Agoda : What's your experience when they mislead?

[albatross710]

I'm in the final days of putting together a week of stays in Las Vegas and came across what appeared to be a good deal in LV.

Of course the Resort Fee in LV is a big con by the hotels but it is what it is and as long as it's clear then it can just be factored into the price comparison. Qantas and Priceline do a good job of making the resort fee apparent in their calculations.

In my special deal on Agoda of course I am sceptical about the price point, check USD v AUD and the fees. Even took a screenshot and enlarged this image to make sure this is a comma not a full stop.


I wasn't that surprised when the email confirmation arrived and the resort fee is not included in their price.


I've tried dealing with Agoda customer service before and they have zero appreciation or accept no responsibility. I have another three days before the booking is non-refundable. I'm happy to cancel it now but thought I'd give it a day to see if anyone here has a good news story about Agoda accepting responsibility?

Anyone had any success with them?

 

[Oliver Brown]

I'm in the final days of putting together a week of stays in Las Vegas and came across what appeared to be a good deal in LV.

Of course the Resort Fee in LV is a big con by the hotels but it is what it is and as long as it's clear then it can just be factored into the price comparison. Qantas and Priceline do a good job of making the resort fee apparent in their calculations.

In my special deal on Agoda of course I am sceptical about the price point, check USD v AUD and the fees. Even took a screenshot and enlarged this image to make sure this is a comma not a full stop.

View attachment 158051
I wasn't that surprised when the email confirmation arrived and the resort fee is not included in their price.

View attachment 158052
I've tried dealing with Agoda customer service before and they have zero appreciation or accept no responsibility. I have another three days before the booking is non-refundable. I'm happy to cancel it now but thought I'd give it a day to see if anyone here has a good news story about Agoda accepting responsibility?

Anyone had any success with them?

This is fairly normal in the USA. Especially in the cheaper hotels where you think you are getting a bargain. Off season and off the strip you can get a place for $35 / night .
Have you been to Vegas before?
It gets quite seedy quite quickly when you move off the strip so just make sure the place is up to scratch.
I just stay at the Bellagio - you know what you are getting - its very classy and you can double dip your Mlife points and Hyatt points to make the bill seem more tolerable.
I just book direct with the hotel - with their loyalty programs they have regular sales - join Mlife and it automatically 10% off with 25% sales several times a year, especially if you are there off season. I have a stay there in November and it was 40% off.

 

[albatross710]

This is fairly normal in the USA. .

My issue is that we are in Australia and I am very careful to check the details of the deal. Switching the deal after purchase is still not acceptable in USA.

Thanks for the ideas on the venues. I'll search them also.

 

[Milboo]

The price as advertised is misleading. Clearly states resort fee is included. Likely a typo but they have represented the price as such and should honour it.

Otherwise I’d tip it into the ACCC.

 

[Cddc]

Just had exactly the same problem with Agoda for a booking in Palm Springs in May. Price quoted stated it included the resort fee, however, after making and paying the non redundable booking, the confirmation email stated it did not include the resort fee. Disappointed to say the least. Only 2 nights but we learnt our lesson won't use them again. Had no problems with hotels.com.

 

[albatross710]

Thanks for the feedback Milboo & Cddc. Have spent 4 phone calls today trying to show them the issue. Asking for screen shots that they expect me to have taken before I knew I had a problem. I actually made some headway as to their issue:

A web page vie win Google chrome, yes, they are right, it displays correctly
The call centre operator's Samsung yes, displays correctly
My iphone, displays as per my screenshots.

It's a problem from some techo not rendering the right display to iphone.

At the end of the day, maybe I'm going to get the credit for the $317.50..then again it may depend on whomever is the next low cost resource to apply themselves to it.

If you are booking in LV and prepare to take it up, then by all means exploit the iphone weakness of their website.

@Cddc as a matter of interest, did you book on your phone? and which phone type?

