Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
Some hotel and travel websites such as Agoda.com create a false sense of urgency by advertising temporary pricing or touting high demand and low inventory for hotel rooms or flights. These methods, however, may be against the law if they are found to intentionally mislead or deceive. Some consumers have reported that Agoda and similar websites may be engaging in false advertising.
What is False Advertising?
False advertising can take many forms. Common tactics include misleading descriptions, deceptive pricing, and confusing measurements or comparisons. Misleading descriptions may include terms such as “light” or “natural” to describe food products, or using altered or deceptive photographs in advertisements. Deceptive pricing is when retailers advertise that a product or service is on sale by showing an artificially inflated regular price. Using words and phrases like “best,” “stronger,” or “better” to describe products may lead consumers to believe that a certain item or service is the best option on the market when there is no objective evidence that it is.
Does Agoda Engage in False Advertising?
According to consumer complaints about Agoda, the travel website may engage in false advertising and deceptive pricing in its advertised discounts on hotels and flights. Consumers choose the city they want on particular dates and Agoda compiles a list of available hotels. These hotels often include icons stating “70% OFF TODAY,” “Most popular choice,!” “ONLY 1 LEFT,” or “JUST MISSED IT!”
However, according to Checkbook.org, these claims may not be accurate. Although Agoda may state that only one hotel room for a given property is available, a marketing tactic intended to incentivize consumers to book quickly, the hotels’ own websites may tell a different story. In some cases, dozens of rooms were available when booking through the hotel site, despite Agoda’s claims that a hotel was nearly sold out.
In other cases, Agoda has been accused of showing artificially inflated original prices for hotel rooms in order to advertise a “discounted” rate. However, the discounted rate is often the same price quoted by hotels’ own sites, even when Agoda claims that the rate is as much as 70% off.
Other consumer complaints include Agoda and other hotel booking sites advertising one fee while charging a substantially higher one. Consumers may not realize that the $99 per night room rate shown on third-party booking sites does not include tax, booking fees, parking fees, or other charges. Once these charges are factored in, it may end up being less expensive to book directly through the hotel.
Deceptive Advertising Laws
Deceptive Advertising LawsDeceptive advertising is against the law. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), advertising may be deceptive if it is likely to mislead consumers and affect their decisions about whether to purchase a product or service. Additionally, advertising may be unfair if the harm caused by the deception is not outweighed by other benefits. Generally, retailers and other entities that make claims about a product or service must be able to prove that the claims are true. If you have been duped into paying for a product or service because of deceptive claims, you may be able to file a lawsuit for false advertising.
False Advertising Against Agoda?
At least one class action lawsuit for false advertising has been filed against Agoda. In 2020, plaintiff David M. sued Booking Holdings, Inc., Agoda’s parent company, alleging Agoda has a policy of offering fake discounts to consumers by listing arbitrary false original prices for hotel rooms. Kevin claims the inaccurate original prices are much higher than the base rate offered directly by hotels, and that Agoda purposely misleads consumers into believing they are getting a discount when they are not.
If Agoda’s allegedly deceptive advertising motivated to book a hotel room on the Agoda website you may be eligible to join or file a class action lawsuit for false advertising against Agoda. Victims of deceptive advertising may be able to speak with a qualified attorney about the details of their case, and potentially pursue reimbursement and additional compensation from Agoda.
David’s Agoda Lawsuit for False Advertising is Case No: Case 3:20-cv-01289-JAH-MSB, filed in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of San Diego.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING
Top Class Actions is a Proud Member of the American Bar Association
LEGAL INFORMATION IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE
Top Class Actions Legal Statement
©2008 – 2024 Top Class Actions® LLC
Various Trademarks held by their respective owners
This website is not intended for viewing or usage by European Union citizens.
9 thoughts onCan You File a Lawsuit for False Advertising Against Agoda?
