Booking.com is a popular way to find accommodation on Koh Phangan island. Many of you will also use the website for trips all over the globe.
Booking.com started with one man in a tiny office in Amsterdam, Netherlands. A tech guy with an entrepreneurial spirit wanted to put together Dutch travellers and the places they wanted to stay. In its first few years, this tiny start-up expanded quickly, jumping from its first employee in 1999 to 50 employees by 2002. The recipe for this growth and success was very straightforward: working hard for the customers to get it right every day and growing to new markets following consumer demand.
Koh Phangan originally became famous for the Full Moon Party, but there is much more to give on this beautiful island in the Gulf of Thailand. The island is a stunning postcard image with soft white sandy beaches, clear turquoise oceans and a lush green jungle mountain interior complete with many waterfalls to discover and great hikes to beautiful viewpoints.
Koh Phangan is a good place not just for party people (there’s a lot of great nightlife on Koh Phangan and so many more parties to enjoy even if it's not full moon time). Koh Phangan is also a spiritual island with many beautiful, world-class yoga and meditation retreats. It is also an excellent place for digital nomads with an exciting digital nomad community and co-working spaces, some including Beachfront ones.
For most spaces, booking.com provides free cancellations. That's a considerable advantage, basically giving you more choices when it comes to some last-minute adjustments. You might find other hotels or properties with better locations or prices so that you can cancel without penalties.
The rates offered on booking.com are very affordable, and when you book directly, you will always find no markup compared to your hotel's prices. You also better understand the fare costs by comparing rates from nearby and similar hotels. You will also better understand the property with feedback from actual users instead of depending on the hotel's general definition.
Booking.com provides its smartphone app to make it simpler for consumers, allowing you an easier way to scan, book, and keep yourself updated on your booked accommodation. The app can also give users access to free city guides for where they are going.
With so many hotels, deciding where to stay can be overwhelming. Reviews can be a constructive way of determining if a specific accommodation is a good choice.
You get to see what real guests were thinking about their stay, not just the overview of the facilities by the hotel.
Take into consideration the ranking of the place, sometimes a star system. A higher score means that previous hotel guests typically liked the hotel and enjoyed their stay with few issues. You have a better chance of enjoying your stay if you also restrict yourself to these hotels.
It will show how many reviews the accommodation has, which is a significant number. If there are a lot of reviews, you will get a much more detailed overview of the hotel. A hotel with a low number of studies is okay, but if many people give it a high score instead of just three or four guests, a high score carries more weight. It also means that only some 300 reviews need to be read. The first page or two should suffice.
In reviews, read through the good and the negative stuff people comment on, and look for things that could annoy you. A hotel with many complaints about noisy street noise might not suit you if you're easily disturbed by noise. If you're responsive to hard beds and there are a couple of challenging bed issues, move on. But if the TV was too tiny and you're not watching TV on vacation anyway, if there are complaints about that, don't let that weigh into your decision.
Could you ignore some negativity? If 30 people rave about the hotel and one person says that it was terrible for whatever reason, it was probably just a fluke. Refrain from letting one negative review outweigh a sea of favourable feedback. Some people have specific criteria, and they're not always met, but that doesn't mean that the hotel is at fault.
There is always the risk of a mix-up or unexpected element throwing a wrench into your plans with travel booking. No booking agent is resistant to certain types of events, and that's why they have some money-back guarantees that you'll want to look into, and if necessary, their customer service team is there to assist you or refund you.
When using booking.com, you have your booking guaranteed, which is better than just turning up at the accommodation when they may not have any rooms available. As they are also a third party, you can contact them for any information.
Booking.com also allows you to message the property directly through their platform, meaning you can manage your booking all within the same system and not have to search for websites or Facebook pages. Most accommodations are quick to respond to any particular questions you may have. If there is some information missing that you would like to know or you have a special request to ask to see if the accommodation can meet these needs, this is a great way to find out.
You can easily compare other properties in the same area or by budget by using booking.com’s filtering system. In this way, you will be given a list of specific accommodations that meet your requirements or are in the area you wish to stay in rather than searching in a vast area which could take more time.
The advertised prices are the prices that you pay. Booking.com does not add any admin fees or reservation fees. Booking.com does, in truth, rarely charge you anything straight away. In most situations, you only pay when you arrive at the accommodation. There are times when Booking.com receives fees, but this is often explicitly mentioned during the booking process. When you arrive, properties sometimes add tourist taxes or extra fees to the bill. This should be written somewhere during the booking process, so read everything.
Occasionally, you can get a better price by going directly to the accommodation. Also, because accommodations pay a commission to Booking.com, by going direct, especially for small and independent establishments, you know they are getting your full payment.
You might get better deals or upgrades by contacting the place directly and having that more ‘personal’ service as you go straight to them. You are almost worth more as they don’t lose money through the agency.
Book for a short time and extend. One of the best ways to use booking.com if you don’t want to put too much effort in before arrival would be to make your booking for a short time, two or three days. Then, when you arrive, you can extend your stay directly with the property.
Always compare booking.com and other sites like Agoda, Airbnb, Expedia etc., as they might have better deals or prices on the same property. Sometimes the price difference is significant and can save you money. Check it according to the duration you plan to stay, sometimes there are discounts for more extended stays, and it could be cheaper from one website to the other.
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