What's your tip(s) for surviving the cesspool of Hotel booking websites?

[randompunter]

I am trying to find the best way to book a hotel in Dili, Timor Leste. They only use the Booking/Agoda group or Trip.com which seems to be based in Singapore. The local currency is the USD and many places don't take credit cards so I am a bit wary of "pay at property" deals in case the credit card machine isn't working. Has anyone used Trip.com? There rates are cheaper and they offer a prepay online even using Amex.

You are right to be wary. We stayed at the Timor Plaza hotel last June. Used booking.com for a good cash back deal but the pay at property thing got us. Their credit card machine was down or at least not working for our range of cards. Cash from the ATM in the carpark was the solution.

 

[NamarrgonFlyer]

I am trying to find the best way to book a hotel in Dili, Timor Leste. They only use the Booking/Agoda group or Trip.com which seems to be based in Singapore. The local currency is the USD and many places don't take credit cards so I am a bit wary of "pay at property" deals in case the credit card machine isn't working. Has anyone used Trip.com? There rates are cheaper and they offer a prepay online even using Amex.

Cash is king in East Timor. I can't remember as well, but either Visa or Mastercard isn't accepted really at all. Take USD cash. We had trouble getting cash out at ATMs (they all ran out of dollars). This was even a problem at the normally reliable and upscale Hotel Timor. Also, when you go - avoid the yellow taxis. Only take the blue taxis!

Trip.com is fine to use.

 

[Tiki]

Cash is king in East Timor. I can't remember as well, but either Visa or Mastercard isn't accepted really at all. Take USD cash. We had trouble getting cash out at ATMs (they all ran out of dollars). This was even a problem at the normally reliable and upscale Hotel Timor. Also, when you go - avoid the yellow taxis. Only take the blue taxis!

Trip.com is fine to use.

Visa is the only credit card accepted in Timor Leste. That’s not a problem. I’m more worried about the machines not working. I’m looking at the Excelsior Hotel which can be prepaid on Trip.com only. Every other booking site is “pay at hotel”. I was also considering Airbnb but the cheaper ones don’t have WiFi. I can’t find a direct email for Excelsior Hotel and their phone number is $1 a minute and no guarantee the person who answers speaks English. And they aren’t on WhatsApp. We will have cash for local food and buses but not enough to pay 6 nights hotel in USD. I’m wondering how Trip.com can offer pay online when no one else does.

 

[dajop]

Interesting thread. At the moment booking sometime hotels for our Norway trip (some nights as close as next week).

It’s just a fustercluck out there in booking land.

Don’t underestimate the impact of vpn’s. We were looking at an apartment on booking.com. Each country we selected on our VPN gave different prices - ranging from $225 to $268. Same property same booking conditions same night. Then we used the mobile app and it came in at $215.

Then Agoda for a different properly (hotel this time) with variation between $140 and $200) depending on which portal we entered Agoda by. The most expensive one was the ShopBack portal. (Interesting this was a chain hotel but not one I engage with and the book direct price was midpoint in this range).

Here in Singapore there are different bank portals to the Expedia and Agoda (not so much booking.com) and these often give theoretical 9-12% discounts. Agoda often offers inflated prices but Expedia probably more reliably off the price on the regular booking engine). Also I have a credit card that gives 3 Krisflyer miles per dollar on several online booking platforms which factors into the equation as well.

 

[NamarrgonFlyer]

I’m wondering how Trip.com can offer pay online when no one else does.

Trip.com will supply the hotel with a virtual credit card at nett rate and is chargeable upon check in/out.

 

[Tiki]

Trip.com will supply the hotel with a virtual credit card at nett rate and is chargeable upon check in/out.

OK that makes more sense. I wonder why Booking and Agoda don't do the same thing. I was just worried about showing up at the hotel and they don't have the booking showing as already paid. Trip.com doesn't have a lot of hotels listed for Dili so I guess very few can accommodate this system. The Excelsior theoretically takes Visa cards for payment..... as long as the machine is working.

