Outrageously erroneous hotel prices quoted by Agoda

[Xircal]

But better book quick! They've only got 2 rooms left.

That's the same tactic as inflating the price which is then 'discounted' did you but know it.

[Xircal]

The price is not 10,000 its 997. Why freak out? Besides, if you're going to Patong you're gonna get ripped off anyway.

You're missing the point. I'm not the least 'freaked out'. I was merely illustrating that sometimes marketing tactics are absolutely ridiculous.

And no, I've never be 'ripped off', ever. I always research a project albeit booking a hotel room or buying a phone. If the price doesn't match the specs I would expect to find, I simply won't buy it.

[lumply]

I have used Agoda for many years but can't figure out how to spend my accumulated bonus points. Just recently made a reservation with Booking.com Seems ok

[tif]

Don't believe any of those booking websites, the platform used is purely illustrated to try to sell rooms.

99% of the time the info will be incorrect so don't rely on it.

Walk in price is often cheapest ......

No it's not. Booking at the airport on arrival in any country, is.

[simon43]

I know booking.com charges 30%

The commission starts at 15% (which is what I pay to get fully-booked). But the hotel owner can opt to pay a higher commission to get their hotel listed in a higher position in the list of results on the travel website, - which may lead to more chance of a customer booking.

Agoda starts at 20% commission. Expedia now starts at 15% (used to be 25% but I think they are feeling the competition from Booking.com, because they also now offer 'pay-at-hotel' bookings, just like Booking.com)

Airbnb doesn't charge the hotel, which makes it a popular website for bookings.

[madmitch]

Don't believe any of those booking websites, the platform used is purely illustrated to try to sell rooms.

99% of the time the info will be incorrect so don't rely on it.

Walk in price is often cheapest ......

No it's not. Booking at the airport on arrival in any country, is.

Are you serious?

Airports can be the most expensive places to book hotels, especially in Thailand, as they often take a very large commission, some of which may be paid to the taxi drivers who are in on the deal!

[WorkingTourist]

Exhibit A:

A weary traveller standing in the lobby with rain beating down outside and his kids screaming and his wife fuming who is desperate for a bed and a meal and a drink.

Generally I show up with a small back and my smartphone showing them the Agoda price, but still they can’t match it and tell me to go ahead and book via Agoda (while waiting in the lobby).

This has happened enough times for me to not bother asking anymore, and in fact, I do prefer going via Agoda because the bonus points are a further 4-5% discount and it gives me a history of my reservations.

The reason I previously would ask was only to help the hotel avoid paying commission, but clearly they do not care.

Even the few times where I wanted to extend my stay, I was told to go via Agoda for the better price.

[WorkingTourist]

I have used Agoda for many years but can't figure out how to spend my accumulated bonus points. Just recently made a reservation with Booking.com Seems ok

It takes 30 days from a booking before the points become available and they will expire (I think at the end of the next year).

You can login to Agoda and then under My Account click the My Rewards and check your Accumulated and Available Points.

The next time you make a booking then during payment you can select to apply some of your points toward the payment (if you’re logged in).

Edited March 5, 2015 by WorkingTourist

[zaZa9]

Don't believe any of those booking websites, the platform used is purely illustrated to try to sell rooms.

99% of the time the info will be incorrect so don't rely on it.

Walk in price is often cheapest ......

"Walk-in price is often the cheapest..."

What utter tosh!

Here's a little scenario for you to ponder:

Exhibit A:

A weary traveller standing in the lobby with rain beating down outside and his kids screaming and his wife fuming who is desperate for a bed and a meal and a drink.

Exhibit B: The guy sitting at his computer with a nice glass of his favourite beverage patiently browsing the various booking portals and calmly comparing the offers available at one hotel and perhaps some others nearby.

Now, ask yourself who is going to get the better offer in this scenario: the guy at the end of his tether bent over a barrel or the guy with all the time in the world to make his mind up where his hard-earned goes?

And who is going to see the room and have his Missus very critical eye reject it on the grounds of smelly carpet or too close proximity to a neighbouring building site and demand a better one?

Who , on the other hand , who has booked and paid already , will get shunted to the room she rejected?

[siam2007]

Don't believe any of those booking websites, the platform used is purely illustrated to try to sell rooms.

