Agoda Awarded ‘Best Accommodation’ Website in Asia by TravelMole

PRLog (Press Release) - Mar 24, 2008 -
Online hotel booking site Agoda Company has been awarded the ‘Best Accommodation’ website in Asia at the inaugural TravelMole Web Awards for Asia in Singapore.

Known as the “Moscars,” winning entries came from around the region, and the judges reportedly had a hard time choosing winners from a list of 200 nominees for the various categories, but those chosen represent the “best of the best” in their categories. Besides Agoda, other award winners included QANTAS (best airline), Anantara (best hotel/resort) and Expedia.com.au (best online travel agency). The awards were presented yesterday in Singapore in conjunction with the annual Travel Distribution Summit conference.

Commenting on the award, Agoda Company President Robert Rosenstein said, “We are proud and honored to have been chosen as the ‘Best Accommodation’ website in Asia by TravelMole. Our philosophy on the web has always been to offer simple and clean design with a lot of choices for customers. And of course, we always demand the best prices for our customers, no matter where in Asia they are looking to book hotels. Our team is honored to be recognized by this award.”

According to Rosenstein the company’s success has often been attributed to easy to use web pages where people can select hotels in a city such as Bangkok, Singapore or Hong Kong and detailed information pages. “For example, the Oriental Riverside Hotel in Shanghai has a rich information page with 8 photos, map info and customer reviews in which customers rank the property. Agoda has embraced web2.0 with a site where customers can share blogs and photos, and also offers a popular rewards program, which offers discounts on future stays,” he stated.

Charles Kao, head of Travelmole, said, “I congratulate the Asia Pacific travel and tourism industry for its excellent participation in putting forward 200 web site nominees. And, thank you to our judging panel for their fine and diligent work as well as EyeforTravel for their support in hosting the award lunch ceremonies at Suntec Convention Centre.”

Award judges were Damien Pfirsch, Digital Strategy Director, Keen Media Co Ltd, Thailand; Joe Nguyen, Director of eCommerce, Millennium&Copthorne Hotels, Singapore; Joe Buhler, Sr Destination Marketing Analyst, PhoCusWright and Principal, Buhler Works, USA; Liz Craig, Principal, OneGlobe Network, France and USA.

For more information regarding Agoda.com, please access the company’s website at http://www.agoda.com/

About Agoda Company:
Agoda (agoda.com) is an online hotel reservations service which specializes in securing the lowest discount hotel prices in Asia. Agoda is part of Priceline.com (Nasdaq:PCLN). Based in Singapore with operations in Bangkok and the Philippines, Agoda's network includes 7,000 hotels in Asia and more than 33,000 worldwide. The staff of 200 professionals provides a first-rate reservation service that uniquely combines local knowledge and local connections to provide the best hotel deals to both business and leisure travelers. In addition, Agoda customers participate in the Agoda Rewards Program, earning further discounts and free stays. Unlike programs that limit travelers to a single chain, the Agoda Rewards Program allows customers to redeem Rewards Points at any hotel, at any time. A member of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Agoda's aim is to promote travel by making it more affordable and more accessible to more people. http://www.agoda.com

About TravelMole:
TravelMole (http://www.travelmole.com) is one of the most respected global online travel and tourism industry publishers&TravelMole.com publishes 15 eNewsletters to over 450,000 travel&tourism industry professional subscribers and 70 million consumers in 132 countries. TravelMole.TV internet videos are broadcasted to a global audience of 150 million globally. TravelMole also facilitates cross-sector tourism stakeholder implementation of initiatives and investments that foster tourism related job creation, trade, and preservation of culture and environment through a US$ 6 million SME Education&Promotional Grant Fund to support the UN Millennium Development Goals and UNWTO Davos Declaration on Climate Change.Live at The Mole interviews, discussions and debates from ITB with WTTC, UNWTO&ETOA,Berlin; PATA CEO Challenge, Bangkok; IT&CM, Shanghai; WTTC Global Travel&Tourism Summit, Dubai; Arabian Travel Market, Dubai; INDABA, Durban; POW WOW, Durban; Australia Tourism Exchange, Perth; Institute of Travel&Tourism (ITT), Cyprus and 30 other events from around-the-world.

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/10059117/1