsiaRooms representative had gone and we still did not have a room. We ended up stoping in a "short time hotel" on Nana which was not up to the required standard, well not where you take your Wife anyway.

I have contacted AsiaRooms regarding a refund, no refund as the hotel has charged us for your stay. But we did not stay there, sorry no refund as the hotel has charged us for your stay, you get the picture.

I did contact the group/chain of hotels directly and informed them of our experiance, to thier credit they offered us a complimentary stay for two nights in any of thier hotels in Thailand. We have since enjoyed real hospitality at one of thier resorts in the North and will certainly use them again. I can't say the same for AsiaRooms, so be carefull, AsiaRooms will take your money, but you may not get what you paid for, or as in our case you may get nothing at all except a credit card bill.

Peter & Wi

Thanks Peter for that.

I have booked several times with AsiaRooms and have never had problems (and even a discounted refund for a cancellation).

But will note your experience as may be their services and standards are following!!

I hope you enjoyed your stay.

Just one question, if you had booked with a credit card can you not get a refund from your credit card company, are we not proctected? That's why I tend to book using a C/Card!

StaniRaj

Thanks for the reply, the credit card company is my next move now I have given AsiaRooms two months to come up with any sort of offer or refund.

Peter & Wi

[lopburi3]

Actually it appear the problem was the hotel (and they made up for it?). They did not honor your paid reservation. Agree Asiarooms should have refunded and taken it up with hotel rather than saying it was not there problem as they were acting as your agent and getting paid for it.

With the other thread running "Wired Destinations 'belly Up'" below I would have heartburn providing any advance payment (at least more than one day) to any booking service currently.

Edited April 1, 2009 by lopburi3

[phetaroi]

Thanks for the reply, the credit card company is my next move now I have given AsiaRooms two months to come up with any sort of offer or refund.

Good luck on that. At least once I was refused help (on a different type of purchase...not a hotel booking) by a major CC company because I had already paid that month's bill. That was quite a long time ago...maybe things have changed.

[george]

If they don't answer emails or a refund, I'd do a chargeback.

[surayu]

Personally i never liked the policy of AsiaRooms and i firmly believe other companies have a much more customer friendly way to operate (ie: Bookings.com), a chargeback is really what some merchants deserves as they would not comply with anything else, sadly, i really hope they will improve...good luck!

[basjke]

How do you do a chargeback?

[george]

How do you do a chargeback?

You contact your bank/credit card company and nullify the transaction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chargeback

[hagler]

I have used Asia Rooms in the past but stopped using them about 2 years ago after a similar incident which was never resolved to my very reasonable satisfaction. No hard feelings on my part, just took my business somewhere else from then on.

Asia Rooms is owned and operated by Tui Travel PLC, a London market listed company with over 200 different travel brands of which Asia Rooms is just one.

http://www.tuitravelplc.com/tui/pages/brands

So good luck trying to get personal attention to your problem

[peter991]

Having been in the accommodation industry for the past 19 years, I would recommend you book online with the Hotel's website - many times you get a better rate than by going through an agency such as AsiaRooms.

Peter

[lopburi3]

Having been in the accommodation industry for the past 19 years, I would recommend you book online with the Hotel's website - many times you get a better rate than by going through an agency such as AsiaRooms.

Peter

Although true in most markets I have not had that experience in Thailand. Not only are the websites often not even monitored here most will have rack price - and payment most likely will involve direct bank transfers with no chance of redress. Some majors, international chains mostly, are exceptions - but in general find most do not offer much in the way of discounts.

[geriatrickid]

Having been in the accommodation industry for the past 19 years, I would recommend you book online with the Hotel's website - many times you get a better rate than by going through an agency such as AsiaRooms.

Peter

Although true in most markets I have not had that experience in Thailand. Not only are the websites often not even monitored here most will have rack price - and payment most likely will involve direct bank transfers with no chance of redress. Some majors, international chains mostly, are exceptions - but in general find most do not offer much in the way of discounts.

I still believe Peter's point is valid, particularly in respect to any of the major brands both foreign and domestic such as Centra or Dusit. I often use the websites for hotel ideas and comparisons. If you look at the website inventories, the prices look good but they are for the crappiest rooms. Go to the hotel website and voila the same prices but for jr. suites or king size beds etc.I stopped using sites like expedia and orbitz for booking accomodation due to their fees. They already get a booking commission. I can avoid that and get the best price guarantee from the hotel by booking direct. E.g. I often take the early flight out of BKK for NRT so I stay over at the Novotel. Novotel beats any of the websites everytime.