 

[NamarrgonFlyer]

OK that makes more sense. I wonder why Booking and Agoda don't do the same thing. I was just worried about showing up at the hotel and they don't have the booking showing as already paid. Trip.com doesn't have a lot of hotels listed for Dili so I guess very few can accommodate this system. The Excelsior theoretically takes Visa cards for payment..... as long as the machine is working.

I wouldn't read too much into it. The hotel operators probably haven't thought to sign up with Trip.com, and they also maybe don't know they can take VCCs from Booking.com. If they make it pay on arrival, they can charge you the 3% CC surcharge. They also can't apply CC surcharges to virtual credit card payments.

 

[JohnK]

Search hotel on Google and Booking and Agoda come up cheapest. I prefer Agoda as I can use Afterpay and pay 4 instalments starting in 2 weeks.

AUD52/night with breakfast for 2 and fully refundable.

Login to Agoda and rate goes up to $55/night! What? Kidding me right?

Log out, go back to Google, click forward and rate is $52/night, login again and rate remains $52/night and complete booking.

So difficult to keep track of all the different ways to try and reduce rates. Activated Shopback but not sure that is going to stick as going via Shopback increases the rate more than the 5.5% cashback on offer.

 

[SYD]

Search hotel on Google and Booking and Agoda come up cheapest. I prefer Agoda as I can use Afterpay and pay 4 instalments starting in 2 weeks.

AUD52/night with breakfast for 2 and fully refundable.

Login to Agoda and rate goes up to $55/night! What? Kidding me right?

Log out, go back to Google, click forward and rate is $52/night, login again and rate remains $52/night and complete booking.

So difficult to keep track of all the different ways to try and reduce rates. Activated Shopback but not sure that is going to stick as going via Shopback increases the rate more than the 5.5% cashback on offer.

Recently noticed a weird thing with QF Hotels. Price is more expensive logged out than logged in. Never noticed that before and not quite sure why? I’m not aware of any specific member discount?

They also do a deposit system now. Min 20% then pay later. For OS, they take forex risk by quoting in AUD. Which can go either way I guess but so can parking cash in Wise etc.

 

[SydneySwan]

Recently noticed a weird thing with QF Hotels. Price is more expensive logged out than logged in. Never noticed that before and not quite sure why? I’m not aware of any specific member discount?

This is pretty common in my experience.

 

[CaptJCool]

Search hotel on Google and Booking and Agoda come up cheapest. I prefer Agoda as I can use Afterpay and pay 4 instalments starting in 2 weeks.

AUD52/night with breakfast for 2 and fully refundable.

Login to Agoda and rate goes up to $55/night! What? Kidding me right?

Log out, go back to Google, click forward and rate is $52/night, login again and rate remains $52/night and complete booking.

So difficult to keep track of all the different ways to try and reduce rates. Activated Shopback but not sure that is going to stick as going via Shopback increases the rate more than the 5.5% cashback on offer.

All roads lead back to Booking.com or Expedia whom both own a pile of brands….

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Search hotel on Google and Booking and Agoda come up cheapest. I prefer Agoda as I can use Afterpay and pay 4 instalments starting in 2 weeks.

AUD52/night with breakfast for 2 and fully refundable.

Login to Agoda and rate goes up to $55/night! What? Kidding me right?

Log out, go back to Google, click forward and rate is $52/night, login again and rate remains $52/night and complete booking.

So difficult to keep track of all the different ways to try and reduce rates. Activated Shopback but not sure that is going to stick as going via Shopback increases the rate more than the 5.5% cashback on offer.

It can be even more nuanced than that!

I was looking at a hotel in Shanghai. Agoda $130. Tripadvisor listed a lower price for agoda, just $114!

If you went through to agoda from tripadvisor the price was honoured. Going to agoda independently, the price was $130.

So there’s some complicated dynamic pricing going on behind the scenes!

 

[albatross710]

So there’s some complicated dynamic pricing going on behind the scenes!

The more I delve into these sites Booking and Expedia the more I start to realise how bad they are for consumers by creating a false narrative of 'available' options.

