When traveling abroad, choosing accommodations is crucial, making international booking platforms a popular choice for many tourists. These platforms not only provide discounts through partnerships with banks but also help alleviate language and cultural barriers. However, a well-known platform, Agoda, has faced multiple consumer disputes, prompting the Japanese government to specifically request improvements by a deadline or face administrative penalties.

According to a report by Kyodo News, the Japan Tourism Agency requested on the 23rd that Agoda's Japanese subsidiary quickly improve its domestic operations due to ongoing issues over the past few months. These disputes vary in nature, such as travelers arriving at hotels only to find no valid booking records, or discrepancies between the room rates and types displayed on the website and what they actually received. Despite Agoda submitting measures for improvement to the Tourism Agency since April, several Japanese hotels have reported that these issues remain unresolved as of June.

One affected party is Toyoko Inn, a large chain of business hotels in Japan, which even issued a warning on June 16, alerting both domestic and international travelers to be cautious when booking through Agoda or its partners. Toyoko Inn stated that they have encountered errors in room types or check-in dates, and have noted cases where Agoda's room rates were significantly higher than the actual hotel prices.

As one of the leading international booking platforms, Agoda is headquartered in Singapore and is part of the world's largest online travel group, Booking Holdings. The platform offers services in 39 languages and has a presence in 27 markets. Despite the multilingual services and frequent discounts attracting travelers, recent consumer disputes have raised concerns about its reputation, especially in Japan, a favorite destination for Taiwanese tourists.