Booking confirmed and paid on Agoda, but S’pore tourist arrives in Perth to find no accommodation
A Singapore traveller said he was left scrambling for accommodation after arriving in Perth, only to discover that the property he had booked through Agoda had allegedly not received his reservation.
Stomper Blub Blub made the booking through Agoda for a four-night stay from Aug 12 to 16 at an accommodation in Cannington, a suburb south of Perth, Australia.
The lodging is managed by MadeComfy, which operates short-term rentals across Australia and New Zealand.
According to the Stomper, the Agoda app showed that the booking was “paid and confirmed”.
However, he said he did not receive any check-in details from the accommodation before his arrival in Perth.
Upon arriving, he contacted the property using his Singapore phone number as he did not have a local SIM card at the time.
The property allegedly told him that it had not received the booking request from Agoda and that there were no more units available at the location.
The Stomper said he was then referred to Agoda to resolve the issue with his booking.
He claimed Agoda offered either a refund or alternative accommodation. However, the options offered were much further from his original location and included what he described as “run-down motels” and “lodges”.
“We spent four hours in the cold winter from 3pm to 7pm working this out and managed to get a room with the property somehow,” he said.
He also said he made multiple calls to Agoda and the property, totalling more than 65 minutes, while trying to resolve the issue.
The Stomper subsequently asked Agoda to at least reimburse him for the calls, saying he expected to incur around $300 in overseas roaming charges.
He provided Stomp with his booking information and screenshots of call logs showing calls he said were made or received while he was in Australia.
Stomp is unable to independently verify the roaming charges incurred.
However, checks by Stomp on several telco websites showed that overseas voice-call rates can range from around 44 cents per minute to almost $5 per minute, depending on the telco, plan and whether the call is incoming or outgoing.
Blub Blub said he was frustrated that he had to act as a go-between for Agoda and the property.
He also claimed that Agoda had declined to compensate him for the calls, saying it did not have records of them, despite him providing screenshots of his call logs.
The Stomper said he was a Platinum member — Agoda’s second-highest membership tier — and had been a long-term user of the platform.
He also claimed that subsequent communication with Agoda regarding another booking had left him concerned that there might be hiccups with that reservation as well.
Agoda in contact with customer
In response to Stomp’s queries on Aug 25, Agoda apologised for the situation and said its customer experience team was in contact with the customer.
“We’re sorry to hear about the situation and thank you for bringing this to our attention,” said an Agoda spokesperson.
“In line with our privacy protocols, we’re not able to go into details of individual cases, but we can confirm that our customer experience team is in contact with the customer to address the matter at hand and work toward a resolution.”
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