Agoda Hotel booking site

[munitalP]

My recent China trip I booked 3 of my hotels through the Agoda website, one through Asia rooms, and one direct to Accor.

Three cheers for Agoda!

I found the entire experience with Agoda very cost effective and darn easy to deal with, I especially like the awards system and the fact they throw away bonus awards (I've had an extra 500 x 3 for hotel reports) seemingly willy nilly!

Asia Rooms - still a good system, but far too complicated with approvals, rooms not booked in your name if prepaid etc...

Anyway, I just thought I would share...

BTW, the hotels booked through Agoda - Purple Mountain (Shanghai), Marriott (Beijing), Longemont (Shanghai)- formally the regent I believe...


Mr!

 

[JohnK]

Yes agree that Agoda is good booking site but I do not like the new reward system. With the old reward system you could redeem the points earned in $5 increments where as now the minimum redemption for a basic member is $25 and points earned in current year expire December 31 the year after.

Way too many hotel reward programs and not enough hotel night stays in a year....

 

[thewinchester]

Asia Rooms - still a good system, but far too complicated with approvals, rooms not booked in your name if prepaid etc..

-1 for Asia Rooms. Had the displeasure of this site when in SIN back in 08', and half of the hotels there don't have pre-allocated inventory or GDS access for direct booking. This caused us a world of problems, and after two hotels would not honour the booking we simply gave up and went elsewhere. Not worth the effort to use IMHO.

 

[Hvr]

Can also vouch for Agoda here It worked very quickly when stuck in BKK Nov 08. Booked a room about 11.30am and when I arrived there at 2.00pm just quoted the number and it was all ready.

One thing I also like is that for my hotel in Beijing (Kapok) it has the name and address in Chinese characters and English.

 

[munitalP]

-1 for Asia Rooms. Had the displeasure of this site when in SIN back in 08', and half of the hotels there don't have pre-allocated inventory or GDS access for direct booking. This caused us a world of problems, and after two hotels would not honour the booking we simply gave up and went elsewhere. Not worth the effort to use IMHO.

Ive used Asia rooms a few times in the last 3 years without a hitch - only as stated in the first post, they are complicated. I have used them for 2 or 3 Singapore bookings, 1 was Robertson Quay Hotel (ick!) and I think the other times were Novotel (?) Im not sure about that though... Also used them for Hong Kong bookings with no fuss

In saying that though, Agoda will be my first choice from now (not my only choice through) when booking Asian hotel rooms. I had a quick look at Australian hotels, but alas, our lot (unlike the Asian hotels) have not cottoned on to the idea that a used room at $150 per night is better than an empty room at $225...

Mr!

 

[munitalP]

One thing I also like is that for my hotel in Beijing (Kapok) it has the name and address in Chinese characters and English.

Yes!! A big bonus for a round eye like me who cant speak a word of Chinese (like me) except hello and good bye!

I forgot about that - thanks for reminding me Hvr!


Mr!

 

[Timba-Jet]

Thanks for sharing your positive experiences with Agoda.

On my last trip to Asia, I was desperately looking for hotel in Singapore at short notice, and came across the Agoda site; they had some great rates and were very quick to respond to request. Unfortunately the hotel I wanted was not available, so I ended up booking elsewhere.

Will check out Agoda on my next trip.

 

[Renato]

I find dealing direct with hotels gives me the best deal 9 times out of 10 ,I usually use Agoda,Asia Rooms , Wotif etc to find the best deal around them go to hotel site and book direct with hotel ,I find the hotel price is normally slightly better.
Also in the past where I wanted to change booking I could not do at hotel front desk but had to use the booking company I purchased room ,from I now stick to booking direct for what it's worth

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

I've tended to find using Hotelscombined.com gets me better deals.

I don't like Agoda as they add the taxes n other charges on near the end of the booking process, so it's not always easy to compare the true price on their site with other sites that show the nett price up front.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

I give Agoda the thumbs up too. They are fantastic for bookings at the smaller non-chain hotels. I find them to be the cheapest around, plus they have the rewards program which is a nice little bonus. I have had at least 10 bookings with them so far and all have worked out perfectly.