Dual pricing now coming to Agoda!

[wump]

Quote

Domestic rates are provided to local citizens and holders of local ID only. Failure to present local identification when checking in may result in additional charges at the hotel.

I am a little speechless. Should I avoid hotels with this policy? Do I mind paying 50 Baht more a night? Surely not, but I made Agoda at least 15,000 Baht in commissions in the last 6 months. How much do the Thais earn Agoda when staying twice a year for a weekend in Pattaya?!

[samsensam]

 

other hotel booking web sites are available.

[wump]

Agoda does have the most hot deals though... Booking.com has transparent pricing but doesn't offer too much in terms of discounts (except for selected hotels in the Genius program). Hotels.com has the best deal with every tenth night free, but unfortunately it is not popular with hotels here in Thailand.

 

Would be silly to just pay 200 Baht more because I don't like Agoda's policy. They should just generally forbid any price discrimination by the hotels.

 

It is a known fact that they hold a lot of power over the hotels as they forbid the hotels from quoting a lower walk-in rate than their rate.

 

My usual question is: " You quote me 1200 Baht cash when it's only 1000 on Agoda. Can you give it to me for the same price, avoiding their 17% fee?" - "No can do sir, just book on Agoda". So I take out my phone and book the room on Agoda right in front of them. So silly.

Edited May 27, 2017 by wump

[bangkokairportlink]

I hardly found agoda cheaper than booking.

 

And yes, some hotels are stupid enough to respect the contract that they have with agoda. Maybe hotels owners do not trust staff and in case of agoda visit they could tell that hotel accept cheaper booking at desk.

 

What is very stupid is when directly talking to a small hotel owner who refuses to rent the room at same prime for walk in customers. But at the same times if he is a hotel owner he could be rich already, and not care your 1000 or 2000 baht...

Remember that you need him more than he needs you !

 

 

 

[KittenKong]

9 hours ago, wump said:

Should I avoid hotels with this policy?

 

Up to you whether you choose to avoid hotels with this policy, but bear in mind that it is the hotel's policy and not Agoda's. The hotel has chosen to offer special prices to locals and Agoda is only complying with the hotel's decision.

 

If you want to argue whether or not Agoda should refuse to advertise prices that are discriminatory, that's another matter. I would say that it should, and that the only prices it should advertise should be those available to the general public as a whole.

[dbrenn]

Agoda is a parasite. They discount from a much higher walk in rate that they force the hotels to charge. Hotel prices in Thailand have shot up since Agoda monopolised them all.

 

Edited May 28, 2017 by dbrenn

[simon43]

And yes, some hotels are stupid enough to respect the contract that they have with agoda...

 

Huh?  Just what part of the word 'contract' don't you understand?

 

Don't like the contract?  Don't sign it.

[Bikeman93]

23 minutes ago, bangkokairportlink said:

I hardly found agoda cheaper than booking.

 

And yes, some hotels are stupid enough to respect the contract that they have with agoda. Maybe hotels owners do not trust staff and in case of agoda visit they could tell that hotel accept cheaper booking at desk.

 

What is very stupid is when directly talking to a small hotel owner who refuses to rent the room at same prime for walk in customers. But at the same times if he is a hotel owner he could be rich already, and not care your 1000 or 2000 baht...

Remember that you need him more than he needs you !

 

 

 

BS. His rooms are all vacant, try next door.

If I ever use Agoda its for 1or 2 days then I can connect direct with the owner and twist his arm reminding him/her that direct avoids commissions and his room is not really suitable for you in the longer term.

Forget trying to raise credit points as these sites will eventually operate under a different name or increase prices (which they are now doing) to negate the savings their reward scheme has.

AirBnb is the go, ask owner for email address so next time can go direct.

 

Be in the machine, not of the machine.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Bikeman93
Addition

[Bikeman93]

Agoda is an easy site to use, so use them. Find the hotel name, do google search on that name to look for direct website or another booking site with same hotel and go with best deal.

Remember though prices are always lower on the ground with cash in your hand.

[sandyf]

14 minutes ago, Bikeman93 said:

Agoda is an easy site to use, so use them. Find the hotel name, do google search on that name to look for direct website or another booking site with same hotel and go with best deal.

Remember though prices are always lower on the ground with cash in your hand.

You should never use the word always.

We regularly stay overnight in Pattaya and a couple of months ago we looked on Agoda for what was available and convenient. Having picked a hotel my wife phoned up and she was told the price was 180 baht more than Agoda and refused to budge so we booked with Agoda. When we got to the hotel the owner told my wife she was not allowed to discount her list prices, cash or otherwise.

Recently we have been using one not listed on Agoda.

[Bikeman93]

Just now, sandyf said:

You should never use the word always.

We regularly stay overnight in Pattaya and a couple of months ago we looked on Agoda for what was available and convenient. Having picked a hotel my wife phoned up and she was told the price was 180 baht more than Agoda and refused to budge so we booked with Agoda. When we got to the hotel the owner told my wife she was not allowed to discount her list prices, cash or otherwise.

