Agoda pricing more expensive as a VIP

[Bolt]

I was looking at hotels with a friend for an upcoming trip, and they looked at a hotel on their phone through Agoda, to which I responded that I might be able to get it cheaper at an Agoda platinum VIP. You can imagine my embarassment and confusion when I found that the hotel was significantly cheaper on their phone.

I checked all the settings:
* Currency
* Dates
* Hotel name and location
* Tax inclusion/exclusion
* Room type
* Room inclusions

I kid you not, like for like, their offer was about 30% cheaper than what I was looking at logged in to the app on my phone.

I was going to message Agoda about this, but their alleged support channels either don't exist, or are so inaccessible so as to not exist.

Is it just me, or do others experience this? Am I missing something here?

 

[drron]

I am genius level 2 on booking and supposedly get a 10% discount though rates exactly the same when booking on a different computer and not logged in so really a discount of 0%.

 

[Gremlin]

I am genius level 2 on booking and supposedly get a 10% discount though rates exactly the same when booking on a different computer and not logged in so really a discount of 0%.

You should report that stuff to the ACCC. They take the legitimacy of pricing promises pretty seriously.

 

[drron]

You should report that stuff to the ACCC. They take the legitimacy of pricing promises pretty seriously.

Though I now book through life miles who use Rocket as does VA. The miles earnt means I keep my balance active until I am ready to travel to South Korea, Taiwan or even possibly India which all seem to have good LM availability.

 

[gty222]

If you look at the hotel on Google maps, there will often be promotional prices shown by Agoda and others. These are usually cheaper than what the app will offer. Click through from the map and it will show the lower price on the app.

 

[JohnK]

Try using HotelsCombined or Trivago to access Agoda room rates. They can have some really good specials/promotions on some hotels.

 

[Bolt]

I am genius level 2 on booking and supposedly get a 10% discount though rates exactly the same when booking on a different computer and not logged in so really a discount of 0%.

I was also initially misled by that. I think this is only for hotels listed as "Genius Hotels". You can add "Genius Hotels" to your filter list.

 

[JohnK]

Isn't Genius level for booking.com?

I'm an Agoda VIP as well but play the game of looking around at all sites that refer to Agoda.

 

[Bolt]

Isn't Genius level for booking.com?

I'm an Agoda VIP as well but play the game of looking around at all sites that refer to Agoda.

You're absolutely right! The point applies to the equivalent Booking.com discount entitlement. What I meant to say was you need to look for "Agoda VIP Deals". Even if you have the max level Agoda VIP Platinum, deals are either 12%, 18%, or (rarely) 25%.

 

[hys]

Not sure if it's only for Vietnam hotels, I found the trick was once I found the hotel on Agoda. I went back to Google (or HotelsCombined) to do the same search using the name of the hotel I wanted and in the hotel panel it is always significantly cheaper.

The Agoda VIP status, didnt make much difference for me.. It say's i'm VIP Gold

 

[JohnK]

Here is an interesting one today. Booking a hotel Jaunary 2024 and checking website and notice that it's $5-$6 to book on app so download app.

Turns out it's misleading advertising yet again. Both standard and superior are just $1 cheaper on app.