Agoda reviews

[laban]

I use Agoda to book most of my hotels for travel around Thailand and Asia.

Occasionally I will write reviews of the hotels, mainly because they were either good or bad. In the last couple of weeks, I had to write a couple of negative reviews, and they have not published them.

Have I been duped into thinking the reviews on Agoda were reliable because they were made by people that actually stayed there unlike Trip Advisor. Are they protecting the hotels rather than their customers.

I have sent them an email asking and still awaiting a response.

[KED]

Interesting if they are indeed editing these negative reviews; however, I have seen some bad reviews in hotels I was considering booking on Agoda. If they do respond, please share their comments. Maybe they are allowing the property to post a response at the same time.

I also use TripAdvisor comments sometimes when I am looking for more reviews. Just as an aside, it is interesting how opinions can run the entire gamut of Fabulous to Average to Abominal - peoples experiences and expectations are so varied.

[OMGImInPattaya]

Interesting if they are indeed editing these negative reviews; however, I have seen some bad reviews in hotels I was considering booking on Agoda. If they do respond, please share their comments. Maybe they are allowing the property to post a response at the same time.

I also use TripAdvisor comments sometimes when I am looking for more reviews. Just as an aside, it is interesting how opinions can run the entire gamut of Fabulous to Average to Abominal - peoples experiences and expectations are so varied.

Very true...but as with Amazon reviews, if there are enough of them and 70-80 percent or higher of the scores are in the 4-5 star bracket it gives one a good idea about the property. By using reviews from both Agoda and Trip Advisor, I have not really had a bad hotel experience in years so consequently have not had to write any really negative reviews for awhile. It would be interesting to hear, however, if Agoda was in fact holding back on negative reviews. (Don't really see why they would as users would just book another hotel using the site and Agoda would therefore still get their cut. It would also undermine their cred quite a bit it this were widely known and that WOULD affect their bottom line.)

[Iamemjay]

I once submitted a very negative review of a resort near Chiangmai. Because of an unattractive location this resort was engaging in a whole range of deceptive practices to attract customers who of course when they arrived had prepayed and had virtually no redress. It was no real surprise to me that this review with clear evidence of the deception pointed out on the Agoda page, was not published. However I would have thought Agoda would have taken steps to address the issues. Nothing happened. The deception continues two years later.

Agoda have stopped rewarding members for their reviews. This can only result in only the very good and the very bad reviews being submitted and the VERY bad not published. I once used to trust and use Agoda exclusively but not any more.

Also their pricing cannot be trusted all the time. Hotels often add the 17% they have to pay Agoda to the price. I have frequently found it cheaper to go directly to the hotel.

[phuketrichard]

most hotels when they have a contract with Booking.com, agoda, priceline agree to NOT sell their rooms online for less than the booking sites price;

if they do they will get kicked off the booking site.

SOMETIMES you can get it cheaper but i wouldn't count on it.

Many times people show up at the hotel and ask for the same rate as agoda to be told no they cant

so they go online and book in the lobby!!

[sfokevin]

^^^ That may be the policy... But I have found that if you email the smaller out of the way hotels directly and ask the price they will give you a similar rate and not charge you the VAT and 10% booking fee... ;-)

[blueyeshk]

I stopped writing reviews on Agoda because they don't credit my account anymore with points for it. They should acknowledge somehow that the customers do some effort to keep the site alive.

[kanderson]

I'll never use Trip Advisor again. Customer service is in India and scripted.

Agoda seems fine. Just research the location I guess.

[stevenl]

^^^ That may be the policy... But I have found that if you email the smaller out of the way hotels directly and ask the price they will give you a similar rate and not charge you the VAT and 10% booking fee... ;-)

That may happen sometimes with the really small 'no star' places.

But the decent hotels: maybe, maybe, very rarely.

[stevenl]

I once submitted a very negative review of a resort near Chiangmai. Because of an unattractive location this resort was engaging in a whole range of deceptive practices to attract customers who of course when they arrived had prepayed and had virtually no redress. It was no real surprise to me that this review with clear evidence of the deception pointed out on the Agoda page, was not published. However I would have thought Agoda would have taken steps to address the issues. Nothing happened. The deception continues two years later.

Agoda have stopped rewarding members for their reviews. This can only result in only the very good and the very bad reviews being submitted and the VERY bad not published. I once used to trust and use Agoda exclusively but not any more.

Also their pricing cannot be trusted all the time. Hotels often add the 17% they have to pay Agoda to the price. I have frequently found it cheaper to go directly to the hotel.

Sorry, don't believe they add 17% to their prices. How would they do that, via Agoda does not seem an option, and giving you an invoice for '17% Agoda costs' would not last very long with the hotel booking sites, plus many would simply not pay.

