Best and Worst Hotel Booking Websites

[stevenl]

If a direct booking is cheaper than Agoda or one of the others they risk expulsion from that bookingsite.

[NoshowJones]

The worst must be Agoda, if only for the sneaky way they add 17% on to the price they first quote you.

I have heard good reports of Bookings.com (I think it is).

They are owned by the same company.

Yes, I must have mistook them for some other company, they are up to the same tricks as Agoda with their sneaky tax add ons.

[NoshowJones]

I always use Agoda, and have nothing but praise for them. They usually offer prices lower than the hotels themselves, and a mass at an extra 50% off on Fridays!

Do you read the small print that tells you 17% is added on from the price they quote for taxes/ Very sneaky.

[NoshowJones]

I always use Agoda, and have nothing but praise for them. They usually offer prices lower than the hotels themselves, and a mass at an extra 50% off on Fridays!

Do you read the small print that tells you 17% is added on from the price they quote for taxes/ Very sneaky.

[simon43]

Do you read the small print that tells you 17% is added on from the price they quote for taxes/

The final price that you pay on Agoda should be exactly the same price that you would pay for the same room on the other booking websites, (booking.com, expedia.com etc). This is because hotels that are listed on these websites have to sign a Rate Parity agreement, where they undertake to offer the same room rate across all websites.

Agoda displays room rates less 'tax', presumably to make their room rates appear cheaper than the other websites.

[Cirencester]

If a direct booking is cheaper than Agoda or one of the others they risk expulsion from that bookingsite.

lol !!

[phuketrichard]

I always use Agoda, and have nothing but praise for them. They usually offer prices lower than the hotels themselves, and a mass at an extra 50% off on Fridays!

Do you read the small print that tells you 17% is added on from the price they quote for taxes/ Very sneaky.

how is it sneaky? its the same on airline sites which adds in the TAX AFTER the first page

ok; set this out for those who dont get it.

I have worked for agoda ad Priceline as their affiliate manger and currently use hotel sites to fulfill our bookings for a villa in Bangtao.

1.agoda and booking.com are both owned by priceline

2.the hotel sets the price of the room, sets the cancellation charge and time

3. IF the hotel offers a lower price ONLINE than they give Agoda or booking, then they will find that the hotel reservation site will, 1st tell them to raise their online rates, if they don't, they will drop them, as most hotels get over 60% of their booking from agoda an booking they will not risk it.

4.SOMETIMES a site will give you a lower rate by phone, but it is never guaranteed they will.

5.MOST will charge more if ur a walk in , even if you show them the rate on agoda. they will tell you to book thru agoda, EVEN thou they pay agoda up to 20% commissions and booking.com 15%!!!

6. Airbnb ONLY charges the hotel/villa 3% commission!!

Got it

[stevenl]

I always use Agoda, and have nothing but praise for them. They usually offer prices lower than the hotels themselves, and a mass at an extra 50% off on Fridays!

Do you read the small print that tells you 17% is added on from the price they quote for taxes/ Very sneaky.

how is it sneaky? its the same on airline sites which adds in the TAX AFTER the first page

ok; set this out for those who dont get it.

I have worked for agoda ad Priceline as their affiliate manger and currently use hotel sites to fulfill our bookings for a villa in Bangtao.

1.agoda and booking.com are both owned by priceline

2.the hotel sets the price of the room, sets the cancellation charge and time

3. IF the hotel offers a lower price ONLINE than they give Agoda or booking, then they will find that the hotel reservation site will, 1st tell them to raise their online rates, if they don't, they will drop them, as most hotels get over 60% of their booking from agoda an booking they will not risk it.

4.SOMETIMES a site will give you a lower rate by phone, but it is never guaranteed they will.

5.MOST will charge more if ur a walk in , even if you show them the rate on agoda. they will tell you to book thru agoda, EVEN thou they pay agoda up to 20% commissions and booking.com 15%!!!

6. Airbnb ONLY charges the hotel/villa 3% commission!!

Got it

"how is it sneaky? its the same on airline sites which adds in the TAX AFTER the first page"

Which is also sneaky, and therefor not allowed in many countries. If I ask for a price I want to be told that price. Not a reduced price, which when I'm ready to confirm suddenly is almost 20% more expensive. That is sneaky.