Another nasty nasty trick they have is to show you 'relatively' priced hotels in your search area. By this if you were to first arrive with a search of a $300/night hotel then they may only show you >$280/night hotels preconditioning the thought that that's the market. But if you had first searched a $50/night hotel (in say Ha Noi) then you results are in the range of venues $40-$200. A random search of hotels may not produce the full range of available hotels.

But how to list/identify all the actual hotels other than through those sites.

Even browsing Google Maps will show 1-2 hotels in an area but will be silent on other hotels even when zoomed in on the exact building, the hotel name will not appear. Search by name and Google knows and displays the hotel it just doesn't tell you unless you already know about it.

Even on a specific hotel, searching a hotel from outside a city may show 5 room rates, twin, double, deluxe blah blah. Searching that same hotel within its geographic area will often show additional room rates on the same rooms.

For an upcoming Asia trip over the next few weeks all my bookings are actually direct to the hotel sites. Maybe hotels are waking up also.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The more I delve into these sites Booking and Expedia the more I start to realise how bad they are for consumers by creating a false narrative of 'available' options.

Another nasty nasty trick they have is to show you 'relatively' priced hotels in your search area. By this if you were to first arrive with a search of a $300/night hotel then they may only show you >$280/night hotels preconditioning the thought that that's the market. But if you had first searched a $50/night hotel (in say Ha Noi) then you results are in the range of venues $40-$200. A random search of hotels may not produce the full range of available hotels.

But how to list/identify all the actual hotels other than through those sites.

Even browsing Google Maps will show 1-2 hotels in an area but will be silent on other hotels even when zoomed in on the exact building, the hotel name will not appear. Search by name and Google knows and displays the hotel it just doesn't tell you unless you already know about it.

Even on a specific hotel, searching a hotel from outside a city may show 5 room rates, twin, double, deluxe blah blah. Searching that same hotel within its geographic area will often show additional room rates on the same rooms.

For an upcoming Asia trip over the next few weeks all my bookings are actually direct to the hotel sites. Maybe hotels are waking up also.

I try and book direct where possible, but for certain countries in Asia, agoda just keeps coming up trumps.

I never search by $ value… just name the city and ask for all available hotels. Many sites map them, agoda is one of the better ones… so many in some cities you have to zoom in multiple times just to get the individual hotel.

 

[TravelingJ]

Hotel prices in Thailand remain really poor value in my opinion whether direct or through aggregators. Are people shifting away from Thailand now to other SEA beaches? One thing I despise, which both direct and aggregators do, is the 1 left at this rate urging

 

[albatross710]

I never search by $ value… just name the city and ask for all available hotels. Many sites map them, agoda is one of the better ones… so many in some cities you have to zoom in multiple times just to get the individual hotel.

You are certainly not getting a list of 'available hotels'. You are getting the personalised 'subset' of hotels according to their algorithms and experience that will most quickly guide you to a booking. Maybe that's a good service but please do you research.

I hate booking hotels through these platforms to arrive in the foreign destination to then see amazing (better value) adjacent hotels never seen on searches from here

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You are certainly not getting a list of 'available hotels'. You are getting the personalised 'subset' of hotels according to their algorithms and experience that will most quickly guide you to a booking. Maybe that's a good service but please do you research.

I hate booking hotels through these platforms to arrive in the foreign destination to then see amazing (better value) adjacent hotels never seen on searches from here

The agoda maps show all hotels… budget hostels through to five star. Searching bangkok and it returns thousands of hotels for example, many so close to each other you can’t select them without zooming in.

I assume agoda wants any money rather than turning me away.

Once i’ve found the hotel i want its then a case of searching for the best price, using all of the methods outlined above.

 

[33kft]

The old "call to action" marketing push. Unfortunately it is a permanent part of ecommerce now, whether it be limited time offers, fake capacity constraints or fake "activity" feeds showing people nearby buying similar items to yours.

It is almost always bs, but who wants to find out the hard way? Just puts the consumer in the weakest position.

 

[stm1sydney]

It is almost always bs, but who wants to find out the hard way? Just puts the consumer in the weakest position.

I think that ecommerce has massively benefited consumers.