I booked a hotel in Okinawa through Agoda. They switched owners and began a renovation after I booked, but they didn’t inform me.
As such, there are none of the promised amenities here – not even hot water! There are ants breeding in the bathroom. There is the sound of construction all day. To make matters worse, the beach which is covered in garbage is only accessible through an overgrown garden full of garbage, bugs, and rotting wood.
I planned to stay 8 more nights, but I cannot abide this place even one more day. My dream Okinawa vacation I saved for and planned for has been completely ruined!
Agoda has said that the vendor refuses to refund me, so that’s the end of it. I have to pay for 8 more nights of this shithole even though I will NOT stay here.
NEVER trust Agoda to have your best interests at heart. They only care about making their commission from property owners. Use a better app/website!
39 comments
Check with your credit card company and/or travel insurance to see if they can help.
Yeah… I’ve had mixed results with them at best. I’ll second the advice to avoid them when possible
Not even hot water? Ants?
Is it an AirBnB or whatever Agoda`s version of that it?
You need to be persistent with Agoda, I really cannot believe your version of events. Send them photos of claimed damage and issues.
Although I dont like that Agoda changed their point system (basically worthless now) they have gone above and beyond and refunded bookings for me, even refunded a non refundable booking recently after I got sick. I am a VIP on their site, so maybe that changes things.
I only used Agoda once and it went alright, but the only travel agency I trust is HIS.
Was it an Agoda hotel or one of those “Agoda Homes” or whatever they call it, which is like an AirBnb?
Agoda is part of Booking Holdings which includes other sites like [Booking.com](https://Booking.com), so their customer service is pretty standard.
I’ve had pretty good experiences with getting my money back from them. Once in China when I discovered the airline would give a free hotel, they refunded me on my no-cancellation booking because I said I “changed my mind”.
They have also refunded me a few times when there were misunderstandings like extra fees for amenities.
I would try again or perhaps email them.
Have you considered bringing it to Social Media? Sometimes a good tweet/IG/FB post can go a long way, especially if it has ripples.
Had a similar issue with agoda in the winter. Smaller ski resort place was closed, ended up having to do a charge-back with my CC company. Agoda customer service was non-existant.
I used to use 3rd party booking sites for hotels. They are fine when things go to plan but especially in this day and age when your travel plans and other things can change quickly, I avoid all of them like the plague. Heard too many horror stories.
In my opinion it’s best to book directly. Same goes for flights too.
Besides the hot water thing, which I would demand some compensation for, and maybe the ants, the rest just sounds like you chose a shitty place? That’s why reviews are a very important thing to check over.
I have nothing but amazing things to say about agoda, they went out of their way to help me and my family even though what we were asking was “against” their own rules.
I have used Agoda a lot and it has always worked well, but I only use it in hotels offering discounts. So they are large chains or established places.
Stand strong against Agoda. Something happened to me back in 2018 in China town in Kuala Lumpur during a long transit (30 hour transit).
Booked the hotel quite a few months in advance. But when I got there it turns out it was now a corner shop haha. Turned within the advance booking months and my arrival that happened and Agoda did not even know, let alone tell me (but it’s Agoda’s responsibility to know and check their hotels are actually still hotels).
So I grabbed a few cans of Tiger from the corner shop (needed after an Air Asia night flight). And the corner shop explained that they think it used to be a hotel and let me use their phone to call Agoda. At first Agoda did not budge. So o went to their office in person (luckily was only a few stops away) and refused to leave until I could speak to a manager.
In the end I got a way nicer hotel free of charge and $100 voucher, and my cash back for the original booking (of which said booking was less than the Tiger beers I bought at the corner shop haha)
Agoda screwed me over on a trip to S Korea in 2018. Apparently when you book online, they don’t charge your card until a day or two before the reservation.
Something happened with the payment and for some reason it didn’t go through. Instead of reaching out to me and confirming about the payment, they just cancelled my reservation altogether, with no notice.
To make matters worst, the hotel we originally booked was then sold out and we had to scramble to find an available hotel last minute (which ended up being a dump). Will never use them again after that.
when I worked at a hotel in tokyo getting in touch with them was nearly impossible. whenever a guest called us for help with agoda we’d all let out a big, collective sigh.
Do you mind sharing some pictures of the said property and beach ?
I have never used them since a situation where…
– They booked the wrong night in a hotel (different from my online receipt)
– The hotel was full and shouted ‘THE ONUS IS ON YOU!!!’ at me as I was leaving saying ‘where are we gonna stay?!?!? Sort it out with Agoda please!!!’
– Agoda had no actual support line, claimed they’re run outta Singapore and told me to call back on Monday
– I gave up, booked a $$$ room at the Hilton and vowed never to use Agoda again
Can you post a link to the hotel listing?
This isn’t an Agoda-specific problem, it’s a hotel-specific problem. Any booking site would have resulted in the same issues if you booked the same hotel.
If you reach out to Agoda and complain (take lots of photos to share with them) they might make it right for you.
>They switched owners and began a renovation after I booked, but they didn’t inform me.
Was this written on the TC? And if yes, did you click yes?
First of all, Agoda has nothing to do with what is happening behind the scenes at the hotel. Should they have been notified by the property and pass that info on to the travelers? Yes, but the first step is through the property. Even after that, Agoda’s actual responsibility lies buried somewhere in fine print – and they probably covered their asses.
