Internet Booking Sites

[Strike]

I usually use res24 to book my hotels in LOS, but I plan to visit Chiang Mai for Loy Krathong this year, and found out that res24 does not list in CM. Being bored at work, I tried a Google search of other booking agencies and after checking a few of them out was very surprised over the wide range of prices quoted. I went through a bunch of them, and thought that my findings would be of interest to fellow BM's (did I mention that I was bored at work?)

 

Note to the Mods: Sure, I am searching a CM hotel, but since this thread is about booking agencies, I though that the Pattaya accommodations page would be more appropriate than bkk.

 

 

The test: Book 3 nights at the Bossotel Chiang Mai from Nov 23-26 (sure there are probably better places in CM, but this one is cheap and right near the train station). They also had mostly good recommendations from previous guests.

 

When available, I priced the rooms in Baht. Some sites did not offer that choice, so prices are quoted in $US, which I converted to baht (as of today's exchange rate).

 

The results:

Agent___Deluxe/Superior

agoda___na/699 baht

hoteltravel___33/26 US approx 1050/825 baht

thailand-hotelguide___33/26 approx 1050/825 baht

Hotelthailand___1080/840 baht

Farangs___1100/855 baht

Asiatravel___1130/900 baht

Sawadee___1150/900 baht

atsiam___1150/950 baht

hotels2thailand___1180/970 baht

asiarooms___45/36 US approx 1430/1145baht

bossotelinn(hotel's website)___1600/1400 baht

 

Needless to say, I went with agoda being that it was by far the cheapest, but the point is that there is a huge range of prices for the exact same hotel, and it's usually more expensive to book directly from the hotel's website. BTW, I also checked the standard travel sites (Expedia, Travelocity, Kayak, Priceline, Orbitz, etc.), which IMO are terrible for anything other than finding cheap airfares.

Cheers,

Strike

[arpita21_ind]

I booked my room at Secrets through their booking site...... and i am ready for partying now......here is the the confirmatory letter from ALAN...SO NOW I AM ALL SET TO LEAVE FOR PATTAYA...

 

Dear Sir

I can confirm your reservation at Secrets on February with room rate of 850 baht.

Please note:

Check in time is from 1pm. Early check in may be offered on arrival at no extra cost if room is available.

Check out time is at 12 Noon.

If the room is not booked out an extension of one hour may be granted by contacting reception for no charge.

Longer extensions may be granted. If the room is not booked out at a cost of half day rate up to 6pm and full day rate thereafter.

 

Alan Bloxwich

 

General Manager

 

Secrets hotel Bar and Nightclub

 

 

GUYS FROM NOW I AM DREAMING ABOUT HOT GIRLS....PARTYING ALL NIGHT .....FUN....MUSIC.....AND ALL n ALL n ALLLLLL.....

[formulas]

I got the same one

 

Dear Sir

 

I can confirm your reservation at Secrets 21 October until 01 November with

room rate of 850 baht.

 

Please note:

 

Check in time is from 1pm. Early check in may be offered on arrival

at no extra cost if room is available.

 

Check out time is at 12 Noon.

 

If the room is not booked out an extension of one hour may be

granted by contacting reception for no charge.

 

Longer extensions may be granted. If the room is not booked out at a

cost of half day rate up to 6pm and full day rate thereafter.

 

 

Alan Bloxwich

General Manager

Secrets hotel Bar and Nightclub

[t.l.o]

Agree with you Strike - www.agoda.com does it for me. Everytime when I go for a weekend somewhere I use this site and found it to be the cheapest for LOS. They show the availability of the rooms which is great. Also used r24 but their rates suck compared to Agoda.

[Dr.Winston]

I have had mixed experiences booking hotels in Thailand in advance. One time I booked a hotel in Chiang Mai and an airport pick-up. Everything went smoothly and the price was a real bargain for the quality of accommodation.When we arrived back at the hotel 3 days later tried to book a room we had to pay double the Internet price.

 

Another time I booked a hotel in Bangkok from the same agents website. This time the room was OK but they insisted on charging us to take ladies back to the room, a friend who paid a slightly higher price on the day was not charged extra.

 

Once I booked an Airport pick-up and hotel on Koh Samui. No-one was there to meet us at the airport and we had to make our own way to Lamai. The place we had booked did not know anything about the booking. Eventually we tried a (nicer) place nearby with a similar sounding name and they said they were expecting us. To cut a long story short the agent had passed the booking on to the wrong place. It did work in our favour though because the price should have been twice what we paid. To their credit the hotel honoured the booking at the paid price but it was only by coincidence that we found the other hotel and as it was late at night we could have been stuck (It was my brother and sister in law's first trip to LOS so I wanted everything to go smoothly).

 

Overall I prefer to get a mate to book at the hotel in person for me for the first couple of nights and I just deal with it as I go along from there. To be honest at most times of year you will do just as well turning up with no prior booking.

[Strike]

I have had mixed experiences booking hotels in Thailand in advance. One time I booked a hotel in Chiang Mai and an airport pick-up. Everything went smoothly and the price was a real bargain for the quality of accommodation. When we arrived back at the Hotel 3 days later tried to book a room we had to pay double the Internet price...

 

The room was twice the price because you did not have a prior reservation and were charged the "rack" rate. Can't really blame the hotel for that.

[mailman]

[Needless to say, I went with agoda being that it was by far the cheapest, but the point is that there is a huge range of prices for the exact same hotel, and it's usually more expensive to book directly from the hotel's website. BTW, I also checked the standard travel sites (Expedia, Travelocity, Kayak, Priceline, Orbitz, etc.), which IMO are terrible for anything other than finding cheap airfares.

Cheers,

Strike

Strike, Thanks for doing the research on these Thailand booking sites and how they priced out. I have used R24 and Sawadee without problems, but had problems with HotelThailand.com.

 

What I found out with HotelThailand.com was that when I checked into the hotel with the voucher they gave me, the hotel was not aware of it and had to straighten that out, breakfast was not included as the site said, room type offered was different then advertised and a few more surprises. So the price they advertised was was not all inclusive or even correct (got caught on that, be careful) . So, it's nice to know who the good ones are and stay away from the bad ones.

 

Just wondering if anyone else has had any bad experiences with these internet bookers or there is a constant problem with any of them?