99% of the time the info will be incorrect so don't rely on it.

Walk in price is often cheapest ......

"Walk-in price is often the cheapest..."

What utter tosh!

Here's a little scenario for you to ponder:

Exhibit A:

A weary traveller standing in the lobby with rain beating down outside and his kids screaming and his wife fuming who is desperate for a bed and a meal and a drink.

Exhibit B: The guy sitting at his computer with a nice glass of his favourite beverage patiently browsing the various booking portals and calmly comparing the offers available at one hotel and perhaps some others nearby.

Now, ask yourself who is going to get the better offer in this scenario: the guy at the end of his tether bent over a barrel or the guy with all the time in the world to make his mind up where his hard-earned goes?

Of course walk-in price is in many times cheaper !

I wonder how many decades you have been working in the hospitality business ???

member HANNO, who is a hospitality executive himself, has already explained that at upscale hotels, you will most probably not get a walk-in rate that is as low as on the many booking websites.

But in the Budget category, in most cases the walk-in rate will be same or even much lower than online.

If you don't believe it, just try to walk around Kanchanaburi for example, and inquire about the walk-in rate at small guesthouses. then compare it with what they charge on agoda and the likes

[fester the benevolent]

I wonder how many decades you have been working in the hospitality business ???

3 decades in Europe, Asia and the Americas. And you?

[nidieunimaitre]

So we have established once again that marketing bobo's assume that consumers are stupid.

Maybe those bobo's are right?

[grumpyoldman]

Was looking at Agoda for accommodations in Boracay PI. Saw the rate there, contacted the hotel directly, direct to the hotel was quoted a higher price than I was seeing at Agoda. Told the owner of the hotel this and he told me if the rate is better there at Agoda go ahead and book through there.

Went to a different hotel............

[JetsetBkk]

But better book quick! They've only got 2 rooms left.

That's the same tactic as inflating the price which is then 'discounted' did you but know it.

You mean, they are telling porkie-pies about how many rooms they have left? Shocking.

[keestha]

Food for thought: When I still was using one of these booking engines (Hostelworld) for my hotel, I didn't put the cheapest type of room into their system, being afraid of negative reviews on their site, because these rooms are under the restaurant and can therefore be a tad noisy.

Too bad that many people when looking for a specific hotel, first go to Agoda and the likes, before maybe considering to do a direct internet search.

Edited March 8, 2015 by keestha

[LivinginKata]

Was looking at Agoda for accommodations in Boracay PI. Saw the rate there, contacted the hotel directly, direct to the hotel was quoted a higher price than I was seeing at Agoda. Told the owner of the hotel this and he told me if the rate is better there at Agoda go ahead and book through there.

Went to a different hotel............

I have never understood why a hotel tries to charge more if walk-in. Often I look about to get an idea of hotel rates using Agoda. Then if I am travelling I know where rest stops are located (i like the map location box) that meet my requirements. I don't book with Agoda as I'm not sure where I will end up staying. I walk in they often quote a higher rate than Agoda, I tell then the Agoda price for that night, and they say no can do. I point out that they are having maybe 15% taken off the price by Agoda so they are making 15% more by accepting waht I will pay. They just look at me hoping I will go away, which I do and find some where else. I only had one good exeperience at a nice hotel up in Chumpoon that was actually less than the Agoda price. I'll stop there again.

[fester the benevolent]

I have never understood why a hotel tries to charge more if walk-in.

The simple answer is 'because they can'.

On the face of it it seems counter-intuitive and other factors come into it for sure, but speaking very generally a good front office will size up the situation and try to squeeze every last cent they can out of a walk-in which is why they may not give rooms at the (eg) Agoda rate straight away. If they are reasonably confident they can let you go and pick up a replacement walk-in then they won't bother trying to keep your business. If taking a 3-night walk in means that a guest arriving the next day for a 2 week stay will have to change rooms they may not take the walk in, there are a myriad of factors at play which is why it seems counter-intuitive if looked at only from the point of view of you (or me) standing in the lobbly waving cash at them.

When you are surfing over Agoda, Booking etc it is a buyers market and you can pick and choose at leisure, when you are standing in a lobby the table tilts a little toward the seller.