[siam2007]

I stopped writing reviews on Agoda because they don't credit my account anymore with points for it. They should acknowledge somehow that the customers do some effort to keep the site alive.

for the same reason as you, I usually do not reviews on agoda anymore, and I had 200+ bookings with them. The last rather negative review I wrote was for a small place in Kanchanaburi and it has been published. I would not be surprised if the hotels actually can report that they are unsatisfied with a bad review, claiming it is unfair or the facts are wrong, and ask agoda to remove it. Maybe SIMON43 can comment on that as he owns an agoda-listed property?

nowadays I try to have a look at hotels.com before booking at agoda, as their reward-program is much mure superior (you get a free night after spending ten nights, worth the average of your ten nights, which basically is a 10% discount on their bookings), unfortunately, hotels.com offers a poor choice and variety of hotels compared to agoda, and in many cases agoda is cheaper, as they give their contracted properties to adjust rates easily and offer special discounts, last-minute-offers, mobile offers a.s.o.

[mogandave]

Seems like a lot of time and effort to book a room.

[roamer]

Forget Agoda points,not relevant to the question.

Agoda earn from you staying in those hotels. Not every hotel can get 5* reviews or their review system would look fraudulent to even the most casual observer. I would imagine that some type of algorithm comes into play here. Consistently bad reviews may trigger a human response.

Trip Adviser, often been threatened with law suits by hotels for publishing negative reviews. I have never not had a review published on TA, good, bad, indifferent, they publish. Trip Adviser also earn on click-thrus, however they offer you maybe 5 options of booking companies so no incentive for them to censor reviews.

Never found a deal on Agoda I can't beat elsewhere or via the hotel.

[ding]

At Sawadee.com We used to only have to pay 1/2 up front and the rest in Thailand. That's handy when the only room left is nothing like the one you reserved - a smoking room on the parking lot vs. a non-smoking room with sea view. Now you pay in full up front, and good luck getting a room or a refund.

We tried to extend our stay at the Ambassador last time and they doubled the price from what we paid online - and refused to even listen- just walked away.

Remember Asiarooms before they took a dump? Or getting a hotel to come down in price when you showed up at the counter speaking some Thai?

Agree that Trip Advisor didn't delete my review and shows the wonderful apology from hotel management. Deep bow to both.

Edited May 25, 2015 by ding

[ovenman]

I've read complaints from travelers over the years that Agoda / booking.com / etc. did not publish their negative review of a particular hotel. I take that observation at face value although if true, the policy to police reviews seems inconsistent as some negative reviews do filter thru on the various booking sites.

[krisb]

I think you'll find your review will be published but it gets reviewed by Agoda first just to make sure it's not ott. Give it a day or 2 and let us know please because I for one use Agoda and have done for years.

And on the point of people finding the same hotel cheaper walking in off the street, you guys must be lucky because every time I've phoned the hotel to ask their rate, or looked on the hotels own site, Agoda has been as cheap or if not cheaper every time.

[ding]

I think you'll find your review will be published but it gets reviewed by Agoda first just to make sure it's not ott. Give it a day or 2 and let us know please because I for one use Agoda and have done for years.

And on the point of people finding the same hotel cheaper walking in off the street, you guys must be lucky because every time I've phoned the hotel to ask their rate, or looked on the hotels own site, Agoda has been as cheap or if not cheaper every time.

We used to get cheaper rates walking in from the street for 10-15 years. Not anymore.

Cash used to get a better price too.

It will all change again...

[coulson]

I stopped writing reviews on Agoda because they don't credit my account anymore with points for it. They should acknowledge somehow that the customers do some effort to keep the site alive.

Not true, Agoda rarely offer any points nowadays for even booking through them, as you'll see in the small print. We are supposed to be invariably thankful to them it seems for having the opportunity to get such great deals!

A lot of hotels are not on their books due to the monopoly they now maintain, which has turned me off personally.

Agoda was a great idea initially, but as my complaints also appear to go missing........so does my custom.

[siam2007]

Seems like a lot of time and effort to book a room.

If you stay 100+ nights in hotels per year, for sure it is worth the effort. And did you ever consider that some people working in or with the hospitalty business/tourism are actually required to be 100% up-to-date when it comes to prices for hotels and other tourism/hospitsality-services at all time ?

Other Farang make a lot of effort to discover places where they can get their bottle of CHANG 50 Satang cheaper. To each his own.....

[Loaded]

Wife submitted one for the Novotel Hua Hin. She was actually asked whether the review was positive or negative before she submitted. She wrote 'negative'. it wasn't published.

Part of the complaint involved agoda's booking process. We booked a room for 2 adults with breakfast. We clicked the icon with 2 people. When we got to the hotel, they said we selected the icon for 1 person and therefore we would need to pay for an extra breakfast each morning. There's nothing on the booking form from agoda that says 1 or 2 breakfasts so we had no evidence to back our protest.

Eventually, the on-duty manager compromised and offered 50 % off the second breakfast. We reluctantly accepted. It had been a long drive from Chiang Mai and I was now angry. The reception staff then told us we would need to leave a10K THB deposit or a cc slip behind the counter to pay for damage or losses. We've stayed in many hotels and have never been asked for a security deposit before. It indicated a lack of trust. It seemed to be everyone was asked though; not just us. By this point, I was ready to punch someone.

