I have just logged into my Agoda account, and lo and behold, i could not find the link to my Reward Points. Instead, i noticed that i had Gift Card credits. The Gift Cards have been issued on May 30, without any prior notice. One Gift Card expires end of this year, while the other at the end of next year.
I did a quick Google search and found out that some Agoda members have been given the option to switch from the Rewards Points system to the Gift Card system since last year. Now it seems the Rewards Points system has been axed and everyone is forcibly switched to the Gift Card system.
This is good and bad. The good – there is no longer a need to accrue 12500 points to do the minimum redemption. I was just one booking short of reaching 12500, and it’s good that i can do redemption now rather than having to accumulate more points. The bad – the Gift Cards can only be used on accommodations marked with the Gift Card logo. Obviously, not all of the entries in the search result are so, but i just did a quick search for my upcoming trip, and there are actually enough choices for me to be able to settle on one and make use of my gift card credits.
Here’s a sample of what the current search result looks like:
I guess overall, it’s more good than bad. I prefer to use up any credits i have as soon as possible, to do away with the worry that the credits will expire before i get to use them.
My current preference is to use Booking.com, because there’s an ongoing promotion on Shopback whereby 11% cashback is dished out when you do your booking on a Monday. This is the Major Mondays by Maybank promotion that is running till 30 June. I believe this is far better than earning the usual 6% Shopback cashback plus the Gift Card credits for booking with Agoda. What this means is, you should do your accommodations research before Monday and do your bookings one shot come Monday. Only 4 weeks left to capitalize on this lucrative deal. Don’t have a Shopback account yet? Get $5 for signing up!