In Reply to: Booking with Agoda posted by hooked on Monday, 20. April 2009 at 15:23 Bali Time:
even booking with a TA, in this climate I reckon anyone could be in danger. I know with A/rooms, who I've booked with many times with no problem, say that they don't send your name to the hotel till ~3 days before arrival. I don't think there's any guarantee myself.
This is the exact reason that for our booking I've just made for Feb I am booking a private apt at the Jayakarta. I only have to put 20% down now and rest on arrival. I feel much better doing it this way. I would also be fairly comfortable if I was doing the same thing hotel direct and paying on arrival although I guess there's no guarantee with that either. : )