Garmei

I am considering booking accommodation for Singapore through the above website. Would be interested in hearing others experiences, good and bad. Also for the frequent users, how far out in advance would you recommend making a reservation? I am still undecided and as payment is required upfront I would like to leave it as late as possible although I have a particular hotel in mind.

Many thanks in advance!

Kathie

Where are you going to and what time of the year? That will help us determine just how busy it will be. I haven't used that website, but I do remmember that KimJapan has used it. I expect she'll check in with her comments.

Garmei

Thanks Kathie. I am thinking of going to Singapore in mid July.

JamesA

If you don't mind telling us the hotel and the rate they are quoting some of us may be able to compare with those we use.
Also note that many services only charge you 1 night deposit and the balance a few weeks ahead.
There is also a good service that fives last minute deals and you pay a small deposit and the rest at your hotel, however you might not get the hotel you wanted.

KimJapan

I have had a great experience with them for booking the Four Seasons for August. I booked part of our stay directly with the FS because the rate was better, and I booked the other part with asiabesthotel.com because their rate was better. Asiabesthotel.com was easy to work with, handled my special requests, and linked our reservations for us with the FS...which I also checked myself with the FS and was assured they were linked and fine.

As far as how long to wait...I booked with the FS directly last September for this August and got last years weekend rates, which for that room is S$110.00 less per night than it is for booking now. For the other which are not weekend days, asiabesthotel.com had a rate that beat other booking sites and direct booking by a lot.

Make note of the cancellation and change policies and fees on whatever booking site you end up using. I seldom use a booking site, but in this case, the savings for us was quite big. Do be sure you explore all options though, as a little advance planning and frequent rate checking got us very good prices.

Garmei

Hi, thanks JamesA and KimJapan. The hotel we are thinking of is the Royal Plaza on Scotts which appears on asiabesthotel as 210 SGD for a twin deluxe room, much cheaper than I have been able to find elsewhere. If there are other services out there that offer similar prices but not full upfront payment, I'd be interested in hearing about them. Unfortunately I think we have left it too late to get a good rate with the hotel.

JamesA

Well Royal Plaza on Scotts is a great hotel. I took a look at the website but it would show availability or anything without putting in credit card details, so could not even see if room available or not, was not able to show availability for dates or anything unless I put a c/card number in.
I never like that at all.

JamesA

"It would 'not' show availability" I meant to say.

KimJapan

You can e-mail to asiabesthotel.com to check availability before putting cc number in..actually, I did that as I had some requests that were not options on the booking pages. Response was within an hour (but I'm in the same general time zone, only 1 hour different), very friendly and professional and thorough answers.

Garmei

Thanks KimJapan, I'll try that suggestion!