2022 Agoda Reviews: Is Agoda Legit

Agoda is owned by Booking Holdings Ltd. which is one of the largest online travel service providers in the world. So, there is no question about the legitimacy of Agoda. Agoda is a trustworthy and very user-friendly travel agency that operates in over 200 countries worldwide.

Key Takeaways

• In a short time, Agoda gained lots of popularity and that’s mainly because of its cheap yet convenient service
• You can use Agoda as a metasearch engine for hotels, vacation rentals, flights, and airport transfers
• Agoda sells tickets from other companies for a percentage and in most cases, the commission is around 15% to 20% of the profit
• The only disadvantage of Agoda is, it is very difficult to contact Agoda customer service and resolve the problems

What Is Agoda?

Established in 2005 by Robert Rosenstein and Michael Kenny; Agoda is a Singaporean online travel agency that provides online travel booking services worldwide. You can also use Agoda as a metasearch engine for hotels, vacation rentals, flights, and airport transfers. Agoda.Com is owned by Agoda Company Pte. Ltd. which is a subsidiary of Booking Holdings. Since its establishment, Agoda has grown tremendously and acquired many other travel companies in countries worldwide. In Agoda, you will be able to buy tickets online as well as search for vacation rentals, flights, airport transfers, private stays, and many more.

Overview Of Agoda

Official Website	https://www.agoda.com/
Headquarters Location	Singapore
Founded	Michael Kenny and Robert Rosenstein in 2005
Industry	Travel Agency
Ownership	John Wroughton-Brown
Contact	Telephone: 020 3027 790

How Does Agoda Work?

Agoda is a travel agency but it doesn’t sell its own tickets. Instead, Agoda works as a middleman and sells tickets of other companies for a percentage. So, Agoda basically sells the services of their hosts and earns a commission for each sale they make. Usually, the commission is around 15% to 20% of the profit and the rest of the percentage is going directly to the host. So, when you buy tickets or book hotel rooms on Agoda, you make the deal with Agoda and make the payment. Then Agoda takes its commission and sends the rest of the payment to the seller’s account. So, here the host won’t have access to any credit card details from the customer; only the Agoda holds the information.

Is Agoda Reliable And Trustworthy?

Reliability and trustworthiness are very important for online platforms. Agoda has a customer rating of 2.6 in TrustPilot from 33,350 reviews. These reviews are mostly mixed reviews and a large number of reviews show a negative view of Agoda. Most of these complaints are about poor customer service, hidden fees, scams, etc. Moreover, it is very difficult to contact Agoda customer service and resolve the problems. Moreover, some customers said that their reservation never went through with the hotel, and in some cases, the hotel never existed in the first place! In 2017, Agoda refused to refund a customer despite the hotel didn’t exist. The customer filed a fraudulent complaint to the Thai government and then Agoda was eventually made to pay the customer a full refund.

Is Agoda Scam Or Legit Platform?

Based on all the available online reviews, it is very difficult to say whether Agoda is a legit platform or a scam. Agoda receives very mixed reviews, some of these reviews are excellent and customers are very happy with the service while others call Agoda a scam. On TrustPilot, Agoda has a customer rating of 2.5 despite 68% of reviews being 5-star ratings. The main problem of Agoda started with the COVID-19 pandemics. There have been a large number of issues in the past one and half years when countries have prevented travel due to the pandemic. Many customers said that Agoda refused to refund customers for cancelation of trips or bookings because of lockdown. Though Agoda has explained their approach for a refund due to COVID – 19 and lockdown it’s not enough to prevent the negative reviews.

Customer Reviews Of Agoda

Positive Reviews Of Agoda

Mr. Husain Kola Said – 

“Used Agoda for a hotel booking in Istanbul, the best price, accepted Amex and everything went smoothly and great. Would highly recommend it and definitely use it again. A lot of reviews on here are for the hotel, not the actual agent! 10 out of 10!”

Rizwan Ali Said – 

“I have used Agoda.com on more than a few occasions, I have found them to be very good value compared to the other sites on the net & their customer service is top class. I would recommend them to anyone looking for a great deal.”

S Noone Said – 

“I don’t understand these bad reviews. Booked a hotel in Paris in November. Best price for the exact same deal as other sites. No problems with payment, no hidden extras. Same with a trip to Rome in December, no problems. Saved a fortune.”

Beth Prittie Said – 

“I was a little worried after reading some of the BBB complaints with this company, but I decided to give them a try since they had the best rate for the hotel I wanted to book. I received a confirmation right away, and though I couldn’t confirm my reservation myself on the hotel’s website, all went well when I arrived for check-in. Right room, prepaid, all ready for me. I didn’t have a single issue. Whew! It was a load off my mind, for sure.”

Cleo Said – 

“Agoda has fantastic service. We booked a non-refundable hotel by accident, we only realized this close to the departure date, unfortunately, due to the COVID travel restrictions tightening the week we were meant to go this meant we couldn’t travel. Agoda helped contact the hotel to ask whether they would kindly change the dates. This was all under time constraints and Agoda constantly kept us to date with the outcome. They really helped us out, I cannot recommend it enough, I thought we would lose the money, and asking would be a long shot but it was all sorted and we have new dates, thank you Agoda!”

Luke Said – 

“I booked a great deal offered by Agoda on a five-star hotel. Then I needed to check out a couple of days early. Although the self-service and automatic chat assistant indicated the booking dates couldn’t be changed/refunded, when I emailed Agoda customer service they received refund approval from the hotel within 5 minutes!”

Negative Reviews Of Agoda

Steve Said – 

“Booked with this company for the first time. Had to cancel because of a broken leg. Cancellation well in advance but took money from my account despite accepting cancellation and advertising that they don’t take money if canceled. Still waiting for monies to be refunded despite several emails. Lame excuses were given for taking so long. Would not recommend booking with this company.”

Micaela Botero Said – 

“Terrible company. Do not use it, filthy hotels, won’t refund your money and even if you canceled on time which they advertise as free cancellation, they will still charge your card. Not a reliable company at all.”

John Swigart Said – 

“Terrible scam. Kicked me out of the page then I went back to change the dates again and it still gave me the date I didn’t need with no refund possibility. You can’t contact anybody to complain or help. Lost $58 in a matter of minutes.”

Tyson Stelzer Said – 

“Booking was confirmed. No check-in details were provided. On the day of check-in, I contacted Agoda to be advised that the accommodation had closed down three years prior. No alternative accommodation was offered.”

Ty Ti Said – 

“They reserved the wrong hotel they wouldn’t give me a refund. On top of that, I had to go reserve the right hotel so paid twice. Not good for someone on a fixed income.”

Final Verdict

Finally, Agoda is a legit company but its customer service is very poor. Moreover, there are lots of controversy about the refund policy of this travel agency. Therefore, you should be cautious about using this platform to book tickets or hotel rooms.  

References:

https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/agoda.com
https://www.bbb.org/us/ny/new-york/profile/online-travel-agency/agoda-0121-161919/customer-reviews

Last Updated on November 16, 2022 by Magalie D.