Hoshino Resorts reveal Agoda (subsidiary of Booking Holdings which also own Booking.com) engages in fraudulent resale of hotel rooms

[rrr2015]

I booked a family room in december under agoda. Ran booking trip expedia website agoda, all had the room available, and agoda was the cheapest.

Then after i reserved, i checked the rest of the sites, the family room was gone. Even though i didn't pay, only reserve and pay later it seems they do reserve. So before the trip in Dec, will email / call to confirm booking first before I turn up just to be sure.

i noticed if booking done via agoda agent, booking confirmation receipt will look different.

anyway after that agoda kyoto incident, nowadays will email accommodations to confirm booking

 

[koster]

Wah anaconda really do sinkieland proud this time

 

[footi3]

to be safe, confirm your OTA bookings with hotel directly before you check-in to avoid any issues

 

[Jiakholiao]

Heng I use Expedia

moi too, so far, no issues all these years

 

[bladez87]

i was told by a few hotel staff in Australia, not to use agoda for australia bookings. because agoda will route it through another middleman then to the hotel. so if anything goes wrong, the troubleshooting part will go through 3 parties.

it was not mentioned who the middleman is

 

[ShinnAsuka]

Agoda's headquarters is in Singapore. The company is based at the UOB Plaza, 80 Raffles Place, Singapore 048624.

A fraud occurs when a company advertises, sells and collects payment for a non-existent service, in this case: hotel room that does not exist for the dates booked. Customers are inconvenienced, and the hotel is denied the rightful revenue from this customer who has to book elsewhere last minute instead of changing the booking dates.

I only know agoda, hq in sg, charge you in hkd, make you incur fx fees

 

[twosix]

Agoda has the feature to send messages to the hotel, sometimes the hotel email is provided. I booked the hotels for my recent Hokkaido trip using agoda. All checked in smoothly.

 

[tazzycorner]

so far no issues with my Agoda and Booking bookings

 

[twosix]

actually why ppl still wanna book via agoda or booking.com ah? most accredited hotels have price guarantee. just book via official website, reference agoda or booking.com or hotels.com or whatever.com prices if they are somehow lower than official website and the hotel will honour the same price for confirm plus chop booking.

Because of book now pay later and free cancelations. I usually book accommodations up to 1 yr ahead. The free cancelations helped a lot.

 

[twosix]

I booked a family room in december under agoda. Ran booking trip expedia website agoda, all had the room available, and agoda was the cheapest.

Then after i reserved, i checked the rest of the sites, the family room was gone. Even though i didn't pay, only reserve and pay later it seems they do reserve. So before the trip in Dec, will email / call to confirm booking first before I turn up just to be sure.

U can always email or chat with the hotel early. Just ask them some questions like got this got that etc.

 

[Vitacimin]

i have been booking with agoda all the while with no issues. My KL trip 2 days ago i booked a room with windows. Reached the hotel then the reception told me they only have rooms without windows left. And i am being forced to accept it as i have no other choice. Agoda compensated me with 6sgd and hotel compensate me with a flat white coffee worth 4 sgd. what a joke.

Which low SES motel did you stay? KL 5 star hotels only $100+ what

 

[Vitacimin]

Most hotel especially chains do offer a Best Rate Guarantee. If you can find a cheaper booking anywhere else with the same exact room rates, the hotel will counter offer with a discount off the lower rate.

Good luck in claiming BRG with Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, IHG or Accor. Most of the time they will reject

 

[swathe]

Agoda is actually more expensive with their hidden 5% markup and other tactic.

 

[randyap]

so probably there was mismatched between hotel & agoda system. that's why best to double check with hotel. at least yours not like atas hotel sayings no record of booking

This is the first time i met with this issue. Will still continue with them though.

 

[randyap]

Which low SES motel did you stay? KL 5 star hotels only $100+ what

100++ for low end of five stars is really cheapo leh u. Marriot also chao chao 200

 

[randyap]

Agoda is actually more expensive with their hidden 5% markup and other tactic.

Yes, they very smelly de. But once you get to be familiar with their tactics and overcome them, is actually very nice.

 

[bladez87]

Yes, they very smelly de. But once you get to be familiar with their tactics and overcome them, is actually very nice.

what are their tactics?

 

[Xeniel]

I only know agoda, hq in sg, charge you in hkd, make you incur fx fees

pay using mastercard visa is sgd processing

 

[kuti-kuti]

Waah lao... I always book with agoda

 

[Xeniel]

what are their tactics?

tldr
always use a metasearch engine (google hotels or tripadvisor) to click into agoda to get the best price (assuming agoda is lowest price already)

or use bank promo link eg https://suitesmile.com/blog/2025/06/02/best-agoda-expedia-hotel-promos-with-singapore-cards/

logged in and visit agoda directly will result in the most expensive price