Hotel Bookings

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gerefan
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Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by gerefan »

I have just booked a hotel in Bangkok for 3 nights at the end of January.

As usual the prices, including taxes, are all the same on Hotel.com, agoda, etc. etc.

And, as usual, Expedia.co.uk comes up trumps charging up to 20% less AND taking it direct in my own currency (so no lousy exchange rates).
ISAC69

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by ISAC69 »

Strange I booked all my hotels through Agoda which was always the cheapest option than the other sites and Expedia the most expensive one.maybe it depends from which country you are making your booking ?
gerefan
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Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by gerefan »

You may well be right but I made this booking (and many others) with Expedia.co.uk whilst in Thailand!
gerefan
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Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by gerefan »

ISAC69 wrote: Sat Jan 18, 2020 5:07 am Strange I booked all my hotels through Agoda which was always the cheapest option than the other sites and Expedia the most expensive one.maybe it depends from which country you are making your booking ?

Further to you reply above which for some unknown reason I am not allowed to delete!

I have rechecked my recent booking on Expedia.co.uk and the price is about 7% less than an identical booking on Expedia.co.th.

Also the booking I made is in GBP whereas the booking with Expedia Thailand is in Baht and the exchange rate may make it even more expensive.

I’m British but currently in Thailand...
Jun

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by Jun »

After reading Gerefan's post, I made a check on a random hotel and it's actually about 14% cheaper on Expedia UK.

I've traditionally preferred to book in baht, as I preferred places where I pay at the hotel, rather than months in advance. A booking in baht avoided any potential disagreement over exchange rates. However, if paying via the booking site, as I do more frequently now, then THB or GBP are OK, assuming they are not making a profit on the conversion.
Jun

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by Jun »

I just booked at a branch of Hop Inn directly via the Hop Inn website.

Hop Inn is a chain of budget hotels. The last one I stayed at was clean, had a very comfortable bed and everything worked.

Booking.com required advance payment, with no cancellation option. Direct booking allows cancellation until 18:00 on the arrival day, for the same price.
ISAC69

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by ISAC69 »

It's rare usually booking directly through the hotel home website is more expensive I guess they don't want to be kick out from hotel booking websites if they offer better deals.
Jun

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by Jun »

ISAC69 wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2020 1:02 pm It's rare usually booking directly through the hotel home website is more expensive I guess they don't want to be kick out from hotel booking websites if they offer better deals.
Agreed. Most hotels have the absolutely barking mad policy of charging more for direct bookings. Anyone would think they want to be eventually under the control of booking sites and paying them 15%, or whatever it is.

However, Hop Inn strikes me as a very well run and optimised business. Even their hotel buildings seem to be to a standardised design, going far beyond what I have seen elsewhere.
pong
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Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by pong »

No, its an imitation of many such EUR chains in the budget line. Think of IBIS-budget, HotelBB (Germany, FR), premiereclasse (FR) etc. But HOP tends to be in Thai faraway towns where hitherto the offer was meagre and below standard for many todays savvy travellers. They more aim people with cars-the old ones those who travelled by trainbus in the centres. On the yearly giant Thai travel show in febr/mrch they always stand and you can then even buy prepaid vouchers for less-use them when convenient.
AGODA is since many yrs now owned by bkg but still tends to show prices withOUT allt he taxes etc-in the end they end up the same as bkg. I also suspect that with the very expensive expedia (for hoteliers) this may also be the case-some unexpected surprise when checking in. But it may be a promotion or it may be that xe-exchange rates have not yet been properly adjusted.
pong
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Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by pong »

As I stay here in Th mostly in the same place anyway for longer time I just let them know I arrive and the charming Burmese girls at reception hold if at all possible my desired room-I bring them chocolates for that.
For bookings in EUR I mostly do use bkg and get 4-5% via cashback sites back-though it takes an awful long time to get it and its on real roomprice only-not taxes Every once in a while I compare with all those sites and note that hotel or expedia tend to be way more expensive for the same place and on same date. So in the end it works out the same as the 1 after 10 free (the nearby cf stand lady here does that and some m2m msg places also-some even after 6-and they just count the turns, not the value)
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