You are right though in respect to some of the smaller hotels that are not affiliated with a major booking engine. You don't have a choice except asia direct at times or even asia rooms, since that's what the hotels use. So I understand your point.

[MJo]

For the OP. Am i correct assuming that the hotel did not honour your paid booking for one night and as a compansation gave you two nights elsewhere. And you are still asking all money back what you paid for ?

IMHO that was the easiest solution to the problem. In case of overbooking (yes it happens in hotels same as airlines), i would definedly opt to the same offer you did which was to trade for 2 nights elsewhere instead of waiting few months to get my money back from CC company. However, if above is the case, i would not start claiming money back later on. Or did the hotel offer you money back AND two nights free stay elsewhere at the time ?

[kurnell]

I gave up on Asia rooms also. They can never honour the rates they promote. Agoda and Wotif are lightyears ahead in terms of service and professionalism.

[robbiecia]

Many of these "we'll book a room for you" websites are very poorly run, and if problems occur, you don't have a lot of comeback.

I had a recent problem with hotelsthailand.com, and a similar situation to the OP.

I disputed the payment with the (Thai) credit card company, and hotelsthailand were prepared to fight.

In the end it was not worth the time and hassle to fight them for the disputed 2500 baht.

Here it is definitely a case of "buyer beware" with many of these websites

[christcourt]

For the OP. Am i correct assuming that the hotel did not honour your paid booking for one night and as a compansation gave you two nights elsewhere. And you are still asking all money back what you paid for ?

IMHO that was the easiest solution to the problem. In case of overbooking (yes it happens in hotels same as airlines), i would definedly opt to the same offer you did which was to trade for 2 nights elsewhere instead of waiting few months to get my money back from CC company. However, if above is the case, i would not start claiming money back later on. Or did the hotel offer you money back AND two nights free stay elsewhere at the time ?

If I book a hotel room [bangkok] I usually get my Thai wife to do it as [a] you get thai discount you can book and not pay untill arrival and [c] go to Airport ATM before you get the Taxi or Hotel transport then pay cash and no C/card will ever see their eyes in case it gets Cloned.

[bkkjames]

Can only speak of my own experience but for 13 years now is it< i have booked with Sawadee com with no issues (touch wood).

And no I don't own the company nor do i know anyone who works there.

[peter124]

For the OP. Am i correct assuming that the hotel did not honour your paid booking for one night and as a compansation gave you two nights elsewhere. And you are still asking all money back what you paid for ?

IMHO that was the easiest solution to the problem. In case of overbooking (yes it happens in hotels same as airlines), i would definedly opt to the same offer you did which was to trade for 2 nights elsewhere instead of waiting few months to get my money back from CC company. However, if above is the case, i would not start claiming money back later on. Or did the hotel offer you money back AND two nights free stay elsewhere at the time ?

The booking was for 2 nights and we ended up staying in another hotel for 2 nights. We could not get a response from AsiaRooms but i managed to get hold of the hotel chain involved MD's email. A very quick response and an offer of 2 nights at an alternative location which we accepted. AsiaRooms has done nothing except take our money for the original booking, their answer is they were charged for our stay even though they aknowledge we did not stay at the hotel, so we have to pay them.

Peter

[machlad]

I twice tried to book a hotel in Tokyo last year with Asia rooms, the transaction went through both times and then cancelled by them as the hotels were apparently full, I gave up and used another website.

Always use sawasdee.com for Thailand and never had a problem

[tw25rw]

I thought I would share our recent experiance of using AsiaRooms with other members of ThaiVisa.

We booked our chosen hotel in Bangkok through the AsiaRooms website, well in advance of the date we intended to stay there. However, on our arrival at the hotel, sorry we don't have a room for you, full up. I contacted AsiaRooms via telephone, the person who answered wanted to speak to the hotel staff which he did, on my mobile. After the conversation had finished my phone was given back to me, the AsiaRooms representative had gone and we still did not have a room. We ended up stoping in a "short time hotel" on Nana which was not up to the required standard, well not where you take your Wife anyway.

I have contacted AsiaRooms regarding a refund, no refund as the hotel has charged us for your stay. But we did not stay there, sorry no refund as the hotel has charged us for your stay, you get the picture.

