Victoria J.

I booked several hotels through Agoda for my recent trip to Japan. They usually use the system whereby they charge the money. It's very intransparent, as on your creditcard statement, you see only the final amount and not what was booked. I queried one as the exchange amount seemed way wrong, and received only standard answers that as I chose "Pay Later" I had to accept the exchange rate on the date booked... however, how Agoda arrives at the exchange rate is not explained. I had other bookings at the same time which I paid directly, and the "current" exchange rate was always better, both a day before and a day after my stays where Agoda charged. So it looks like they are setting their own exchange rates in order to earn better. I won't be using them again.

I was advised that my hotel in Prague would be charged according to the daily rate. But my card was charged on the day of the booking, and considerably higher than the exchange rate could have been. When I complained to Booking.com, they replied that I needed to understand the Hotel had bank fees. But my bank fees were an extra amount again. I have gone from a good customer to someone who won't use Booking.com again due to lack of transparency and publishing of false or outdated exchange rates.