Agoda cancelled our booking and failed to provide alternative accommodation.

TELLIT01

Maybe the OP 'shouldn't have to' but in their situation I would have booked the hotel direct while rooms were still available at a reasonable price and then argued with Agoda.  The longer they fight what is clearly going to be a losing battle, the higher accommodation costs will be.

eskbanker

Jellyhead45 said:

Also their Terms and conditions clearly state that in the event they have to cancel your hotel they will provide alternative accommodation- which they are not doing. It is not about being out of pocket, it is about the companies failure to asheet to their terms and conditions and cancelling the hotel for no reason when it is still available.

As above, which clause(s) are you referring to - I couldn't locate anything saying that at https://www.agoda.com/en-gb/info/termsofuse.html ?

Alderbank

I also can't see anything in the T&Cs stating that in the event they cancel your hotel they will provide alternative accommodation.

What they do say in the T&Cs is:

SECTION B: GENERAL BOOKING AND PAYMENT TERMS
7. BOOKINGS
7.6 Except where prohibited by local law, Agoda has the right to reject any Booking Request, and cancel any Confirmed Booking, including on behalf of the Travel Supplier, or any part thereof, without reason. If you have already made payment, we shall refund you the amounts paid...blah blah blah.

Aylesbury_Duck

Jellyhead45 said:

I have no idea what the significance is of $190.72 is and have asked Agoda the same question. I booked the hotel 7.5 months ago before the flights and tickets. With any normal company you can make a reservation and have no issues. What are you supposed to do? Not book anything at all in case some company suddenly decides to cancel your hotel!!! It certainly should not be an occasion where booking all components is a risk. We travelled to Singapore last year booking the components in the same way and had a stress free holiday with no travel company suddenly deciding to cancel our hotel. I certainly don’t think I took any risk; the fault is with Agoda for constantly letting customers down. One thing I will make sure of is that I don’t book with them again.

It's definitely their fault, I don't dispute that, but there clearly was a risk, because it's now been realised.

Why the reference to "constantly"?  Have they got a history of doing this?  That might suggest dubious business practice.  Not that it particularly gives you any more comeback.

Okell

eskbanker said:

Jellyhead45 said:

Also their Terms and conditions clearly state that in the event they have to cancel your hotel they will provide alternative accommodation- which they are not doing. It is not about being out of pocket, it is about the companies failure to asheet to their terms and conditions and cancelling the hotel for no reason when it is still available.

As above, which clause(s) are you referring to - I couldn't locate anything saying that at https://www.agoda.com/en-gb/info/termsofuse.html ?

Alderbank said:

I also can't see anything in the T&Cs stating that in the event they cancel your hotel they will provide alternative accommodation.

I think the OP may be trying to rely on Agoda's Reservation Guarantee from their Policies page?

Agoda.com: Smarter Hotel Booking

pinkshoes

Jellyhead45 said:

We booked 2 hotel rooms on the 28/9/23 for a stay in Singapore September 24. We have all out flights booked, tickets to the F1 and have spent a considerable amount of money.

We received an email last week telling us they could no longer accommodate us and we either took compensation of $190.72!! Or allowed them to find us alternative accommodation.

A quick bit of research showed the rooms we had booked still available to book through their website. I made direct contact with the hotel who also confirmed they still had availability.
One option would be to re book however the price has increased significantly since we booked and we already had a booking so don’t see why we should.

With flights booked we opted for them to
find us suitable alternative accommodation (as per the offer in their email and their terms and conditions).
Agoda replied advising that they couldn’t find alternative accommodation until we paid the booking deposit. The booking we made was not an advance pay booking so we couldn’t understand why they were asking for money nor what it was for.
 Despite numerous emails they have avoided answering any of our questions and refuse to find us accommodation as per the terms and conditions of our booking unless we pay money.

With flights booked and all travel plans in place this has totally messed us up. The number of hotels available now is significantly less than 7.5 months ago and prices have also increased.
The constant generic emails and failure to address the issue was causing my son considerable anxiety and stress. I contacted via Social Media and my son sent permission for me to act on his behalf as per their privacy policy. This was sent and I asked that they ceased sending him emails and dealt with myself
They sent 3 further emails to him all identical. Despite informing them that he had sent the consent they have made no attempt to recto the matter with myself as they said they would.
Any advise/ recommendations with regards to who we can contact or report this matter to would be appreciated.

As you've booked with a company that has its headquarters in Singapore, then UK law doesn't apply here, so although what they've done is really annoying, you need to accept that you're not going to get anywhere with this and accept their $190.72 compensation offer then re-book the hotel directly at the new price. 

If you'd booked through a UK travel agent regulated by ABTA you'd have some rights, but unfortunately booking everything separately can be problematic. 

How much is the difference in price between what you paid and what the cost now is?

Jellyhead45

Thank-you for all your advice/ information, we are definitely dealing with Agoda although I did believe that it was a scam at first. I realise that Agoda state in their terms and conditions that they can cancel any reservation without reason except where prohibited by local law- Singapore has a consumer protection (fair trading) Act 2003 which I quoted in this case.

Agoda have confirmed that the hotel uploaded the incorrect rates at the time of booking and only noticed the error 7.5 months later. Whilst Agoda negotiated with them to honour the booking they refused.
With everything booked our main concern was securing alternative accommodation.
 Agoda have agreed to compensate us with a sum of money, significantly higher than the original offer, which means that we are able to secure accommodation of a higher value without having to pay anything in addition to the cost of our original booking. 

I am happy with the outcome as we have already been able to make a new booking and can look forward to our holiday without the stress of trying to navigate the consumer laws of a different country.

Okell

Sounds like Agoda have sorted it out for you.

Well done for not just accepting the original offer