Agoda.com Review
Agoda.com is one of the largest and fastest growing websites for online hotel reservations for properties located mainly in the Asia Pacific Region. Asia’s Internet spot for hotel reservations offers discounted hotel bookings on 276 737 hotels worldwide, 24-hour service, different payment options and safety.
As Agoda’s specialty is Asia, the website offers instant hotel reservation at more than 40,000 hotels in the Asian-Pacific region, with 8025 hotels only in Thailand. Being part of the large, American-based Priceline.com, known for its collaboration with Star Trek stars William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, Agoda focuses not on interstellar, but international network of hotels, offices and websites. It’s available in 38 different languages offering great customer’s service and the lowest hotel prices found in each destination around the globe. One of the distinctive features of the website is its Agoda Rewards program which allows customers to earn points automatically and save money on hotel bookings.
Agoda.com offers a large number of hotels in Asia, including top selling destinations such as Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bali, Phuket, Hong Kong, Manila, Tokyo, Pattaya and Ho Chi Minh City. Of course, there are bookings available for almost any other part of the world, any city and resort at every continent. Some of the most visited European cities on the website are London, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Vienna or Budapest. Customers can also choose from city hotels or traditionally popular resorts in the United States and Canada, as well as from more exotic destinations in Australia and Oceania. Other places where you can book a hotel stay are Brazil, Mexico, Maldives, Argentina, India, Andorra, Morocco, South Africa and even Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Customers can not only use and navigate through Agoda in whatever language they want, but they can also select their preferred currency. Besides, the currency converter is used for simpler shopping – the website coverts the currency according to the daily exchange rates, and then charge the same amount that you see on your check-out page in your credit card currency. Agoda promises safety of the transactions, using secure socket layer technology for its services. Not all hotels require pre-paid hotel bookings; instead, you can only reserve your stay and directly pay at the hotel reception on arrival. Most of these hotels however will require pre-authorization of your credit card or depositing a part of the whole sum. In all cases, the website provides actions against frauds such as confirmation e-mails, encryption and many others.
When booking a hotel stay, customers can navigate selecting either a certain hotel, or a destination. Then you can choose the best hotel for you depending on the price rates, customers’ ratings, types of accommodation – hotel, apartment, motel, residence, resort, ryokan; hotel name or hotel chains or brands. You can also filter the search by selecting a particular hotel area in the city, or by choosing what special facilities and extras the hotel should have. For example, you can search for a hotel that has a family and child-friendly facilities and entertainments, if it has a smoking area and a nightclub, or whether it allows pets and offers golf course on site.
One of the greatest features of Agoda.com is the abundance of hotel reviews by customers – more than 4 million! Of course, the website says they are all verified, but not all star ratings are individually verified, so they can vary greatly on the basis of many factors. In fact, a star rating for a Paris hotel for instance, may be the same for a hotel in Argentina, but this doesn’t mean the two hotels are the same.
The greatest benefit, however, of booking a hotel through Agoda, are the special offers, discounts, all kinds of sales, and of course, the cash back reward on every booking you make. There are also Agoda reward points after every booking, which can be used either at the website, or be saved up towards a free night at any hotel you choose.
And for those who can’t find the time to book through their computers, or just love to be more spontaneous, Agoda.com provides a great way to do it via mobile phone. The Agoda smartphone app is compatible with iPhone, Android and Windows Phone operating systems and instantly shows hotels near to your location. This means that if you don’t have a place to stay for your vacation or a business travel, you can immediately find a hotel nearby with available rooms.
Other very useful websites for online hotel reservations are:
