Singapore to Raja Ampat

[billt4sf]

More importantly, how do you book your hotel with SwissBell? How do you ensure they keep the room for you until you show up in the a.m.?

I book thru Agoda, because I like having all my reservs in one place, and because I hate the Booking.com website. Also I often get cheaper rates through Agoda than direct. (Someone please tell me why.)

I send the hotel a message as well. Works so far.

Bill

 

[chillyinCanada]

I book thru Agoda, because I like having all my reservs in one place, and because I hate the Booking.com website. Also I often get cheaper rates through Agoda than direct. (Someone please tell me why.)

I send the hotel a message as well. Works so far.

Bill

Agoda is headquartered in SE Asia and that's why I use them when I'm on that side.

I like your plan and that is what I shall do.
Thank you.

My bro in law is Singaporean and he likes booking.com because he gets points from them that he can use on rooms.

 

[billt4sf]

Agoda is headquartered in SE Asia and that's why I use them when I'm on that side.

Good to know.

 

[Luko]

I book thru Agoda, because I like having all my reservs in one place, and because I hate the Booking.com website. Also I often get cheaper rates through Agoda than direct. (Someone please tell me why.)

I send the hotel a message as well. Works so far.

Cheaper rates : Booking.com/Agoda or whatsoever gets 15-18% commission from the hotelier, the platform gives back a fraction to the customer, sometimes more when you are into a certain "frequent customer" status.
In some countries the accomodation must guarantee that Booking.com benefits from the best available price online, including the hotel website. (That requirement has been rejected by law in France)

I found most of the time Booking.com is cheaper than all other booking platforms PLUS Booking.com allows late canceling free of charge for many hotels.
When you mail the hotel saying you get better rates with Booking.com/Agoda ,the hotelier often agrees on giving you the same rate but then you have to pay upfront too with no cancellation possible.

 

[Dogbowl]

In recent years, I’ve found booking directly at the hotel’s website gave me the best prices and choice of rooms, as they didn’t have to give the booking engines a commission. Downside is that the good prices usually come with the conditions of prepaid and non-refundable. FWIW, this has been my experience and I’m sure others have had a different experience.

I also like to deal with the hotel directly if at all possible. I’ve heard of stories, as well as experienced myself, booking engines that won’t come to the customer’s aid when something goes wrong, and the hotel claiming they can’t do anything as the customer booked via a booking engine. And these were big sites, not some fly by night. But I think this doesn’t happen often.

I still use booking engines and travel agents sometimes, if I think it’s more beneficial for that particular circumstance. For example, I booked liveaboards using booking engines, because they offer the sale prices. I can also imagine booking liveaboards directly could be less than efficient due to language barriers, inconvenient payment, timezone difference, etc.

 

[Luko]

In recent years, I’ve found booking directly at the hotel’s website gave me the best prices and choice of rooms, as they didn’t have to give the booking engines a commission. Downside is that the good prices usually come with the conditions of prepaid and non-refundable. FWIW, this has been my experience and I’m sure others have had a different experience.

That's often true with resorts or family holiday hotels, not so much with city hotels where they are tweaking and yielding so many segments such as last minute business trips/weekend getaways/walk-ins that they're always hoping to catch a high revenue booking from their website.
So when it's a matter of a night at the airport hotel, I'm pretty sure Booking.com will give better prices, or at least discounted with my customer status.

 

[Dogbowl]

That's often true with resorts or family holiday hotels, not so much with city hotels where they are tweaking and yielding so many segments such as last minute business trips/weekend getaways/walk-ins that they're always hoping to catch a high revenue booking from their website.
So when it's a matter of a night at the airport hotel, I'm pretty sure Booking.com will give better prices, or at least discounted with my customer status.

You might very well be right. Not arguing that.

But I still had the experience of cheaper prices or the same prices at hotel websites for the past several years I’ve been doing dive travel. Most recently, at 2 hotels in Hong Kong, both were offering 30% off advance purchase (21 days prior). Those prices were better than the booking engines and those were “city” hotels. Dates were close to holidays so not low season.

I also purchased my Swiss Belhotel at advance purchase prices as well, 21 days advance.

My preference is to book direct when the booking engines’s prices are the same or similar for the reasons I mentioned before, so I’ve been tending to book most my hotels directly in recent years.

Now, if we went back more than 5 years, maybe 10, the direct prices were definitely higher, much higher than booking engines. I remember booking $40USD hotels on Priceline’s Name Your Own Price when the rack rate was closer to $200! Those days are gone. I have never been able to replicate those deals in recent years.

I suspect many in the hotel industry are recognizing that they can keep most of the money if they were competitive with the booking engines. Just my thoughts!

 

[billt4sf]

I suspect many in the hotel industry are recognizing that they can keep most of the money if they were competitive with the booking engines. Just my thoughts!

That is not my experience.

Bill

 

[Dogbowl]

That is not my experience.

Bill

Yes I get it, people’s experiences will differ greatly depending on the time of year, hotel chosen, how far in advance you book, etc.

Just to satisfy my own curiosity, since apparently others have not experienced what I have, I did a quick check for Swiss Belhotel for Jan 10-12, 2019. FWIW, this is only an example, but here’s what I found for a deluxe room/night:

Hotel website: CAD$72.01
Agoda: CAD$83
Hotels.com: CAD$82
Expedia: CAD$82
Booking.com: USD$78 or CAD$103.76