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Expedia changes its “America-only” clause in price guarantee

March 12, 2010

Remember the “America-only” provision in Expedia’s Best Price Guarantee? Earlier this week, I wrote about reader Craig Simpson’s efforts to persuade the online agency to adjust his rate at a hotel in Antigua after he found a lower rate on the property’s Web site.

But Expedia’s price warranty had a provision that “in the unlikely event that you find a lower rate on Expedia.com or on another U.S.-based website within 24 hours of booking with Expedia.com, we will credit or refund to you the difference.”

Not only did Expedia honor his rate after I got involved. Now it’s also also changed its policy.


Last night, I received the following note from Expedia:

Good news to report. We did a scrub of the terms and conditions for this aspect of the Best Price Guarantee and we decided to make a change.

We now cover a broader set of partners by changing the wording to “English-language” websites (rather than “US-based” websites).

Thanks again for bringing it to our attention. I’m pleased that we’ve been able to use this case as an opportunity to improve our policy and better serve our customers.

This is good news. And I’m very pleased that Expedia decided to revisit its price guarantee after Simpson’s case.

But does this mean I think these price guarantees are worth the virtual ink they’re printed on? I’m not sure I’d go that far — yet. Price guarantees are chock full of fine print, including strict limits on time, categories and vacation-package components.

The bottom line for customers is that making a claim on Expedia’s price guarantee is still difficult, but not as difficult as it was before.

(Photo: Max Braun/Flickr Creative Commons)

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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12 comments

  • http://www.angrymarks.com/ Kevin Fields

    It may mean that Expedia’s “guarantees” are still like sipping concrete through a straw, but at least it is a little more rational.

    *runs off to set up India-based English language website promising 80% lower fares than Expedia*

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  • Mike P

    This is good news. The verbage before was not very clear, and as noted by others tough to enforce or properly determine how it applied. So if there was a resort in the Dominican Republic that hosted its site in a US data center, the guarantee applied, but if there was another that hosted its web site in the DR it didn’t? That is truly silly.

    So the real question now, is what happens with a multi-language site? These are pretty common now days.

  • Thalassa

    Very good!!

  • Shari

    @ Mike P: I was wondering the same thing. I just recently took a trip to Japan, and ever place that we stayed at had both Japanese and English sites. Does the fact that the pages are available in Japanese negate Expedia’s “English-language” rule?

  • LeeAnne

    @Mike P: I don’t think it will matter if a site has other languages IN ADDITION TO English. As long as it’s got an English option, and its prices are posted there, that should meet the requirements. Expedia would be hard-pressed to make a case that a site that has multiple languages wouldn’t qualify, as long as English is one of them.

    But in reality, the only reason they did this is because of all the bad press they got for trying to deny the request to match the price their customer found in Antigua. IMO, they just pulled an obscure “rule” out of their arse, and hoped it would stick. When this lame effort was made public, and they were held up to ridicule, they did an about-face. Now they’re hoping they’ll save face by publicly stating they won’t trot THAT rule out again.

    I’m sure they have plenty of others up their sleeves…or somewhere else.

    Christopher states it clearly: their price guarantees are “chock full of fine print, including strict limits on time, categories and vacation-package components.” Good luck to anyone actually trying to get them to make good on it.

  • Kevin M

    For what it’s worth: I suspect the “English language” website rule is to avoid any conflicts over what the words mean, in translation. For example, in the hypothetical language of ShalawallaBoombop, depending on the idioms used, a price quote might translate as “for one night” or it might translate as “per night”. The latter implies, in English at least, that the same rate applies to any number of (presumably consecutive) nights. The former suggests that one night would be X, but other nights might be Y, if a stay were extended.

    I would not think that the fact a website was available in more than one language would negate the guarantee (such as it is). However, I’m certain it would only apply to quotes provided in English and all terms and conditions applying to the rate would have to be in English as well, for an apples-to-apples comparison. Verbiage in other languages would be ignored for the purposes of Expedia’s guarantee.

  • barry

    Still shows “U.S. based” in their T&C as of today, March 13 2010

  • David Z

    Regarding what barry said: I see the change on term #4, but #1 still shows U.S.-based. Might want to tell Expedia that, Chris. :)

  • Ed

    What bothers me is that these things don’t get “fixed” until someone calls them on it. Why is that? Wouldn’t a company *want* to do the right thing by their customers? That would seem to be logical to me…but it kinda reminds me of the Goldman-Saks statement that Obama repeated in one of his recent speeches:
    Goldman-Saks was saying how investing in Insurance companies was a good buy because they can raise their prices to price out the lowest tier customer because the higher tier customers can absorb more than the loss of the lowest tier customer. For instance, if the lowest tier customer can afford no more than $10, then they can afford to lose those customers when they raise their rates to $25 because the increase coupled with the people who can afford the increase compensates for the loss…This is kinda the same thing…companies are saying that they can afford to lose the “griping” customers because there are still enough people out there willing to “put up” with the crap!
    Ed

  • Bill

    I don’t even get obsessed with lowest price guarantees. I do my price comparisons before I shop, and make my purchase or reservation based upon that.

  • Monita Panday

    I am currently have somewhat of the same problem with expedia.ca. I am not sure if you can help but I booked my flight about 36 hours ago and I checked back an hour ago and its $40 cheaper. I have contacted customer service but they state that they will not do anything about it. Help please!

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