Agoda Pricing Questions

[lomatopo]

On Agoda, if I see the following:

Room charge (per night) USD 82.49

+ Hotel tax and service fees USD 14.60

Is the total price $82.49 or $97.09?

The pop-up description box is less than informative.

Do I pay Agoda? Or at the hotel?

If I use a U.S. credit card do I pay in USD? I have to pay 3% (I think) if I use my CC outside the U.S., would I incur this extra fee with Agoda?

For the properties I am looking at it appears as though the hotel's own websites are ~ 10% less than Agoda, if that "Hotel tax and service fees" are extra.

[Berek]

Yes you add them together to get the final price. You're paying Agoda and they then pay the hotel minus their commission. Add in the fee for using the CC that goes to your card provider, it all adds up.

[Raesum]

Looks like you should book directly thru the hotel website. I use Agoda a lot and have never had any problems with them.I find their website and booking facilities very easy to use and up-front

[skyd1gger]

I spent 5 weeks travelling through Thailand and Vietnam with my wife earlier this year and used Agoda and Hotels.ca for all our bookings.

Bookings all went very smoothly and we even received a couple of free nights. Because you are paying a broker there is no chance that the hotel can try to over-charge you for your room.

If you change your mind or decide to leave early they'll even refund your money.

We're doing the same thing next year...

[WilliaminBKK]

I always book direct, I find the room allotment given to the OTA's are generally poor, you can never make a change directly with the hotel when you book via a 3rd party broker. What I find disturbing is when I see deposit then to learn that is only the agent making their commission upfront.

I found a new site that has direct contacts and rates-wish they had more hotels in Thailand. http://www.roomko.com/hotel/lists/country/17/city/c_1345

[lomatopo]

Yes you add them together to get the final price. You're paying Agoda and they then pay the hotel minus their commission. Add in the fee for using the CC that goes to your card provider, it all adds up.

Thanks.

So when you use your credit card with Agoda where does the transaction take place? And it what currency? I'm trying to understand how many currency changes might take place along the line.

So you get a hotel in Thailand using a credit card from the U.S., and it's quoted by Agoda in USD at $85, their taxes and fees are $15, for a total of $100. Would my credit card reflect a $100 charge, or something originating in Thai Baht, or Agoda Pesos? It seems like, with foreign credit card fees and currency transactions you could end up paying an additional 5 + %?

Any actual experiences or examples?

[PattayaParent]

You can have Agoda display the price in any currency you want but when it comes time to pay and you've entered you CC details you'll get the option to pay in the currency of your card which is what will be charged by Agoda (any fee that your CC company might add is not controlled by Agoda) or in the currency of the quote (eg. Baht) in which case the amount you pay in your CC currency will be determined by the exchange rate set by your CC provider, again not controlled by Agoda.

Agoda do not charge extra for the use of CC.

[pomchop]

Yes you add them together to get the final price. You're paying Agoda and they then pay the hotel minus their commission. Add in the fee for using the CC that goes to your card provider, it all adds up.

Thanks.

So when you use your credit card with Agoda where does the transaction take place? And it what currency? I'm trying to understand how many currency changes might take place along the line.

So you get a hotel in Thailand using a credit card from the U.S., and it's quoted by Agoda in USD at $85, their taxes and fees are $15, for a total of $100. Would my credit card reflect a $100 charge, or something originating in Thai Baht, or Agoda Pesos? It seems like, with foreign credit card fees and currency transactions you could end up paying an additional 5 + %?

Any actual experiences or examples?

Many american credit cards will tack on a 3% foreign transaction fee even though you are booking from the usa. For example if you book Air Asia flight no matter where you book it the credit card company will add another 3%. One way to avoid it is to get a free capitol one credit card that does not tack on the fee...actually they give you 2% cash back so in the end it is a savings of 5%. That is what I got after getting fed up with my United mileage plus visa adding this 3% on every single purchase i made of goods/services outside the USA. You'd think a card built on the concept of travel might be a little more user friendly for foreign purchases especially when you are paying them an annual fee for the card...but i can testify that Chase who runs the united visa card does not care about anything other than figuring out what is the next fee they can add. As a 20 + year customer, I asked them why i should pay an annual fee of $60 plus a foreign transaction fee when i could get a no annual fee capital one and no foreign transaction fee...their answer? They wanted to sign me up for a different card with a $300 + annual fee but did NOT charge teh foreign transaction fee. Yeah right, sounds like a a great deal...for Chase.

[HowardB]

I look at the Agoda website every time i want a hotel in Asia, because they have good pictures, then i go to asiarooms.com because 99.9% of the time they are cheaper.

Only on one occassion did i use Agoda because it wasan opening special

Howard

[fredob43]

As other peep's have said I also use Agodo web to look at the hotel room ect. Then I look the hotel wed site and get the Thai G/L to book it direct alway's 10/15% cheaper. And you dont have to pay by C/C you can pay the hotel in BT. Save's the C/C cost's.

Edited August 18, 2011 by fredob43

[PattayaParent]

ooops

Edited August 19, 2011 by PattayaParent

[simon43]

All hotels that contract with Agoda have to sign a 'rate parity' agreement, which means that they cannot offer the same accommodation at a cheaper rate via any other online agent, or via their own web-site. The penalty for breaching this contract is removal of the hotel from the Agoda web-site.

Most other major travel web-sites, such as Expedia, also require a rate parity agreement.

Simon