Hotel Deals
 

What is the best way to find the best prices for hotels, specifically in Bangkok?

www.sawasdee.com note that all rates include taxes and serice, most include breakfast

www.precision reservations.com

Both of these get good reviews, both are good for all of Thailand.

Nancy-if I were you, I'd go to www.kayak.com-because it sifts through all the other hotel travel sites to find the best rates, and then directs you to their website-I and others on the forum have had very good luck with them on finding hotels and airfares.

But you should always look at more than one website, for comparison purposes-so you can take sawasdee.com and kayak.com, to see how they come up in terms of rates for a particular property, and then make a selection based on the results of the research-as kayak, unlike sawasdee, will do the search of some 10 different websites for you.

Be advised that asiarooms.com is problematic, because it frequently comes up with the lowest rates, and when you book, it will charge your credit card for the full amount, THEN come back to you a day or so later to tell you that the particular rate is unavailable-of course then you have to make sure that they have voided your credit card transaction-which does take some time. I'd avoid using that website, as a result.

I also look at the following to compare rates. Note that some require the full prepayment.

Thailand Hotel - http://www.thaihoteldiscounts.com/

Direct Rooms - http://directrooms.com/thailand/hotels/index.htm

Hotel Travel - Hotel Travel - http://www.hoteltravel.com/thailand/bangkok/hotels.htm

Thai Hotel Discount - http://www.hotels.chiangmai-online.com/bangkok/

Circle of Asia - http://www.circleofasia.com/thailand/bangkok/

Also when looking at Precision Reservations note that rates do not include taxes/service charge/fees. To get the net cost you have to continue with the booking process.

Spygirl...didn't you just make a reservation with asiarooms.com? Did it not work out as you'd hoped or was it OK? Curious, as a couple of days ago you said you'd reserved a hotel in Italy through them.

No KimJapan--(and I'm glad you brought that up, since it shows that you pay attention at least, to some things that are being said) what I said was, MUCH AGAINST MY BETTER JUDGMENT, I decided to try them again, and see how it would go, since they were the only ones that showed availability as to a particular hotel-and, as I suspected, it did NOT go through - once they took my credit card for having the lowest rate, they contacted me, and said the rate was unavailable, but of course, they had already charged my credit card-now I will have to see how long it takes them to credit back my account. I wouldn't use them again, because they use the lowest rate as a lure to get you to make a reservation, and then they don't have the rate-but they still get the interest off the credit card, and however long it takes for them to credit you back.

Thanks Spygirl for that kayak link.....looks good. Mahalo!

Aloha!

I made 4 destination reservations with sawadee.com for a total of 15 nights in Thailand and all went smoothly including "special requests"i.e. high floor, away from elevator.
While some sites are a little less the Thailand portion of our trip with air fare was about $7500 so an extra $150+/- to have assurance things went smoothly was worth it. For our 11 days in Malaysia we used asiahotels.com because sawadee had not yet set their rates with our desired hotels 3 months before departure. I told sawadee I was using asiahotels but they were unable to help us there.That was a bit confusing, I must admit.

I use local sites that feed thru sawadee/R24 like www.huahin.20m.com or I search on www.asiaoz.com who have a choice of either Sawadee or they also have Hotelclub and some others, good for last minute deals on the Rates-To-Go, same applies on www.nongasia.com/thailand_hotels.html who don't book but link you to either Sawadee or others so you can compare like asiaoz.

Spygirl, did they actually charge you or did they put a hold on an amount of money? If they actually charged you then you could easily dispute the charge and not have the amount of money unavailable to you or end up paying interest on it should you be carrying a balance, or even if you aren't carrying a balance if it takes longer than a billing cycle to get your refund. I've heard they take forever to process the credit.

I feel most comfortable using Sawadee.com as their service is just excellent and the prices too, but i still hover around Asiarooms.com quite often as often as their prices are a wee bit lower and they have such a huge database of hotels and destiantions! I just love their website lay~out.

Actually, both sites Sawadee.com and Asiarooms.com are quite wonderful for seeking general hotel information before bookings, when u r in reserch mode, as they both have the great feature of traveler reviews and a good collection of hotel fotos.

Having used both sites, i can say i feel more confident with Sawadee.com *and the folks there seem soooo nice too, wherears at Asiarooms.com, well, the process is sometimes is a bit convoluted and on occasions i have called, well, some tworking there certainly have attitude.

That said, I have and occasioanly will still use Asairooms.com as the prices are great (if/when really avail!), But i often book with them directly by calling on phone and gt confirmation that way! Plus, as i said, i just love their website, spliting the city easily up in neighborhoods. These days, *even when not booking with them directly, I often use their website as the first place i look to get an overview,,a excellent travel research tool to give a fairly comprehensive look at the market. *then i take my info and visit other sites and compare and go from there..

I will occasionaly even contact the properties directly, as is certainly the case when i book serviced apartments in bkk these days, as many serviced apartments have differnt discounts/price structures, and u need to find out how to get the lowest prices. for example if u join the loop and become a member with some places, such as the Somerset chain, the prices are less, or even if u are a krysflyer memeber or pay with a certain bank credit card the prices can be less with Somersets and Ascott Sathorn. U can always call and ask what discounts are offered and then find a way to get them! Like i did with Centre POint too. I found out the lowest prices were offered if u had a business account with them, so guess who opened a business? An

Anyways, for a overview of serviced apartments and to compare rates, u can check out moveandstay.com

happy travels, Sawadeeka//Namaste

i find that www.huahin.20m.com is the most relaible....they are an offshoot of r24 and sawadee.....

they are very slow however to post their rates for fall 2006 (post nov 1)...they are now saying they willl not be posted until september...odd when everyone else has the rates...

I have tried www.ratestogo.com it is a good website as every hotel can confirm rooms right away. However, it does not allow us to book beyond 20 days... so for those travelling within 3 weeks time, i think this is a good site. But the website is not advisable for those who plan ahead of time.

Plus they dont collect all the due amount. You only pay the deposit and pay the rest to the hotel when you check-in.

Rates are competitive as well but I think www.asiahotels.com rates are better but it takes sometime for them to come back.

www.asiaoz.com has the Sawadee and R24 rates which are good for Thailand and Malaysia and Bali( but not good for Singapore at all ) plus it has the Rate-To-Go which is brilliant for within 20 days for 'anywhere' in the world, pay just 12% and rest you pay at the hotel, it also has Asiiaz into Hotelclub for Asia and Australia/NZ and also another US site that is part of Travelocity, also the search is quite good.

Kim:

I wonder if she is "gone" again?

Aloha!