Any experiences with Agoda hotel reservation?
 

Anybody has hotel reservation experience with Agoda? I will reserve hotel in HKG, but never used Agoda before. I am more interested any pet peeves with it.

Is there any other online hotel reservation sites for HKG that is good?

I'm new to this, but I just used Agoda for my Hong Kong reservations. They seemed most reasonable, but have a stiff cancellation policy.

AJ is right, and because of Agoda's cancellation policy I went directly to the hotel website in BKK and dealt directly with them. Better deal and better rates.

I used Agoda once for a hotel reservation in London. I don't remember the precise details, but I had to cancel the reservation, and I was able to do so without a hassle.

i used them alot for asia travel, and had no problems. i find that in general, they have the best rates except when the hotel has a sale, such as the recent sale that accor hotels had.

I've been looking at them a lot and often finding great rates for them -- but I'm not going to Asia until August. I'm curious about the comments about "stiff cancellation policy". I didn't find that at all except when it is a non-cancellable reservation as set up by the hotel -- because it's a super low price, but that policy doesn't seem to be any different from the individual hotels' policies when they offer that type of reservation.

One thing I did notice was that in a couple cases, Agoda's rates were exclusive of service charge or taxes when a specific hotel's site prices included those things. A fair amount of difference.

I have used them several times and have always been happy.
I do have a concern about making a res. and finding the hotel unsatisfactory. What to do? I ws in Dubai and in a nice Novotel, but it was sold out for the next two nights. I made a new res. nearby in what was supposed to be a 4 star, but it ws certainly not. I did end up staying there, but I wondered how do these places handle it if the property is definitely not what it ws advertised as and the user wants to turn it down?

I've used agoda a number of times and have had a good experience with them. The cancellation policy varies with the hotel's offer so always read it carefully. I've not run across an instance when the agoda price didn't include tax and service and the hotel's site did. In my experience it is rare for a hotel's own site to include tax and service in the quoted price. But again, always read the fine print.

i also have used them a number of times and it was easy and everything worked well..

they often have very good pricing....their bonus plan, which i have never used seems good as well..

asisahotels.com. Never any problem. Prices all inclusive.

Hotels in HK usually adds a 10% service charge and a 3% room tax to the published rate.

Kathie, specifically I was looking at the Hotel Kapok in Beijing. When you look at the hotel's website it shows service NOT included on the full rack rates, but when I was looking at a "package" deal for 5 nights it clearly stated that service charge WAS included. The Agoda site only showed "tax and service not included".

I'm thinking I saw a similar thing with the Salvo Hotel in Shanghai, but I'm not sure about that right now.

Patrick, I wasn't doubting you, just saying it's unusual. Also, I normally use agoda for hotels in SE Asia. China, however, is a horse of a different color - lol.

Also check out asiareservations.net - we used them for booking the Penn in Bangkok last month. The rates were better than either agoda or asiarooms and there were no problems at all.

I took advantage of an agoda sale to book the Novotel Bangkok airport for Jan 2010 for $60 US per night. The deal was amazing, as was the hotel. Agoda was very easy to use.

You did, indeed, get a great deal!

I realized that when I set foot in the hotel. I couldn't believe it.

I've used Agoda three times, for Hong Kong and Japan hotels. The reservations were for everything; tax & SC included. Prices were better than through the actual hotels. But other times, the hotels have had better prices. Got to do your shopping and homework each time.

I got "points" for the three reservations, and I get a some sort of discount next time I use them (Cash off or free night? don't remember off hand)

We used Agoda last year for Thailand and when prices fell due to the political turmoil, Agoda lowered their price to match the lowest internet price we found. Agoda is reliable, but it's always best to call the hotel directly or email them to see if you can get a better price or the same - that way if you need to cancel there is no penalty.