Agoda - questionable practices

Booked a hotel in Hong Kong for 3 nights - displayed price with a good non-refundable Agoda deal at 401 €, listed as the last room. After payment, the same room was still available for 5% cheaper. Agoda refuses to refund the difference. You end up feeling scammed.

listed last room. After payment, the room still available

Nothing new—it’s a common lie from hotel booking sites to pressure naive/worried travelers into booking right away (for more money), when in reality there are still plenty of rooms available at the hotel they want for the chosen date.

Agoda refuses to refund the difference.

Of course they do!

You feel scammed

But the silver lining is that you learn a lesson from it*...

* In case the expression isn’t familiar in Belgium: https://toutlefrancais.com/expression-francaise-avoir-du-plomb-dans-la-tete/

Hi there Only 5%? You really weren’t ripped off! There are often booking cancellations 2 days before or even the day before, so rooms are available even when Agoda or others show "Fully Booked." Personally, I use Booking.com, rarely Agoda, just to get an idea of prices. Once I’m on-site and well-informed about the rates, I negotiate at least 10% off the price listed on Booking.com—but often it’s even 15%. Booking.com takes a 20% commission.

Hi there,

I’m always a bit surprised to read things like this. Sometimes you *can* pay less by avoiding Booking and similar sites—it’s happened to me, especially when it’s a place I already know. But when I check the prices displayed at hotels (in countries where it’s mandatory), they’re often *way* higher than Booking’s rates.

Michel

But when I look at the prices displayed in hotels, in countries where it's mandatory, they're often much higher than Booking.com's rates.

In my own experience, this is true in some countries (Albania, for example), where the rate I was initially offered was higher than Booking.com’s. The price quickly dropped when I showed the hotel owner the Booking.com rate on my phone... but that’s far from the case everywhere, where I’d systematically get a 10% discount without even having to negotiate.