Alby

 

[odysseus]

Do they actually operate in Australia though? Or are they just another offshore business who show prices in AUD to encourage their sales? I haven't checked but suspect the latter.

In such cases you're only at their convenience, and own business terms (those of the country where they are based. You may only get a refund, not honouring of the advertised deal.

 

[Cddc]

Alby

I cannot remember how I booked it now but most likely through the Agoda app.
I usually use trivago or hotels combined before checking prices through the apps. I use a Samsung tablet and phone operating android and a windows laptop - so do not think it it confined to Apple. I used hotels.com, which I believe is affilliated with expedia, to book a hotel in LV for 4 nights prior to getting to Palm Springs and had no problem with resort fees being displayed in the price before and after the booking. I should have been more suspicious booking the Palm Springs hotel through Agoda when it was cheaper than all the competition. When we check in and pay the resort fees I suppose it will come to around the same price as if we had paid at the time of booking through another booking channel besides Agoda. It just really annoys me when organisations such as Agoda rely upon deception to get your initial business. Bait and switch comes to mind. This may attract customers initially but customers like us will not use them again.

 

[theblank]

thats how it always works, the resort fees are always payable directly with the hotel. This is not Agoda misleading.

There are hotels in Vegas that dont charge resort fees - hit em up! From memory one of these is one of the classic hotels right on Fremont st, they even have free parking.

 

[Cddc]

The Blank, Agoda is misleading.

Agoda are saying the price includes resort fees before booking, however after you book and get the confirmation email they change their tune and say that it does not include resort fees. This is particularly annoying when you make a non refundable booking like myself.

In comparison, hotels.com also displays a price that includes resort fees before booking but remove the resort fees if you choose the 'pay now' option, so your booking actually gets cheaper on the payment page. if you choose to pay at the hotel, it is made clear the price quoted includes resort fees and how much per night on the confirmation email.

 

[JohnK]

It's not just Agoda. It can be any OTA or hotel consolidator.

I bookea room once via Qantas hotels and rate included breakfast but that did not come though on email. Qantas failed to honour brwakfast no matter what I tried.

One issue with booking.com recently checking some hotels is the extra daily charge for child where every other OTA is included in rate. Won't be booking the rooms through them.

 

[Milboo]

thats how it always works, the resort fees are always payable directly with the hotel. This is not Agoda misleading.

There are hotels in Vegas that dont charge resort fees - hit em up! From memory one of these is one of the classic hotels right on Fremont st, they even have free parking.

Yes it is misleading as you cannot advertise one price and as inclusive, let the consumer pay and then send them a confirmation saying it’s exclusive.

Firmly within the remit of s18 of the Australian Consumer Law.

 

[theblank]

The Blank, Agoda is misleading.

Agoda are saying the price includes resort fees before booking, however after you book and get the confirmation email they change their tune and say that it does not include resort fees. This is particularly annoying when you make a non refundable booking like myself.

Do you mean they show the total price all inclusive up front - and when you go to pay, they remove the resort fee because you pay hotel directly.
I can understand that is confusing.

 

[love_the_life]

Do you mean they show the total price all inclusive up front - and when you go to pay, they remove the resort fee because you pay hotel directly.
I can understand that is confusing.

My understanding was that the price quoted on Agoda said resort fee was included (and that was the price the OP paid under the assumption that it was included) but when the confirmation came it said the resort fee was not included.
Hotels.com as posted by Cddc includes the resort fee in its quote but you can remove it from prepayment and pay this to the hotel directly. If you choose to do this, the price you pay online decreases by that amount.
Correct me if I am wrong on this alby.

 

[UP4014]

For a few night in Vegas I can accept an extra fee, just prefer if they included in the price though. I'm also going to be there in May and the Luxor looks like the best value at the south end of the strip. I'll book direct.

 

[albatross710]

The different sites do handle it differently.

Qantas - initially show the inclusive price an then on the payment screen deduct the resort fee from the amount paid to them.

