Hotel booking reilability

[superal]

As a party of 4 we wanted a 2 night stay in Khon Kaen on a budget deal as it was just the guys without their families who wanted to play a few rounds of golf and a few beers in the evening and to keep the cost down as it is a regular event to get away for a couple of days . So , I am online looking at all the well known hotel booking agents . I typed in using all the filters for a budget hotel and in most cases the hotel that I preferred did not come up . I had to type it in by name to be searched and when it came up it said not available - fully booked or the price was almost double that I paid 5 months ago . Decided to not book online  and book something on arrival . On arrival I went to my preferred hotel and asked if there were rooms , " how many rooms you want ? " they asked and when I said 4 they said  " have and 399 baht a night ".    The agents  stating hotel fully booked and normal room price of 699 baht a night  with their so called discounts of 50% off included .  Normally it is cheaper to book online as opposed to enquiring at the hotel reception , unless you know otherwise . Have also heard of agents booking a room but on arrival nothing available and then all the complications that go with it to get it resolved .  I have now unsubscribed to a well known agency as I do not believe or trust them . This is their business and cannot  get it right for one reason or another  , or maybe they are  to their own ends .

[JAS21]

'Hotels' frequently do not give all their rooms to agents. So if the agent does not have a room you could try the hotel direct.

 

Hotels are not supposed to offer the 'same room' cheaper than the agent offers it eg booking.com,  else the agent can ban that hotel from it's site and that can be a big problem for them. But the hotel can offer the same room but with different terms and at a different and sometimes lower price. The agents fee is in the range 15%-20%.

 

I frequently look at the agents price, then walk in and ask the price. If walk in is more, and I still wish to stay there, I use my phone to book with the agent. Some hotels  will not even offer the  agents price on 'walk in', but a higher one, typically high end hotels. 

 

And, what courses can you recommend in Khon Kaen as we are off on a little travel around tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2017 by JAS21

[ubonjoe]

Moved to here on the travel forum.

I am going to close this topic you did on the Phuket forum that was moved to the Isaan forum where you have some replies to it.

 

[KhunBENQ]

4 hours ago, JAS21 said:

Hotels are not supposed to offer the 'same room' cheaper than the agent offers it eg booking.com,  else the agent can ban that hotel from it's site and that can be a big problem for them.

In line with what I read in some article.

And some smaller hotels simply want to stay independent and are not on the big booking sites.

[KhunBENQ]

Post discussing moderation removed.

This is well placed in the Travel forum.

[jonw8uk]

The booking websites often dont have access to all the available rooms, so they may say its full, yet another website or direct will have availability. 

 

Ive found almost all small budget hotels/gueshouses/BnB places outside of tourist zones are cheaper to walk in/call and book direct. 

 

Worth calling ahead

[mogandave]

I generally book on the Hotel's site and it is usually comparable to the "discount" site's price.

[siam2007]

That hotel must have been the BOSS TOWER and I otherwise would second what JAS21 said.

 

As for the assignment of the rooms: It is all up to the hotel what rooms and how many of them they offer on one specific booking site.

Unlike most people think, it is the hotels100% responsibility to maintain their listing and offers on OTA bookings websites.

So all prices and conditions are implemented by the hotels themselves, not by those booking websites. of course algos can and usually will be applied. Those booking websites basically just offer the "platform" for the hotel to offer their rooms.

So if any hotel tells you "oh this was agoda's, booking.com's, expedia's mistake" this is complete rubbish talk.

[superal]

On 09/01/2017 at 8:05 AM, JAS21 said:

'Hotels' frequently do not give all their rooms to agents. So if the agent does not have a room you could try the hotel direct.

 

Hotels are not supposed to offer the 'same room' cheaper than the agent offers it eg booking.com,  else the agent can ban that hotel from it's site and that can be a big problem for them. But the hotel can offer the same room but with different terms and at a different and sometimes lower price. The agents fee is in the range 15%-20%.

 

I frequently look at the agents price, then walk in and ask the price. If walk in is more, and I still wish to stay there, I use my phone to book with the agent. Some hotels  will not even offer the  agents price on 'walk in', but a higher one, typically high end hotels. 

 

And, what courses can you recommend in Khon Kaen as we are off on a little travel around tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

 

Apologies for not answering ref; golf courses but for sure Singha Park is superb , The Dam and Dancoon are two others that I have played a couple of times and worth a visit but I guess you have made your trip already . Did you play any of the courses I mentioned ?

BTW , just checked out The Boss Towers ( Siam 2007 was correct ) 1200 baht for 1 room for 2 nights on 1 site , unavailable on another site , walk in 798 baht for 2 nights .