Now they should have stepped up and offered a refund or credit to rebook elsewhere. Still, it’s probably not part of the contract that you entered when you booked. Contact your credit card or travel insurance.
Also, I hear that basically all beaches in Okinawa are huge plastic trash dumps nowadays. Many on honshu are the same as well. The islands around Ise in Mie and the Goto Islands in Nagasaki are just choked with refuse that no one can ever get to to pick up due to the rocky coast.
Only beaches on resorts that clean their stretch of sand are apparently worth visiting. It’s been a major disappointment for a number of clients that I’ve spoken with over the past four or five years when they’ve visited Okinawa.
3 times I’ve explicitly booked non-smoking rooms through Agoda, but I was stuck with a smoking room when checking in.. the hotel has denied responsibility each time which resulted in 30min+ tel calls with Agoda whilst pacing circles in the hotel lobby. Luckily they were able to sort it out and give me the proper room, but I’m done with Agoda. Ayashi..
I just booked a hotel in Okinawa through the hotel’s site and the booking confirmation came from Agoda. I guess I just have to keep my fingers crossed…
I’d be charging that shit back asap.
I used agoda once to book a hostel for a few nights and ended up extending. Agoda wasn’t so bad, but the owner was happy and gave me a discount because I wasn’t using a booking company.
I’ve used them twice in the past and had no issues. Once I’ve canceled because there was a medical emergency and they were very accomodating.
Post pics.
Agoda doesn’t do sh*t. Only use then when you’re absolutely sure of your travel dates, when you’re just canvassing prices and after doing your personal checks on the hotel.
I had to cancel my booking for a hotel in Osaka for 4 nights back in 2019 – I carefully read the terms and conditions, I was still on the “full refund” time frame.
Agoda CS just kept telling me via the canned email replies to wait for the refund via my credit card as it takes 30-45 days at most.
Refund doesn’t arrive after 60 days, they say they’re going to escalate. That becomes 120 days. I diligently reply to every ticket saying that if I don’t respond within 3 days they will close the ticket.
It’s now 2022 – 3 years and no refund. Can’t even blame Covid for this.
Edit: Couldn’t claim via my travel credit card too since they said that I initiated the cancellation.
I feel like this is the hotel owners problem and not Agodas. The new owners should have updated the listings and also sent an email to people who were booked to stay there with news about the updates.
First time I hear of Agoda, I always book hotels directly.
Is there any benefit in using a third party?
Did you get the hotel for a refund?
I had a similar problem but instead I asked the hotel for a refund directly. They approved. I called Agoda while at the desk with the manager and then Agoda called the manager. Instantly refunded.
I don’t think this is a problem isolated to Agoda. Is Agoda just supposed to refund everytime a customer calls?
There has to be a dispute process and Agoda just isn’t equipped to handle it. You need to go to the credit card to initiate it.
As others have said, this is not actually that big of an issue.
Just take a lot of pictures and chargback it.
r/okinawa
I second this. We just had an issue with an Agoda property in Japan. It was completely misrepresented – the stated number of beds were not present, neither were the stated amenities etc. and the staff was not accommodating and would not help us. They said if we needed more beds, the room would cost more. This was confusing to us because we booked the room with the number of beds we required and we had no idea why it would be “extra” but either way they didn’t seem to be able to accommodate us. This was especially disappointing since we had someone call the hotel directly a week prior to confirm our reservation. We felt as though it was a bait and switch. We called Agoda and they wouldn’t help us. They said if we left we would have to pay for at least one night’s stay, maybe more. We left anyway since we couldn’t all sleep there and cancelled the credit card we used to book the room. Not sure if they tried to charge us or not but we didn’t want to take the chance.
Agoda blows
Something tells me you stayed at the fusaki in ishigaki island…
Agoda (and a few others) are only so cheap because of this.
I booked through Agoda for Sydney recently on way back to Japan. They cancelled my booking, told me I’d get a refund and I still don’t have it. Since then I have not used Agoda even when they offer best price
Also, don’t use Travelocity.
Just before the pandemic, I used them for a trip to a neighbouring country. I arrived at the hotel I had booked, and when I got there they asked me why I was there, that they weren’t licenced to have foreign guests. I told them that I had already booked the hotel, and showed them the booking. They said it was impossible, looked up some things, then said that they didn’t understand why I was there. At least they helped send me to another hotel. I had to walk a lot, then finally got to the other hotel where they let me stay.
Also, the same trip, before leaving, I had a hotel booked in another city. The thing is the address and map didn’t make sense. According to Travelocity’s map, the hotel was right in the middle of a public park. I checked Google Maps and other online maps, and got a couple of different addresses for the hotel’s name, in completely different parts of the city. Travelocity would not clear up the issue, despite me telling them that I obviously couldn’t get to a hotel without an address. Eventually, I canceled the hotel and booked a different one. When I arrived in the city, out of curiosity, I checked the place where Travelocity said the first hotel was, and of course there was no hotel there.
Oof, that’s rough, buddy. I’ll reconsider Agoda and such on future trips. If you’re near Naha, pop over to Tokashiki Island. It’s part of a national park, beautiful clean beaches, reef easily accessible from them, Milky Way visible with the naked eye at night if you stretch out on the sand. Totally worth it.