Priceline - initially show a price without taxes or resort, then show price with tax and indicate the resort fee is extra.

Agoda, has different methods depending upon the access method. In my case they made a mistake with the way it's displayed. The same booking through a web browser shows room charge plus resort fee on top.

Alby

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I really detest resort fees. On our most recent stay in Vegas Harrahs charged a resort fee for wi-fi, gym & free local calls. We asked to not pay the resort fee as we weren't going to use any of the services as we had a US sim card but they flat out refused saying they'd be unable to check us in to the hotel. One of the nights was booked through Expedia as part of a package with airfares on AA MIA-LAS-MIA and the other night was booked direct via their web site.

A Vegas born and bred Uber drive told us that many years ago the Nevada State Govt originally wanted to charge a small amount eg 3% tourist tax and the hotels screamed blue murder saying it would kill tourism, cost jobs and a whole lot of other stuff so the Govt backed off. What it did was plant the seed with the greedy strip hotels so they all colluded and hence the resort fee was born. It's getting so ridiculour now that sometimes the cost of the resort fee exceeds the cost of the room night itself.

We've stayed off strip at the Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge who don't charge resort fees but have a shuttle that drops you off at the strip. It's not that inconvenient as Uber is cheap anyway as it only cost USD9.00 to get from the Staybridge to the Premium Outlets North so much less to the strip. If you want a great view of the strip then have a few coughtails at one of the bars at a strip hotel.

You could always purchase IHG points and redeem on an award stay at Candlewood Suites which don't charge resort fees. We originally were going to do this but ended up at Staybridge instead. I would double check if doing an award booking that such stays are still resort fee exempt.

There's an article below which lists some properties who don't charge resort fees but they're pretty much 3 star offerings but the point of the article is to get people to apply for a Founderscard in the US to get Diamond status with the Total Rewards program and avoid resort fees as it's one of the perks.

Las Vegas Resort Fees 2018: How to Save $50+ & Avoid These Costly Fees!

 

[NM]

I expect one of the driving reasons that the hotels want to charge a "Resort Fee" that is collected directly by the hotel is to avoid paying the booking agent a commission on part on that part of the accommodation charges. If you pay the booking agent say $100, and pay the hotel directly a Resort Fee of say $30, the booking agent gets paid a commission on the $100 instead of the real room rate of $130. Its a way of reducing the commission paid to the booking agent. Similar thing happened with airfare fuel surcharges where the "carrier fees" do not earn commission from the airlines.

 

[albatross710]

After my stay in the wonderful Venetian I did immediately send Agoda my report fee bill and they dd refund it.

One issue with report fee is transparency. The booking sites especially Agoda need to be clearer as to whether it is included or not.

The other issue is that initial price comparisons are made on a booking website which could display three hotels as USD100 per night and the actual price inclusive of resort fee could be $100, $140 & $160. Really it is a strategy that benefits the resorts with the higher resort fees.

 

[Max Samuels]

I just had a horror experience with agoda.com last week....

I booked at Japanese Inn (Ryokan) high up in the mountains - really beautiful and wonderful experience - not their fault that agoda are useless.

Anyway, I made the booking at agoda.com.au (which re-directs to the main site). Was very clear in the number of people (3 x adults; 1 x child). Instructed to pay hotel directly.

Booking confirmation came up - JPY 60,000 (approx AUD $790). All the details exactly as per what I entered.

Anyway, time comes to check out of hotel and there is an additional charge of JPY 14,000 ($197).
When I queried what it was, they said it was for the extra child. I showed them my agoda confirmation, they didn't budge. They said call agoda.

I contacted agoda, and they replied in some terrible Pigeon English some rubbish explanation (I will post the actual text if you're keen). Said sorry but couldn't do anything.

I threatened a social medial backlash once I shared this with my thousands of twitter followers (I don't have twitter). Another Pigeon English email asking for proof that I paid the extra money..... which I sent yesterday.

Now just waiting....