Bangkok Hotels

Hi,

Been going through various sites, and each one has a diff rate.

Is there any particular hotel booking site which offers even better rates, or should one stick to agoda / [URL]bookings.com[/URL] etc.

Thanks.

Yup going to do that.

And booked Radisson blu plaza.

Thanks a ton.

[QUOTE=FastEddie48;2038635]To Gullible.

The best way is the express train to Makasan only take 40 min 120 bht, if you can leave your luggage at the airport only carry enough for one night.

Fast Eddie 48.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Gullible;2039484]Hi,

Been going through various sites, and each one has a diff rate.

Is there any particular hotel booking site which offers even better rates, or should one stick to agoda / [URL]bookings.com[/URL] etc.

Thanks.[/QUOTE]I recommend to stay away from sites that do not include the plus plus service charges in the price, which generally means 18% gets added to the original quoted price. Therefore I don't use Agoda any more. There is no guarantee that any one site is cheapest, but you need them to be all playing the game in the same way to make a comparison readily.

Strangely I wanted a Hotel in BKK for 2 nights. The 2 night price was higher than I expected. I wanted to see which night was more expensive. I booked each of the two nights separately and got a better price, both on [URL]booking.com[/URL]. Strange that they think they can up the profits for longer stays, instead of giving a discount. Saved over 300 Baht, with one minute extra work. Not much but it could be a lot more for longer stay in a higher class Hotel. This is just my bargain mongering Hotel, but not in Suk area. I plan to get a few fucks in with overnight girl to make it all worth while.

[QUOTE=Syzygies;2039611]I recommend to stay away from sites that do not include the plus plus service charges in the price, which generally means 18% gets added to the original quoted price. Therefore I don't use Agoda any more. There is no guarantee that any one site is cheapest, but you need them to be all playing the game in the same way to make a comparison readily.[/QUOTE]I prefer to take the other approach and compare base rates per night at the various booking sites including the official hotel web sites. You never know where a bargain rate will show up, but lately I have gotten great deals on Expedia and the official hotel websites as well.

I dislike Booking dot com's way of quoting prices ie the price for the entire stay plus BKK's 7 % VAT and 10 % Property service charge precisley because this format makes me perform extra calculations to find out what the nightly base rate is. Death and taxes are unavoidable, so I want to know the base rate for comparison purposes.

For example: if the total price quoted on booking dot com for a hotel stay including taxes and service fees is $1000 for 10 nights then I must calulate the hotel discount rate which equals 10/(10 *1+tax+service charge) which in the case of BKK is (10/10*1. 17) = (10/11. 7) = . 8547.

Then I must multiply the total price ($1000) x the discount rate (. 8547) and divide by the # of days (10) in order to arrive at a comparable price. Thus ($1000+. 8547)/10=$85.47 the nightly rate before service charge and taxes. This is the rate I use that is comparable rate to 90% of all the other rates quoted on the internet. In addition, Booking dot com does not alwyas add in the taxes and service charges in their inital quotes so one has to be very carefull when relying on one of their offers and make sure what is and what is not included.

And furthermore (I am almost done) I must calculate the discount rate 10/(10*1+tax+service charge) for every country I plan to visit becasue the tax and service charges vary per destination. Booking dot com: what a pain in the ass and only occasionally are they the cheapest. That's my two baht for the day.

Few years back I would write to the hotel directly, even sometimes would have some general managers number where I have stayed, it comes handy for recommendations.

But recently I find if you email the hotel asking for a decent rate on longer stays I found they make offers that are higher than offers on their own websites.

I did mention it to them in reply to their offered, some offer a better deal and some just ignore. I guess business is flourishing.

But you are right once one selects a hotel then one can try various sites, but in Thailand there is so much to choose from, and I really don't mean just girls. Hotels, food, things to do.

Thanks for all your help.

[QUOTE=NattyBumpo;2039830]I prefer to take the other approach and compare base rates per night at the various booking sites including the official hotel web sites. You never know where a bargain rate will show up, but lately I have gotten great deals on Expedia and the official hotel websites as well.

I dislike Booking dot com's way of quoting prices ie the price for the entire stay plus BKK's 7 % VAT and 10 % Property service charge precisley because this format makes me perform extra calculations to find out what the nightly base rate is. Death and taxes are unavoidable, so I want to know the base rate for comparison purposes.

For example: if the total price quoted on booking dot com for a hotel stay including taxes and service fees is $1000 for 10 nights then I must calulate the hotel discount rate which equals 10/(10 *1+tax+service charge) which in the case of BKK is (10/10*1. 17) = (10/11. 7) = . 8547..[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Syzygies;2039611]I don't use Agoda any more. [/QUOTE]I like Agoda because they give me points that I can use for free nights. I don't worry too much about the rates since I expense that anyway.

