hotel booking

[paperboy]

Hi everyone
Just was wondering, what people use to book there hotels.
going direct alwasy seems easyer but seems to be more expencive.
ive looked at agoda and ive used them before.
But how does the majority of you all use to book your hotels.
Im arrageing my next ttrip and at the moment looking to book

[goji]

1 Sending an e-mail to the hotel directly is my first choice.

2 Booking.com is very much a poor second choice, only if option 1 is not available.

Disadvantages of option 2:
(i) Having to pay a deposit, possibly the duration of the entire stay, when booking direct, often nothing or 1 night deposit will do.
(ii) Whilst booking.com prices are OK, in the long term, it's an extra middleman adding costs & taking money out of the system.
(iii) E-mailing the hotel directly allows for specifics to be discussed. e.g. Requesting a particular room number or checking they are OK with joiners at no extra cost. That's not so easy with Booking.com

[frequentfliers]

I use booking.com..no problems.no deposit..easy.

[paulfort]

Hi Mate
My job is managing hotels in the UK so I am pretty familiar with it from the "trade" side of things but as a consumer I normally use and would always suggest the following logic...

If you like and have decided on a particular hotel, try their own web site first and also email them direct, depending on their teams allowed flexibility they can save on the agent commission, so might well offer you a better "book direct" deal and offer more choice in terms of bedroom standards - don't be afraid to mention what ever deal you have seen via a TPI "Third Party Internet" site such as Agoda, Hotels4U, and Booking.com when asking direct. In addition the direct approach will probably help you establish a relationship if likely to be a regular customer with the owners/management.
Again if you like a hotel try and engage whilst there in conversation with the owner/Management then go direct next time and they might be more open to a favourable rate, especially if you can be flexible on dates and advise them accordingly (though obviously more important in most cases re the price of the flights!)
Look for their special deals if they work for you, Tarntawan often offer a decent deal for bookings with limited noticed and fully pre paid/non refundable (but not always the best deal as below!)
To check how competitive the rate the hotel is offering you direct is, do still check the various TPIs including but only in part the price comparison sites such as Trivago but always worth also browsing individual sites as not all rates poll on the price comparison sites.
If you cant get a better deal going direct consider registering with sites such as Topcashback.co.uk, whilst as a hotelier I hate them, they effectively share the commission the TPI makes with you, I recently found a much better rate on Hotels4U via Topcashback at Tarntawan Place than the hotel was offering direct or than available on any of the TPIs, in addition I received a further 10% cash back so once the funds transferred got a better rate than their best non flexible direct offer, better than I could find on any other TPI and then an additional 10% cash back followed in to my Topcashback account!

Hope the above helps and enjoy your next visit!

[Oliver]

Unless you know the management of a hotel personally and expect a discount, I recommend Agoda. The prices are good and you have the option of not paying- that is, not having money taken from your credit card account- until a few days before your arrival which allows a painless late cancellation. Goji's experience must be with other agencies.

[Moses]

Sorry for rudeness, but Agoda is total bullshit in comp. with booking.com: they hiding taxes while you compare prices, they have lazy and slow support in case you have trouble in hotel (hotel told me "sorry we cant find your order", agoda's support after my complain answered me after 30 hours when I already has been in another hotel).

Direct deal is best way for Thailand if you plan to live in small or middle-size hotel: with negotiation you will heve better price or te same price but better conditions, only in case of hotel chain aggregators like Booking or Agoda can offer better prices.

[fountainhall]

I sometimes use agoda but also dislike their hiding the true price by not quoting up-front the taxes and service charge. These only appear when you get to the check-out page. One site that gathers a lot of specific booking sites with one query is hotelscombined.com. This makes comparisons much easier - although you still need to double-check that the quoted prices include everything.

As for prepaying, increasingly agoda and other sites seem to be offering alternatives - pay on booking or pay a higher refundable rate. Refundable rates are often the better option despite the price because you can cancel if you later find an even cheaper rate. This happened to me recently on a trip to Taipei where over 5 nights I saved a bundle thanks to a special promotion a month after I had made the original booking.


they have lazy and slow support in case you have trouble in hotel (hotel told me "sorry we cant find your order", agoda's support after my complain answered me after 30 hours when I already has been in another hotel).
I travel a lot and I get round this by emailing each hotel a few days in advance quoting my booking reference number and the room-type I have reserved. Doing this I have never once had a problem with any hotel.

I know the OP is looking for Thailand hotels. For anyone considering Japan, though, I recently found the site japanican.com which certainly has the cheapest rate for the hotel I booked for an upcoming trip to Tokyo.

