Warning - Agoda

[Denali]

Was looking at a Agoda booking via my Velocity link and I notice it doesnt ask me for my Velocity membership number anymore - which makes me hesitate to book.

Would Velocity honor and give points/bonus points if I continue with the booking?

 

[Pleb Status]

Was looking at a Agoda booking via my Velocity link and I notice it doesnt ask me for my Velocity membership number anymore - which makes me hesitate to book.

Would Velocity honor and give points/bonus points if I continue with the booking?

Booked with Agoda this morning with no apparent problems and received the 'trusted partner of Virgin Australia' receipt.

I would never proceed if the VFF member number box does not appear. I also create a 'fresh' Velocity link when I am ready to book to try to ensure nothing goes wrong.

 

[Ausbt]

Booked via Velocity 2 days ago. Entered Velocity ID during checkout flow. Email confirmation doesn't have any "trusted partner" details on it.

I hate to tell you Andy but I doubt you will be awarded points. I've had same happen to me a number of times in the past. Possibly your browser dropped the cookie or you reset your search somehow during the booking process and reverted to the standard Agoda site, rather than the VA partner one. I've gone as far as screen-shotting each page during the process, buy my later arguements with Agoda have been hard to win. They have however provided a few 10% off and rebate vouchers later. Glad you got a good price, anyway.

 

[andy2015]

I hate to tell you Andy but I doubt you will be awarded points. I've had same happen to me a number of times in the past. Possibly your browser dropped the cookie or you reset your search somehow during the booking process and reverted to the standard Agoda site, rather than the VA partner one. I've gone as far as screen-shotting each page during the process, buy my later arguements with Agoda have been hard to win. They have however provided a few 10% off and rebate vouchers later. Glad you got a good price, anyway.

From their response to my email I think I might be good. It says I am...but at the same time the feeling from the whole canned-ish response also gives me the vibe that I might not. Less would have been more in this case: yes or no. :-|

(booking details removed)

Cancellation and Change Policy: Any cancellation received within 2 day/s prior to arrival will incur the full period charge. Failure to arrive at your hotel will be treated as a No-Show and no refund will be given (Property policy).

Thank you for contacting Agoda.com. Please be informed that booking has to use the dedicated partner-agoda website to be eligible for promotion. For your record, you are under Virgin Australia – Velocity. If booking made under general website, therefore, no points will be collected.

In future, you can use this link for booking with Agoda : http://www.agoda.com/en-au/virginaustralia

 

[Ausbt]

From their response to my email I think I might be good.

Hey Andy I just made an Agoda via Velocity booking and experienced the exact same thing you have: no field for a Velocity number yet the email still generates the 'Trusted partner of...'. I have emailed Agoda's customer service for verification. The booking I have made has a cancellation policy so I just cancelled it.

Now get this: I re-booked but picked a different room. Suddenly the VA FF field appears. I proceeded with the booking (again with a cancellation clause available). Then I went back and re-tested the original room type - yep, no VA FF field on that one. Very hard to explain why. Maybe it is just the actual page itself - the field is dropping off the booking page due to other information being too long? Lesson is, if points are essential choose a room with a 100% cancellation ability.

 

[CMA222]

I made a booking with Agoda today which offered me no opportunity for immediate payment but the offer to pay in about 2 weeks time, just before I travel. I was quoted an amount in A$'s but there is a warning given that the actual amount I will be charged will be a set amount of VND converted to A$'s at the then applicable exchange rate. As I wanted to pay for the booking immediately to lock in the exchange rate I phoned Agoda and requested to pay. The call was made less than 10 minutes after the booking. The amount payable had increased by A$21 in those few minutes which according to Agoda was because of dynamic exchange rates. I told them I was watching the exchange rates live and there has been no noticeable change in the last 10 minutes and clearly this was a hidden charge which would normally just be considered by customers to be an actual rate movement over the intervening weeks. After a lengthy discussion and much checking and rechecking they agreed to charge me the A$ price quoted in the booking, made only minutes before my call. I cannot help but wonder if this is a common practice and a form of drip feeding of the price charged.

 

[Blackswan]

I had recent troubles with Agoda (2 months ago). Booked a 'pay later' Hotel in Vienna (pay at check-in). However, I was instantly charged. When I called Agoda to have it reversed, I was told that they had contacted the hotel, and the hotel wouldn't refund the money.

After numerous calls to Agoda reminding them of the terms of the contract I'd agreed to, I finally got a refund. Their customer service is woeful.

 

[Ausbt]

Was looking at a Agoda booking via my Velocity link and I notice it doesnt ask me for my Velocity membership number anymore - which makes me hesitate to book.

Would Velocity honor and give points/bonus points if I continue with the booking?

I would think not, but regardless you might get a better result by booking direct with Agoda and linking your Velocity account there, under the 'PointsMax' system. I used to do 99% of my accom with Velocity until they changed to Virgin Holidays. In those days you would get 6x (inc Plat bonus) on spend, which I think is 3x now. I've been getting a much better result with PointsMax, but there is generally a premium to pay in a slightly higher room rate. Recently $4K in London accom delivered 30K points.

 

[BAM1748]

From the comments I'll give Agoda a big miss.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

I haven't used Agoda much but no issues so far.

