So I'm not using Agoda again after this leg of my trip....

1

Booking.com

I had the same issue once (in my case it was mold, cockroaches, ...) but booked through booking.com. I checked out 1 hour after check-in and informed Booking. Even though they are owned by the same company as agoda.com, I got a full refund, no further questions asked. Maybe the hotel in this case was cooperative, I don't know, but the helpdesk of Booking was really friendly and helpful. I've also used Agoda in the past (they often had more choice in remote locations or had cheaper choices than booking) and I tried using them again for my current Asia trip. However, their website is absolute garbage imo. You get bombared with "discounts" and "coupons" the minute you open the website. Every offer shows multipe striked through prices, they subtract the cashback from the price you see BUT you get this cashback only months later and ONLY if you remember to apply for it. Their website is chaotic and afaik you can't even select 'only show available properties' like on Booking. Also, with Booking if you pay now or later, the price will stay the same. With Agoda, if you pay later they apply their own exchanges rates which are sometimes +10% of the official rate! I still have one accommodation booked with them, but after that I'm sticking with Booking. It might be a little bit more expensive overall then always picking the cheapest option, but I've been using Booking for more than 10 years now and I've never had any issues.

#Travel #Vacation Rental #Travel & Tourism 833 social mentions

2

Agoda

I had the same issue once (in my case it was mold, cockroaches, ...) but booked through booking.com. I checked out 1 hour after check-in and informed Booking. Even though they are owned by the same company as agoda.com, I got a full refund, no further questions asked. Maybe the hotel in this case was cooperative, I don't know, but the helpdesk of Booking was really friendly and helpful. I've also used Agoda in the past (they often had more choice in remote locations or had cheaper choices than booking) and I tried using them again for my current Asia trip. However, their website is absolute garbage imo. You get bombared with "discounts" and "coupons" the minute you open the website. Every offer shows multipe striked through prices, they subtract the cashback from the price you see BUT you get this cashback only months later and ONLY if you remember to apply for it. Their website is chaotic and afaik you can't even select 'only show available properties' like on Booking. Also, with Booking if you pay now or later, the price will stay the same. With Agoda, if you pay later they apply their own exchanges rates which are sometimes +10% of the official rate! I still have one accommodation booked with them, but after that I'm sticking with Booking. It might be a little bit more expensive overall then always picking the cheapest option, but I've been using Booking for more than 10 years now and I've never had any issues.

#Travel #Vacation Rental #Online Bookings 36 social mentions