This group research aims to investigate the nature and operations of an e-commerce transaction broker website.

A transaction broker is an individual or organization that collects a fee for facilitating transactions over the Internet without taking ownership of the products or services sold. A transaction broker merely provides the business link between a buyer and a host of sellers, and earning a commission for each successful transaction.

Agoda is not a subsidary of the hotels (i.e. the sellers) which they represent. The transaction broker responsibilites are those of the middleman's roles of facilitating search, contract, regulation and maintenance (stages of the transaction cost model). Agoda secure all necessary documentary requirements from the hotel (i.e. the seller of the hotel rooms) for the buyer. Agoda is not responsible if the hotel fails uphold its reputations and promised services and Agoda cannot be sued, if the hotel fails to perform.

E-commerce (Electronic commerce) consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Some common applications includes online banking, online shopping and online hotel reservations (the area where our group will be touching on).

Online hotel reservations are becoming a very popular method for booking hotel rooms. Travelers no longer need to visit the hotel to book rooms as they are able to book hotel rooms online anytime, any places now. There are several websites that specialize in hotel booking and one of them is Agoda.com which is a B2C dealing in transaction brokering eCommerce.

Our Chosen Online Transaction Broker: Agoda.com

Agoda was first created by Michael Kenny in the late 1990s under the name PlanetHoliday.com. His motive was to use the burgeoning power of search engines for hotel and travel information. In 2003, PrecisionReservations.com was added as a parent website design to sell reservations through affiliate websites, later, both the websites were combined later under Agoda Company Pte Ltd. In November 2007, Agoda company was acquired by Priceline.com (NASDAQ:PCLN) which is one of the largest and most established online travel agents in the world.

Agoda is Asia’s leading and fastest growing online hotel reservation. It reaches the Asia Pacific region with more than 9,000 hotels. As part of Priceline.com, Agoda’s connections are global and it allows Agoda to offer the lowest price at more than 90,000 hotels worldwide. Agoda Company Pte Ltd is managed by a multi-national team and has been a trusted provider of discount hotel services since 1997, servicing over 1,000,000 travelers.

Agoda is focused on securing and providing the lowest available hotel prices in every destination worldwide. Agoda believe that travel open minds to new ideas, cultures and way of thinking which is why they strive to make travel more accessible to everyone by making it fast, easy and affordable to find great deals on hotels worldwide.

In every line of business, there bound to be some competitors, and likewise for Agoda, there are a few strong competitors in the travel industry as well. Their major competitors are Asiativ (http://www.asiativ.com/), Accor Hotels (http://www.accorhotels.com.au/) and Boutique India (www.boutiqueindia.com).

Agoda has a very pleasant website layout. It uses common colors (black font on a white background) which are easy for users to read and understand, and it will not cause any strain to eyes. Navigation on the website is easy as the headings are clearly shown on the front page. (E.g. Users can just click on the 5 mains buttons in the middle which are Hotels, About Agoda, Rewards, Special Offers, 24/7 Help.)

Fig1: Agoda’s front page

On the right side of the webpage (Refer to Fig1), there are Agoda Special Offers, Agoda Rewards and Customer Support. Users can check for any specials promotions, free nights, and free upgrades under Agoda Special Offers. Agoda rewards allow users can earn points automatically and use them to save on their future bookings. Customer support is also available 24/7.

On the left side of the webpage (Refer to Fig1), there is the ‘Checks Rates & Availability’ function which allows users to check the rates and availability of the hotel room in different countries which they wish to travel to. Users are also able to search the different cities located in the country and any specific hotels which they wish to stay in. (Refer to Fig2)

Fig2: An example on how users can search using Checks Rate & Availability

Users can also just click top destinations in Asia, Europe and America which is located at the centre of the webpage (Refer to Fig1) for more information on these destinations. This area caters for users who still have not make up their mind on their destination or user’s first visit to the country because the information includes customers’ reviews on the hotels in the country, the country map and some brief background of the country itself which benefit users. (Refer to Fig3)

Fig3: Example on the information available for the country

Other than the features above, Agoda is also available in 21 other languages which cater for users who do not understand English well. (Refer to Fig4)

Fig4: The 21 Languages available on Agoda

Agoda is secured by VeriSign.

VeriSign, Inc. is the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world. They use SSL, identity and authentication, and domain name services to allow companies and consumers all over the world to engage in trusted communications and commerce.

Agoda uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt all information. This will enable credit card and other confidential information to be protected when consumers are required to fill in upon reservations.

Furthermore, Agoda.com is an accredited member of IATA (International Air Transport Association) and PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association).

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a membership association acting as a catalyst for the responsible development and to enhance the quality of the Asia Pacific travel and tourism industry. It represents Asia Pacific's leading public- and private-sector stakeholders, including all the major national and regional tourist offices, airlines, cruise lines, hotels and resorts, tour operators, travel agencies, tourist attractions and more.

