Booking a hotel or a flight online is not an easy task. When we need to travel to another city or a country, we always look for a flight or a hotel that suit our requirement. And to get the best deal, one has to search a lot which requires a lot of time and effort. However, Agoda makes it easier and simpler than other online booking platforms. If offers a versatile range of hotels, resorts, and flights for every type of traveler. One can also grab some exciting deals and packages around the year. Due to a wide range of travel products and offers, Agoda has now become a household name.
But, does it really worth your time, effort, and money? Does Agoda outshine other online booking portals in offering the best travel accommodation and services? Find everything in this review.
PROS
- The booking process is hassle-free and quick
- Both website and app are user-friendly
- Navigation is seamless
- One can pay via credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal
- Multiple coupons and discounts save a lot of money
- A lot of choices available to book
CONS
- Deals run out quickly
- At times, taxes and service charges increase the total price
- Sometimes, confirmation takes time.
Know about Agoda
It was founded in 2005 by Robert Rosenstein and Michael Kenny in Phuket, Thailand. It’s headquarter is in Singapore. In the initial phase, the company paid emphasis on the Southeast Asian market. Within just a short time period, it became a household name in the region.
Slowly and gradually, Agoda expanded it’s operations and services all across the world. Currently, it has over 2.5 million listings across 200 nations and territories.
When it comes to it’s workforce, it has over 4,000 employees in across 30 countries. Moreover, the company has it’s website and a mobile app in 39 global languages.
How Does Agoda Work?
Agoda lists over 2.5 million properties all across the world. The brand largely works on an affiliate marketing model where brands sell products and services without owning them. In return, they get a commission from the owner upon a confirmed sale.
The platform doesn’t own any hotels. It acts as a mediator between the host and guests. It simplifies the process to reach out to properties across the world that are still unexplored by travelers. One can easily make a booking without risking money and time. It gives assurance to both guests and hosts about the booking.
Guests can easily explore a variety of accommodations in almost every country and compare prices, services, features, etc., whereas, hosts get regular business by paying a certain commission to Agoda for every successful booking.
How to Make a Booking On Agoda?
The process of making a booking on Agoda is pretty simple and straight. All you need to do is to follow the below steps to get started without beating around the bush.
- Go to an official website or a mobile app
- Click on the ‘Create account button on the right corner of the homepage
- Put your email id and password along with your first name and last name
- Once you have entered details, click on ‘Create account
- Agoda sends a confirmation email
- Click on the link given in the email to get started
- Once you are signed in, you can start with the booking
- Enter your destination
- Enter check-in and check-out dates
- Enter guests detail
- use filters to reach faster to the desired results
- Once you click the ‘Search’ button, Agoda will show you a variety of options to choose from.
How to Pay For Your Booking?
Once you have got the best accommodation to book, it’s time to complete the booking by making a payment.
However, Agoda offers you two ways to make payments.
– Online
It can be done right on the website by using your debit card, credit card, or PayPal account. It accepts prominent payment processing platforms, including American Express, VISA, MasterCard, Carte Bleue, and JCB.
– In-person
It can be done right after arriving at the property. However, most in-person properties accept cash only. So, one has to carry enough cash while arriving at the property.
How Agoda’s Book Now Pay Later Works?
Since some guests are quite suspicious or doubtful about online transactions, Agoda offers them an option to give their credit card details to hold the booking.
Right upon sharing your credit card details you will get a booking ID. Now you can pay online or at the property without worrying a little.
How To Get A Great Accommodation/Listing?
While booking online, it’s quite obvious to encounter bad or spam listings despite being over cautious. Hence, there are some result-proven tips to get the best accommodation or listing without going wrong.
- Pick your destination, dates, and budget right in the beginning to get the best listings
- Use filters as much as you can to get the options to match your interest
- Prefer listings with new and positive reviews from satisfied guests
- Pick the listings with a good number of pictures of a property
What Are the Filters Offered By Agoda To Get The Best Results?
Agoda offers a variety of filters to simplify your search and help you to reach the best listing effortlessly. Some of the prominent filters that you can use are:
– Most used
It gives you access to the most used filters by travelers and users.
– Your budget
Here, one can set the price for a stay along with the payment method
– Stars
This is also a very popular filter that gives you the list of properties with stars ranging from 1 to 5
– Location
– Book without a credit card
This filter gives you the list of properties that don’t need a credit card to make a booking
– Homes
Here, you will get home-based properties excluding all commercial ones.
– Free breakfast
With this filter, you will get the properties with a free breakfast.
If you are looking for a property or accommodation in a specific location then use this filter.
However, it’s always recommended to use filters to simplify the search process.
How To Modify or Manage Your Booking?
Agoda lets you change or manage your booking with a simple process.
How to change the booking dates?
– Signing, if you are not signed in.
– Click on your account name
– Click on ‘My Bookings’
– Click on the booking where you need to do a modification
– Click on ‘Edit booking’
– Click on ‘Change dates’
– Now put the new dates
How to change the guest’s name?
If you want to edit the primary guest’s name or transfer the booking to someone else’s name then:
– Go to ‘My bookings’
– Click on ‘Upcoming bookings’
– Click on ‘Manage guests’
– Now go ahead with the changes to make
Make sure that the name you are adding must match the passport name to avoid any inconvenience at the time of check-in.
