Agoda discriminating non-Thai speakers!

[chr1st1an]

It was a silly comment referring to an earlier comment by the guy claiming I would be working for HotelQuickly just because I was advocating their superiority. No deeper meaning

Is that the reason why yet again you mention full name of a start up company with hardly any suppliers?

You mentioned the other company (with no price filter, no price sorting, double pricing, and false "best price" claims) about 30 times in this thread. Your point?

[whoisyourdaddy]

It was a silly comment referring to an earlier comment by the guy claiming I would be working for HotelQuickly just because I was advocating their superiority. No deeper meaning

Is that the reason why yet again you mention full name of a start up company with hardly any suppliers?

You mentioned the other company (with no price filter, no price sorting, double pricing, and false "best price" claims) about 30 times in this thread. Your point?

Clearly too much for you to comprehend

[nong38]

It's worth mentioning there are a lot of tight people on here

Well there is no point in paying more than you need to is there? What we are all looking for is the best deal and no discrimination, the playing field might appear level but often is not.

Agoda I used once, dreadful, game over.

[wooloomooloo]

Agoda I used once, dreadful, game over.

Maybe should have given them another chance. I have been using Agoda for at least five years and never had a problem.

I accidentally double booked a hotel room once and emailed Agoda customer service and was promptly reimbursed for the additional room.

Never had a problem otherwise and have booked dozens of hotels through them.

[nong38]

Agoda I used once, dreadful, game over.

Maybe should have given them another chance. I have been using Agoda for at least five years and never had a problem.

I accidentally double booked a hotel room once and emailed Agoda customer service and was promptly reimbursed for the additional room.

Never had a problem otherwise and have booked dozens of hotels through them.

When I used them had an issue, several emails no replies from them. customer service to me very poor, thats their loss, now I move on. I have found that booking direct has no disadvantages, all Agoda etc do is give you a base price with no breakfast, depends what you want.

[trajan]

Btw, as you couldn't reproduce, here's some example. Make sure to use 2 different browsers and clear cache before.

Browser 1: http://www.agoda.com/th-th/aspen-suites-hotel/hotel/bangkok-th.html?dsrch=1&cki=010314&cko=020314&asq=Qm7ECFp5rBqcqcPgfaDP5PhnR%2fcLpI7Z9qikax7sk6Yn45Ayfch6ZHGT7z218hPSdV74JVZN%2ffFD1PZRq%2f0%2b258xjTOl1HUtj1cRXVcpwtrB71plNhwFiK4f1XRKoLTl4vYBSd86EVFMQNW14nE%2fIg%3d%3d

Browser 2: http://www.agoda.com/aspen-suites-hotel/hotel/bangkok-th.html?dsrch=1&cki=010314&cko=020314&asq=Qm7ECFp5rBqcqcPgfaDP5PhnR%2fcLpI7Z9qikax7sk6Yn45Ayfch6ZHGT7z218hPSdV74JVZN%2ffFD1PZRq%2f0%2b258xjTOl1HUtj1cRXVcpwtrB71plNhwFiK4f1XRKoLTl4vYBSd86EVFMQNW14nE%2fIg%3d%3d

For whoever is too lazy, here's what happens (screenshot attached)

Many thanks chr1st1an...useful information!.... (I'm a very frequent traveler and use Agoda a lot, so good to know).

(wish we didn't have to wade through all of the irrelevant fighting posts).

[nidieunimaitre]

What a lot of hot air and irrelevant woffle! If Company A is trying to sell you something at a higher price than Company B, C, D or X, then you only have yourself to blame if you accept the deal. Yes, Agoda is a bit sneaky in that they don't reveal the final price to be paid until you are on the final run in - but you can still cancel before you accept it. Equally, their 'lowest price' gurantee is probably valid - until you add on the 10% and 7%. The anwer is simple; if you don't like them, go elsewhere.

What you say is of course correct, it is the free market system.

If a seller is too expensive, inefficient, greedy, bad mannered, you buy from a different seller, that will sort him out...

However, there is another equally important aspect of free markets: information.

No information = no free market, but rather Wild West market!

Especially Big Busines does not like that part of the free market filosofy!

Therefore, a tread like this one is very usefull.

And, unrelated to the above, I have never understood why some posters seem to enjoy being rude.

The best example of Wild West is a thread like this, with the starting OP nothing at all true in it, but still believed by quite a few members judging by their answers anyway.

The Op started and ended this tread with screenshots to prove his point.

Are you suggesting the Op is a fraud?

If so, what evidence do you have?

[Chao Lao Beach]

Whosyadaddy said :

Agoda was a Thai company bought out by Priceline, has absolutely nothing to do with Singapore

Again, Agoda does not set the prices, hotels do

==================================================================================================

About Agoda Company:
Agoda (agoda.com) is an online hotel reservations service which specializes in securing the lowest discount hotel prices in Asia. Agoda is part of Priceline.com (Nasdaq:PCLN). Based in Singapore with operations in Bangkok and the Philippines,

Source the Agoda website....cough cough http://www.agoda.com/info/Priceline.html

Agoda does have a price guarantee that Agoda claims to honor.

