Agoda announces 2009 Gold Circle Award winners

By ETN Staff Writer
Jul 31, 2009

Agoda.com, an Asia-based online hotel reservation specialist, today announced the winners of the 2009 Gold Circle Awards. In its inaugural year, this annual award is given to Agoda’s hotel partners in the Asia Pacific located in popular spots throughout Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Australia, and Cambodia. The award-winning hotels have proven to be extremely popular with Agoda’s online consumers and have shown outstanding skill in utilizing the online distribution medium.

Mr. Robert Rosenstein, chief operation officer of Agoda.com said: “This year’s Gold Circle winners represent a select and prestigious group of hotels who have really taken to the online channel. Their popularity with online consumers is derived from their commitment to delivering a quality online product [and] great special offers, at great rates. We can see that online customers are truly valued and welcomed at these hotels and are likely to have a great experience for a reasonable price.”

Gold Circle hotels work closely with Agoda to provide online customers the guaranteed lowest rates with premium support and flexibility, as well as access to exclusive online promotions. They have an outstanding track record in online fulfillment and have received excellent customer reviews with the highest average customer score. The first Gold Circle Awards were recently handed out to hotels in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, and Japan.

Mr. Robert Jaermann, general manager of Bangkok’s Dream Hotel, Thailand, noted: “The Gold Circle Award proves that the Dream Hotel is popular with online consumers. We would like to thank Agoda for this award as we greatly appreciate our excellent and mutually-beneficial business relationship. We work closely with Agoda’s team to maximize promotional strategies throughout the year, taking into consideration what the market dictates, while respecting our hotel’s brand image and pricing strategy. Agoda’s team is the most pro-active in the market – they work hard, frequently updating us on market trends and how they impact our strategic goals. By working together, we are able to learn from each other in this fast and ever-changing market of online hotel reservations.”

Mr. Charles Liu Bing Chuan, general manager of the Metropark Mongkok Hotel, Hong Kong, said: “Agoda’s Gold Circle Award is significant as it is not just based on sales, rather it’s based on the total relationship of our partnership with Agoda. It’s been a pleasure working with Agoda to help effectively manage our online distribution by maintaining parity with information, promotions, rates, and allotments. It’s increasingly important that online customers are seeing exact and up-to-date information so they know precisely what they are getting. The partnership with Agoda allows us to update our hotel information immediately with the most current rates and allotments.”

Agoda.com is a worldwide hotel reservation service and considered a specialist in the Asian hotel marketplace. The company has developed informative hotel web pages available to consumers in 21 different languages, as well as an industry leading Yield Control System for hotel partners, allowing even more control on how hotels are able to market themselves. With a membership base now over 1,000,000 users, Agoda.com’s popularity continues to grow.