Booking.Com

[Surfcrest]

You may have noticed the addition of booking.com as one of our new main advertising banners for some of the Forums.

The next stage in the evolution of the Board is to take our advertising in a different direction over the next half year, working with advertisers that work well with the site and offer something of use for the membership. Booking.com is a site I have used quite frequently over the past three years or so for booking accommodations around the world or just as a resource for competitive estimates, availability for specific dates or special members only deals. If I'm looking for a deal for some specific nights somewhere, booking.com will remember that and send me notices if a property I'm looking at goes on sale.

The strategy of the advertising is to flow revenue back into the Board to off-set our monthly and yearly expenses. I have created a business model for Sawatdee that I hope will sustain the Board financially well into the future. All of the business for the Board now is self contained, although I will continue financing the Board and paying the bills until any revenue starts coming in. Booking.com is the beginning for all of that and I hope to sign some more advertising up over the coming months.

You may see different banners and different styles of booking.com ads, once we get everything inter connected. If you are looking to plan a stay somewhere, looking to make a reservation or if you are a regular booking.com customer like myself already, you assist our site by clicking our banners to get to booking.com.

Surfcrest

[arsenal]

Booking.com is an excellent site and the one I always use.

[bidreamer]

In general, it's a good site, but last time in Thailand I had an unpleasant experience. I used their Android app for booking and something did not go quite right, as it turned out when we arrived that the booking was for two rooms (which made my bf give me some very worried looks :-) ). I explained there must have been an error and the reception guy said 'no promlem, you pay one' But later at checkout I was asked to give the credit card without showing me the bill first. When I said that I would like to go though the bill first, it turned out it still contained charge for two rooms. The owner appeared and was insistent that no matter what was said to me before, they will charge for two rooms, since booking was through booking.com and they cannot change anything because booking.com bills them!? Long story short, we were able to reach an agreement since I had extended our stay by one night and then that night was removed from the bill. But it seemed that somehow it made a difference that booking was made through booking.com, although it was not repaid. Maybe it was just an excuse, though.

[Surfcrest]

I had a similar thing happen to me a few months back when I booked into my hotel in Lima, the desk informed me that they had two rooms reserved under my name.
The hotel was full-up and were not able to fix the error at the desk either, so I checked-in to one of the rooms and went up and used booking.com's contact form on their site to send them an inquiry about the problem. A few hours later I was copied on an email sent from booking.com to the hotel that included our reservation number and booking and asking the hotel to provide a booking number for the second room reservation. When we returned from dinner that evening, the desk called me over to advise that the situation had been resolved and that I would only be charged, at check out for the one room. I'm not sure if this was really a booking.com error or with the hotel chain we booked with, but it was resolved efficiently.

Booking.com provides different booking options, in terms of price. You can save more usually by taking the "no cancellation" option although most reservations still don't require you to pay until check-out...whether you take the allowable cancellation or not. In these cases, even though your stay is not billed to your card until you leave...you are still locked into the reservation by giving your credit card and authorization when you book. Still, it's nice to know if something goes wrong with a booking that the company will work on getting the situation resolved for you, so you can get on with whatever you are away for...especially if you are busy.

To a certain extent, I follow the same logic when I fly...as I am prone to missing flights. I make most of my flight bookings with a travel agent, so that if I do miss a flight...I can send her an email from wherever I am and she'll fix the problem from her end and email me the new flight information while I'm on the go. While it may cost marginally more than the quoted price on a flight booking site or direct on a carrier's site...the insurance of having an agent there has certainly been worth it for me given the number of flights I've missed.

Surfcrest

[Pattayamale]

I use booking.com often and have never had a problem. It is good to know however what to look out for and that booking.com 's customer service is helpful.

I am wondering if Surfcrest is making a tab where all the sponsor's will be easily accessible in a list, or if we have to go to different forums to find the sponsor??
I certainly will use the site if that helps finance the board. Are we going to have a coupon for some advertisers too?

[Surfcrest]

I am wondering if Surfcrest is making a tab where all the sponsor's will be easily accessible in a list, or if we have to go to different forums to find the sponsor??
I certainly will use the site if that helps finance the board. Are we going to have a coupon for some advertisers too?

That's a great suggestion pattayamale, we'll will create a static listing for ads on the site. As well, the hope is to use specific advertising in specific locations in the site.
While banners for the bars and restaurants would work well in the Gay Thailand Forum, booking.com as a travel advertisement would fit in better with the S.E. Asia and Global Forums.
That's just a general idea of where I would like to position things now and with future advertisers that we think would fit well.
We are just testing out the booking.com banners right now, in case you are seeing them all over in different places.

As for coupons, not based on my current line up...mostly from the previous administration...but I'll certainly consider adding this in, with future sign on's.

Surfcrest