I did contact the group/chain of hotels directly and informed them of our experiance, to thier credit they offered us a complimentary stay for two nights in any of thier hotels in Thailand. We have since enjoyed real hospitality at one of thier resorts in the North and will certainly use them again. I can't say the same for AsiaRooms, so be carefull, AsiaRooms will take your money, but you may not get what you paid for, or as in our case you may get nothing at all except a credit card bill.

Peter & Wi

Did you print your voucher and show it to them? If you don't, they often just say they're full and charge you for not turning up.

[fred2007]

Actually it appear the problem was the hotel (and they made up for it?). They did not honor your paid reservation. Agree Asiarooms should have refunded and taken it up with hotel rather than saying it was not there problem as they were acting as your agent and getting paid for it.

With the other thread running "Wired Destinations 'belly Up'" below I would have heartburn providing any advance payment (at least more than one day) to any booking service currently.

ok I just have to cut in this thread since I don't like to open a new one If a customer walks in to my place and books the room for 5 days can I ask for payment on check in? Or do I have to wait till they move out? Reasons ? you work it out

[Max2010]

I wanted to share my experience with Asiarooms.com as well.

I have used their service for three years. however, when I had to cancel a hotel reservation, the hotel in Krabi wouldn't cancel my reservation when i contacted them via email. They advised me to contact asiarooms directly. I had to call their call center and they cancelled it right away. The point is, they have a "cancel here" button in their booking reservation voucher emailed to me. This function didn't work. This is inconvenient and forces customers to make long distance calls. Customer service emails don't wor as well, since all my emails to them came back undelivered.

In this day and age, they will lose customers very rapidly if hey don't fix this isue very fast. I have spent over $6,000 in 3 years with them, and as a result of their poor customer care, i have moved to agoda.com.

Sincerely,

Max W

[Max2010]

Most credit card companies will not refund you if you have a problem with a merchant. They claim that it is a business dispute between 2 parties and the card user paid willingly to the merchant. They do have a customer care dept. but it works very slowly. By the time they speak on your behalf to the merchant (after you mail them your receipts, etc and proved you didn't use their service, etc, ) you might get your money back in 6 months time.The charge will be in your credit history even if you demand to cancel the credit card. The only exception to this rule is if your card was stolen. So, be careful where you use your credit card, at the end of the day, the card holder is responsible (unless you wait for 6 months for a refund) if merchants dispute your claims.

[craigt3365]

Having been in the accommodation industry for the past 19 years, I would recommend you book online with the Hotel's website - many times you get a better rate than by going through an agency such as AsiaRooms.

Peter

I have not had much success with this either. Usually getting much better rates with various other booking sites. Once, we booked via latestays.com. Wanted to extend a night. The hotel was less than 1/2 full but would not honor the rate we got...they told us to go back to latestays.com and book another night.

I walked into a large hotel in Malaysia...part of an international chain. Asked for the walk-in rate. Was told it was double the rate on the internet. They even had an internet terminal right there for you to use to book your room! Crazy.

I also don't like asiarooms.com. I have found I can usually get better rates elsewhere.

In your case, contest the charge with your CC company immediately. The process takes some time to get sorted out. I have done this many times due to problems like this and it has always worked out.

[HenryLongfellow]

So, be careful where you use your credit card

I'd more likely say "Be careful which bank's credit card you use"

Why use a card which does not offer you protection, when another one will?

I use a Matercard from Commonwealth Bank in Aus. I've had 3 or 4 transactions that I've disputed over the years. Each and every time it has been no hassle to have the charge re-credited to my account.

[tig28]

In your case, contest the charge with your CC company immediately. The process takes some time to get sorted out. I have done this many times due to problems like this and it has always worked out.

Hi OP

Not too sure about requesting a charge back from the cc co.. It seems to me that the hotel chain offered you a remedy --- which you accepted ----- ( two nights comp. accommodation elswhere.) Is not the financial side now somewhat square??

I fully understand the inconvenience you have suffered --- & I certainly appreciate your feelings re the booking agent who failed you ... but as for some form of refund in addition to the two free nights accommodation you accepted ... I don't think so....

[Pacificperson]

You may have made a mistake by waiting. "Thanks for the reply, the credit card company is my next move now I have given AsiaRooms two months to come up with any sort of offer or refund."

Most credit card companies seem to have a very strict time limit as to how long you can wait to file a claim. I sort of remember that in my case with Travelocity it was 60 days.

[Aikido]

i also had a prblem with Asia rooms around 2 year ago, if your in this type of business and cant come up with the goods you shouldnt be in it furthermore thai visa should remove them if they cant honour thier breif.