We enthusiastically waited for the email from agoda for us to write a review but still waiting for it to show 6 weeks later. Agoda reviews are now meaningless.

Edited May 27, 2015 by Loaded

[siam2007]

Wife submitted one for the Novotel Hua Hin. She was actually asked whether the review was positive or negative before she submitted. She wrote 'negative'. it wasn't published.

Part of the complaint involved agoda's booking process. We booked a room for 2 adults with breakfast. We clicked the icon with 2 people. When we got to the hotel, they said we selected the icon for 1 person and therefore we would need to pay for an extra breakfast each morning. There's nothing on the booking form from agoda that says 1 or 2 breakfasts so we had no evidence to back our protest.

Eventually, the on-duty manager compromised and offered 50 % off the second breakfast. We reluctantly accepted. It had been a long drive from Chiang Mai and I was now angry. The reception staff then told us we would need to leave a10K THB deposit or a cc slip behind the counter to pay for damage or losses. We've stayed in many hotels and have never been asked for a security deposit before. It indicated a lack of trust. It seemed to be everyone was asked though; not just us. By this point, I was ready to punch someone.

We enthusiastically waited for the email from agoda for us to write a review but still waiting for it to show 6 weeks later. Agoda reviews are now meaningless.

I have written almost 200 reviews on agoda but never have been asked if it was "negative". there is no such option on their website when you proceed to write a review.

are you talking about accorhotels website maybe ?

[Loaded]

Wife submitted one for the Novotel Hua Hin. She was actually asked whether the review was positive or negative before she submitted. She wrote 'negative'. it wasn't published.

Part of the complaint involved agoda's booking process. We booked a room for 2 adults with breakfast. We clicked the icon with 2 people. When we got to the hotel, they said we selected the icon for 1 person and therefore we would need to pay for an extra breakfast each morning. There's nothing on the booking form from agoda that says 1 or 2 breakfasts so we had no evidence to back our protest.

Eventually, the on-duty manager compromised and offered 50 % off the second breakfast. We reluctantly accepted. It had been a long drive from Chiang Mai and I was now angry. The reception staff then told us we would need to leave a10K THB deposit or a cc slip behind the counter to pay for damage or losses. We've stayed in many hotels and have never been asked for a security deposit before. It indicated a lack of trust. It seemed to be everyone was asked though; not just us. By this point, I was ready to punch someone.

We enthusiastically waited for the email from agoda for us to write a review but still waiting for it to show 6 weeks later. Agoda reviews are now meaningless.

I have written almost 200 reviews on agoda but never have been asked if it was "negative". there is no such option on their website when you proceed to write a review.

are you talking about accorhotels website maybe ?

no

I think my wife was referring to this:

The rate themselves as a 4-star hotel. Do you agree? Yes, I agree. I feel it is underrated. I feel it is overrated.

Cut and pasted, including the typo, from another agoda hotel's review page.

Edited May 27, 2015 by Loaded

[Razzler1973]

I have seen plenty of negative reviews on Agoda though so they can't be refusing them all

It's so weird though, some people are like 'terrible experience' and then rate it 8 and others will say good location and rooms and it's a 6!

You have to bear in mind people's expectations. Some reviews are 'no hairdryer' when I don't care about hairdryers or expect one and others had a particular bad experience 'the woman at check in did this and that' (very common, it seems!)

You have to read between the lines a bit and still judge for yourself

If everyone says it's rubbish then, you know, obvious

[mogandave]

Seems like a lot of time and effort to book a room.

If you stay 100+ nights in hotels per year, for sure it is worth the effort. And did you ever consider that some people working in or with the hospitalty business/tourism are actually required to be 100% up-to-date when it comes to prices for hotels and other tourism/hospitsality-services at all time ?

Other Farang make a lot of effort to discover places where they can get their bottle of CHANG 50 Satang cheaper. To each his own.....

I spend well over 100 nights a year in hotels (about 130 last year) and about 60-80 of those are in Thailand.

Checking multiple websites and or calling all over the world to save a few dollars on a room does not make a lot of sense to me.

[acutchin]

I recently submitted two negative, but respectfully written reviews on Agoda.com. Neither were published. They remain in the "Submitted" state, after four weeks.

Booking.com, however, published all my reviews, the good ones and the bad ones. Curiously, Priceline owns both Booking.com and Agoda.com, but I won't be using Agoda again.

Edited February 12, 2016 by acutchin

[FritsSikkink]

I recently submitted two negative, but respectfully written reviews on Agoda.com. Neither were published. They remain in the "Submitted" state, after four weeks.

Booking.com, however, published all my reviews, the good ones and the bad ones. Curiously, Priceline owns both Booking.com and Agoda.com, but I won't be using Agoda again.

there are bad reviews on agoda