suparn1904

Hi All,

I was planning to book my hotel room in Thailand through Agoda.com.
The rates are quite cheap as compared to other web sites.

I had a few queries to this.
1. Are there any hidden charges with Agoda.com. Do i have to pay some amount to them as well ?
2. How does the process go from Booking the hotel here till getting to the Hotel room ?

Please bear if it feels annoying. I am travelling outside india for the first time. Just had to make sure things dont go the other way.

Any help would be appreciated

Yoshi212

Where are you booking? I myself have never used Agoda but have used other OTA (Online Travel Agency) for flights & hotels and haven't had any major problems. I mostly book direct with certain chains for premier benefits and pretty much everything else through hotels.com. Some OTAs have price-match policies so that might be something to look into.

Eta, reread and see Thailand. Is it a chain/well known hotel or something small with limited reviews online?

nux

1. It should be clear at the end the total price to pay upfront and any amount due to the hotel.

2. Print the booking confirmation from Agoda and show at the hotel on arrival.

suparn1904

Hey Yoshi, Thanks for the reply. Well agoda.com is quite a famous booking system similar to Hotels.com and Booking.com. However, the rate is comparatively cheaper. Many people have booked hotels through it. I am not sure about the billing process though. I guess they might be taking some additional charge but not sure about it.

Transpacificflyer

Unlike Booking.com and Hotels.com, Agoda does not offer transparent pricing. You have to click through to the end to see the total cost because Agoda intentionally leaves off fees and taxes. The problem, with these websites is that you will be given the worst rooms in the hotel. I used to use Agoda regularly, but found I was always, always getting the room that was in the back over the garbage bins, or on the side of the noisy road or in the worst part of the building. Booking.com would do that to me too. As for Hotels.com, I just went through an issue with a discrepancy with what was described and what was actually shown in the confirmation. It is finally fixed, but it took several weeks before it was. Hotels.com is Expedia and the service is atrocious. Look at the FT threads to read the horror stories about booking flights with Expedia, so you can have an indication of what the hotel unit is like.

I have used all these websites for Thailand, and to be honest, I am using hotels.com because its "reward" format is superior to Agoda and is even better than the so called loyalty programs of hotels like Accor and IHG. Often there is a price discrepancy with some locations and there are hotels which do not show up on the various websites. Look and then look again. Keep in mind that there is a conflict of interest with some of the review sites. Expedia owns Trip Adviser and Travelocity.

The one piece of advice is to look at all three websites and then at the hotel website. Sometimes the hotel will include wifi and breakfast whereas the OTA websites do not. Also the rooms booked at the hotels in Thailand tend to be in better locations in the building. I have booked over 100 nights in Thailand around the country over the past few years and that's my experience.

tatterdema

I used them once with no issues.

fumje

I as well.

One thing to note is that the hotel may not issue a bill / receipt showing nightly rate & taxes, as it is a prepaid booking, and Agoda's automated receipt has very few details. This is probably only an issue for reimbursements.

bprsofteng

Agoda is part of the Priceline group. So you don't have anything to worry about in terms of legitimacy as a company.

They do tend to add tax and hotel service fees at the end of the booking process.

Zooter

Watch out for resort fees if you are booking at that type of a place.

889

"Unlike Booking.com and Hotels.com, Agoda does not offer transparent pricing. You have to click through to the end to see the total cost because Agoda intentionally leaves off fees and taxes."

Agoda's app now offers an option to show all-in pricing.