Agoda is responsible for the pricing on its website, showing different prices to a user in the same location but in a different lingo is straight discrimination under Singapore law. Yes they have a regional office in Bangkok, as they do in many companies.

So I presume you are claiming that the About us on the Agoda website is made up by hotels as well. Sure the hotel may set the rates, but the discrimination is 100% illegal supported on the Agoda site with prices guaranteed by Agoda.. So I wonder how they deal with a claim against the Thai version of their own site which is the same domain ?

[GrantSmith]

Agoda's Disclaimer

That's how they'll get around it...

You don't like it? Use another OTA...

It's still cheaper than the hotel? Most of the big players in the hotel game also have these Best Rate Gurantee (BRG) claims as well. Generally they'll match the OTA rate and throw in some in some added bonuses e.g additional discounts, gift certificates, upgrades, points etc....

[balo]

Agoda's Disclaimer

That's how they'll get around it...

You don't like it? Use another OTA...

It's still cheaper than the hotel? Most of the big players in the hotel game also have these Best Rate Gurantee (BRG) claims as well. Generally they'll match the OTA rate and throw in some in some added bonuses e.g additional discounts, gift certificates, upgrades, points etc....

Only reason to use Agoda is that you collect points that you can use later to get cheaper bookings but thats all, Agoda is not cheaper than other websites like this.. And often it's cheaper to book directly with the hotel as I did for my Bangkok visit next week. I saved 8 % compared to Agoda.

[songhklasid]

Here's 2 examples,Last year checked into resort, they had big banner flying half price, Yes half price I paid for (agoda) sent 3 complaints still hav'nt heard

Another resort (all vietnam) agoda $75, sounds expensive 4 vietnam ses I, e-mail hotel direct $25

shop around lads!

regards S.S.

[NoshowJones]

I would book in TH (and I would have booked in TH in the past, too), but I didn't know! Agoda is just trying to make more money off foreigners. Farang prices, doesn't even stop with large companies like Agoda

Agoda are the Air Asia of the hotel business. I think you know what I mean.

[NoshowJones]

It's worth mentioning there are a lot of tight people on here

Not really, we just want businesses, hotels, airlines, to be upfront with us, nothing tight about that.

[NoshowJones]

Knowing Thailand you would never book in advance, you just go where you like to go and find a nice place to stay. Thais do it, why you don't?

Fatfather

Sent from my phone

Yes, if you are travelling a l'improviste, it is fun to just check out hotels when you get there.

But when I have a precise plan, I find it cheaper and convenient (reviews!) to book through a booking site.

Usually I use booking.com, occasionally Agoda - but I have always hated their last moment add ons, and now I read in this tread that they have different prices for different customers.....

Just avoid them and try Latestays.com. The price you see is the price you pay.

[krisb]

Knowing Thailand you would never book in advance, you just go where you like to go and find a nice place to stay. Thais do it, why you don't?

Fatfather

Sent from my phone

Hmm I have to disagree there mate. I would say certain times of the year no problem without booking first and certain cities like Bangkok you will always find a hotel room, but there's been times when we couldn't find a room in smaller towns mainly Chum Phae and certain times of the year like new years on Koh Samui once we had to pay top dollar to stay in a 5 star resort cause everywhere was full. Was a lovely resort though, but was a pain in the butt driving from hotel to hotel.

edit, I remember another hotel we wanted to stay a few extra nights would not match Agodas price. I argued with the girl and said it was stupid but they wanted extra. We checked out then and there, but another example of booking first can save time and money.

Edited March 9, 2014 by krisb

[krisb]

I think it is very interesting the Thai price is lower. Actually it stinks a bit imo. So what if it's only couple of bucks, that's not the point, they are charging different prices. Wonder if other languages change the price again?

I've always used Agoda, never once had any issues with them. Once we had to get a confirmation from them and they emailed us really quickly, so maybe worth shooting them an email and asking what's going on.

This site is good. Gives prices to compare the different sites with.

http://www.trivago.com.au/

[nidieunimaitre]

These booking sites are amazing!

Just checked an appartment in Austria.

Bookingcom tells me: Only one room available - this hotel is likely to sell out within 1 hour.

Yeah sure.

We stayed there last year.

These are private people that modified their house when their adult daughter got married and left.

They have 1 (one) appartment.

At least, unlike agoda, they have no last minute tax & service charges added on, and - as far as I know, but I'm not holding my breath - they charge every customer the same price.

Edited March 12, 2014 by nidieunimaitre

[MobileContent]

Its a very simple issue.

On Agoda the price is set for most properties by the hotels directly.

If you connect from Japan the price are even higher as the revenue manager sets the price. Many hotels do not give Worldwide sales but set prices by countries/regions or even continents.

This has nothing really to do about Agoda. The only issue would be about HotelQuickly to know how much margin they take.

My guess they are on performance. Better rates if they can fill rooms in large numbers. Mobile is not ready yet.