Recently we have been using one not listed on Agoda.

Sorry, should read always*.

 

*when you are not a sucker.

[sandyf]

17 minutes ago, Bikeman93 said:

Sorry, should read always*.

 

*when you are not a sucker.

How is someone that pays below the going rate a sucker?

Oh I know, anyone who uses Agoda is a sucker. That's your opinion and your sticking to it, your entitled.

[Bikeman93]

If you read it again you will see it did not accuse yourself as being a sucker.

 

There's one born every minute, they say, only have to wait long enough and one will walk in the door and fall right in your lap.

[phuketrichard]

EACH hotel can offer a locals only discount, it's NOT set by agoda

so rather than avoid agoda,avoid the hotel that is setting a different pricing policy

 

Quote

some hotels are stupid enough to respect the contract that they have with agoda..

ONLY a very stupid hotel owner would not respect the contract as most likely 40% or more of their bookings come from agoda, u think there going to risk losing those, to give you u cheap rate   ?

 

You all seem to think Agoda controls the pricing.They don't   EACH HOTEL sets its price.

[THAILIBAN]

This "local rate/local resident" thing on agoda is an old hat.

It has been implemented and offered to hotels by agoda since almost two years. I experienced that particularly in Indonesia, when suddenly hundreds of hotels applied such local rates. But since then almost all hotels have realized that applying such a racist rate system actually will COST them a lot of money as disgruntled potential guests will avoid booking such hotels, almost all hotels have abandoned such tactics.

 

But first you need to understand how agoda actually works: ALL prices/ rates and special offers are implemented by the HOTELS THEMSELVES. Hotels can use algos that r offered by agoda, which sometimes means that a room that usually cost 50$ suddenly costs 3800 $ because the hotel admins r too stupid to use those algos properly).

agoda is only offering the PLATFORM to sell the rooms. And yes, the higher the commission a hotel agrees to pay, the higher the position in the list of hotels that show up on each search.

I have more than 260 bookings on agoda, and never had any problems. U just have to understand how the system works.

And yes, at least in Asia agoda is in 80-90% of the cases cheaper than booking.com, at least when you are logged in to your account.

 

[THAILIBAN]

14 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

EACH hotel can offer a locals only discount, it's NOT set by agoda

so rather than avoid agoda,avoid the hotel that is setting a different pricing policy

 

ONLY a very stupid hotel owner would not respect the contract as most likely 40% or more of their bookings come from agoda, u think there going to risk losing those, to give you u cheap rate   ?

 

You all seem to think Agoda controls the pricing.They don't   EACH HOTEL sets its price.

 

Ha! you were a few minutes faster  -_- 

 

yeah indeed many people have no clue of what they are talking about.....

[KhunBENQ]

4 hours ago, dbrenn said:

Hotel prices in Thailand have shot up since Agoda monopolised them all.

Fortunately not all.

In Pattaya still hotels exist that can be booked without any of those.

They just have paypal or whatever to manage the payment (by CC/debit card).

 

Just tried it. 4th to 12th June. No problem.

 

Now tried the same dates at booking.com (where it appears): sold out.

Kind of implausible for deep off season.

 

[wump]

2 hours ago, THAILIBAN said:

This "local rate/local resident" thing on agoda is an old hat.

It has been implemented and offered to hotels by agoda since almost two years. I experienced that particularly in Indonesia, when suddenly hundreds of hotels applied such local rates. But since then almost all hotels have realized that applying such a racist rate system actually will COST them a lot of money as disgruntled potential guests will avoid booking such hotels, almost all hotels have abandoned such tactics.

 

But first you need to understand how agoda actually works: ALL prices/ rates and special offers are implemented by the HOTELS THEMSELVES. Hotels can use algos that r offered by agoda, which sometimes means that a room that usually cost 50$ suddenly costs 3800 $ because the hotel admins r too stupid to use those algos properly).

agoda is only offering the PLATFORM to sell the rooms. And yes, the higher the commission a hotel agrees to pay, the higher the position in the list of hotels that show up on each search.

I have more than 260 bookings on agoda, and never had any problems. U just have to understand how the system works.

And yes, at least in Asia agoda is in 80-90% of the cases cheaper than booking.com, at least when you are logged in to your account.

 

Totally agree with your post, except for one thing: I think the commission is a flat rate, not adjusted by the hotel or Agoda.

[phuketrichard]

Quote

some hotels are stupid enough to respect the contract that they have with agoda..

you can offer to pay higher commissions to agoda or booking or... and ur hotel is listed higher.

Quote

 

Now tried the same dates at booking.com (where it appears): sold out.

Kind of implausible for deep off season.

