Hotel Booking process

[Martin67]

This may be a real dumb question but I honestly haven't ever travelled over seas so I am going to ask anyhow.

When booking a hotel what seems to be the best method, on line, through an agent or can you actually call them direct and speak to someone in english to get it done?

 

Thanks for any info

Cheers

 

[briguy]

Considering how cheap LOS hotels are post-Covid, I see nothing wrong with using the online agencies like Agoda or hotels.com. I've done two three week long trips to Thailand and had zero problems with booking ahead of time. As a newbie, there's no reason to make things more stressful than they need to be. It's easy enough to pick good places to stay using the reviews here and on Pattaya Addicts as a guide. Before my trips, I read all of Lottellee Winna's reviews on PA, which were a big help.

I often see newbies trying to reinvent the wheel, asking about obscure hotels there are no reviews of. There's a reason people recommend certain places over and over again and that's because they can be counted on to be good.

[Deltasunrise]

I'm traveling a lot for business. I'm from France, and we have lot of ALL-ACCOR hotel here. So I'm using hotels from ALL brands when traveling to BKK, which is easy to book on the phone apps. It gives sometimes good deals, and prices are usually lower than booking/agoda .. for same service. Or you get better service like breakfast included. But no problem to book through online agencies. 

[Martin67]

15 hours ago, briguy said:

Considering how cheap LOS hotels are post-Covid, I see nothing wrong with using the online agencies like Agoda or hotels.com. I've done two three week long trips to Thailand and had zero problems with booking ahead of time. As a newbie, there's no reason to make things more stressful than they need to be. It's easy enough to pick good places to stay using the reviews here and on Pattaya Addicts as a guide. Before my trips, I read all of Lottellee Winna's reviews on PA, which were a big help.

I often see newbies trying to reinvent the wheel, asking about obscure hotels there are no reviews of. There's a reason people recommend certain places over and over again and that's because they can be counted on to be good.

Thank you, I definitely have no intention of re-inventing the wheel.

I have made notes of the recommended places and going to just simply short list it to the one's that have what I am looking for and will book.

I may however try to book by phoning them directly to see how that goes.

Thanks

[Martin67]

13 hours ago, Deltasunrise said:

I'm traveling a lot for business. I'm from France, and we have lot of ALL-ACCOR hotel here. So I'm using hotels from ALL brands when traveling to BKK, which is easy to book on the phone apps. It gives sometimes good deals, and prices are usually lower than booking/agoda .. for same service. Or you get better service like breakfast included. But no problem to book through online agencies. 

Fair and thanks.... when you say booking using phone apps. What apps are you meaning specifically? Is Agoda not a phone app?

 

[smithzac91]

Most, if not all, of the popular hotels also have their own websites. You can book directly through them via their websites as well with full confidence. 

Another option is to visit their websites to check prices and then head over to Agoda, booking.com, hotels.com, etc. to compare prices against each other and against the hotel itself. I've used all of the options and they all work as expected. 

[little_me]

16 hours ago, Martin67 said:

This may be a real dumb question but I honestly haven't ever travelled over seas so I am going to ask anyhow.

When booking a hotel what seems to be the best method, on line, through an agent or can you actually call them direct and speak to someone in english to get it done?

Online.

Check at least Agoda and probably Expedia. 

Some large Western brands might give you something for frequent customers if you book directly.  But you have to have racked up a few (dozen) stays with their rewards to bother.

It's usually the same price anywhere.  And Agoda and Expedia are generally very reliable, and have agents available.  There can be some limits on what you can change if you do a pay now deal (usually cheaper than paying when you check out), which kinda puts it on you to not fuck up, but hotels are usually a little forgiving if you talk to them directly.

I'm sure the vast majority of hotel reservations are done electronically in most of the world. Every company that has employees traveling is using a corporate travel agent who does all this through the same systems Expedia and Agoda are using. (or are using Expedia or Agoda directly as the corporate travel, cause I know at least Expedia does that).

Do remember to get a very exact hotel name and address printed out to bring with you. Makes sure the Taxi knows where you going. There are several places with very similar names and several chains with multiple hotels that aren't far apart.  But, really, I've been in 100's of hotels and showed up at the wrong one once or twice, it's no big deal, they'll usually sort you out once they realize it wasn't their mistake to try and cover up.

[5150_bkk]

I've been going to Thailand (and elsewhere in Asia) for years, and I've never made a telephone call to a hotel to book a reservation. Two options: You either use a site like Expedia, Agoda, Orbitz, etc... Or you book directly on the hotel's website. 

[briguy]

4 hours ago, Martin67 said:

I may however try to book by phoning them directly to see how that goes.

It might not go well, but you won't know that until you arrive. You might think everything is fine with a reservation you made over the phone, but the language barrier and human error enter the picture if you try to book by phone.

[Martin67]

3 hours ago, little_me said:

Online.

Check at least Agoda and probably Expedia. 

Some large Western brands might give you something for frequent customers if you book directly.  But you have to have racked up a few (dozen) stays with their rewards to bother.

It's usually the same price anywhere.  And Agoda and Expedia are generally very reliable, and have agents available.  There can be some limits on what you can change if you do a pay now deal (usually cheaper than paying when you check out), which kinda puts it on you to not fuck up, but hotels are usually a little forgiving if you talk to them directly.

I'm sure the vast majority of hotel reservations are done electronically in most of the world. Every company that has employees traveling is using a corporate travel agent who does all this through the same systems Expedia and Agoda are using. (or are using Expedia or Agoda directly as the corporate travel, cause I know at least Expedia does that).

Do remember to get a very exact hotel name and address printed out to bring with you. Makes sure the Taxi knows where you going. There are several places with very similar names and several chains with multiple hotels that aren't far apart.  But, really, I've been in 100's of hotels and showed up at the wrong one once or twice, it's no big deal, they'll usually sort you out once they realize it wasn't their mistake to try and cover up.

Thats some great and helpful information right there. Much appreciated.

I will likely use Agoda, especially considering they take calls.

I am old school and just prefer talking to people.... in case I have questions.

Thanks again for the input.

Have an awesome day!

[Martin67]

25 minutes ago, briguy said:

It might not go well, but you won't know that until you arrive. You might think everything is fine with a reservation you made over the phone, but the language barrier and human error enter the picture if you try to book by phone.

Thats fair, I will likely just try and book through an agent. Either way I am sure things will work out one way or another.

Your input is appreciated.

Cheers