So I went to attend the St. Anne festival in Bukit Mertajam with mom, nephew and two sisters some time last year. Just as I had planned, they all flew into KL from Sabah and we drove off to Penang from there (KL). We were all set, having booked our place of accommodation at some budget hotel near to the venue of the event in Bukit Mertajam. And believe me, even though I booked months in advance it was not easy to get a hotel especially on the main-land part of Penang where the event was to take place.
So we were a couple of hours to Penang when I got a phone call from a lady who introduced herself as a representative of Agoda. She told me how the hotel that we booked for in Penang had cancelled our booking at the very last minute. I knew it was not Agoda’s fault, and I knew for sure that the hotel had probably been offered a better price – good enough to cancel us out at the very last minute – yet I couldn’t help but venting my anger and disappointment at the caller. Putting in a bit of drama of course, I told her how the news about the cancellation had just ruined what was supposed to be an exciting and memorable trip to Penang with family.
Naturally (or not naturally – it depends on how you see it lol), she apologized profusely, saying that she’ll try to get a replacement for us, although she knew it was not gonna be easy. The whole Penang was literally fully-booked for the event. And quite expectedly of course, she returned to me a few minutes later telling us that she had called just about every hotel in Bukit Mertajam and beyond, but the answers were all the same, that there was no room available for us.Again she assured she’d try again and of course I put in more desperation in my voice just to drive her into doing more.
After calling again for the third time with the same disappointing news, she finally called with a good one. She told us that there was a hotel room for us which was located very near to the event venue. I can only assume somebody had probably cancelled his/her booking at the very last minute and paved the slot for us to fill in. But I had to worry when she told me that the price of the hotel room was much higher than the one that we booked for and cancelled previously. I yelped, saying how I was going to afford if it was too expensive?
That’s when she dropped in the good news, saying that them, Agoda the great, will pay everything for us – meaning we would be placed at the hotel, which was much more expensive than the one that cancelled on us! I mean, how good is good news? It felt like a beautiful sunshine after a storm, or an upgrade of seat to the first-class section when somebody complained to the cabin crew that we were not supposed to sit next to him at the economy class section – or something LOL.
So we whistled our way to Penang, right to the hotel that Agoda the great had booked and paid for us, and made a great entry as if the hotel was actually meant for us all along. LOL.
I mean, it really pays to be loyal to Agoda then. Thank you Agoda!