Hotel Bookings

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Jun

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by Jun »

Gaybutton wrote: Sat Nov 23, 2019 9:17 am With Hotels.com do all 10 nights have to be in the same hotel or can you do a few night in one hotel and then go to another hotel, doing all bookings with Hotels.com?
After 10 nights in any mix of hotels, I get a free night. Of course, this doesn't mean I can spend 10 nights in a cheaper hotel like the Zing and then get a free night in the Marriot. The value of the free night is calculated based on the average room rate for the previous 10 nights. If staying in a more expensive hotel, just pay the balance.

Also, unlike Air Miles, they seem to honour the deal and Hotels.com even reminds me of the entitlement when it is due

As you may have noticed, there is probably a minor error in my previous maths. I believe I'm getting one free night AFTER 10 nights, so on the 11th night. The free night does not count as one of the next 10, so it's effectively 1 in 11, averaging a 9.09% discount. Much better than 0%.
odd

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by odd »

Booking hotel rooms is a much more complicated process than many people think.How do I know that-my b/f works for a group of 4 hotels in Pattaya and is involved with reservations and dealing with agencies with regard to their commissions. The agencies get 27% of the price notified to them by the hotel. This rate is a little below the walk-in price and varies from season to season-also the hotels take into consideration local attractions, Loy Krathong, for example, so for a few days the price of a room may increase. The other variables are Free Cancellation,Breakfast, and all Taxes.
Booking.com has always included the taxes but this is not so with Agoda and some other agencies.
Many agencies are now grouped together, for example, Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia and hotels.com.
As you can see it is not a simple business-and there is more which I will not bore you with.
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Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by Gaybutton »

odd wrote: Sun Nov 24, 2019 8:26 am there is more which I will not bore you with.
I find it very interesting and helpful - so please, bore further . . .

Nobody's arm is being twisted to read it if they are bored.
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Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by Undaunted »

I use Booking.com not only because of their discount rates but often you pay nothing up front only upon arrival.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
ISAC69

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by ISAC69 »

I used to book via booking.com, but for my upcoming trip booked through Agoda. Their rates with taxes are 10-30 % cheaper than booking.com.
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Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by Undaunted »

ISAC69 wrote: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:34 pm I used to book via booking.com, but for my upcoming trip booked through Agoda. Their rates with taxes are 10-30 % cheaper than booking.com.
Can you give an example?
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
Jun

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by Jun »

Anyone who wants to believe all hotels are the same price on all booking sites is welcome to do so.
After all it's their own money on the line.

I just did a random search on the Baan Silom hotel in Bangkok on 15th Dec. Hotels.com want £42. Booking.com want £38 and Agoda want £34. Sometimes quoting a lower price is just a scam, as once taxes are added in, it's the same as the other sites. However, in this case, I went to the payment page and the Agoda price is including taxes. So that's 19% off.
It wouldn't surprise me if someone else found a 30% difference on a hotel.
odd

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by odd »

Following on from my post 2 days ago here are two more pieces of information-no more as my b/f is getting a bit itchy!
1 Use of credit cards. Booking .com normally block the hotel cost on your CC. Most of the other sites take the money immediately.
The agents pay the hotel once the guest has checked out-sometimes immediately sometimes later. When a refund is required this is made by the agent and it does take some time for this procedure to take place.
2 Reporting to Immigration. Each day the hotel notifies Chonburi Immigration of any new arrivals with PP details and type of visa -also length of stay.
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Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by atri1666 »

For my last stay in Zing i used Expedia with Corporate Benefits with 12 % Discount extra. My company has lots of CB also with Airlines.
Jun

Re: Hotel Bookings

Post by Jun »

Updated comments on hotel booking.

1 Sometimes there are large price discrepancies between the main hotel booking sites. In one case, my preferred hotel was about double the price on another site.

2 It's remarkable how some hotels will not match the booking site price for direct booking. I could hand them cash over the counter, but pay 20% more for the privelige (if I were dumb enough).
However, It's still worth going to reception to extend a booking, just in case the hotel management possess common sense. My current very nice hotel has no availability of my suite for tomorrow night on the booking sites. I went to see them and they shuffled something else around AND matched my original booking site price.
This is a good result, as I have a very nice couple of rooms facing a quiet courtyard, whereas some of the other rooms face a busy little alley with lots of traffic.

3 Agoda "cheat" the hotels search on google maps by quoting a price before taxes, which looks lower. If their after tax price is the same as the other sites, I make a point of not booking through Agoda.

4 A few years back, Agoda seemed to be mainly doing pre-paid non-refundable bookings. Which I don't like if making a long booking for a few months ahead. Anyhow, these days, their terms seem to more closely match booking.com and hotels,com.

5 Hotels.com retain their tangible perk of one free night for every 11. However, in the last couple of months their pricing has often been uncompetitive on the hotels I have booked. Unlike 1 year earlier, when I was using them over 50% of the time.
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