 

each hotel assigns an allotment to agoda ,to booking. to hotel travel etc

just cause the allotment is used up, does not mean the hotel is full

I started and ran the affiliate program for Planet holiday back in '99 (now agoda) and hotel travel

and currently use agoda and booking, airbnb, TA for getting  bookings for a villa i manage

 

Both Agoda andbooking .,com are owned by Priceline but run independently ,

agoda has far more hotels in asia while booking.com is better for europe and the states.

 

Quote

In Pattaya still hotels exist that can be booked without any of those.

and many many other cites across asia. BUT is a poor marketing strategy. Plenty of hotels dont use booking engines and their occupancy is usually low

Many hotels rely on booking engines to save them during the low season and hence increase their quota in low season than  drop it in high when they  can get more direct bookings and save paying out the commission while still selling the room at the same rate

[phuketrichard]

From agoda partner site;

Quote

The Ranking Tool has been designed to give you the ability to influence your property’s placement by increasing or decreasing your commission level. Increased commissions will influence better placement.

 

a few promotions u can currently run on agoda

 

Quote

 

**China only - for customers living in Greater China or reading Mandarin Chinese.

**After hours promotion - promotion that's only bookable after midnight until dawn.

**Limited time sale – a promotion which can only be booked for the next number of days (default 3 days)

**Free Night - a promotion that gives you the ability to offer free night(s) to the customer.

 

 

Plus u can offer any customized promotion u wish

 

 

 

[Bikeman93]

Prices may have come up since Agoda, but now going down drastically with Airbnb.  Shop around.

[NoshowJones]

Always give Agoda a miss, they are very sneaky about the 17% taxes they always add on the the price that they first quoted you.

[NoshowJones]

22 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

other hotel booking web sites are available.

Of course there are, by all means use them, but watch the small print, though not every hotel is sneaky like Agoda.

[wump]

9 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Always give Agoda a miss, they are very sneaky about the 17% taxes they always add on the the price that they first quoted you.

Sneaky yes, but if you use the app it displays the real prices. Also, unlike Paypal they don't charge you for paying in another currency. In fact, sometimes it's even cheaper in euros or dollars than it is in Thai Baht.

 

It is sneaky to call it "taxes and fees" though. The whole 17% go directly to Agoda.

Edited May 28, 2017 by wump

[phuketrichard]

29 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Of course there are, by all means use them, but watch the small print, though not every hotel is sneaky like Agoda.

Agoda is a hotel booking engine NOT A HOTEL!!!!

and nothing sneaky about it,  its right in ur face when u click thru;

deceiving prehaps,  that's why i prefer booking.com

 

5 1/2years  almost 15,000 posts  GET A LIFE

[wump]

Agoda fees ARE being added very sneakily when booking via the web. The end price pretends to be the added total of the number of nights booked when it's not. It's only in very small print that it says "includes 10+7% taxes and fees". In fact, the whole thing is sneakier than Airasia.

Edited May 28, 2017 by wump

[moose7117]

wife and i have a small B&B and recently we removed ourselves from Agoda , we made this decision after 18 months of them discounting our rooms without notifying us and then ignoring our communications.

Agoda did provide us with a lot of bookings but overall we decided that they were simply too much trouble.

there are much better booking sites for a tourist or expat.

[bazza73]

My technique is to check the price listed on Agoda, then check again on the hotel's website.It's pretty rare that the hotel's prices beat Agoda.

[oldhippy]

23 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Always give Agoda a miss, they are very sneaky about the 17% taxes they always add on the the price that they first quoted you.

The sneaky 17% add on is only applied in their websites  / languages of countries that have no proper consumer protection!

That makes it even more sneaky in my opinion.

 

Funny: On Agoda's Norwegian website you can choose to get the original prices incl or excl 17%. If you choose excl, the 17 % will only be added when you finalize the booking. Governments do not have the monopoly of silly rules!

 

How I book:

First I  check out the hotel's details on booking.com (very complete, no sneaky tricks, excellent filters such as kitchenette).

Then I go to trivago.com (they check many booking sites) for possible better deals.

Usually, in Europe I end up with booking.com, in Thailand it varies.

In Europe I do not find BnB to be cheaper for the same rooms, but they have rooms that are not available from traditional booking sites.

 

 

[THAILIBAN]

On 28/05/2017 at 8:14 PM, wump said:

Agoda fees ARE being added very sneakily when booking via the web. The end price pretends to be the added total of the number of nights booked when it's not. It's only in very small print that it says "includes 10+7% taxes and fees". In fact, the whole thing is sneakier than Airasia.

 

 

not true

 

you can change the settings so the final price is shown on the website too, not only on the app.

 

booking.com does that a lot more randomly. no options to show final price. so, in some cases, even in the same City such as Kuala Lumpur, sometimes you see the final price, sometimes a 7% VAT is added, and sometimes a 10% service fee plus a 7% VAT is added.

You have to be very careful when booking on booking.com

 

a lot more easy on agoda, no such silly games there