I am booking my holiday online for the first time, whats the best online company I can use?

[wengweng]

The last time I travelled to Pattaya I booked it in my hometowm with Thomas Cook in 2016 , and obviously now thats out of the question. Now though  Hays Travel is  has now taken over the Thomas Cook shops  near me. I have never booked online before always through Thomas Cook, and they always managed to get me in The Sabai Resort on second road. However Hays didnt seem to have any good deals for Pattaya  guest friendly hoitels,  so I guess I will book online for the first time.

I have been looking at Expedia, as it seems to have connections with some great hotels around Patters (all guest freindly), but I have been looking at customer reviews and they have been awful. So have you used Expedia  and had good or bad experiences with the company?  or could you suggest a better online company for a monger that live sin Manchester? Appreciate any advice with this being the first time I will be booking online.

 

[D-low]

I book flights on Expedia (use Sky Scanner/Kayak to make sure there's nothing cheaper) then use Agoda. I've booked countless hotels with Agoda and never had a problem. Each time you get a voucher (about £6-£10) to use on your next trip.

This is the link to the hotel you have stayed in before:

https://www.agoda.com/sabai-resort/hotel/pattaya-th.html?cid=1720055

You can see what's available on the home page, just choose Pattaya, put in your dates if you want to change it up.

[Baddave]

Agoda  is my go to sites for accomadation in Asia and the Middle East. 

Use the free cancellation and book now,pay later options in the filter section and filter out the areas that you don't want to be in( as in too far from the action). 

For flights, you'll find that the travel agents will want a bit of commission on them,so it makes more sense just to book them online.

Double check the T&C's of whatever online travel agent you book through before commiting to purchase your flight(s)

Don't  forget to check the airlines websites as well.  Sometimes it's worththe extra £50 or whatever to know they'll sort you out if you miss a connecting flight etc. 

[keepitfun]

Flights.  Use sky scanner to find them and then compare the same flight for direct booking with the airline

Hotels… use any eg booking orAgoda then use hotels combined (this has saved me a lot over the years) on those dates and hotel to find the best deal.   That takes you to Agoda or Expedia etc to make the booking.   Never had an issue

[jaynewcastle]

I always book flights direct with the airline (virtually all complaints I see are by people who booked indirect through a 3rd party agent)

I use booking.com for the vast majority of my hotel bookings

[Kandinski]

5 minutes ago, jaynewcastle said:

I always book flights direct with the airline (virtually all complaints I see are by people who booked indirect through a 3rd party agent)

I use booking.com for the vast majority of my hotel bookings

Echo that.Savings booking from a 3rd party is marginal but,  if anything don't go as scheduled, hazzle dealing with other but the airline can be extremely frustrating 

[Snowbird99]

Booking direct with airline also gives access to different fare conditions such as cancellation options, change options etc. As with hotel bookings these can be useful if you think you might need to cancel for any reason. 

[Greg_B]

57 minutes ago, jaynewcastle said:

I always book flights direct with the airline (virtually all complaints I see are by people who booked indirect through a 3rd party agent)

I use booking.com for the vast majority of my hotel bookings

I also book directly with the hotel website

Edited February 7, 2023 by Greg_B

[Rocketboy]

21 minutes ago, Greg_B said:

I also book directly with the hotel website

Me too when I was coming here on holiday. Never used any of those booking sites....for flights either.

[Rocketboy]

1 hour ago, jaynewcastle said:

I always book flights direct with the airline (virtually all complaints I see are by people who booked indirect through a 3rd party agent)

I use booking.com for the vast majority of my hotel bookings

As an retired an employee I agree book directly with the airlines. If you have ticket issues they can be readily resolved.

Edited February 7, 2023 by Rocketboy

[Bonkabit]

trivago.com - The #1 Hotel Price Comparison,

finds hotels and compares prices from many booking agents.

Has filters to specify your criteria e.g. price, location, pool and many more.

Cuts back on your time to search.

When you find a hotel to book, cross-check the hotel's own website for compari$on. 

Also check the price includes Thai taxes, about +17% (Agoda price does not until the moment comes to pay!)

[DrHobbyist]

18 minutes ago, Bonkabit said:

trivago.com - The #1 Hotel Price Comparison,

finds hotels and compares prices from many booking agents.

Has filters to specify your criteria e.g. price, location, pool and many more.

Cuts back on your time to search.

When you find a hotel to book, cross-check the hotel's own website for compari$on. 

Also check the price includes Thai taxes, about +17% (Agoda price does not until the moment comes to pay!)

I just checked trivago.com, prices were very high compare to Agoda!  I sorted according to price and feedback. 

