Two years ago, I tried to use the travel booking engine, Agoda. I had such a poor experience that it prompted me to write a piece on “Why I Would Not Book with Agoda Booking Engine Again“. It turned out that others had related experiences and shared them in the comments section. Their customer service is virtually non-existent when you run into problems.
Is Agoda a legitimate company?
My first consideration when I decided to use Agoda was whether it is a legitimate company. Since Priceline acquired Agoda back 2007 and Priceline is relatively well-known, Agoda is legitimate by all accounts. The next question is, “Is Agoda reliable?” Agoda failed me big time on this test. I’m not going to risk my travel plans and not have a place to stay, even if they offer a great deal.
Another Anecdotal Story
Last time I shared my own experience with Agoda. This time, I recently booked a stay at a hotel and knew that many of the area hotels were sold out (or listed with higher rates) due to some events happening in the area. While I always tend to book the most flexible rate, I made a pre-paid booking since I knew my plans won’t change.
By the time our flight arrived and we got to the hotel, it was close to midnight. A manager on duty helped us with our check-in. Two separate conversations came up. As the manager helped process our check-in, a guy walked up to the check-in line and instead of waiting to be helped, he directly addressed the manager and yelled out to ask if there are any more rooms. The manager politely responded that they are sold out, and he left immediately.
The second conversation involved two men (dressed smartly in business suits) who were being helped by the check-in staff at the counter next to ours. While the manager was helping us, the staff came over to the manager for some help.
Since this happened in front of us, I couldn’t help overhear the conversation. It went something like this:
Staff: I can’t find their reservations at all in the system. What should I do?
Manager: How did they book the reservation?
Staff: They said they booked their reservation on Agoda.
Manager: They will have to re-book (in a calm, “there’s nothing we can do about it since their reservations in not their systems”). I’m sure he meant they need to book elsewhere since the hotel is sold out.
I knew the rate for that particular night was up through the roof for all area hotels. If those guests had thought they might save money using Agoda, I suspect it ended up being a very expensive lesson learned.
Bottom Line
The staff went back to explain to the party and they were still at the check-in desk when we left with our room keys. I suspect that they did exactly what happened to me: They booked through Agoda because it was showing availability even though it was sold out everywhere else. My guess is that they ended up having to book elsewhere – a major inconvenience at that hour.
While Agoda messed with my booking, I didn’t have to find out the hard way. I got to see first-hand how it totally screwed up someone else’s reservation at check-in.
Is Agoda a legitimate company? Sure. Is it reliable? I wouldn’t bet my money on it.
If you are considering booking through Agoda: Buyer Beware.
Did you run in to any issues at check-in on a reservation booked through Agoda?
I use Agoda on occasion for independent hotel vacation stays. What I tend to do is make some small special request of the hotel through direct communication (cross referenced reservations, room with balcony, or some such). This requires a response from the hotel, which shows that they have the reservation. It’s not a perfect system by far, but it’s the best I could think of offhand.
I have had a couple significant problems with AGODA. REcieving a message ‘not booked’, then booking another place, and both bookings are charged. The system sometimes returns a ‘not booked’ message and still charges. Resulting in the loss of a sizable amout of money. I will never use them again. My recommendation: DO NOT USE AGODA.
A friend of mine at the USA TODAY editorial department just emailed me this about Agoda. Somebody contacted them that this company is apparently running a scam where they falsely advertise a “book 4 nights and pay only 1 deal,” but after booking, you get charged for all 4 nights on your credit card. Please warn others not to fall for this scam. Agoda has been reported to several countries’ government authorities over this.
AGODA is the worst hotel booking option out there. Anything money you save will be paid for in frustration.
I used Agoda several times at Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok and was satisfied. When I tried to use Agoda in Germany it turned out to be a complete fraud. I worked on a hotel booking, but the reservation system did not seem to ‘understand’ what I was asking for. When I finally gave up on making a reservation with Agoda it turned out a reservation was made at a different hotel then what I had asked for and only for one person. Reservation cancellation turned out to be impossible. Calling the numbers given for support and you end up talking to a… Read more »
Strange. Only had great experiences when I used it in Hong Kong!
Great. Glad to hear from others who had good experiences with Agoda. Thanks for sharing!
Booked with Agoda a dozen times to Bali Singapore Dubai etc .Never had a problem -So far..
I have used AGODA around 4 times re 2016, and got the lowest rates in Asia. Everything went well and had no problems. Would happily use them again.
I reserved a stay in Nashville, TN through Agoda at 121 Hotel. I drove 13+ hours from New Jersey and have not slept for a whole day until late that night. My mom was in the car with me and both she and I were exhausted after a long drive. Upon arrival, I had received an email sent just hours ago saying my stay at 121 Hotel was cancelled. We stayed 4 hours in the car waiting for this reservation to be resolved, for Agoda to rebook our stay. Note that I had previously confirmed check in, submitted my ID,… Read more »
I’ve had no problems with Agoda til NYE this year, I had not received any information or how to check in at the apartment I booked, when I msgd using the app, the owner responds quickly that we needed to provide our own linens and duvee etc due to covid. We did not agree, and the owner did not tell us further details how to check in. There was no property number to call, ended up calling AGODA customer service twice via international roaming, they promised a refund after the second call as the owner still did not give us… Read more »
They are scammers! I booked a hotel for a friend, I was charged, my friend was confirmed and when he arrived at the hotel the reservation was cancelled. From the hotel it was not possible to contact Agoda to complain so I tried. After waiting 30 minutes on the phone, we were answered by an advisor who could not solve the problem. If we take into account that this company does not make refunds on cancellations, this was a SCAM!
I booked through Agoda a 15 night All Inclusive package at a high end resort in Maldives. Agoda sent me confirmation of the all inclusive booking but passed a lower level package to the resort at the same price. The resort (You and Me Maldives – Cocoon) would not honor my All Inclusive package even though their booking agent sold me this package. After a lot of back and forth Agoda customer service stated – in both chat and email – that they would simply reimburse me for the difference. Per their instructions, I collected the beverage receipts submitted them… Read more »
Agoda is a scam company. We booked a stay at Talking Stick Resort and paid for it. They sent us a confirmation email. When we arrived at Talking Stock Resort in Scottsdale, AZ, they didn’t have a reservation for us. They said they don’t work with Agoda. The confirmation number Agoda gave us was a fake and not the type that Talking Stick uses. We tried calling Agoda, the phone would ring and then hang up. Our bank found an email for Agoda. We emailed them, but they would not refund our money. They said they booked it properly. We… Read more »
Do not use Agoda!! I was left high and dry without a hotel to stay in during my most recent beach vacation! I found a great deal on a hotel at the beach and they advertised that I wouldn’t have to pay until two days prior to check in. Fast forward to check in and the hotel clerk could not find my reservation anywhere and explained that this has been happening a lot with third-party booking sites because the reservation isn’t sent to the property until two days before. Then, if the hotel happens to be fully booked at that… Read more »
RUN – do not walk – AWAY FROM AGODA: Dishonest & Unreliable. I booked & payed in full for one week In what I thought was a hotel suite in Honolulu. On arrival, I learned ii paid for an illegal, unattended “bootleg” unit to which there was no access. I was lucky enough to find accommodations on my own . I provided muktilple pieces of documentation yet Agoda refused to refund my payment stating “the refund would be up to the owner” of the unit. Dishonest & Unreliable!
Don’t use Agoda! Agoda has stolen my money and won’t give them back to me! When I wanted to pay for the hotel I had found I got a message saying the time had run out instead of a confirmation of the booking. So I had to make a new booking and this time I received a confirmation that the payment had gone through. Later I noticed I had received two emails with a confirmation for a booking of the hotel. Even though it was clearly not my mistake that I had been charged two times Agoda won’t give me… Read more »
do not use AGOTA..they will
steal your money.and blame it on you
Agoda.com is a scum company that hotels themselves have learnt to distrust. The hotels will not make the reservation and agoda will completely fail to help you, and in fact will try to do things which are entirely deceiving including trying to book you into a lower ranked hotel. Has happened multiple times, would probably happen again…. But… fool me once et al… Except I did get fooled multiple times! Shame on me!
Dont chase the discount. Always book directly with a hotel. Saves a lot of headache when the poop hits the fan. Direct bookings also get a higher chance of an upgrade.