That said, a good Front Office will not let you out of the door once you have walked in, if they can even get enough to cover the cost of power, water, laundry, breakfast etc then the hotel might still be able to pick up a bit of extra revenue from a tour commission or a minibar sale etc and the room depreciates in value whether it is occupied or not in a tiny way with each passing day but that depends on whether they are dealing with a GM who is obsessed with maintaining a high average room rate or a more realistic one who likes his high ARR but really wants revenue. If the front office manager knows he (or she) will be in for a bollicking for lowering the ARR by snapping up walk ins at any rate they can get they often won't bother and you'd be surprised how often that is the case.

As mentioned by a previous poster in a 5* chain hotel the same doesn't necessarily apply because they have other concerns and often have to dance to a corporate tune.

[WorkingTourist]

Too bad that many people when looking for a specific hotel, first go to Agoda and the likes, before maybe considering to do a direct internet search.

As is evident from this thread, bypassing the middle man ends up costing more. So why would customers even bother trying to go direct anymore?

I don’t have a hotel, so I don’t know how it is like, but I would do whatever I could to get rid of the middleman.

Give each customer (who comes via a middleman) a free loyalty card that gives them 5-10% discount on their next direct booking, make it clear to customers that direct booking gives you a better room selection, e.g. reserve units with the better view for direct booking, match the Agoda price for direct bookings but include breakfast, airport pickup, or some other minor value add-on, etc.

Any customer who books direct and then later learns about Agoda will feel like a fool, are hotels really content with their direct customers feeling taken advantage of?

I have never understood why a hotel tries to charge more if walk-in.

The simple answer is 'because they can'.

On the face of it it seems counter-intuitive and other factors come into it for sure, but speaking very generally a good front office will size up the situation and try to squeeze every last cent they can out of a walk-in which is why they may not give rooms at the (eg) Agoda rate straight away.

In all the interactions I have had, it is very clear that the lobby was just acting on hotel policy. Very few places have been able to offer me a discount, but even with the discount, the price was still higher than Agoda.

Most potential customers know how to use the internet, many even from their smart phone, so they can check the Agoda price in the lobby of the hotel, yet even showing it to the lobby has no effect on the rate.

Hotels might have their reasons, but they are making a big long-term mistake by basically teaching us never to go direct and always book online via an agent.

[LivinginKata]

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[keestha]

If you book into a cheap place, I still think it is always better to contact the hotel directly, most likely you'll be dealing with the owner, who just wants cash to come in. He'll be happy to take your booking for which he doesn't have to pay an Agoda or whatever commission.

For upmarket places this doesn't always apply, maybe staff at the counter or answering e-mails just get a headache when dealing with an individual customer who tries to get a good price.

[phuketrichard]

told you all once and others

When u place your hotel on the booking site, you agree NOT to sell your rooms cheaper. If you do your breaking your contract an they will drop you.,

Otherwise NO ONE would use booking sites.

As the booking engines, they will fill your rooms much better than you ( remember you set how many rooms each booking site has to offer) will on your own, no hotel over 1 star will take the chance .

SO example

Low season you give agoda more hotels to sell, high season you give them less.

When i worked with agoda, hotel travel, price line we had people that were employed to do nothing but check the prices of the rooms online an making sure they were not cheaper>>>

Cheap cheap, they dont care as ur a walk in guest and chances are agoda will not find out

BUT unless your dealing with the owner, no one at the front desk will give u a deal

[keestha]

When you have a hotel, one more disadvantage of being on sites like Agoda, is that when potential customers are looking for your place specifically, of course Agoda, Booking.com and so on come out on top of your own website in Google, so that people end up booking through them, and you lose the commission.

[phuketrichard]

thats not really true

90% or more people understand how agoda, priceline, asia travel work

and at least 50% or more go to the hotel site to check the price

as u cant offer it cheaper direct ,they often go back an book thru the booking ( agoda, hotels.com) site

[cooked]

I never booked a hotel in advance in Thailand. When I decide to look for a hotel I stop the car and look through Agoda and Trip advisor to check prices and then drive there. I send my wife in and as far as I know we never got charged over the odds. They are nearly always HALF EMPTY. I might make an exception if I was looking for something over Christmas / New Year or Song Kran but then again I avoid the roads during those periods.

