If you’re planning to travel to Asia soon and looking for a hotel reservation company, chances are you’ve come across Agoda.com. There are many other popular companies that offer the same services, but what makes Agoda better than the rest. And are your services reliable? Discover the answers in this article.

If you’ve never heard of Agoda before, it’s no surprise. However, you must have at least heard of Priceline.com, the largest travel agency on the Internet. Well, Priceline is the parent company of Agoda. However, Agoda only handles hotel reservations worldwide, but they particularly specialize in the Asian hotel market.

So what makes Agoda.com so special?

After using so many different hotel booking companies, I have found that all hotel rates are, on average, about the same, plus or minus a few dollars. Agoda’s room rates are also on par with the rest of its competitors. However, Agoda has a reward points system that you can earn for room discounts and free nights.

This is the biggest advantage that Agoda has over its competitors. You can earn points automatically. From 4% – 7% of the price of your room. Sometimes there are special offers where you can earn more. The minimum points you need, say a $25 discount is 12,500 points and that’s easy to achieve if you spend around $625, which is what most people already spend on a hotel stay.

You can use those points or save them like I do for an even bigger discount and free nights.

The benefits of using Agoda don’t end there. You can easily earn 500 reward points for submitting a review of the hotel you stayed at. Agoda relies heavily on guest reviews, so they want to give them an incentive. It’s easy to submit a review and it won’t take more than five minutes. You usually receive an email from Agoda within 2 weeks of payment, asking for your review. As you can see as a frequent Agoda customer, your points can add up quickly.

My favorite thing about Agoda is their ability to quickly confirm room availability. Agoda’s competitors require you to wait a few hours or maybe a day due to time zone differences to find out if a room is available. Agoda’s reservation systems are always up to date with the latest deals, special prices and of course instant room availability.

Finally, don’t you hate it when you search for a hotel online and don’t know exactly what types of attractions or other hotel options are in the area? Agoda has a great hotel map feature that uses Google Maps to pinpoint your hotel location and reveal nearby landmarks, attractions, and hotel alternatives.