I have recently booked at Westin Malta by using Agoda. I entered two adults and one child (14 years old) for one room. The price was very attractive compared to other sites, so I booked three nights. When checking out, Westin Malta told me that I need to pay extra fee for my child. In my booking confirmation email and PDF, they did not mention anything about extra fee for third guest. They just wrote that I need to pay tax at hotel and that is it. I complained to agoda and Westin Malta. They said at the property policies which is at the very bottom of the website is mentioning about this information. However, we usually choose a room first before reaching this information, so we will never know about this policy. Why don’t they put such important infomration at front
and why don’t they mention there is extra cost when showing their price? Agoda is really deceiving clients by showing the misleading price. Even at the booking confirmation by both email and PDF format, this hidden price for 3rd or 4th guests was not mentioned. I think partnering hotel should have responsibility to check agoda’s site and make sure that they do not to show the misleading and false advertisement as they are partnering with agoda. They should check it reguarly to make sure that their guests are treated fairly. Under what circumstance, does this deveptive and misleading advertisement can be forgiven? This is really against business moral. I strongly request to agoda to stop this immediately and pay compensation for this deceptive, misleading and false advertisement and booking confirmation.
The advertised price was so much lower than what I was eventually charged. It was three times the price charged by the hotel. They even messed up my booking and cancelled my last night. I then had to pay again as the hotel had refunded the money to Agoda. Terrible!!
they charged us xxx amount of money for w deceptive booking! its one click kind of thing and boom numerous email and nothing has happened.
Agoda has scammed me for my money as well. They have charged me twice for one booking and there is no way to get a refund. The customer care wont answer the call. They have ruined my holiday and stolen taken my money and continue to do this to thousands of people. I still havent got my refund amount and I doubt I ever will.
Agoda has scammed me for my money as well. They have charged me twice for one booking and there is no way to get a refund. The customer care wont answer the call. They have ruined my holiday and stolen taken my money and continue to do this to thousands of people.
Agoda sold me a room for certain price. I double checked with the property and found it is not what I paid for. Room is completely different than advertised. Contacted agoda and guess what “ no help”. It’s all on me to get the refund and look for some another property, when it should be agoda compensating that move as they made a false advertisement.
Having issues with the best price guarantee for agoda.com. in the beginning they didn’t add resort fee and said paid at hotel. Once the prices started dropping I tried to apply for best price guarantee. The price per night is lower but total cost is a few dollars higher because the resort fee is added to total cost. Even now when the room cost is half as much as my original booking they would give other excuses. They wouldn’t even price match their own website price stating that there is a promotion added on even though it is the same promotion as the original booking. If they had not locked me into non-refundable, I would be cancelling and rebooking. But now paying nearly double the price for the same room. Total scam.
I don’t know where to begin with this one, it’s quite mind blowing how Agoda is still in operation. I’m a homeless person that had lived through the Agoda platform 270 days of 2022, I had over 60+ booked, paid, confirmed and finalised bookings, 20% of the bookings had issues, some of the issues ranged from minor false and misleading advertising of hotels to more serious non existing bookings when arriving at the accommodation, I raised multiple complaints with Agoda and managed to arrange a face to face meeting at their Bangkok head office, I met with Senior Manager Jeffrey Lee and his colleague, they didn’t come prepared to the meeting, they had no idea or insight as to why I was meeting with them. I explained my personal homeless situation to them and went through all the issues from the start to finish, I advised I was seeking compensation for the 20% problematic bookings and poor customer service from the Customer Satisfaction Team, the meeting went for about 20 minutes. Jeffrey said to me that my concerns had been heard and that he would look into the matter further. 1 week later I received an email to say my account with Agoda will be suspended whilst they continued their “analysis”, another week went by and I received and email to say that they admitted fault to the concerns raised, they will pay 5% of the requested compensation amount I asked for and that they will NO LONGER accept bookings from me. MIND BLOWN. I’m still waiting to hear back from the Legal team within Agoda, I’ve also sent mail correspondence to Glenn Fogel Head of Booking Holdings informing him of the situation.
Add me please they liars manipulating deception play games with their chat system