[Kandinski]

2 minutes ago, DrHobbyist said:

I just checked trivago.com, prices were very high compare to Agoda!  I sorted according to price and feedback. 

Trivago and God know how many of the search engines are owned by Expedia but they are OFC the good guys !!!

[momo5]

I always book directly with the airlines; preferentially a partner airline to take advantage of status privileges.  Booking through a third party puts one at the lowest priority for resolving an issue due to a flight interruption.

I usually book directly with the hotel too for the convenience and access, but I’ve also booked rooms through Agoda on occasion.  Again, booking through a third party booking site can be problematic if issues arise - once I showed up at the hotel, there was an issue with the reservation and it took three hours for Agoda to resolve.   Sometimes the risk is worth it to me, but more often than not it isn’t. 

[momo5]

1 hour ago, Rocketboy said:

As a retired an employee I agree book directly with the airlines. If you have ticket issues they can be readily resolved.

Delta rocks when resolving IRROPS !!!

[Rocketboy]

1 hour ago, momo5 said:

Delta rocks when resolving IRROPS !!!

My man.... even know that acronym!!

 

Fly Delta Jets ✈ 

Keep Climbing

[momo5]

1 hour ago, Rocketboy said:

My man.... even know that acronym!!

 

Fly Delta Jets ✈ 

Keep Climbing

Hahahaha

Been caught up in several doozies … Delta always came through when it counted. 

[worldtraveler3]

For the flight book with the Airline for hotel I use Agoda.

[Tapaz1976]

Agoda for hotels in Pattaya/Bangkok. Much better for Thai hotels compared to the other big booking sites. Agoda is based in Bangkok so they are the SE Asia specialists.

[Wiley Coyote]

For me Trailfinders uk

[wengweng]

57 minutes ago, Wiley Coyote said:

For me Trailfinders uk

Just had a  quick look at that site, looks good, I will have  a proper look at it tomorrow , do you book with it on all or most if your Thailand visits?

[wengweng]

Has anyone here used Dailaflight? I phoned them up earlier and to my surprise actualy got through to a person straight away rather than a  bloody answering machine. I will be phoning back  next week to talk to someone about flights and hotels. They say they deal with the flights and hotels but not taxis. but thats fine I can get one myself. Its just booking the flights and hotel i am conderend about.

[vimto66]

3 hours ago, wengweng said:

Has anyone here used Dailaflight? I phoned them up earlier and to my surprise actualy got through to a person straight away rather than a  bloody answering machine. I will be phoning back  next week to talk to someone about flights and hotels. They say they deal with the flights and hotels but not taxis. but thats fine I can get one myself. Its just booking the flights and hotel i am conderend about.

Think i might have used Dialaflight once or twice in the past, i've used skyscanner last few trips, and regarding hotels i've used Agoda but also booked direct with the hotel once or twice too.

All the above i cant recall having any major problems, although once booking direct with an hotel things got lost in translation but nothing that wasnt easy enough to put right.

[Shamrocksam]

On 07/02/2023 at 03:57, wengweng said:

The last time I travelled to Pattaya I booked it in my hometowm with Thomas Cook in 2016 , and obviously now thats out of the question. Now though  Hays Travel is  has now taken over the Thomas Cook shops  near me. I have never booked online before always through Thomas Cook, and they always managed to get me in The Sabai Resort on second road. However Hays didnt seem to have any good deals for Pattaya  guest friendly hoitels,  so I guess I will book online for the first time.

I have been looking at Expedia, as it seems to have connections with some great hotels around Patters (all guest freindly), but I have been looking at customer reviews and they have been awful. So have you used Expedia  and had good or bad experiences with the company?  or could you suggest a better online company for a monger that live sin Manchester? Appreciate any advice with this being the first time I will be booking online.

 

I always Book direct with airlines. I use Airbnb for my condo.  if you know where you want to stay, message them directly. 

[wengweng]

13 hours ago, vimto66 said:

Think i might have used Dialaflight once or twice in the past, i've used skyscanner last few trips, and regarding hotels i've used Agoda but also booked direct with the hotel once or twice too.

All the above i cant recall having any major problems, although once booking direct with an hotel things got lost in translation but nothing that wasnt easy enough to put right.

The reviews for it are great, and as I said its the very first time I wil be using online booking, as i always booked via Thomas Cook. The only thing i am good at getting on my laptop is Pattaya  Addicts, FB, Youtube and Pornhub

I have not heard of Skycanner thanks for telling me I will have a look at  that. Due to me   being a horror fanatic   (like you) the only Scanner I know is this....

Edited February 11, 2023 by wengweng