Safe to book trip through Expedia? (non-DW)

[aristocatz]

We just booked a hotel room through Expedia.
The hotel's main page was all booked for our dates, but Expedia showed one room available.
Is this legit? I'm nervous because it's our first time not booking directly through a hotel's website.

Why was it all booked on the hotel's main website site? Do hotels "sell" or reserve rooms to Expedia?

Thanks

 

[NYCgrrl]

We just booked a hotel room through Expedia.
The hotel's main page was all booked for our dates, but Expedia showed one room available.
Is this legit? I'm nervous because it's our first time not booking directly through a hotel's website.

Why was it all booked on the hotel's main website site? Do hotels "sell" or reserve rooms to Expedia?

Thanks

Sure, Expedia, books rooms and cars and airfare.As for hotels selling rooms to Expedia, yes they do that too and would not necessarily show up on the hotel’s website.

 

[bcla]

There are a bunch of ways they do it. For the most part Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, Priceline, etc. don't actually reserve hotel rooms in advance to sell. They're really just online travel agent middlemen. But certainly are different types of room "inventory" that might be available through different sources.

There may be a chance of a disconnect between the hotel's actual inventory and what the OTA sees as available. Rooms generally aren't guaranteed and there even a chance of there being an overbooking where the hotel believes there will cancellations and no shows. They may end up "walking" guests to other hotels. However, I wouldn't worry about Expedia stiffing you. If there's a problem they'll make it right.

Once I reserved a room an OTA and they couldn't find my reservation. But the clerk then looked at the "folio" with newer reservations just on paper and I got my room. But there can be something different.

 

[rwdavis2]

I would be comfortable booking a hotel through Expedia. But only a hotel. Never a car or airfare.

 

[wilbret]

We just booked a hotel room through Expedia.
The hotel's main page was all booked for our dates, but Expedia showed one room available.
Is this legit? I'm nervous because it's our first time not booking directly through a hotel's website.

Why was it all booked on the hotel's main website site? Do hotels "sell" or reserve rooms to Expedia?

Thanks

Absolutely.

People should also know that Expedia owns a ton of other labels like Travelocity, VRBO, Orbitz, Hotwire, Trivago, Hotels.com, cheaptickets and others.

 

[HadesFan]

I will never use them again. We were in the Chicago area, booked a room and paid. We got to the hotel late, and they told us there were no rooms available. The hotel's explanation was that Expedia was a third party, and the rooms were not guaranteed. There was something going on in the area, as all the hotels were booked up. I think that the hotel just gave our room away because we were arriving late. We had to sit in the parking lot on two phones, it took us over an hour to find another hotel room. We did get our money back, but it was a major hassle.

 

[firefly_ris]

They are a legit company, but recently went through an absolute nightmare with them using airfare credits from a trip that was cancelled last year. The "chat booking bot" sucked, no online agents available, on hold on the phone for just a hair under 4 hours. They did eventually pick up and got the issue resolved but I basically wasted an entire day on it. Never again for me.

 

[Meriweather]

We use them all the time for rooms other than Disney and national parks.

 

[Sweettears]

I would be comfortable booking a hotel through Expedia. But only a hotel. Never a car or airfare.

My experience has been just about the total opposite. Hotel rooms booked through Expedia and others tend to be the least desirable rooms from a location perspective. I use Expedia almost exclusively to book cars. I've never had an issue and have found their rates to be among the lowest.

 

[mjkacmom]

I will never use them again. We were in the Chicago area, booked a room and paid. We got to the hotel late, and they told us there were no rooms available. The hotel's explanation was that Expedia was a third party, and the rooms were not guaranteed. There was something going on in the area, as all the hotels were booked up. I think that the hotel just gave our room away because we were arriving late. We had to sit in the parking lot on two phones, it took us over an hour to find another hotel room. We did get our money back, but it was a major hassle.

Hotels do overbook just like airlines, the benefit of booking directly is that if overbooked the hotel will find you a room in another hotel.

 

[monsterkitty]

At this time I would not use Expedia or any other site other than the official site because anything can change at the drop of a hat.

If you book through the official site they will do their best to take care of you if something happens. If you book with Expedia or another third party site, the hotel does not have to work with you as they did not make the reservation.

If you fly using Expedia or a third party site, stay on top of the flight for changes and cancellations. The airlines will not contact you if there is a cancellation, only those who have booked through their official site. The third party reservations do not get the information out to people so your flight could be cancelled and you would have no idea until you got to the airport.