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Thoughts on Agoda? (to begin with, they suck)

Hostel Reviews, Booking Engines, and Directories

luckygutsy started this discussion 10 years 5 months ago

I'd never heard of it as a backpacker, let alone used it, but signed the hostel up because the owner wanted me to. It's definitely designed for hotels, but all the hostels here (Colombo) are listed on it too and it does send us the odd booking.

I really don't like the system, though, for a lot of reasons. They show a lower rate for rooms as a "discount" and then add "tax" to bring it up to the full price. A couple of times backpackers have walked in without a booking expecting to pay the initial low price they saw on Agoda, and they think I'm ripping them off when I tell them the real price.

Agoda also lists fake high prices to make it look like they have a special price. For example, if a bed costs $10, they'll list something like "regular $25, discounted to $7 + tax." It's caused confusion for people who compare between OTAs.

I can't take us off Agoda as much as I might like to, because it's not my hostel, but I'm wondering what problems/solutions other people have with them?

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slushysnow

10 years

I just wrote a long response but the site messed up and I lost it :((

Don't have time to re-write in full but I had bad experiences with Agoda and eventually de-listed both the properties I manage.

Bad customer service towards the property, high commission rates and guests who expect to check into a hotel and are then instantly disappointed when they arrive through no fault of our own. Agoda uses language which misleads people (Hotel Photos is one example).

I don't think I'll ever list with them again. Getting hold of a real person on the phone is almost impossible (unless you can get hold of your in-country contact, however ours changed without us ever being given an updated phone number etc.).

That being said, I like the UPC payment system.

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hostelspots

10 years

We have heard that too when we spoke with Hostel from Sri Lanka and Thailand in the last days.

In our opinion always final prices should be displayed on a booking machine. And it can not be that a booking engine changed the prices of hostels arbitrarily.

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balibali

10 years

We are a small hotel and get a lot of bookings from Agoda. The way they do their pricing is of course annoying, but I guess they wouldn't do it if it didn't work. We get the occasional guest coming directly to our hotel and demanding the same price (without taxes and service charge). We usually reply if it is cheaper on Agoda than what we are offering, just book the room on Agoda. Agoda is very aggressive about being the cheapest price online and they will even call you if they find a cheaper rate available online.

The plus side is that Agoda make it easy to offer discounts on the room rate, which can be very effective if you aren't busy. The guests pay directly to Agoda and they send the money directly to your bank account, which is good you don't need to handle cash.

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