Agoda Payments.

[badsector]

just tested with Citibank Mastercard.

charged in SGD as per website(post date 28 Feb) but there's an additional 1% called CCY Conversion Fee(post date 1 Mar)

 

[oceanicmanta]

just tested with Citibank Mastercard.

charged in SGD as per website(post date 28 Feb) but there's an additional 1% called CCY Conversion Fee(post date 1 Mar)

I learnt to avoid 1% :

Use Visa with Agoda

Use MasterCard with AirBnB

 

[Garlic & Butter]

dont use Mastercard with Agoda

worse still, dont use DBS + Mastercard. If you cancel/ refund a booking, DBS will charge that 1% DCC again.
At least for Citibank, refunds are reversal of prior transaction, ultimately, both transactions cancel out and dont even appear in the statement

 

[TsukiSG]

dont use Mastercard with Agoda

worse still, dont use DBS + Mastercard. If you cancel/ refund a booking, DBS will charge that 1% DCC again.
At least for Citibank, refunds are reversal of prior transaction, ultimately, both transactions cancel out and dont even appear in the statement

Are you cancelling your Citibank booking within 3 days? For most pay now booking on Agoda, they authorize your card when make the booking, and charge your card 3 days after. So no matter what card you use, if you cancel the booking within 3 days, it won't post on your statement.

 

[sellbuyboy]

The1% cannot ask them to refund huh… how come got this charge one

 

[TsukiSG]

I got cancel booking before. Agoda said the price difference is due to exchange rate difference cos I paid in local currency. Their own conversion rate is very bad one.

In your case, there is no currency conversion on Agoda side, because you said you paid in local (hotel) currency. For example, you book a USD1000 hotel, Agoda will just charge USD1000 to your card; when you cancel the booking, Agoda will refund you USD1000. All currency conversion is done on your bank side, and bank may charge you fees for currency conversion. If you use DBS card, DBS will charge you 3.25% for each currency conversion, resulting a loss of 6.5% (assuming the conversion rate has not change).

Also my observation on Agoda conversion rate is usually better than banks. Just checked the current exchange rate on Agoda and DBS:

For JPY:
Agoda: 1 SGD = 108.45 JPY
DBS: 1 SGD = 107.11 JPY

For USD:
Agoda: 1 SGD = 0.7627 USD
DBS: 1 SGD = 0.7558 USD

I use Agoda mostly because of the good exchange rate (also can avoid foreign transaction fee cause most Singapore banks charge this ~3% fee when paying in foreign currency), and can pay without giving my card information to the hotel.

 

[IcYFl4mEz]

Understand this thread is with agoda.
Anyone know abt booking dot com?
Does dbs mc got ccy 1% etc?

 

[TsukiSG]

Understand this thread is with agoda.
Anyone know abt booking dot com?
Does dbs mc got ccy 1% etc?

For most hotel bookings on Booking dot com, they just forward your card information to the hotel and the hotel will charge your card in their local currency. There is no such 1% fee for foreign currency transaction, because it's for SGD transaction overseas.

 

[IcYFl4mEz]

For most hotel bookings on Booking dot com, they just forward your card information to the hotel and the hotel will charge your card in their local currency. There is no such 1% fee for foreign currency transaction, because it's for SGD transaction overseas.

no wonder most of the booking is book now pay later. So even if i choose to pay now, its the same? will be in FCY instead of SGD?
And does it also means that it will not be considered online payment?

 

[xenotine]

I just encounter something I don’t quite understand .

I selected the pay later option weeks ago, which says a sgd amount will be calculated from MYR xxx.

Now when I choose to fully paid for it , it seems the sgd amount incurred around 6 to 10 percent more than the spot rate .

how do I prevent this from occurring in future ?
I read from the comments above , that say is better to choose the paid currency in MYR as well. But when I go around and test this , it seems like there is no such option to choose the paid currency after entering the credit card details

 

[TsukiSG]

I just encounter something I don’t quite understand .

I selected the pay later option weeks ago, which says a sgd amount will be calculated from MYR xxx.

Now when I choose to fully paid for it , it seems the sgd amount incurred around 6 to 10 percent more than the spot rate .

how do I prevent this from occurring in future ?

Please see:

For payment handled by Agoda, exchange rate works like this:

1. If you select SGD as display currency
   1. If you choose pay now: What you see is what you pay [1].
   2. If you choose pay later: You will pay using payment date Agoda exchange rate [2] plus 5% DCC fee [3].
2. If you select foreign currency as display currency
   1. If you choose pay now
      1. After key-in your card number, if you select pay in SGD: You will pay using current Agoda exchange rate [2] plus 5% DCC fee [3].
      2. After key-in your card number, if you select pay in foreign currency: What you see is what you pay [1].
   2. If you choose pay later
      1. After key-in your card number, if you select pay in SGD: You will pay using payment date Agoda exchange rate [2] plus 5% DCC fee [3].
      2. After key-in your card number, if you select pay in foreign currency: What you see is what you pay [1].

[1] Exculding fees charged by bank. Credit cards issued by Singapore banks usually have 2.5%-3.5% foreign currency transaction fee or 1% oversea SGD transaction fee, but some cards can get this fee waived.
[2] Agoda exchange rate is the rate used when toggle between currencies on Agoda website. It is usally better than bank rate.
[3] Agoda does mentioned this fee in a very secret place: https://www.agoda.com/info/termsofuse.html.


In conclusion:

1. If you want to pay now in SGD: Display the price in SGD and choose pay now.
2. If you want to pay now or pay later in foreign currency: Display the price in foreign currency and choose pay now or pay later, and select pay in foreign currency after key-in your card number.
3. If you want to pay later in SGD: Display the price in SGD and choose pay later. In this case you must pay 5% more to Agoda.

I read from the comments above , that say is better to choose the paid currency in MYR as well. But when I go around and test this , it seems like there is no such option to choose the paid currency after entering the credit card details

You need to display the website in MYR and choose pay in MYR after key-in your Singapore credit card details.

 

[swathe]

Anyone tried the pay now (aka pay immediately)? Want to know if it removes any discount previously applied.

I booked a hotel earlier with pay later. Now USD is dropping and benefit me. Thinking of paying first with the lower price.

 

[beanstalk6]

Agoda wises up.

 

[torrent06]

Anyone tried the pay now (aka pay immediately)? Want to know if it removes any discount previously applied.

I booked a hotel earlier with pay later. Now USD is dropping and benefit me. Thinking of paying first with the lower price.

Is there an option to pay now when you book Pay Later? I did it very long ago and had to call the customer service to do it.

 

[TsukiSG]

Is there an option to pay now when you book Pay Later? I did it very long ago and had to call the customer service to do it.

From above dp, Agoda have this function now so no need to call anymore.

On the pay later option, that may not be true. So I booked through Agoda, selecting display currency as SGD and choosing to pay later. Then I immediately or within a few hours, after I am happy with the booking, I will go to the booking details and select Pay Now. In other words, I paid earlier instead of waiting till due date for Agoda to charge.

The amount that they charged me in SGD is the same as what was shown; I checked my bank and the amount in SGD is 1% more after it post (before posting, when it's pending, the amount appears the same as what was on Agoda). Since I did this within hours, the FX rate won't differ, especially so if I pay almost immediately after selecting the Pay Later option.

So my experience suggest that there is no 5% DCC fee if you pay before they automatically charge you, supposedly.

 

[beanstalk6]

Agoda retrench in Singapore and moves office to Bangkok