[ExPratt]

I use booking .com pretty good and gives you the full price no hidden add ons

[keestha]

thats not really true

90% or more people understand how agoda, priceline, asia travel work

and at least 50% or more go to the hotel site to check the price

as u cant offer it cheaper direct ,they often go back an book thru the booking ( agoda, hotels.com) site

One more incentive for customers to book through Agoda and the likes, is that they get a confirmed booking instantly, instead of having to wait for the hotel to reply. Reason my hotel website promises in elephant sized letters that e-mails will be replied within 1 day.

[wellred]

I booked a room via Agoda at sea Cono on Soi sansabi for August and paid 950 bhat a night. I stay there in high season as well sometimes and usually pay around 2.5k so was quite happy with that. Didn't bother checking the hotel website as I think under 1k is very reasonable.

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[thefactoryoutlet]

The strike-through rate is actually also set by the hotel - it is a 'default' room rate set during the initial sign-up process for hotels. It is not a 'real' rate and (AFAIR), is not easily changed from the YCS4 dashboard in the Agoda management website.

As for C&N not being on Agoda, that may be because Agoda commission rates are quite high and C&B can fill their rooms with bookings from other travel websites.

Agoda is part of the Priceline group, as is Booking.com. My own hotels are registered with both travel websites, but I much prefer to obtain guest bookings from Booking.com, where the commission rate that I pay is lower.

Hotels have to maintain rate parity, meaning that they must offer the same room rate on all travel websites. But they can offer a different rate on their own hotel website.

What about Asiarooms ? Is it dead since the Pattaya guy sold it to the big US company ?

I wonder why everybody seems to use Agoda and booking but no more Asiarooms ?

Can you also list your hotels on Asiarooms just like any other website ?

[jphasia]

I believe it's really depend on the hotel strategy. As mentionned in earlier posts, hotels have the entire responsabilities to put the prices, descriptions, amendities on the OTA's (Online Travel Agencies) such as Agoda, Booking.com, Expedia, AsiaRooms... Once you contract them, you sign a contract including a parity agreement (you have to provide the same rates to all competitors). You are provided with a username and passport for their extranet and you entering the room rates yourself, as well as promotion, type of rooms, description... you are also suppose to use the same rates on your own website and on direct sales (walk in) but of course it is more difficult for them to control. Also, believe me, they are very regurlarly comparing your room rates through their competitors websites and send you regular emails to show the discrepciencies. More especially the biggest suppliers such as Agoda, Booking.com or Expedia. When I say "you", i of course mean hotels as I own an hotel myself.

About the walk in prices, again it's again up to the strategy of the hotels. It's also probably depends on the type of hotel, high class, mid budget or low budget, if it's an hotel group or chain such as Accor or a self owned / managed property. For example, as for myself, I own a mid budget 35 rooms in a busy area of Phuket. When I started, i of course tried to avoid OTA's commission and preferred to sell my rooms myself. But these companies selling on internet have huge marketing presence and they are doing the advertising for you and selling your rooms. They are paid with commissions. As also mentioned in earlier posts, there is a minimum commission per suppliers (i.e 15% booking.com, 20% Agoda...) and it's up to the hotel to increase the commission or not. More you increase, more you will be higher on the rank and more you will be advertise. Also, you can increase or decrease the commission any time. Same as your room rates or promotion. It can be change anytime as only hotels access to the room rates or even allotments (number of room available).

Note also that using these websites, hotel is free to setup their own cancellation /modification policies. For example, I might refuse to negotiate the room rate with a walk in or by direct email and if he is showing the rate available on Agoda or whatever, i will advise him to use these websites. I will have a secure booking with these websites in case of no-show or cancellation.

My hotel is listed on at least 15 OTA's including Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, Asiaroom, HotelBed, AsiaTravel, Orbitz, Wotif, and more

[simon43]

What about Asiarooms ? Is it dead since the Pattaya guy sold it to the big US company ?

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Asiarooms.com is closing (as a web presence), and all promotion will be done under it's parent company name - Laterooms.com

Also to note that the Australian brand Wotif.com (wotif, latestays.com, asiawebdirect.com, lastminute.com.au) has been acquired by Expedia.