Sharing my experience of booking hotels:
Thailand
bangkok.com
phuket.com
Agoda.com
Sawadee.com
Both bangkok.com & Phuket.com are under the Asia web direct(AWD) group. Fantastic website, full of info, user friendly but.. Price a bit high. Make sure u click to the end of the booking to get the actual price! They require to pay deposit of 10%. The rest pay at hotel. They charge THB.
For agoda, price is much higher than the above. But sometimes they can offer some hotel which AWD don't. So compare before you book! Agoda charges USD, beware. Pay in advance.
For sawadee.com it's the cheapest among them. Crap website, but it offers the best price, and it's safe. No worries. Charges in THB , pay in advance.
For those "unique" hotels, book directly with hotel because usually agent has no offer. Accor group has sales once in a while, do register as member. Hotels like holiday inn, usually official rates and agent rates have no difference. Anyway , compare before you book!
Transfers:
Bangkok
From airport ,take a cab, won't cost a lot although drivers tends not to use meter. Expect about 350-450 baht.(without meter).
Airport express train, never try before. But it cost about 150baht If I'm not mistaken.
Travel around the city- bts skytrain, convenient and to avoid the jam. I don't recommend tuk tuk cuz usually they bring tourist to gem factories! Cab are plenty! Also my favourite because it's the best transportation after a long day shopping.
Travel
Phuket
Pre-book a cab from hotel or agent . Charge around 550-650 baht. Do so to avoid airport taxi taking you to some travel agents n force u to buy with them.
Travelling around island can use a rental car, I've tried Budget car rental. Good service, free delivery one way. Cost about 1700baht/ day for a honda jazz.
Hong kong/ Macau
Thailand
bangkok.com
phuket.com
Agoda.com
Sawadee.com
Both bangkok.com & Phuket.com are under the Asia web direct(AWD) group. Fantastic website, full of info, user friendly but.. Price a bit high. Make sure u click to the end of the booking to get the actual price! They require to pay deposit of 10%. The rest pay at hotel. They charge THB.
For agoda, price is much higher than the above. But sometimes they can offer some hotel which AWD don't. So compare before you book! Agoda charges USD, beware. Pay in advance.
For sawadee.com it's the cheapest among them. Crap website, but it offers the best price, and it's safe. No worries. Charges in THB , pay in advance.
For those "unique" hotels, book directly with hotel because usually agent has no offer. Accor group has sales once in a while, do register as member. Hotels like holiday inn, usually official rates and agent rates have no difference. Anyway , compare before you book!
Transfers:
Bangkok
From airport ,take a cab, won't cost a lot although drivers tends not to use meter. Expect about 350-450 baht.(without meter).
Airport express train, never try before. But it cost about 150baht If I'm not mistaken.
Travel around the city- bts skytrain, convenient and to avoid the jam. I don't recommend tuk tuk cuz usually they bring tourist to gem factories! Cab are plenty! Also my favourite because it's the best transportation after a long day shopping.
Travel
Phuket
Pre-book a cab from hotel or agent . Charge around 550-650 baht. Do so to avoid airport taxi taking you to some travel agents n force u to buy with them.
Travelling around island can use a rental car, I've tried Budget car rental. Good service, free delivery one way. Cost about 1700baht/ day for a honda jazz.
Hong kong/ Macau
Asiatravel.com
My favourite website for hk/Macau
hotels, competitive rates and no deposit required! Easy to do cancellation( foc) . Charge in hkd, pay at hotel.
Websites like agoda do offer some good rates. But compare 1st! Most probably more expensive because u will only get to know the total cost after u click the confirm page.
For hk, it's very easy to travel around with MTR, u can possibly reach everywhere. Choose airport bus to/from hotel to save cost. I will recommend you to book a hotel near these airport bus station and a mtr station. My preference location would be at Kowloon area, convenient shopping n stuff.
For Macau, get a hotel with free shuttle is all you need! U can go to any place with the free shuttle transfer from the ferry terminal! From airport u can either use taxi or the free shuttle ,but it requires transfer. I prefer staying near st Paul ruins/lisboa. Convenient for shopping and casinos
Will update other countries when i have experience..Happy booking!
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