[phuketrichard]

so i guess u throw airasia in as sneaky as they have addons and u need UNCHECK to get final price

whihc pisses me a lot more than agoda

[NoshowJones]

I always use Agoda, and have nothing but praise for them. They usually offer prices lower than the hotels themselves, and a mass at an extra 50% off on Fridays!

Do you read the small print that tells you 17% is added on from the price they quote for taxes/ Very sneaky.

how is it sneaky? its the same on airline sites which adds in the TAX AFTER the first page

ok; set this out for those who dont get it.

I have worked for agoda ad Priceline as their affiliate manger and currently use hotel sites to fulfill our bookings for a villa in Bangtao.

1.agoda and booking.com are both owned by priceline

2.the hotel sets the price of the room, sets the cancellation charge and time

3. IF the hotel offers a lower price ONLINE than they give Agoda or booking, then they will find that the hotel reservation site will, 1st tell them to raise their online rates, if they don't, they will drop them, as most hotels get over 60% of their booking from agoda an booking they will not risk it.

4.SOMETIMES a site will give you a lower rate by phone, but it is never guaranteed they will.

5.MOST will charge more if ur a walk in , even if you show them the rate on agoda. they will tell you to book thru agoda, EVEN thou they pay agoda up to 20% commissions and booking.com 15%!!!

6. Airbnb ONLY charges the hotel/villa 3% commission!!

Got it

No I have not got it, I want to know the complete price for anything which I have to pay, not to be told I then have to pay extra for taxes etc, etc.

[canman]

I generally use Agoda, never had a problem with them. I always check the hotel website and will usually call the hotel as well to ask for the best deal. Even after doing the above I have occasionally been quoted better walk in rates. I will sometimes as for a walkin rate before letting them know I have a booking; around 50% of the time I could have gotten a lower rate.

In Vietnam the delta can be substantial.

If I am not familiar with the area I will also check it out on google maps and google street view if available.

[phuketrichard]

I always use Agoda, and have nothing but praise for them. They usually offer prices lower than the hotels themselves, and a mass at an extra 50% off on Fridays!

Do you read the small print that tells you 17% is added on from the price they quote for taxes/ Very sneaky.

how is it sneaky? its the same on airline sites which adds in the TAX AFTER the first page

ok; set this out for those who dont get it.

I have worked for agoda ad Priceline as their affiliate manger and currently use hotel sites to fulfill our bookings for a villa in Bangtao.

1.agoda and booking.com are both owned by priceline

2.the hotel sets the price of the room, sets the cancellation charge and time

3. IF the hotel offers a lower price ONLINE than they give Agoda or booking, then they will find that the hotel reservation site will, 1st tell them to raise their online rates, if they don't, they will drop them, as most hotels get over 60% of their booking from agoda an booking they will not risk it.

4.SOMETIMES a site will give you a lower rate by phone, but it is never guaranteed they will.

5.MOST will charge more if ur a walk in , even if you show them the rate on agoda. they will tell you to book thru agoda, EVEN thou they pay agoda up to 20% commissions and booking.com 15%!!!

6. Airbnb ONLY charges the hotel/villa 3% commission!!

Got it

No I have not got it, I want to know the complete price for anything which I have to pay, not to be told I then have to pay extra for taxes etc, etc.

it is what it is, dont like how they operate, look elsewhere, its a free world.

Peace/out

[meltingpot2015]

@phuketrichard:

...It's a free world?...

yeah, right. I'll believe this if some of the smaller companies can offer lower rates than the one/two big companies that continuously offer lower rates, leaving scrapings of the sales for the littlens.

Off topic: With half the world's wealth in the hands of 1% of the population, and

a few corporations wielding corporate power/influence across the globe, is it a free world?, me don't think so!.

[roamer]

If a direct booking is cheaper than Agoda or one of the others they risk expulsion from that bookingsite.

lol !!

Unless you are in France where the practice has been declared illegal. Look forward, same will apply throughout Europe. Then it will become very hard to keep the same business model for Asia.

[adammike]

I always use Agoda, and have nothing but praise for them. They usually offer prices lower than the hotels themselves, and a mass at an extra 50% off on Fridays!

Do you read the small print that tells you 17% is added on from the price they quote for taxes/ Very sneaky.

how is it sneaky? its the same on airline sites which adds in the TAX AFTER the first page

ok; set this out for those who dont get it.

I have worked for agoda ad Priceline as their affiliate manger and currently use hotel sites to fulfill our bookings for a villa in Bangtao.

