I am writing this to warn everyone…Agoda serious scam and terrible experience - Booking ID 711101975
I am writing this to warn everyone about the serious scam and terrible experience I had with Agoda. I wanted to book a hotel room for 2 nights, from October 9th to 11th. Agoda showed the price as 130 AED per night. When I went to pay, a total of 297.21 AED was deducted from my card. Since 130 AED x 2 nights is 260 AED, I logically assumed the 297.21 AED was the total for both nights plus taxes. Unfortunately, I had accidentally clicked only 1 night (October 9th to 10th) on the app. But because Agoda added so many hidden fees at checkout, they made one single night cost the price of two! In the app, they showed the rate as 130 AED for 1 night, but an extra 167.21 AED was deducted from my card for "additional charges," including VAT. This means their additional charges were actually more than the room rate itself! How is that even possible? This is exactly how they scam you. They show very low prices to compete with other booking websites, tricking people into thinking Agoda is the cheaper option. But in reality, they make a fool out of you by piling on massive, hidden charges at the final step. I didn't notice my date error initially because the final amount matched exactly what I logically expected to pay for a full two-night stay. The nightmare started on October 10th. We went out for a city tour and came back late around 11:00 PM. To our shock, the hotel management had removed all of our personal belongings from the room without even calling or informing us. They told us our booking was only for one night. When I checked the confirmation, it did say one night. I was completely shocked. By the time this happened, it was past midnight. We couldn't find any place to stay at that hour and were forced to spend the entire night outside in a public park. Imagine how dangerous and exhausting this is, especially if you are traveling with kids. To make it worse, Agoda intentionally delays sending your official receipt. They didn't send it on the day of payment, which feels like a tactical move to keep you from noticing their inflated hidden fees until it's too late. I have uploaded all my screenshots and payment proofs here. Please do your research and book directly, through Google, or via other reliable websites. Never use Agoda!