Therefore, this authority will assure the consumers of Agoda.com ,that they are transacting with prices set by Agoda.com which is comparatively available in the industry.

Agoda.com has also established their Shop Safe Policy and Privacy Policy to enable you to use our service with confidence.

In Shop Safe policy, different secure methods are also made available to ensure confidentiality of consumers’ personal data and safe use of your credit card for travel transactions.

- By using secure (SSL) online Card Hoder Information Form

- Via secure (SSL) 'Live Chat' to one of our Customer Service Agents

- By fax, using our Credit Card Fax Form (Required for bookings where the guest name differs from the cardholder)

-Or by telephone, directly to our Customer Service Center.

- Award Recognition

Agoda Company has been awarded the ‘Best Accommodation’ website in Asia at the inaugural TravelMole Web Awards for Asia in Singapore in 2008, which is known as the “Moscars”. Argoda clinched the title from a list of a list of 200 nominees for the various categories.

Agoda have always been known for its simple and clean design with a lot of choices for customers, in addition, it always demands the best prices for their customers.

- Rewards Programme

Agoda launched its “Agoda Rewards program” in 2004. This enables Agoda to differentiate themselves by allowing members to save further.

The program allows members to earn Rewards Points for reservations made through agoda.com, referrals of website to friends and family members and hotel reviews upon hotel check out. With the rewards points, members are able to offset future reservation transactions, in addition, members will have an advantage to access to “Members only Special Offers.”

This programme will help to establish a long term relationship with its customers. It also enables customers to remain active in the account by posting reviews and feedback of their experience in using Agoda. Hence, this programme will not only help to retain customers, but also able to attract new customers by offering rewards to referrals and with the help of reviews.

The feedback and reviews could also act as a role for Agoda to improve on their functions.

- Customer Driven

Agoda offers "Lowest Rate Guarantee". Therefore, if customer have reserved a hotel room through Agoda and able to book the same room for the same dates at a lower rate in other sites, Agoda will either match that rate or beat it.

In addition, Agoda has a 24 hour customer service support which will help customers to resolve the problem of not getting help after office hours. They have also provided 5 means of contact to reach them in any case of queries available. One of them includes a chat online with Live Agent. Contacts are also available in various countries; this would mean that customer will be able to reach to Agoda anywhere in the world.

- Low Prices Information Advantage

As Agoda is part of Priceline.com, their connections are global, allowing them to offer the lowest prices at more than 90,000 hotels worldwide.

With hundreds of staff operating across the globe, Agoda is uniquely able to combine local human knowledge and connections with world class technology to provide the best hotel deals on the web.

Agoda also utilized information like events, fairs from various countries to offer promotion rates for hotel stays during the event periods. Some examples are; “Hotel Deals for Singapore’s Unique Formula 1 Night race”, “early bird deals on Guangzhou hotels for the 106th annual Canton Fair”, “Agoda gives discounts on Shanghai hotels for viewing the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st Century this July 22^nd”, etc.

- Rich Information Page & Accessibility of Information

The web page offers simple and clean design with a lot of choices for customers.

The pages for the chosen hotel have rich information which sustained with 8 photos, map and customer reviews in which customers rank the property.

Agoda also have a feature which aids to retain history information on hotel researched. This will allow eazy accessibility of hotel information which could help to save time loading and searching for the hotel which have been searched before.

Agoda customer service centre is located in Bangkok, Thailand. All enquiries and comments are directed to the centre. This might lead to miscommunication due to language barrier.

Hotel rates are displayed on a per night basis before government and services tax. Consumers will have to calculate the total charges for their whole stay or see the total amount only upon the booking page. The total amount for the hotel charges should be displayed upfront after consumer input the relevant search information so that there will be easier and more convenient price references.

Agoda uses “cookie” technology on its Site. Cookies are small bits of code, usually stored on a user's computer hard drive, which enable a web site to "personalize" itself for each user by remembering information about the user's visit to the web site. Cookies can store a variety of information, including IP addresses, navigational data, server information, data transfer times, user preferences, and e-mail addresses and passwords needed to access the Site. Users who disable cookies might not be able to access important functions or features of the Site and the use of Site may be limited.

An e-commerce transaction broker has improved the efficiency of transactions made between buyers and sellers, reducing transaction costs at the same time.

Agoda has been in the news and is renowned for its fast reservation systems, rewards point system and its user-friendliness. Agoda, as an e-commerce transaction broker, has been a successful and reliable one.

As Agoda have all the important features of an e-commerce transaction broker, eg: well-designed web page, accessibility of information, trust and security, Agoda has then become a widely used online travel agent for all kinds of travellers to make their purchases.