Booking.com . . or Amoma??

codger

We've used booking com for years without a problem, but recently we read on the 'Net a recommendation to try the scalper Hotels Combined, which aggregates search results from a variety of accommodation brokers.

I'm looking at the results of a search for a hotel in the Algarve right now, and though booking.com figures in the list is by no means the cheapest (even including the so-called 'Genius' -- ho-ho -- 10% discount we get for being frequent bookers.)

Hotels Combined mentions three seemingly competitive websites to booking com: Amoma, Zen Hotels, and Hotelopia. None of 'em are headquartered in the UK but then, booking com isn't, either.

I've quickly scanned reviews of Hotelopia and they're pretty bad. Zen Hotels, based in Cyprus, might be better . . . but I'm very, very wary of anything that operates out of Cyprus: the island isn't exactly renowned for business integrity.

The most persuasive then seems to be Amoma (headquartered in Geneva.) Amoma's reviews, if they're anything to go by, are generally good. I therefore wondered:

Has anyone here used Amoma? If so, would they recommend it?

Thanks.

bagand96

I've used Amoma before and had no issues. I've also used Hotelopia a few times, again with no issues, although it was a few years ago - something tells me they were part of TUI at one point - they're now part of hotelbeds group which are a huge bedbank based in Spain.

Have you tried using Kayak and Trivago as well to compare prices?

Also, contact the hotel directly and see what they can do. If you book via an agency then they'll have a commission to pay, so often there is wriggle room by going direct, they may offer a better price, or upgraded room etc...

PompeyPete

We've been using Booking.com for years without any problems, and until something goes wrong we'll continue with them.

I know what you mean about business integrity in Cyprus.

littlereddevil

Loads of bad reviews of Amoma if you do a search

silvercar

I've used both without a problem.

Also nervous when I first used amoma, particularly as the hotel was half the price anyone else was showing, but it was fine.

bagand96

Loads of bad reviews of Amoma if you do a search

And booking.com

And just about every other travel provider.

PompeyPete

bagand96 wrote: »

And booking.com

And just about every other travel provider.

As often as not the problem is due to the person booking not reading the property's full terms and conditions before pressing the BOOK button. Then they blame Booking.com [or whoever] for not being clear about the small print.

codger

Many thanks to everyone for responding so quickly: appreciated, and particularly the point about how all accommodation brokers will get critical reviews at some time or other. However:

Thanks to littlereddevil this morning, I've run a deeper search on Amoma as a result of which the risk of dealing with it looks, to me, like being a risk too high, as this T/A thread from 2015 (but still continuing on today) demonstrates:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i12290-k8818470-o20-Amoma_is_a_pure_scam-Bargain_Travel.html

(That said, T/A also had a long running thread about don't-trust-booking.com.)

I guess it all comes down to personal experience. Mrs C and I have been booking com users since 2008 and in those 10 years we must've made over 100 bookings here and around the world. We've never had cause for complaint.

(We did use Late Rooms in the '90s but it never was much good with non-UK accommodation -- and to judge by its performance today is still absolutely useless: we need a hotel near Faro airport, but all LateRooms provides in its "Faro hotels" search results are accommodations of which almost none are anywhere near the town, let alone close to the airport.)

Anyway. Thanks again, everyone, for helping out in my money-saving quest. The HotelsCombined website recommended by someone on the Internet isn't a site we'll bother with again: it's just another metasearch compiler. Like PompeyPete, we'll play safe and stick with what we know,

PS: special thanks to bagand96 re the advice about booking direct. Yes: we do that using our IHG or Hilton loyalty cards (or IHG's 'Friends & Family'.) However, outside of that type of booking, our experience has been that unless the hotel is part of a major chain, it can't offer a better price, as is the case with the Algarve hotels I've been looking at.

PPS: Just to clarify: the accomm providers mentioned in my post offered rates between 5% and 15% less than booking.com. In actual cash terms, however, we're only talking about a relatively small Euro amount -- and as the biggest discount was by the Cyprus-based outfit, well . . .

dj1471

I recently saw a good rate on Amoma, I booked with hotels.com and asked them to price match - the difference was refunded straight back to my card. They're not UK-based either, but I've never had any issues with them.

codger

Thanks for the heads-up, dj. Appreciated. We've never used hotels.com -- inertia to blame -- but have occasionally wondered whether or not to try it: its provenance is pretty good. Will now include it along with booking.com. Thanks again.

Flipflop1

Amoma warning!

I booked a triple room through Amoma for £97.
They sent a confirmation which proved this.
They then sent a voucher for a twin room.
When I queried this, they told me I had made a mistake and asked me to pay an additional £44.
I did this as I was in a rush to book and trusted them.
On checking this later, I found their mistake and asked them to refund the over charge.
We are now 40 emails into this discussion.
I have provided the confirmation as evidence which they refuse to accept.
Excuses so far:
I contacted them and asked them to charge me more.
The confirmation is fake.
The confirmation is after the ‘modification of booking’ (even though it still says £97 for a triple room)
All ridiculous and nonsensical excuses for wasting my time and trying to ware me down.
I have asked for their complaints policy and procedure 15 times so far, this is being ignored.
I now want to take them to the Small Claims Court and have asked for the contact person I would send this to.
They have now stopped communicating!
Please beware of Amoma. They are not based in the UK and sell on line. Both of these situations make it very difficult for anyone to seek remuneration.
They clearly now this and it is clearly part of their business strategy. Good customer service IS NOT!!!
If stung by them yourself, please contact Citizens Advice and ask them to refer your experience to Trading Standards in the hope that that can legislate against such shoddy business practices!
On the other hand, I have used Booking.com an Hotels.com with great success!! Professional and courteous companies!
Amoma are just not worth it!!