How Do I Cancel My Agoda Bookings?

Travelers, at times, have to cancel their hotel bookings due to different reasons. Recently, it’s been the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced cities, and even whole countries, to impose lockdowns and travel bans. While I am writing this, state of emergency has been declared in Metro Manila, enhanced community quarantine has been declared and domestic air, land and sea access in the city is suspended until April 14: Metro Manila Lockdown Begins. And this lockdown is currently being discussed whether it will be lifted or extended: Gov't Sets Guidelines on Extension or Lifting of Luzon Lockdown. Due to this, travelers need to cancel their trips and flights and hotel bookings have to be rebooked, rescheduled or totally cancelled.

Before we discuss how to cancel your hotel bookings with Agoda, let’s identify different types of bookings. In terms of payments, there are three types of bookings – 1) pay now, 2) pay later and 3) pay at the hotel.

• Pay now means that travelers have to pay outright at the time of booking. This can be done through credit card, debit card, PayPal, or cash counter payment at selected banks.
• Pay later allows travelers to defer payment to a later date, usually identified by Agoda or the hotel.
• Pay at the hotel, on the other hand, gives travelers the option to pay at the hotel upon arrival.

There are two types of bookings when it comes to refunds – 1) refundable and 2) non-refundable.

• Refundable means that the booking allows travelers to cancel and be able to get their money back. But note that there is a time limit for this kind of booking. Travelers are only able to get their refunds, in case of cancellations, at a certain amount of time, for example, 7 days prior.  
• Non-refundable, as the name implies, does not allow travelers to get their money back in case of cancellation.  

Now, answering the most important questions amidst this COVID-19 lockdowns and travel bans.

Am I able to refund a non-refundable Agoda booking due to travel bans?
Most definitely yes. Since you are unable to travel to the destination country or leave your home country due to government restrictions, your hotel or Agoda has to refund your money. 

But what if the destination country or my home country is not on lockdown but I have decided not to push through with the trip?
Now, this highly depends on your hotel. Our trip to Vietnam was supposed to happen 2nd week of February and at that time, there was no lockdown in Vietnam or the Philippines but we decided not to push through. Here are the steps that we took to be able to get a refund even without the government restrictions. Note that these steps can be taken for non-refundable bookings which have already been paid (whether Pay Now or Pay Later bookings):

1. Before changing anything to your booking, contact the hotel directly. See below ways to contact your hotel.
2. Indicate your reasons for cancelling and ask for their kind consideration.
3. Once they have agreed, ask them to put this on email for documentation.
4. Contact Agoda and send them a copy of your communication with the hotel showing that they agreed to a refund or rescheduling. See below ways to contact Agoda.
5. Wait for a few days for Agoda to be the one to change your booking. Important: Do not make any changes to your booking and let Agoda make the changes themselves.
6. Wait for your refund. 

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If my booking is non-refundable but says Pay at the hotel, do I need to take the same steps?
Just to be sure, yes. Since it is non-refundable, my apprehension is that Agoda might charge this to your credit card if you are unable to pay at the hotel. It will be the same process as the previous one.

1. Contact your hotel and ask if you can cancel your booking for free. Based on my experience, they would always say yes, given valid reason, because you haven’t paid anything yet.
2. Ask the hotel to put this in writing.
3. Contact Agoda and request for cancellation and send along a copy of your email exchanges with the hotel as proof that they are allowing you to cancel for free.
4. Wait for them to cancel your booking.
5. Regularly follow-up Agoda until you see the bookings under your Cancelled list.

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What do I do if the hotel does not agree to free cancellation?
I actually experienced this with one of the hotels that I booked in Laguna and to make things worse, this happened during the lockdown. Obviously, we are unable to push through with the trip even if we want to since we are no longer able to leave Metro Manila. The booking was on a Pay Now basis and was non-refundable. Instead of cancelling the trip and forfeiting , we opted to request to rebook our 2-night stay to August 2020. At least this way, you don’t lose your money entirely. Here are the steps that we took:

1. Just in case they do not agree to cancellation, ask them for a free rescheduling.
2. Once they have agreed, ask them to put this on email in case you are on a call with them.
3. If you already have this conversation on Facebook Messenger or on email, you can screencap the conversation and send to Agoda. See below ways to contact Agoda.
4. Wait for a few days for Agoda to change your booking. Again, do not make any changes to your booking and let Agoda make the changes for you. Sometimes, this takes a while but shouldn’t take more than a week.

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How many days before the trip should I be contacting the hotel?
Just to be on the safe side and if possible at all, do this a few weeks before your trip so these changes are made before the date of your stay in the hotel.
 
How do I apply for refund if I am still within the free cancellation period?
If you have already paid for your hotel booking but have decided to cancel within the free cancellation period, you can just go straight to your Agoda app and cancel the booking from there. This process is much more straightforward and you don’t have to contact your hotel for any confirmation. Here is the process:

1. Go to your Agoda app.
2. Click on Bookings.
3. Click on the booking that you would like to cancel.
4. Scroll down and click on “Cancel booking”.
5. Enter a reason for cancellation and click “Continue with cancellation”.
6. Agoda will return your money through your credit card.

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How do I contact my hotel to request for a refund?
There are several ways to contact your hotel, depending on where they are available:
 

• Email. This is my preferred way where everything is formal and documented. You should be able to find your hotel’s email address on their website or their social media accounts.
• Website contact form. Sometimes these hotels do not share their email addresses anywhere but instead have a contact form on their website.
• Social media. This is second best way since most of them are responsive here than email. This is also documented but less formal. You can try Facebook or Instagram.
• Phone call. This would be the last resort. My hesitation with phone is that it won’t be documented unless you request that they send an email. 

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How do I contact Agoda to request for this refund?
Once your hotel has agreed to refund or rebook, then you can try contacting Agoda through these ways:

• Phone. You may call Agoda through their 24/7 hotline numbers here: https://www.agoda.com/info/contact.html
• Agoda app. This is the easiest way for me but this can be more complicated for others so bear with me as I show you the steps.
  • Click on the three-dash or sandwich icon at the bottom left which says “More”.
  • Scroll down and click on “Booking Assistance”.
  • Select “Accommodation Booking” for the first box and then select “I’d like to cancel my booking” in the second box.
  • In the third box, select the hotel booking that you are referring to
  • Click on “Show more options” at the bottom
  • Scroll down and click on “Email us”
  • Fill in the form that will appear.
• Agoda website. This is very much similar to the app but click on “Help Center” at the bottom and follow the same steps above for Agoda app.
• Email. You can also email Agoda directly at customer-service@agoda.com

If my Agoda booking is refundable or says free cancellation, how do I cancel?
If this is the case, then you can proceed to cancel through the app’s self-service option without the need to contact Agoda’s customer service or the hotel.
 
How long will my refund take?
To be honest, I still haven’t received my refunds until now. It would really depend on how quick it will be processed by the hotel and by your bank. But based on their responses, the processing time takes about 2-3 banking cycles which means 2-3 months from the day it has been processed.
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