How to change credit card details?
In case you have picked an option to pay at the time of check-in then you can change your credit card details before you get charged. However, to make the changes you need to contact the customer support team. Since it’s a financial matter, Agoda handles it over a call to avoid any fraudulent activity.
Simply contact:
– Agoda customer support at +44 020 3027 7900
– Email the support team via the customer support page
How to cancel your reservation?
To cancel your booking at Agoda, you need to:
– Sign into your account
– Click on your account name showing right on the homepage
– Click on ‘My bookings’
– Click on ‘Manage my booking’
– Now click on the booking that requires cancellation
– Now you can cancel it by click on the booking or right at the bottom of the conditions
– Once you click on ‘Cancel booking’ Agoda will show you a pop-up for a reason
– Select a valid reason for cancelation
– Click on ‘Continue to cancel’
– Once you click on ‘Continue with cancellation’ you will get a cancelation confirmation in your email.
How To Book a Flight?
Agoda also offers a hassle-free and seamless flight booking process in collaboration with Kayak.com. To book a flight on Agoda, you need to:
– Click on ‘Flights’
– Once you click on it, you will be redirected to flights.agoda.com
– Now enter your departure and arrival destinations along with dates
– Now you can easily check different flights
– You can also make use of filters to get the best results effortlessly.
How to book a rental car?
Agoda also offers a car rental service in collaboration with Rentalcars.com. To book a rental car, simply:
– Click on the ‘Car rentals’ option on the homepage
– Now you will be redirected to the Rentalcars.com site to make a booking
– Here you need to enter your pick-up location and pickup dates
– Click on ‘Search’
How to book An Airport Transfer?
It offers the service with the help of Mozio. It helps travelers to book quick transportation to the airport and room right after booking accommodation to avoid any inconvenience after reaching the destination/airport.
To book an air transfer, you need to:
– Click on ‘Airport transfer’ on the homepage
– Now enter your pickup and drop off locations along with the date, time, and phone number
– You can either book a single or round trip.
– Once you get the options, pick your favorite ride from a sedan, private bus, or private van.
What are the Benefits of Becoming an Agoda Member?
Agoda is known for it’s generous offers, deals, and discounts throughout the year. However, only members are eligible to grab the special offers and discounts followed by membership benefits. There are many exciting features and rewards that one can avail of after becoming a member. Some of the prominent ones are:
– AgodaCash
It is basically a special reward program where customers get some reward points on every booking that can be used in future bookings. All you need to pick an AgodaCash-eligible accommodation to get the benefit.
– Special promo codes
Special promo codes are given to new customers as well as existing customers to give them an extra benefit while making bookings. The promo codes offer discounts between 5% and 20%.
– PointsMAX
This program is created with the collaboration of some prominent airlines. It helps frequent travelers to collect miles in the airlines’ reward program by booking hotels on Agoda. Just link your airlines’ reward account with Agoda to start earning miles.
– Insider Deals
It is the program where insider deals are exclusively available to top Agoda members. The discount on these deals goes up to 30%. However, the deals are restricted to only a few listings.
– Agoda VIP
It is nothing but a loyalty program for regular customers. It is created to promote the selected listings to regular customers who have booked a lot with only a couple of cancellations. These customers get VIP treatment and discounts from Agoda.
The VIP program has four levels, including:
– Member: It is given to every customer who has signed in on the Agoda website or mobile app. It doesn’t offer any VIP discount or privilege.
– Silver: Once you have completed 2 bookings in 24 months with a low cancellation rate, your account automatically gets upgraded to Silver level. It gives a flat 12% discount on all VIP listings.
– Gold: Once you have successfully made 5 bookings in 24 months you become eligible for Gold membership. Here, you will get up to an 18% discount on VIP listings.
– Platinum: To get a platinum membership one must have 10 successful bookings within 24 months. This membership gives you up to a 25% discount on all VIP listings
– Best Price Guarantee
It is quite a unique feature where one can submit a claim to the Agoda team for getting a lower price on some other booking platform. If you have already made a booking on Agoda and then find the same accommodation/room at a lower price on other platforms then you can do that. After cross-checking everything about the booking Agoda will credit the amount within 2 days of receiving the claim. The amount will be transferred to the original payment method that you used at the time of making booking or will be credited in AgodaCash.
How To Reach Out It’s Customer Support Team?
Agoda offers multiple ways to get an instant resolution for queries related to bookings.
– Self-service
It is an automated support system containing a wide range of FAQs. It’s an interactive system where customers can do everything on their own without needing the help of a customer support executive.
– Call
If you wish to talk to the support agent then call +44 020 3027 7900
One can also email their concerns and grievances by clicking on the ‘Customer Support page.
Final Thoughts
If you are looking for an affordable stay or a variety of listings matching every budget group then Agoda is meant for you. The portal is also licensed and has a good reputation in the market. Moreover, the booking process is very seamless, and additional discounts elevate the happiness quotient of travelers.
Hence, it’s highly recommended to all those wanting to stay in premium, hygienic, and safe accommodations all across the world at highly competitive prices.