Agoda: Book Hotels and Flights 4+

Agoda review—hotels

Have been very happy using Agoda, mostly for travel outside the USA. I only use Agoda for booking hotels so can’t speak to other services (flights, trains, etc.) offered. I also do my research and check other apps before booking, but in general I prefer Agoda over other apps because of the way the search & filters are set up, because I usually find the cheapest prices on Agoda, and because so many options/filters are customizable.
Many times what appears to be the exact same room is shown at multiple price points, often because there are little options like courtyard view, full breakfast buffet, tub and shower, etc. which are not distinguished on Agoda but are known to the hotel. After booking it’s good to contact the hotel and inquire about those things, along with airport pickup and whatever else you may need.
I have never had issues with Agoda, even when canceling my reservation. However, I have had occasional issues with other apps. That’s why I usually check Agoda first, check other places, and then come back to Agoda to book.

Infuriating experience

I booked a room at Motel 6 for $40 on Agoda. There is a timer on the booking page that clearly says my rate is being held so long as I complete the booking within five minutes. I did. A few knifes later I get an email stating that my booking was canceled due to “an unforeseen technical error.” I went back to book the room again. Now the rate is $49. I had just barely enough to pay for the room at the $40 rate...a rate that was being held if I completed the order on time - which I did! I called customer service and (after about 15 minutes of arguing and begging) they finally agreed to compensate the difference in “agoda cash” which I could apply to the booking. Fine. So I went to make a new reservation, except on the check out page there was no option to apply the agoda cash. Turns out the property is a “pay at hotel” property, which evidently means I can’t apply agoda cash to it. So the $9 of agoda cash that they begrudgingly gave me when they screwed up does me NO GOOD anyway and doesn’t actually compensate me in any way. I still don’t have any way to pay the higher rate and I have no way to relocate to some other property. What a load of garbage! The site clearly guaranteed that rate if I completed the booking in time! And I did! I held up my end of the bargain, you should too! Never using agoda again and will be reporting this story through every agency I can think of and sharing it through every social forum I know. Bunch of garbage.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for the review. We always strive to provide a stable application for the ease of our users. Please email us at appsupport@agoda.com and advise us your concern. We'll look into it and assist you to the best that we can.

Could not be worse experience

We ordered the Legoland hotel and got the confirmation email before we made the vocation planning. But when we arrived at the hotel after hours of driving from north California, we were told by the hotel that they were overbooked and they couldn’t contact us because they didn’t have our contact information, they suggested us to contact where we placed the order. So we tried to call Agoda, we told the customer service the problem and each time the call was received by a different customer service, they said they were trying to contact vendor and promised to call us back in 30 minutes but never did that. After calling them 4 times and they promised the manager would call me later but never did. Our child was really disappointed and fell asleep since it’s midnight, we had to find another hotel… I am wondering why they sent the confirmation email but couldn’t guarantee it? Why customer service passed the problem from one to another then another? Why they didn’t give a reply at the time they promised? Why customer should pay for agora’s mistake? The reputation of agoda is ruined, people can’t believe what agoda has promised. You can’t expect them to do what they have confirmed and can’t believe the customer service can help to fix their issues…