Hi ! I use Agoda a lot in SE Asia and have to say I’ve always had great experiences + pointsmax is great to redeem miles at the same time
As you say this is anecdotal – you don’t know if the other guests actually booked through Agoda or just said that. If they did, you don’t know if it was the hotels fault, because they are responsible for managing the inventory on Agoda or Agodas fault. I don’t think it’s responsible reporting to slam Agoda based on hearsay without having any of the relevant facts! I have had plenty of bookings with them and never had any issues. They are on average the lowest-priced OTA for Asia. And if something goes wrong with them or any other OTA, call… Read more »
I don’t think it’s hearsay. I don’t see any reason why two businessmen have a reason to lie and say they booked through Agoda when they didn’t. They were standing next to us when I heard them say it to the staff that they booked through Agoda. I heard it even more clearly when the staff repeated it to the manager. As for “you don’t know if it was the hotels fault, because they are responsible for managing the inventory on Agoda or Agodas fault” – that’s absolutely true. But I know for a fact (because it happened to me… Read more »
Yes probably true but I had problems booking through Expedia twice so gave them away.Great care needs to be taken when making any bookings .Direct to airline or hotel goes without saying is the very best way of booking if possible!
I don’t understand. Did you book via Agoda? You booked a prepaid rate. You could have booked a fully flexible rate on Expedia and still be walked. It happens.
This doesn’t say anything about Agoda.
I didn’t have a problem with checking into my hotel this time because I didn’t book with Agoda. I supposed I could also be walked regardless of where or how I booked the hotel. I know that could still happen, but that’s not an issue in my case. (It worked out even better – we were upgraded to a suite because they gave away my room type) It was just that incidentally, as I was checking in, I overheard and witnessed two customers who are having troubles checking in because they apparently booked through Agoda. Plenty of others had shared… Read more »
It’s great for Marriott BRG claims though.
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Agoda.com charged VISA “booking” for several nights in a hotel that HAD NO ROOMS!! SCAM!! I fortunately called the hotel to confirm my Agoda.com booking. They informed me they did not have anything from Agoda.com and they had ZERO rooms available — FULLY BOOKED for the next two months!! So, if I had not contacted the hotel directly, I would have driven halfway across the country and had no room at the hotel when I pulled in late at night! It is a very good thing I did not rely on Agoda.com which sent me emails that I had confirmed… Read more »
These people knew they took every penny that I had, and when I went to the motel that was supposed to be holding a room for me there was no reservation ever made!! I explained time and time again (several hours I tried to get a refund) to these imbeciles that that was all the money I had I have nowhere to sleep or stay… They repeatedly claimed they did not take my money out of my bank account they repeatedly blamed my bank stating they have the power to put it back in my account this is untrue this… Read more »
Avoid Agoda. They are incompetent, inept, and illiterate.
If I could give them a zero I definitely would! I wish I would have read comments about this company prior to my nightmare. I made my original booking and they said they had a price match guarantee I saw that they had my same hotel and room for a cheaper price three days later. I call to get the price adjusted and they told me they couldn’t adjust the price that I had to cancel my reservation and rebook. After I rebooked my second reservation three days later I got an email saying that my reservation has been canceled… Read more »
I purchased and paid for a riverfront room through Agoda (large premium). But when I got to the hotel, I found out that they have given me the cheapest room (bait and switch). I refused the room and canceled at the hotel, but can’t get my money back from these thieves and can’t do anything about it since they are not based in the US. Avoid these thieves
I have used AGODA many times because of their competitive pricing, but and that is a big BUT, do not expect any back up service if you have problems with a booking. I was in a hotel booked through Agoda and it was impossible to contact them, and only after 3 days could I get through to them by email, no phone contact. Price is not everything these days. Hotels,com has the BEST customer service especially when on vacation, I rate them #1 for ease and customer satisfaction. They even ring you back. Booking.com hides their contact points on pages… Read more »
Not sure what problems others may have had but we booked 2 nights in a resort weekend before last (3/19-21/21) and not a single problem.
The resort had quoted me 7,899.00p per night ($162.50 usd) and Agoda booked it at 4670.00p ($96.08 usd) saving us 3299p (67.89 usd).
So they are getting a thumbs up from us.
While I completely agree it’s good to be careful when using a third-party booking system (yes, double-checking directly with the hotel is what I always do), this article does in no way uphold to any standard of journalism. The writer overhears other guests being in trouble, but he obviously didn’t bother to talk directly to the guests he is writing about. He “imagines” – which seems to be enough to put a “Buyers beware” stamp on this company.
