Wt_know Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 (edited) not true leh ... credit card shows the charges by agoda, expedia, booking and the voucher printed with their logo whether these called intermediaries pay to the hotel or not ... how we know? we book hotel 1-2 months ahead ... by the time we reached the hotel ... if the voucher bo pake and hotel say no such booking we also LL kena scammed ... pay already and no hotel to stay i know the business model is "intermediaries" but they can certainly scam people and run road with hundreds of millions Not true lah.... Most of these are intermediaries, you pay direct to hotels and they take a cut. Hotels also don't want to take their risks lah. Anyway, most are giants, so less chance of them screwing you than privately owned travel agents. Edited May 24, 2015 by Wt_know ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktglfc Hypersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 Go travel ...scare of agencies ganna pok, or even whether the online companies really book your hotels or not... Hmm.... maybe time to have staycation :) There are still lots of places in our homeland that we haven't been to... I am sure none of us here can say we have visited each and every inch in our own land Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ender Hypersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 There is still a market for it, especially for older folks who are not tech -savvy, don't understand English... and also for families who want hassle-free travel .... Also, schools engage these agencies for students tour .... So, there is still a demand... else we won't see so many travel agencies in travel fairs.... Market is still there, just that it shrunk significantly. Market is not big enough for so many players anymore. hotel through website is also a risk currently, the big website are agoda.com, expedia.com, hotels.com, booking.com ... if they went bust they also run road with hundreds of millions because every month they got hundreds of thousands to millions of bookings I used booking.com before. Pay direct to hotel. Booking.com don't charge at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wt_know Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 (edited) my recent trip to germany last week ... agoda, expedia, booking ... all charge my credit card directly ... i'm sure they pay hotel separately yes, some you can pay at hotel directly but majority of them the booking agent charge first i guess some hotel do not trust the intermediaries and "enforce" payment directly to hotel Edited May 24, 2015 by Wt_know Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jman888 Moderator May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 Said this b4 n say again. Why on earth in this day n age wif all the available info n cheaper hotel/airfare & local tour booking available online would anyone go to a travel agent for their booking??? Maciam hv to physically go meet ur insurance agent just to buy travel insurance..... Chicken and egg, because of internet these business struggle to survive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wt_know Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 because of Internet ... a lot of retail is also struggling to survive ... so far only F&B is not "seriously" affected by Internet Chicken and egg, because of internet these business struggle to survive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soya Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 DIY is the best, planning is part of the fun and allows you to know your destination better. Exactly. Like they say, getting there is half the fun. The research really adds a lot to the knowledge and appreciation of the destination. Somemore now got google maps and streetview, its so easy to navigate. The last time i took a sheep herding......opps....i, mean package tour when the internet was still in its infancy and B2C sounded like R2D2's cousin. Plus, the useless local tour guide knows nuts (couldn't tell anything abt the different historical churches we we visiting in europe except to say "errrr....here's another beautiful church. u all go take peekture and come back in 10 min hor....kns), the tour bus driver got lost, the food tasted like pig swill, etc. And this was a 'reputable' agency still in business today (quite shocking....) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achtung 6th Gear May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 I wonder if the owners of these companies are big time gamblers in our casinos.... Everyone of these travel agents closed suddenly, leaving travellers in the lurch. Noone went away honorably when the writing is already on the wall (how to survive with all the online sites eating your lunch). Lesson is never use a travel agent especially when they are cheap. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voodooman Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 not true leh ... credit card shows the charges by agoda, expedia, booking and the voucher printed with their logo whether these called intermediaries pay to the hotel or not ... how we know? we book hotel 1-2 months ahead ... by the time we reached the hotel ... if the voucher bo pake and hotel say no such booking we also LL kena scammed ... pay already and no hotel to stay i know the business model is "intermediaries" but they can certainly scam people and run road with hundreds of millions I usually booked with booking.com (Superman has a stake via Priceline Group, IIRC) and I always pay direct to hotels. Agoda operates on a different concept although it is also part of Priceline group. Not sure with wotif and hotels.com, which are less competitive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wt_know Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 i use booking.com extensively too the irony is when i made a booking thru booking.com, agoda sent me an email "insider deal" which is cheaper than booking then i cancel booking and re-book thru agoda ... and i know agoda <> booking are from the same group ... muahahaha I usually booked with booking.com (Superman has a stake via Priceline Group, IIRC) and