[roguebear]

Thanks for the Trivago tip. I try Agoda, Booking.com and the hotel website and pick the best deal. I agree the Agoda pricing structure is off putting and assume that Moses' experience is probably the norm in regards to customer service. I used to get points with Agoda which I redeemed for savings on the next booking, but I am not sure they still have the point system. I like Agoda's website the best for finding hotels and then shop the other sites for best price. Last season I mostly booked with Booking.com. I have travel insurance, so I usually go with the nonrefundable offers.

[Oliver]

Agoda still has the points system....I know, because I usually forget to redeem mine.

[paperboy]

well i shopped about and finally went with agoda
i got a insiders 55% discount on a great hotel
so im a happy bunny

[goji]

Unless you know the management of a hotel personally and expect a discount, I recommend Agoda. The prices are good and you have the option of not paying- that is, not having money taken from your credit card account- until a few days before your arrival which allows a painless late cancellation. Goji's experience must be with other agencies.

I have tried Agoda and dislike the upfront payment. I would much prefer to pay in the hotel.
For me, an upfront deposit is undesirable (Booking.com) & an upfront payment is worse (Agoda).

Neither of the up front payments provide much of a guarantee to me.
For example, I roll up at my reserved hotel in Ayutthaya & find she is full up and is moving me to the hotel around the corner, which has customer ratings half a point lower. This just happened to be by far the worst place I stayed in that month.
If I pay a deposit, the commitment should be both ways.

Another advantage of e-mailing hotels directly is you can sometimes negotiate a good rate, confirm they are receptive to guests and also negotiate no joiners fees. If going to a place that has such nonsense (typically outside Thailand).

[paperboy]

when i book a hotel i always book for 2 people even though im on my own and will take boys back for 1 night or more.
Never had a problem

[Smiles]

For the most part we go for the very best option: i.e. phoning the hotel a few days or weeks ~ depending on season ~ in advance.
Obviously this is not for everyone. But we mostly stay in the same hotel in different towns these days and they get to know us by name (Thais are much more open to this method). A few offer us discounts which might be available on any given date.
We have 'by-phone' hotels in Bangkok, Jomtien, Surin, Ban Krut, Prasat, Lat Krabang (airport) and a quite a number of hotels in Hua Hin which I can phone if and when we have guests.

An option highly recommended to those living in Thailand. Not so much for in-and-outers who often prefer playing around in different hotels.

[christianpfc]

For flexibility, I try not to book hotels at all and do walk in only. That worked well for me in Thailand. I might use agoda to check where hotels are located in town, or do the same with google maps, but most often old-fashioned guidebooks (especially Tourism Authority of Thailand which has brochures for every province, beside information for sightseeing they have a list of hotels with address and price range as well). When high occupancy can be expected, I might call in advance to ask for vacancies.

When I have to, I use one of the big booking sites (but will avoid Agoda for their policy of showing price without tax and service charge).

[Surfcrest]

I use booking.com the most, but I don't always book using them. I like to toggle the days around if I have some flexibility to see if the rate changes for certain days than other. Booking.com has some great flash or members sales that offer some really great prices. I prefer to book direct with the Hotel though, once I know the ballpark range for the price for the nights I might want to stay. When you book direct with the Hotel, you can negotiate which room or what part of the Hotel you prefer to stay, especially if you've stayed here before and have preferences. Booking sites rarely give you that option or at best will allow upper or lower floors based on accessibility or street noise. I like having a view, or the better room within the pricing classification.

Some Hotels, when you try to book direct with them will only send you to booking.com anyway. If you have a loyalty card or belong to a program, they don't always quality you for the same perks while you stay.

I once thought that Hotels would give guests who book through booking sites the worst of the room selections because the booking is impersonal. When I have booked through booking.com, I have on many occasions been given what I found out to be one of their better rooms. I'm not sure whether this is because booking.com also has a review process in addition to who uses Trip Advisor, or whether it's because they are trying hard to win future business...which with me works.

Surfcrest

[Forky123]

For the places I stay, I tend to use Agoda, booking.com or Expedia depending on which is cheapest for that hotel at the time. So far, I've not found a single instance where booking with the hotel would have been cheaper, though I tend to stay in the same few hotels. I don't mind paying in advance as it gives me the comfort that the booking is all ok. As long as if I cancel I can get a full refund which generally I can. On my last trip I booked in Pattaya for my trip with Expedia and then a couple of months later due to the change in exchange rates and a good deal on Agoda found I could save ┬г200 on my trip with the same hotel. Cancelled with Expedia, booked with Agoda, big saving. I'd have felt guilty doing that if I'd booked direct with hotel.