Have VA 'enhanced' Agoda? [Yes!]

[trippin_the_rift]

Re: Have VA 'enhanced' Agoda?

So what happens to those that have March 2017 bookings via the Agoda link and have the confirmation with "Virgin Partner" printed on it?

Does VA honor the booking/points?

From a commercial perspective, Velocity would be paid by Agoda for ALL reservations even those in a year from now. If Velocity is choosing not to honour the points it's their prerogative, but know that Velocity would essentially be earning a free commission.

 

[Pleb Status]

Re: Have VA 'enhanced' Agoda?

Apparently, there where emails.

Me: Thats laughable because I never get Happy Hour or Sale emails, I never get announcement emails. Ive checked my email address, Ive reloaded/saved my email address, I checked my spam, nothing. I simply dont get Velocity or VA general announcement emails.


Edit: Trying the Virgin Holidays to search for hotels, its been thinking about it for about 10mins and the wheel turns and turns but no results. I guess there are no hotels in Atlanta.

I appear to receive most relevant VA/VFF emails, but received nothing about the termination of Agoda. I did receive one email regarding the PointsMax bonus points however. Also, as you can book up to twelve months in advance (I have three nights booked already for late September 2017), an email one week or so from termination of the agreement is 'pointless'.

I checked out of my first Agoda booked hotel yesterday, so will keep an keen eye out for the points. They normally take about a week to credit from previous experience.

 

[clarkkent]

Re: Have VA 'enhanced' Agoda?

Maybe someone at Agoda noticed that they'd been paying both the Velocity points and their old Agoda rewards points on the same bookings, which seemed erroneously generous.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Have VA 'enhanced' Agoda?

I hope drron and mrsdrron are reading this!

I can confirm that none of the three accounts I manage (that each receive varying degrees of email notification), received email notification of the Agoda dumping.

No emails for our 3 accounts either.

I'm not booking via Velocity. I may use PointsMAX when it doesn't cost extra. I looked at one booking and it earns 6 KrisFlyer miles or 51 Velocity points. Guess which I'll choose?

 

[grubbidok]

Re: Have VA 'enhanced' Agoda?

For the last 2yrs if not using a hotel site directly I've given up on using any kind of hotel booking portal associated with airlines anyway - the prices are always inflated to match the "free points" and it's never been worth it no matter how many WP bonus points they've thrown at me. I now just use the Hotels dot com - get 10% back in rewards plus another 4.8-10% on the cashback sites and they're usually the best rates. Better payback than any points ever gave.

 

[Pleb Status]

Re: Have VA 'enhanced' Agoda?

For the last 2yrs if not using a hotel site directly I've given up on using any kind of hotel booking portal associated with airlines anyway - the prices are always inflated to match the "free points" and it's never been worth it no matter how many WP bonus points they've thrown at me. I now just use the Hotels dot com - get 10% back in rewards plus another 4.8-10% on the cashback sites and they're usually the best rates. Better payback than any points ever gave.

I assign 'no value' to the VFF points earned through Agoda (or say the QF website) when comparing the various hotel websites. My experience has found that for selected hotels in Europe, Agoda was more than 20% cheaper than the headline price that was offered by the various Expedia group websites (which the site you refer to above is a part of).

By using Agoda at those selected hotels, I paid less cash than what other websites offered (inclusive of all discounts etc) and received the VFF points as well. I have rarely used Agoda outside of Europe as other websites generally offer better deals overall.

No single hotel website appears to give the best value all of the time, even when including all discount codes, rebates and cash back deals. I currently have active hotel bookings with five different hotel websites (including the one you refer to) to get the best overall pricing.

 

[grubbidok]

Re: Have VA 'enhanced' Agoda?

No single hotel website appears to give the best value all of the time, even when including all discount codes, rebates and cash back deals. I currently have active hotel bookings with five different hotel websites (including the one you refer to) to get the best overall pricing.

Yes, good point. You should never limit to one (I don't either, but just used H dot com as an example, I find most of the other sites "pay out" better than points as well).

I am confused about the Agoda being cheaper thing though - I never once found a cheaper room on Agoda than other options for years I've been checking multiple sites, and Agoda was generally at least 20% more than other options (even in Europe). I guess it depends on what kinds of rooms and locations you check. A lot of people have mentioned Agoda being a good deal though - it does make me wonder what's so different about my preferences that it was never the case for me!

Good reminder to do what works best for you, not everyone else.

 

[Pleb Status]

Re: Have VA 'enhanced' Agoda?

Happy to report that all of my VFF points from my recent Agoda stays in December have credited to my account overnight without any intervention whatsoever (including WP bonus points).

So it would appear that all is good at this time and my upcoming stays will credit in the same manner.

 

[iambents]

Obviously the new site is more expensive than Agoda and it looks like the 100% bonus for WP has been dropped as well.

I've had a couple of stays through the Virgin Australia Holidays (Zuji) portal and can confirm that the 100% bonus for WP hasn't been dropped. The other advantage was that the points were also credited on the next business day.

That is where the advantages end. As others have said, the site is hopeless. The links in confirmation emails often don't work and you have to phone up to make any changes etc as opposed to Agoda where the self service is pretty great.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Received 3ppd for an Agoda booking made in November before the enhancement.