Booking site VS booking direct w/hotel? Pros/cons

[kahuna1]

Would appreciate opinions. I've not experienced problems when using booking sites, and credit card security is probably better.

If there was absolutely no price difference, would you book directly with hotel (Areca Lodge) or with a booking site? 

[petehoax]

book whatever is cheaper. 
if there's no price difference, book directly with hotel. they're happier with you (because they won't have to pay the comission) and it's more likely you get a free upgrade or a better room etc

[Sac Les]

I like paying in advance with a credit card. Expedia and Agoda take payment by credit card  in US dollars. Also on some rooms on the booking sites can be cancelled up to two days before expected arrival.

[pattayafan]

I have never had any issues with using Agoda for booking.  However, were any issues with the booking to arise — it is obviously easier to sort out without a “middle-man”.  If all factors are equal - I would probably choose to book directly. 

[kahuna1]

12 minutes ago, pattayafan said:

I have never had any issues with using Agoda for booking.  However, were any issues with the booking to arise — it is obviously easier to sort out without a “middle-man”.  If all factors are equal - I would probably choose to book directly. 

I had the same gut reaction, then thought about credit card security. Last year i booked some tickets (ferry) using that Thai business' website then experienced several fraud attempt charges. I used a virtual number so they were declined but was still a bit of a concern.. 
Appreciate your thoughts...

[Stillearly]

I like booking.com - the price they advertise includes taxes , you can normally cancel for free , plus your card is only used as a guarantee , so you don't pay until you  check in or sometimes when you leave ( depending on the hotel )  - having said that I always compare with the hotel directly to see if they can do cheaper 

[BillyGoatee]

I try to go directly to the place I'm staying because I'm a strickler for specific accommodations and the sites don't always know or can't guarantee me these specifics. 

[vivid2]

Would appreciate opinions. I've not experienced problems when using booking sites, and credit card security is probably better.
If there was absolutely no price difference, would you book directly with hotel (Areca Lodge) or with a booking site? 

Definitely book directly with Areca Lodge. They offer a 15% discount on their rooms and restaurants if you join their Ace Club, which costs 890 THB per year. It more than pays for itself if you're staying for more than a few days.

The online booking sites charge the same 15% commission to the hotels, and Areca would rather give you the discount than pay it to a booking site.

I'm leaving Tuesday morning for my 17th 4 week stay at Areca, and I've never had the slightest problem with credit cards, and they have a very good cancellation policy if you happen to need it.

Great hotel in a great location.

Highly recommended.

[kahuna1]

2 minutes ago, vivid2 said:

Definitely book directly with Areca Lodge. They offer a 15% discount on their rooms and restaurants if you join their Ace Club, which costs 890 THB per year. It more than pays for itself if you're staying for more than a few days.

The online booking sites charge the same 15% commission to the hotels, and Areca would rather give you the discount than pay it to a booking site.

I'm leaving Tuesday morning  

Highly recommended.

Thanks, great tip that is. What type of room did you stay in, did it have a shower vs tub, and any other details? Appreciate it, these 'boots on the ground' reports are great..

[vivid2]

Thanks, great tip that is. What type of room did you stay in, did it have a shower vs tub, and any other details? Appreciate it, these 'boots on the ground' reports are great..

I always stay in the Super Deluxe room in the Evergreen wing. It's the newest of the 3 buildings, and the rooms are the largest. They’re 40 square meters versus 32 square meters in the other 2 buildings. The difference in size is really important to me because I stay there for a month at a time; it probably isn’t as important for shorter stays.

It does have a tub with a shower in it. It's always been fine for me.....that's what I have at home and I prefer it. I like that I can take a shower or the occasional bath....very soothing and relaxing after a tough workout. Areca even provides little bottles of bubble bath Liquid along with soap and shampoo.

I see comments on here, however, that some folks don’t like this arrangement and prefer just a shower. In that case I recommend you stay in the Areca building. They've just remodeled the rooms and removed the tub/shower combo and replaced it with just a shower. But I also noticed that some folks who have stayed in the newly remodeled rooms have complained about the lack of drawers in the rooms.

But overall I love the place....2 beautiful pools and an unbeatable location.

[kahuna1]

41 minutes ago, vivid2 said:

But overall I love the place....2 beautiful pools and an unbeatable location.

Thanks. I've stayed at LK Metropole just because the location is ideal. Haven't seen a good picture of Areca gym but assume it can't be much worse/smaller than LKM... Roll on 2020.

[vivid2]

Thanks. I've stayed at LK Metropole just because the location is ideal. Haven't seen a good picture of Areca gym but assume it can't be much worse/smaller than LKM... Roll on 2020.

I don’t know if they remodeled it during the recent freshening of the Areca building, but it used to consist of one universal machine, a few dumbbells, and a few treadmills. I used it a couple of times many years ago, but I really couldn’t get a decent workout.

So on each successive trip I've tried every gym in close proximity, and my current favorites are Coco fitness at Mike’s shopping mall and Fitness 7 at the Avenue. Both are within a 10 minute walk, and they each charge about 1800 THB for a month. They both have lots of machines and free weights, but I prefer Coco because it's completely air conditioned. Fitness 7 has 2 rooms, but only one is air conditioned. It's not too bad during winter months, but it's just brutal during the summer. And I usually don’t mind the heat (I live in one of the hottest climates in the US) but it's just truly oppressive at Fitness 7.

Coco has another big advantage...they're located right near Hooters and they have a cross-marketing agreement whereby they let the Hooters girls work out for free. Usually a great view in addition to the views out the picture windows of the beach.

[Bonkabit]

http://www.trivago.com.au is a hotel booking aggregator site; it searches many other sites to find prices, saving you time and trouble.