If you come alone, do you book a single room with 1 adult or 2 adults.

In case you get a girl, and you've booked for single adult, how does that work?

This is what I originally typed: Thus ($1000 x 0. 8547)/10=$85.47 the nightly rate before service charge and taxes.

This is what was amended without my consent and incorrectly posted by the ISG editor; Thus ($1000+. 8547)/10=$85.47 the nightly rate before service charge and taxes.

I am getting tired of checking and correcting the ISG editor every time I want to contribute something in order to make sure my posts are readible and accurate. Is there a way to turn it off?

[QUOTE=Smoothy;2039862]I like Agoda because they give me points that I can use for free nights. I don't worry too much about the rates since I expense that anyway.[/QUOTE]Priceline currently owns [URL]Booking.com[/URL], Agoda and Kayak.

Expedia currently owns Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotwire, eBookers and CheapTickets. Expedia gives points as well as Agoda.

Some of the best deals, however, are available by becoming a member of certain hotel chain's reward clubs in conjunction with getting a credit card from same hotel for example joining World of Hyatt and getting a Chase Hyatt CC or joining the IHG Rewards Club and getting a Chase Intercontinental CC. To give the customer an incentive, these CC's usually come with a couple of free voucher nights and substantial bonus points worth another couple of free nights for signing up and spending $2,000 or $3,000 in a few months on anything with the new CC. The annual membership fee is waived for the 1st year. After that a member can either cancel the credit card and not pay any annual fee or keep the card, pay the following year's annual fee and receive an anniversary voucher night to compensate for the annual fee. Believe me it works out to the member's advantage if you plan to stay at one or more of the respective hotels for even a few nights per year. In 2017, I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Jakarta for free for 7 nights using a combination of points and vouchers. I also stayed at the Fairmont Makati for 3 nights, paid for only 2 nights, was upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite, the executive lounge, and given $50 voucher for food at the Spectrum restaurant.

My least favorite hotel reward program is Marriott. Initially it was very a genorous reward program with a signing bonus of 50,000 pts and a couple of free voucher nights just for charging the requisite amount ($2000 or $3,000) on the new Marriott CC in the 1st 3 months. But I find Marriot is restrictive on the hotels where I can use their vouchers and points. For example, I can't use their points at Marriot Executive apartments where I like to stay when I am in BKK and the voucher nights can't be used at the JW Marriott BKK. This March I stayed at the Renaissance BBK instead in order to use my two free voucher nights with Marriott before they were due to expire. Hyatt, Intercontinental (ISG), and Fairmont have restrictions, but none so binding.

Airline reward programs in combination with Airline CC's can also be rewarding. I fly United and it's partner's Swiss Air and Thai Air often. This translates for me into a free round trip ticket from south Florida to BKK or MNL every couple of years.

[QUOTE=Gullible;2039484]Hi,

Been going through various sites, and each one has a diff rate.

Is there any particular hotel booking site which offers even better rates, or should one stick to agoda / [URL]bookings.com[/URL] etc.

Thanks.[/QUOTE]To Gulible.

Why you worry so much for only one night stay just pick a 5 star hotel near the actions are you a penny pincher.

Fast Eddie 48.

[QUOTE=Smoothy;2039862]I like Agoda because they give me points that I can use for free nights. I don't worry too much about the rates since I expense that anyway.[/QUOTE]To Smoothy.

I stop using Agoda the point is only good if you book a lot with them, they expired 5000 point a yr even 20,000 point is not that much a yr I liked booking. Com cancelled policy is much better than Agoda.

Fast Eddie 48.

[QUOTE=Gullible;2039893]If you come alone, do you book a single room with 1 adult or 2 adults.

In case you get a girl, and you've booked for single adult, how does that work?[/QUOTE]It's not the 80's anymore. You pay for your room. Price doesn't change when booking for 1 or 2 people. So if you come alone you just book a room for 2.

[QUOTE=ItIsMe83;2039992]It's not the 80's anymore. You pay for your room. Price doesn't change when booking for 1 or 2 people. So if you come alone you just book a room for 2.[/QUOTE]That's what I do. Never had any issues.

[QUOTE=FastEddie48;2039958]To Gulible.

Why you worry so much for only one night stay just pick a 5 star hotel near the actions are you a penny pincher.

Fast Eddie 48.[/QUOTE]Nice to see your back and active posting Eddie. The best place by far for a quick visit is Grand Center Point. It has it all in one location. Great Hotel, super shopping, a variety of dinning, and theaters. Not to mention the access to the BTS and MRT. What more could you want. Oh yah, Soi Cowboy is right around the corner.

RL.