1.agoda and booking.com are both owned by priceline

2.the hotel sets the price of the room, sets the cancellation charge and time

3. IF the hotel offers a lower price ONLINE than they give Agoda or booking, then they will find that the hotel reservation site will, 1st tell them to raise their online rates, if they don't, they will drop them, as most hotels get over 60% of their booking from agoda an booking they will not risk it.

4.SOMETIMES a site will give you a lower rate by phone, but it is never guaranteed they will.

5.MOST will charge more if ur a walk in , even if you show them the rate on agoda. they will tell you to book thru agoda, EVEN thou they pay agoda up to 20% commissions and booking.com 15%!!!

6. Airbnb ONLY charges the hotel/villa 3% commission!!

Got it

"how is it sneaky? its the same on airline sites which adds in the TAX AFTER the first page"

Which is also sneaky, and therefor not allowed in many countries. If I ask for a price I want to be told that price. Not a reduced price, which when I'm ready to confirm suddenly is almost 20% more expensive. That is sneaky.

just booked with EVA and the price is what you first see no add on's,

Booking through a agent usually add a booking fee and a fee for the cc.

That's in the Netherlands other countries may have other rules.

[stevenl]

it is what it is, dont like how they operate, look elsewhere, its a free world.

Peace/out

Sure, it is what it is.

But telling on here it is not sneaky because others are doing it as well is a very flawed reasoning.

[Razzler1973]

HotelsCombined is my favourite:

https://www.hotelscombined.com/Place/Thailand.htm?a_aid=145426

This is one of those sites that groups things together and looks at ALL deals, right?

So, when you book, what do you do, just check which they say is the best and then go to that site?

I checked some stuff and it said 'compare 9 sites' (3 of them were booking.com, mind) so would you go to booking.com and make the booking or do it from that site? i.e. how do hotels combined make their cash?

Never quite sure with these aggregator things :/

how is it sneaky? its the same on airline sites which adds in the TAX AFTER the first page

Airline taxes are variable though, that's why they don't mention them

For agoda 17% is fixed across ALL bookings, there is no way you can get a different price then what they quote plus the 17% .... so, just show the 17%!

That's probably people's issue. It's not sneaky per se but I don't want to do calculations, just tell me the price! It's not going to be 17% sometimes, 15% others and 5% another time, it'll always be 17%

The difference between agoda and booking.com seems to be agoda shows price then add tax whereas booking.com shows the all-in price

[Razzler1973]

I like agoda, probably my most used

To add to the 'it's cheaper to go direct' I have found some places offering more than agoda prices but also had some actual hotel sites display less than agoda price, I called them and got 1000 baht room as opposed to 1500 from agoda and paid directly

Another place, also on an island, knew the place and called to book a specific room I like and asked if I should book (was ahead of time) through agoda and specify in comments our conversation about that room and she said no, do it direct with them so no need to pay tax and boom, done

Have also had some being more expensive and going online much better and others the exact same price so ... whatevs, depends, I guess

[phuketrichard]

just checked out https://www.hotelscombined.com/

for a hotel in Phnom Pehn;

best deal was at booking ,com was than transferred ( via an affiliate link) to booking.com site where the price was 20% higher LOL

[meltingpot2015]

I use agoda... I like the fact you can pay via PayPal plus I like the points reward... I don't find the tax sneaky as it gives you the full price at checkout just like many airline tickets... I tried booking.com two times in Cambodia and both times I arrived at the hotel and they did not know about my booking and was already full... Luckily I had used the pay later feature. The prices on agoda are the cheapest even with tax and you can always be sure you have actually booked a room. I once booked a hotel with agoda and the hotel had actually closed for 3 months to refurb... Not only did pagoda apologize and refund me but gave me 10% discount on my next two bookings which was good service. Cheers

I once booked a hotel with agoda and the hotel had actually closed for 3 months to refurb...

So what did you do?. Book another hotel near it using smartphone? or did you contact Agoda and they offered you alternative hotels to choose from.

I'm curious.

[meltingpot2015]

Warning to all. Hotels.com is currently refusing to honour price match guarantee in the first instance, saying "the claim wasn't made before the check-in date".

But what they've missed is that, we receive an acknowledment email from them as soon as we submit the claim. On that email we have the local date/time.

They refused my claim initially and when I contacted the support team and attached a screenprint of the acknowledgement email they honoured it.