That said, it is still worthwhile comparing Trivago's best price with the hotel's own site which may have 'specials' not on Trivago.

[impulse325]

1 hour ago, vivid2 said:

I don’t know if they remodeled it during the recent freshening of the Areca building, but it used to consist of one universal machine, a few dumbbells, and a few treadmills. I used it a couple of times many years ago, but I really couldn’t get a decent workout.

So on each successive trip I've tried every gym in close proximity, and my current favorites are Coco fitness at Mike’s shopping mall and Fitness 7 at the Avenue. Both are within a 10 minute walk, and they each charge about 1800 THB for a month. They both have lots of machines and free weights, but I prefer Coco because it's completely air conditioned. Fitness 7 has 2 rooms, but only one is air conditioned. It's not too bad during winter months, but it's just brutal during the summer. And I usually don’t mind the heat (I live in one of the hottest climates in the US) but it's just truly oppressive at Fitness 7.

Coco has another big advantage...they're located right near Hooters and they have a cross-marketing agreement whereby they let the Hooters girls work out for free. Usually a great view in addition to the views out the picture windows of the beach.

Ahh it makers perfect sense now... When I was in town last month I went to coco's fitness (2 weeks pass, I don't think fitness 7 offers this) and every time I went there, there was always hot girls working out. Sorry to the OP, didn't mean to thread jack you.

[Fire Bar Matt]

If the price is the exact same then I’d book direct. One thing though is are the cancellation conditions the same, if so then again direct to the hotel. 

Personally I stay at the same hotel, in the same suite every trip. As such nowadays I am able to simply email the hotel direct with my dates and they always reserve my suite and I now no longer have to give them a deposit and can pay usually a couple days after I arrive. It may possibly be a little cheaper through a booking site but I appreciate that my hotel treats me as a valued guest, not just another booking and happily pay their advertised rates, sometimes it’s not just about the money. 

[Machinations]

Never had problems booking with Agoda. Every hotel I went to told me next time to book through them, but whenever I wanted to do that, they were either fully booked or triple the price.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Reload]

Booking hotel directly. Some of hotel can give you discount + special offer (one of the hotel give me "guest friendly" but generally should charge every day)


Отправлено с моего Redmi 4 через Tapatalk

[Bonkabit]

On 13/01/2020 at 15:37, Bonkabit said:

http://www.trivago.com.au is a hotel booking aggregator site; it searches many other sites to find prices, saving you time and trouble.

That said, it is still worthwhile comparing Trivago's best price with the hotel's own site which may have 'specials' not on Trivago.

Just learned of Trivago not being honest in all their marketing. Source: TV news and newspaper.

The comparison prices between hotels are sometimes between the cheaper room in hotel A versus a more expensive one in hotel B i.e not between comparable rooms.

Why? Because hotel A is paying Trivago more money to promote it.

So it is definitely worth cross-checking the hotel's own site and perhaps others hotel booking sites too.

Areca ACE club costs 499 bahts for six months membership/ 890 THB for a year. Currently gives 400 bahts discount on room rate so pays for itself if staying two plus nights.  http://www.arecalodge.com/member.html

#

www.theaustralian.com.au › business › leadership

 

ACCC victory brings Trivago's 'hidden' commissions under fire

 

4 hours ago - Trivago had ranked hotel listings based on which offers the hotels or ... 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Bonkabit

[geezerrb]

On 13/01/2020 at 01:03, vivid2 said:

Definitely book directly with Areca Lodge. They offer a 15% discount on their rooms and restaurants if you join their Ace Club, which costs 890 THB per year. It more than pays for itself if you're staying for more than a few days.

The online booking sites charge the same 15% commission to the hotels, and Areca would rather give you the discount than pay it to a booking site.

I'm leaving Tuesday morning for my 17th 4 week stay at Areca, and I've never had the slightest problem with credit cards, and they have a very good cancellation policy if you happen to need it.

Great hotel in a great location.

Highly recommended.

I have stayed at Areca a few times but never found there direct room rates even with the ace club discount as competitive as booking.com

On 13/01/2020 at 02:52, vivid2 said:

I always stay in the Super Deluxe room in the Evergreen wing. It's the newest of the 3 buildings, and the rooms are the largest. They’re 40 square meters versus 32 square meters in the other 2 buildings. The difference in size is really important to me because I stay there for a month at a time; it probably isn’t as important for shorter stays.

It does have a tub with a shower in it. It's always been fine for me.....that's what I have at home and I prefer it. I like that I can take a shower or the occasional bath....very soothing and relaxing after a tough workout. Areca even provides little bottles of bubble bath Liquid along with soap and shampoo.

I see comments on here, however, that some folks don’t like this arrangement and prefer just a shower. In that case I recommend you stay in the Areca building. They've just remodeled the rooms and removed the tub/shower combo and replaced it with just a shower. But I also noticed that some folks who have stayed in the newly remodeled rooms have complained about the lack of drawers in the rooms.

But overall I love the place....2 beautiful pools and an unbeatable location.

Have to agree always found a soak in the tub good but probably after a different type of workout than you were referring to and in the past there were a few girls who were enthralled with the idea of having a bath.

On 13/01/2020 at 04:37, Bonkabit said:

http://www.trivago.com.au is a hotel booking aggregator site; it searches many other sites to find prices, saving you time and trouble.

That said, it is still worthwhile comparing Trivago's best price with the hotel's own site which may have 'specials' not on Trivago.

Excellent.

[Bonkabit]

TRAVEL

Trivago misled consumers in favour of advertiser dollars, court finds

hotel website promised transparent, objective price comparisons. But rather than the best deals, it promoted the best advertisers, ACCC claimed.

Cut and paste from web site of The Age newspaper, 21 Jan 2020