Have made pay later bookings and wasn't asked for card details, so no chance of being charged by the hotel beforehand.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

For Denali, don't think you can earn Velocity points the former way with Agoda anymore as we once did, where you entered your VFF # into the Agoda system, I am not sure how the new system works, but maybe its now you have to transfer Agoda points to Velocity at blocks of 2,000 Agoda points to 870 Velocity points or something like that.
The direct earn system where you get 3 points per $1 spent with Agoda system got shut off about 18 months or so ago.
Velocity now has its own Velocity Hotels, or Virgin Australia hotel booking system. I booked Ibis Sydney Airport like that, earn 3 points per Aud$1 spent, with Virgin Australia hotel bookings.
What ever PointsMAX is.
Tried to make heads or tails out of PointsMAX but nothing is clear, seems is not a transfer
from Agoda points to VFF points.
Anyway, I surrender in trying to understand PointsMAX.
=============================
Cut and paste from the VFF website.
Velocity Frequent Flyer welcomes Agoda

Update: Please note that as of 30 November 2016, Agoda is no longer a partner of Velocity Frequent Flyer.

We are pleased to announce that Velocity members can now book accommodation in over 37,000 cities and more than 285,000 hotels worldwide with our new partner Agoda and earn 3 Points per $1 for each qualifying stay.

Silver, Gold and Platinum members earn a Points bonus on top of the base Points earned.

 

[Cynicor]

@BAM1748 - I've not ever had issues with Agoda. The thing with pages like this one is you will generally only get the complaints and issues. Most of the aggregators run a clean shop because they process such volume it would be ridiculous to be too shonky. I think it's generally more incompetence than malice, as a whole.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

For Denali, don't think you can earn Velocity points the former way with Agoda anymore as we once did, where you entered your VFF # into the Agoda system

Actually that's basically how PointsMax works.

You select which type of points you want (e.g. VFF), it shows how many points the booking will earn, you book (entering your VFF number), you stay, the points are credited some time after your completed stay.

 

[CMA222]

I've not ever had issues with Agoda. The thing with pages like this one is you will generally only get the complaints and issues. Most of the aggregators run a clean shop because they process such volume it would be ridiculous to be too shonky. I think it's generally more incompetence than malice, as a whole.

I have not had any problems with my Agoda bookings to date, only the issue I raised earlier (#46) with the creeping charge for the 'pay later' bookings. They might have to run 'a clean shop' but the A$21 increase in less than 10 minutes is not legit, particularly when they cannot even effect payment at the agreed price immediately after, without all sorts of Supervisor intervention.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

For StrategicAviation, so its not much difference to the old way of earning VFF points?
Maybe PointsMAX is better than the old way, ... see my muse below.
Ugh, this thing is just too hard to get to understand.
Then why does it say on the VFF website that Agoda is no longer a partner.
I have transferred my hotel "business" over to Leclub Accor now though.
But maybe the PointsMAX system is better than the old Agoda way, this time you can log into Agoda and you know your VFF # number will always be there, instead of the old way in individual Agoda hotel bookings, where you always have to enter your VFF # number each time you make a hotel booking.
Maybe if Leclub Accor didn't exist, I would have gone back to Agoda.

 

[Cynicor]

I have not had any problems with my Agoda bookings to date, only the issue I raised earlier (#46) with the creeping charge for the 'pay later' bookings. They might have to run 'a clean shop' but the A$21 increase in less than 10 minutes is not legit, particularly when they cannot even effect payment at the agreed price immediately after, without all sorts of Supervisor intervention.

Actually, the fx rates are likely not being fixed live, so it probably was legit tbh. It was the rate from whenever they were last set, and the live rate was adjusted at time of booking.

 

[Rubix]

Use Agoda Points Max and had no issues so far.

I missed out on Agoda points before with the old link system.

Just make sure you are logged in and can see your VFF account attached with your number.

Points are handy and you can still use discount links too.

Peace.

 

[BAM1748]

@BAM1748 - I've not ever had issues with Agoda. The thing with pages like this one is you will generally only get the complaints and issues. Most of the aggregators run a clean shop because they process such volume it would be ridiculous to be too shonky. I think it's generally more incompetence than malice, as a whole.

Correct, I haven't used Agoda but I find aggregators don't always find the best deals and I normally check a price then book direct anyway. I'm not fussed about points so much as getting it right. one annoying failure has a sour taste.

 

[JFi]

FYI for any Agoda beginners out there like me, make sure you're logged in to earn Velocity points or click on the "Earn airline miles" and select Velocity before you book if you're not logged in when browsing. My first time using Agoda to make use of the AE offer and I was browsing the site, wasn't thinking of booking. Then saw a good deal and went to book. Seeing the earn airline miles bit, I thought, oh nice, I get points as well.
Clicked on book, got to the summary page and logged in from there and paid. Then I thought how many points do I actually earn? and realised I got nothing. If you're going to get the points, the booking page should say "Well done! You're earning xx_xx Velocity Points" and the room listing should also say how many points you get for each room.
Now I make sure I'm logged in to start with because certain bookings also give you Agoda credits which you also don't get if you login at the booking page of the room.

 

[JohnK]

From the comments I'll give Agoda a big miss.

Why? I find they are one of the best hotel room aggregators and very competitive.

- Current Agoda promotion of 10% off.
- earn Velocity points on all bookings. Or AA miles. Some other airlines earn only on higher rates
- earn cashback with each booking to use on future bookings
- Current Amex promotion of spent $300 on Agoda and get $60 back