I’ve been comparing these for air/hotel, vs. ala carte. However, it seems they may all be non refundable because you are getting the hotels non refundable rate…so not sure it’s a great deal. It just spooks me a bit, because things happen. Anyone ever need to cancel and have issues?
I use them each to search and then try to book via the airline or hotel direct, I find those sites to be really annoying if you have any changes, like if the airline changes your times etc.
I’ve booked a couple of Expedia vacation packages. Great deals. At the end of the transaction it gave me the option to purchase the travel insurance which states you can cancel or change one time. I never had to use it but I purchased it just in case. Never had any problems with the travel or the lodging.
This was an exception to the usual needs, but I booked air via Expedia to a 3rd world country at a price 1/3 of what the airlines or a travel agent could find. Of course, it was a zigzag with multiple plane changes. But fine.
I don’t know about Expedia, per se, but many “non-refundable” bookings don’t mean you lose your money. Instead, you get a credit, often good for a year or so. That’s fine by me.
I look at both, then I use Kayak, which looks at multiple sites, AND booking.com. You do have to pay attention to the non-refundable options (learned the hard way), but I’ve been told in one case by the hotel that the booking.com rates was cheaper than they could offer themselves. It pays to shop around if you’re looking to save money. We also fly Alaska as much as possible, because we get 1 free bag each, and air travel points on flights booked with the Alaska credit card, PLUS frequent travel miles.
ETA: I just got a car rental through Kayak that beat the company’s own rate by almost $100 for the same time period, and for a midsized car. It was a Priceline rate. I know I won’t need to change it because I’m locked in on this trip.
As a cautionary tale, I had an experience not long ago where an expedia reservation turned out not to exist in the comfort suites hotel system that had been booked. This caused us to have to find another hotel 8 miles away, and could have been a true disaster. The confirmation from Expedia said no need to call to confirm the reservation, but I think after my experience that I would always double check with the ultimate authority–the actual hotel–to confirm that they had the reservation.
This occurred in a smaller town location hosting a decent sized event, and I was suspicious that they had simply ignored the far-in-advance booking at the favorable rate. Apparently there had been some type of outage between the Expedia data system and the Comfort Suites system that caused the booking never to occur, despite expedia sending a confirmation.
We did get a refund, after the fact. So, anecdotal, one instance, but possibly worthwhile reconfirming by telephone close to your travel date but far enough in advance to recover if there has been a problem.
I stopped using Travelocity when they changed my itinerary…and my connecting flight departed before my first plane even landed. The odd thing was my original itinerary had available,seats so,there was NO reason to,change mine…at…all. Oh…and changing my initial flight from 2P.m. to 6 am? Not nice!
Luckily I got a very very nice and understanding oersonnat the airlines. They aren’t supposed to fix travelocity errors, but this was SOOO glaring that the airline rebooked me…on my original itinerary.
I’ll never book through a third party again after our family of five was almost denied our overseas airline seats. The reservation stated we would be given our seats at the airport but when we got there they were overbooked and third party tickets were last on the priority list. Thankfully some people never showed up and we got on but it was definitely not worth the uncertainty and hassle.
Nope. Never have and unlikely that I ever will. We have rewards/points programs with a few hotel chains and always book directly. Same with flights, although flying is so unpleasant these days, we only fly if absolutely necessary.
I have used Bookings.com for accommodations in Europe and other out of the way spots. In most of those instances the only way to get a reservation was through bookings.
I used to use Expedia a lot but now I look and go to the airline site or hotel website directly. I started doing this after a having a difficult time changing an air reservation. Also when my D worked in the hotel business she advised to book direct with hotel. She said at the different hotel properties if they were overbooked the discount sites reservations are the first ones to not be honored.
No. I use the sites only to search, then book direct with hotel or airline. I also don’t book non-refundable rates except on the rare occasions when I am booking last minute and am fairly well assured that I will definitively be in the location in a handful of days. I also don’t buy insurance. The cancel-able rates are my “insurance” for hotel cost and I figure I’ll eat the airfare if necessary. The Asian carrier I fly most frequently (and at most expense) has a reasonable refund policy unlike domestic carriers. If I was booking for an entire family rather than just myself or just two of us, I might be more conscious of the potential loss if the trip doesn’t come off.
I made these decisions after a couple horror stories from close friends who’d booked third party. It’s just not worth the risk of disruptions to me and deciding on a personal general booking policy means I don’t revisit the question each time I book. Makes things a bit more relaxed for me.
I have in the past, yes, but the hotel rates were always refundable or I was booking so last minute that I knew my plans wouldn’t change. I also am a user of priceline sometimes where I know it isn’t cancellable but I’m getting such great deals that I’ll take the risk.
I’m a big fan of Kayak for searching for the best rates on hotels and airlines and often you are linked back to the hotel/airline itself for purchasing.
While I may use third parties for a search, I prefer to book direct. Have heard too many stories of last minute snafus. Also, I prefer to address specific needs directly with the hotels.
I’ve booked on both several times over the years but generally as a last resort. Like others, I prefer to book on the company’s own website when there’s no price differential. However, when there is, I have and have yet to have a problem. I do generally reconfirm with the actual company and always make sure I have a confirmation number with that company rather than just an Expedia confirmation number. Not sure if this is still an issue but it has been in the past.
@Lassie3, your story is concerning. I’ve booked international travel on Expedia before and it’s worked fine.
Ok…I’ve decided after all your stories I will continue to book directly. Thanks!
I mainly search with a vqriety of engines but book mostly directly with hotel or airline. I do also book cars on Costco.com travel.
FYI
expedia owns travelocity.
I use Expedia to search and have only booked a flight once because of the deal. There were minor issues and wouldn’t recommend.
However, we use Hotels.com all the time. If we are staying at one of our two preferred chains, we book direct for perks. Otherwise, we book through hotels.com. You have to check the cancellation policy every time. Often it is just the hotel’s policy. Often is 24 hours instead of day of but no big deal. When we’ve found that the only thing available was non-refundable, the deal was a big discount or in an area where booking direct had a 7 day or more cancellation policy.
Ten nights = one free night worth the average value of the ten paid nights. Free nights are easy to use. We mostly use it for overnight stops while driving and cancellation is irrelevant but we’ve used it to book a downtown Sheraton as well. Paid same price as booking direct but jumped our ten night average up for the free night.
I used both in the past and had no problem. I stopped using them to book airfare after I booked with them JetBlue flight, picked up seats and found out at the airport that JetBlue doesn’t honor seat selection from those third parties and I was assigned random seating and not together. Now I only book directly with airline. I use google flight for searches.
I look everywhere I can think of, then generally use Hotwire or Priceline for hotels. For airfare, the carrier we use most often doesn’t participate in any of those so we book directly.