Did You Make an Agoda Booking Based on Misleading Advertising?

Consumers may have made an Agoda booking based on misleading advertisements which pressured consumers to book hotels through false claims of scarcity, timed deals, and other tactics.

What Is Agoda?

Agoda is a booking agency which allows consumers to reserve vacation rentals, flights, hotels, and more. The company was founded in 2003 by two Americans – leading to Agoda.com being launched in 2005. Since its founding, the company has been restructured and acquired by parent companies.

The company has been at the center of controversies and criticisms in the past several years. In 2015, the website was ranked to have the least attractive rewards program when compared to other booking sites such as Expedia. The company’s program was criticized for expiring points at the end of a calendar year and for other confusing terms. In 2017, Thailand officials stepped in to ask Agoda to stop listing illegal hotels which don’t pay taxes to the country’s tourism authority.

Agoda booking has also been subject to accusations of misleadingly marketing their listings in order to deceive consumers into making reservations.

Was Agoda Booking Advertised in Misleading Ways?

Booking websites like Agoda may be used by consumers to compare hotel rates, flight prices, and other costs. By finding the best offer, consumers can reduce the cost of a business trip or vacation by hundreds of dollars. Unfortunately, Agoda have taken advantage of consumers by misleadingly portraying their listings.

Agoda and other websites have been accused of listing their reservation offers in misleading ways to make hotel rooms seem more popular than they were. Sites allegedly warned consumers that other website visitors were looking at the same room as them – deceiving them into thinking the room offer was popular and could be snatched up by another consumer.

Other pressure selling tactics, “limited time” offers, fake discounts, and inaccurate room availability listings may have similarly misled consumers and pressured them into making reservations.

Has Agoda Faced Liability For Misleading Advertising?

In the United Kingdom, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation against comparison sites like Agoda, Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, ebookers, and trivago for misleadingly marketing their listings. In February 2019, the results of this investigation were concluded and new rules were set to encourage truthful listings on booking sites.

Companies reportedly agreed to make several changes to their booking websites, according to the CMA. These changes include:

• Making it more clear how hotels are graded on websites and if certain hotels pay to receive a higher ranking;
• Promising not to falsely portray hotels as popular in order to encourage booking;
• Clearly disclosing which discounts are available and not promoting deals which are not available (i.e. showing lower weekday rates when comparing hotels despite higher weekend rates);
• Showing taxes, booking fees, resort fees, and other charges in the price of a room.

Companies had until Sept. 1, 2019 to comply with these changes lest they risk being taken to court over the issue.

“The CMA has taken enforcement action to bring to an end misleading sales tactics, hidden charges and other practices in the online hotel booking market,” said CMA Chairman Andrew Tyrie, according to BBC. “These have been wholly unacceptable.”

Although Agoda booking has faced regulation from UK authorities, consumers may have still been taken advantage of by misleading marketing tactics in the past. Additionally, US websites and pages in other countries may not have the same changes made to them – meaning that Agoda and other websites could continue to take advantage of their customers.

Can I File an Agoda Booking Class Action Lawsuit?

If you were deceived into making a reservation by misleading Agoda booking, you may have been financially injured by these practices.

You could have been encouraged to reserve a room or flight based on representations that you would soon be unable to secure these bookings. In other cases, you could have chosen to book with a certain hotel based on misleading representations about prices or fees. In the absence of misleading advertisements, you may have been able to find a better rate elsewhere or would have had the opportunity to carefully compare your options.

Situations may vary from customer to customer, but misleading Agoda booking representations could have significant financial impacts on consumers.

In these cases, you may be able to file an Agoda booking class action lawsuit in order to hold the website accountable for misleading statement. Legal action against the company could help recover damages and other non-monetary benefits such as injunctive relief requiring the booking website to advertise their services in an accurate and lawful manner.