I always pay direct to hotels.Agoda operates on a different concept although it is also part of Priceline group. Not sure with wotif and hotels.com, which are less competitive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voodooman Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 (edited) Exactly. Like they say, getting there is half the fun. The research really adds a lot to the knowledge and appreciation of the destination. Somemore now got google maps and streetview, its so easy to navigate. The last time i took a sheep herding......opps....i, mean package tour when the internet was still in its infancy and B2C sounded like R2D2's cousin. Plus, the useless local tour guide knows nuts (couldn't tell anything abt the different historical churches we we visiting in europe except to say "errrr....here's another beautiful church. u all go take peekture and come back in 10 min hor....kns), the tour bus driver got lost, the food tasted like pig swill, etc. And this was a 'reputable' agency still in business today (quite shocking....) Yeah, if no time to do research, I will usually end up at the beach. Now with tripadvisor, it is so easy to research the must-do, must-eat, must-visit places. I rather stay at home than be herded around like pigs being sent to the slaughter house, like you, have not been on a guided tour since my 20s. i use booking.com extensively too the irony is when i made a booking thru booking.com, agoda sent me an email "insider deal" which is cheaper than booking then i cancel booking and re-book thru agoda ... and i know agoda <> booking are from the same group ... muahahaha Really? KNN, must complain to Agoda why never sent me insider deals???? It is likely to be restricted to larger hotel groups (for bulk room purchase to work). Now that you mentioned, it does make sense. hahaha... Edited May 24, 2015 by Voodooman Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
inlinesix Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 How come no one use AirBnB? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wt_know Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 wait the owner got a camera recording your piak piak and you find your video in 1000+ adult sites they are many sick people out there hor ... don play play How come no one use AirBnB? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voodooman Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 I wonder if the owners of these companies are big time gamblers in our casinos.... I won't be surprised. But most are likely to be bleeding for years, so last few months of planned existence, try to get customers and insurance companies to help pay for some of those losses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
inlinesix Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 wait the owner got a camera recording your piak piak and you find your video in 1000+ adult sites they are many sick people out there hor ... don play play It is d same for hotel hor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kangadrool Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 Airlines also can toh tiow one. My fren managed to catch the last flight of SwissAir before it declared toh tiow. Sibei heng. Buying holiday package from travel agency quite risky nowadays, esp if you buy and travel few months later! Think still best is DIY, buy air ticket and hotel through website?! I normally use them to compare prices, then book direct with hotel if available and prices not much difference. Muahahahaha... hotel through website is also a risk currently, the big website are agoda.com, expedia.com, hotels.com, booking.com ... if they went bust they also run road with hundreds of millions because every month they got hundreds of thousands to millions of bookings Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrocarbon Turbocharged May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 The last time i took a sheep herding......opps....i, mean package tour when the internet was still in its infancy and B2C sounded like R2D2's cousin. Plus, the useless local tour guide knows nuts (couldn't tell anything abt the different historical churches we we visiting in europe except to say "errrr....here's another beautiful church. u all go take peekture and come back in 10 min hor....kns), the tour bus driver got lost, the food tasted like pig swill, etc. And this was a 'reputable' agency still in business today (quite shocking....) It's better to go free-and-easy / ownself plan, then get to the destination, join their local tour group. Or can sign up for local tour groups before hand online. It wouldn't be a Singaporean guiding you, but the knowledge that the native tour guide can give.. Sibei ups! wait the owner got a camera recording your piak piak and you find your video in 1000+ adult sites they are many sick people out there hor ... don play play @davidtch say about AirBnB, your first thought is you become porn star... Haha.. I used AirBnB multiple times already, so far, still not porn star yet, though, likely, is coz my videos have no market. Just be prudent a bit lor, do a scan around the bedroom, see if any suspicious things around, directly facing the bed, etc.. Currently, most commercial spy cams are still not that small / hard to detect yet. Just go alibaba or other sites and search for the spy cams, and learn how they look like / operate, so you know what to look for. (I didn't get any, was looking at CCTVs when I came across the spycams.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soya Supersonic May 24, 2015 Share May 24, 2015 It's better to go free-and-easy / ownself plan, then get to the destination, join their local tour group. Or can sign up for local tour groups before hand online. It wouldn't be a Singaporean guiding you, but the knowledge that the native tour guide can give.. Sibei ups! That's right. I usually sign up w the local tour when I'm there. Their guides r more professional, knowledgable n dun try to scam u wif a 'mandatory shopping' stop. Also, travelling in a herded group seems so PRC.....Lol. ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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