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
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
I use booking.com..no problems.no deposit..easy.
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!
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.
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.
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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.
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.Originally Posted by Moses
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.
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.
Agoda still has the points system....I know, because I usually forget to redeem mine.
well i shopped about and finally went with agoda
i got a insiders 55% discount on a great hotel
so im a happy bunny
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