I used Agoda a couple of weeks ago when our power went out and was supposed to be out for two more days. The second I hit the reserve button, my power came back on. I immediately tried to cancel but there was no customer service to call and no way to contact them directly. There is supposed to be a way to manage your reservation but the link to it was broken and kept rerouting me back to the same page where it said I needed assistance to cancel. I called the hotel I booked with and they found… Read more »
Just used them through Expedia two weeks ago. Showed up to the hotel and no booking on file with the hotel. Cancelled the charge through my credit card now they are emailing me to find out why I canceled payment even though the credit card company told them why. Will see what happens. I did try to call them before I canceled the payment but no one answered before I got disconnected. First and last time I use Expedia.
Have used Agoda many times without a problem and that makes life so easy but unfortunately last time I did have a problem and Agoda was no where to be seen, I won’t use Agoda again on principle they are there when all they have to do is press keyboard buttons but sorting out problems is way out of their league.
Absolutely stay clear of Agoda.com. They have been the only third party company to stiff customers related to Covid-19. Expedia, airlines. Trip.com, and others have all been incredibly accommodating! Agoda will tell you that it’s up to the hotel, which is BS. My hotel in question is owned by Marriott, and the Covid-19 policy offers a full refund for pre-paid non-refundable rooms. Agoda lies and blames it on the hotel. My son got a letter from a hotel saying they’d cancel it, but the reservation is in Agoda’s hands. I will never do business with Agoda. Like I said, Expedia…… Read more »
Hello I recently made a booking for my hotel from the Agoda website and I regret it. Backstory- 1. Made a booking a day before the date I was supposed to check in. 2. Called up the property manager to know that they have renovation going on and would not be able to accommodate me 3. I panicked as I searched for the customer helpline number online, just 2 hours before boarding my flight. As bad as my lucky was, I couldn’t connect to their helpline as it didn’t exist. Tried to sign in to their website but they had… Read more »
Never ever use this service for your bookings! Save your nerves. You don’t know how good or bad a booking service is until things go wrong. Here is my case: I booked appts. in Nuremberg, Germany month before arrival, paid the full price. Just four days before arrival I got message from property owner saying I have to deposit 200 euro as “damages deposit”. At this point I can’t cancel my booking and get refund as I am not in cancelation free period. The info about deposit was NOT stated either in description or while check out. So this will… Read more »
Agoda sucks. Booked and paid for reservation at Hotel/Casino near Hospital we had early morning appointment, received confirmation email. Originally put on form estimated arrival of 6-7pm. Called hotel around 6pm and to let them know we would be closer to 10 due to traffic, they responded we were fine as long as we were there by midnight no problem. We arrived around 10:15 and was told during check in a supervisor needed to approve our check in. After waiting 15 minutes the supervisor came out with a paper and said they were over booked and have found us other… Read more »
agoda is a scammer!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate agoda. Everyone do not use agoda! They misinformed the hotel that I have completed my payment, the hotel charged me with the rooms.
i think agota is the greatest suzi
I booked with them last week. Read the fine print. Sure you get a low rate but then the property may charge additional fees.
Booked through agoda and was charged twice, once through the hotel and once through agoda. The customer service agents were basically no help whatsoever! I’ve booked through several agencies and have yet to have this type of experience. I would never book through this company again. Btw I ended up just disputing the charge since agoda and the hotel were just giving me the run around ! Completely ridiculous!
Agoda made my reservations through a third party company and jacked up the prices considerably. As we got to the actual management company and learned we could have saved considerably. Also we notified them that we are disabled. They out us on the 3rd floor with no elevator. Had my daughter and son and law not been with us we would have never gotten our luggage up.
On 24/04 I have made a booking via Agoda for Red Level Gran Melia de Isora at Tenerife. This is Adults only, vip part of the hotel. I have received a confirmation where everywhere was 100% confirmed that I made this booking. When we arrived to the hotel, they said that I booked Gran Melia de Isora, but not the Red Level. When we called the Agoda support, they said they have made a booking via Booking.com(!!!!) and will ask them. After 1 hour the customer service specialist at Agoda said – no you booked Superior room st Gran Isora… Read more »
Wow that is contrary to my experiences. Whenever I am in SE Asia and don’t want to use points I use Agoda and never have had an issue in the 20 or so bookings in past 9 years. Nothing but good things to say here….
Great. Thanks for chiming in. It’s always good to hear both sides!
When things go smoothly there is no problem, but when there is a problem AGODA is the WORST COMPANY to deal with. I will NEVER USE AGODA again.