I’ve spent a lot of time travelling around Indonesia (ps: Flores is still my favourite place to go) and made countless hotel bookings in between. I have tried each of the major hotel booking platforms for my travel both within and outside of Indonesia.
Of course I’ve had my share of bad experiences. I’ve arrived at hotels and had to pay more than I expected because though the receipt was listed in one currency, I had to pay in another using the terrible hotel set exchange rate (guaranteed to put at least $5 extra on your bill). Then there are those unexpected hidden charges that turn a bargain into an overpriced room for the night.
To help you avoid some of those problems I wanted to share one of my favourite travel apps: Traveloka. While I always recommend you check all the options to get the best deal, here are my top five reasons for trying Traveloka to make hotel bookings in Indonesia. Well start with the obvious.
1. It is Often the Cheapest Offer
Traveloka is an Indonesian unicorn (I’ve always wanted to say that, but not necessarily about a company). The company is based in Indonesia and its main market is Indonesian. It’s logical that they try to come up with the best deal for Indonesian customers, which they often do.
Price is, let’s be honest, the most important thing you consider when you make a hotel booking in Indonesia. If a company can save you money when you make a booking I think it’s worth using (Traveloka also have good deals around Asia).
2. Book Everything Under One Roof
The other thing I really like about Traveloka is you can make all of your Indonesian travel related bookings in one place (it’s like the Indonesian Swiss Army Knife if that is even possible). You can book train tickets and plane tickets around Indonesia, plus buy tickets to attractions and events.
Then there are the events. You can book advance tickets to attractions like the Waterbom in Bali, historical sites like Prambanan Temple, and music events. While this sounds great, keep in mind that there is currently no option for buying tickets as a foreigner with places that have tiered pricing like Prambanan.
Again, anything that saves the user money and time is onto a winner in my book. Next point!
3. They Offer Reward Points
The idea behind the customer loyalty program is pretty simple; get people to become frequent users of your service and you make more money. Period. Your best users also become addicted to your service because they save more money.
It works! It makes sense and I’m glad that Traveloka, like pretty much all of the major booking platforms have one… So what can you do with your Traveloka points?
You can use your Traveloka Points for a lot of different things. Well, pretty much anything that Traveloka offers… You can get discounts on your flights, hotels and activities.
The points system is also clear. You can get a hotel discount after you earn 1,000 points and a discount on your flights when you get 2,500 points. When you are about to book something you will see how many points you can earn from your booking.
4. Traveloka StayNow Deals
Are you a last minute kind-of-traveller? Or are you just travel too much as sometimes forget to book your hotel? I am a bit of both. Sometimes it can be quite frustrating to book a hotel last minute. This is when I think the Traveloka StayNow Deals is really useful.
With Traveloka StayNow Deals they basically find the best deals available for you. You can only book on the same day as you check in and it is only for 1 night. Again, a nice feature that saves you money (and time)…
5. Pay at Hotel
Traveloka have just released the ‘Pay at Hotel’ feature. A lot of people, who don’t want to get all their bills at once, will find this feature useful. Unlike some booking platforms the pricing policy for the Pay Later is clear from the beginning. You know what the room price is in IDR and you pay your bill at the hotel in IDR. No funny business. To guarantee your booking, Traveloka needs your credit card details.
That said, there are a few issues with this new feature. For example, at the moment if you want to cancel your booking you will have to contact the Traveloka customer service. Not a major issue, but it would be nice to do it on the website or the app directly. They will later update this.
To find a hotel that offers the pay later flexibility you just need to use the “Pay at Hotel” filter. Back to the cancellation policy… Remember to check the small print. Some hotels have free cancellation policy and other don’t.
Conclusion
Traveloka is a nice fully featured service that can help you save time and money making your travel bookings in Indonesia. I hope this review of the company gives you a good idea of the good points and small faults that the service has.
Have you ever used Traveloka for hotel bookings? I would like to hear your experiences.
Hello Firsta, Do you have any recommendations for a tour company and short tour of Jakarta? I have a 12 hour layover, noon to midnight, in Jakarta on my way fron Taipei to Sarong, on Monday Dec 03. My wife is afraid we could get stuck in Jakarta traffic and miss flight to Sarong, but I think a few hours away from airport is OK. What do you think. Please reply via email.
Hi David,
Yes we do have a recommendation. It should be ok if you take the airport train (around 45 mins journey one way). You can read the details here.
Speak with you soon.