Sobrang dami na talaga ang nagpaparent ng condos on a daily basis and they post their ads even in agoda. Its ok for us to try out these condotels/units for rent especially when we're on a lookout for condos for investment.
I do most of my bookings (hotels/condo units) through Agoda (i've booked Sofitel, microtel, palawan hotels- puerto princesa pension, fersal, skylight, bestwestern, century park, midas, acacia, bellevue, crimson, cebu hotels, Kuala Lumpur hotels, bohol hotels, etc) by the way. I'm just starting out in Airbnb as an owner to lease out my unit so I'm just learning the ropes.
I just wanna share that there are certain "property management companies" that circulate. They have this "network" of people/unit owners that they contact when they have bookings. We had a horrible experience with this.
My family is looking into buying a unit at Gramercy in Kalayaan. I found an ad in Agoda so I thought parang condotel siguro sya. I booked a few days before our intended date of arrival. When we got there, we can't get in. Wala din daw parking sabi ng guard because for unit owners lang daw. Wala nakalagay sa Agoda na I'm booking through a management company or unit owner.. ang buong akala ko ang kausap ko Gramercy mismo, similar to booking hotels.... that's hassle number 1, they won't let us park so we parked at Century City Mall basement parking which is subject to overnight parking rates.
Hassle no. 2- Sa lobby, the receptionist said to wait daw because someone will be coming to meet me daw. I showed them my Agoda voucher. Tapos may dumating na babae, sabi sa kabilang condo daw kami!!!! sa Knightsbridge daw kase walang room available sa Gramercy. What the heck! KUng gusto ko sa Knightsbridge, edi sana don kami nag book! Eto pa, unfornately for them, may mga appointment kasi ako to view units in Gramercy talaga kaya nga nagbook ako dun. para ma-feel diba. we don't buy pre-selling dahil we don't want to risk yung quality ng construction and amenities. So etong isang unit owner na kausap ko eh kinukulit pa that same time ng "property management company" na yun na i-acccommodate ang guest nila sa unit nya (she has another unit for daily rent) sa Knightsbridge!!!
Ngayon lang naghahagilap sila ng kwarto para sa amin?! anong klaseng service yon diba? Small world kausap ko pa yun mismong unit owner at nalaman namin pareho ako pala yung i-a-accommodate nya sa Knightsbridge (wala sya available na unit for rent that day sa Gramercy).
No choice, we did stay 1 night at Knightsbridge, it was a 1-bedroom at the 60th floor. The owner was really nice and accommodating given na very short notice ang arrival namin. Pansin ko lang, nasa taas na kami, dinig ko pa rin ang karaoke music galing somewhere, mga motor, mga bus, at busina ng mga sasakyan. We learned the next day pagkakausap sa owner that medyo hindi kagandahan ang materials na ginamit sa condo. Hindi sya sound proof at gypsum board na ewan ang gamit. Coming from the owner, mas maganda daw ang quality ng DMCI.... that's century properties for you. We stopped looking.
So there, going back to my "hotel" experience, I reported this to Agoda and they gave me a refund. So beware about this kind of arrangements. Ingat ingat lang. Kasi yun iba naman they were honest to state in the ad na unit nila pinaparent nila (parang airbnb pero thru agoda) ganyan yung booking ko sa Beacon sa Makati and maayos kausap ko duon.
That's my few cents worth. Thank you for reading.
