Comments on: Expedia

By: gee rainbow

gee rainbow — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 05:18:34 +0000

Looks like you already have many complaints . Well I am another one check your comments you have allot of unhappy customers check feedback on hotels and take the bad ones off . That is if you even care! I will find another option.

By: Elan Durham

Elan Durham — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 10:29:21 +0000

My experience over the past year as I have traveled in 28 states, and in 11 nations across 3 continents has been very mixed concerning online booking agencies. Sometimes everything goes fine; other times you can be taken by both the hotel and the booking agency. Watch out…
For instance, I booked a room in a hotel-apartment in Oslo recently through Expedia, and checked out after one night because the room and facilities I was given resembled nothing like the facilities represented online–or any standards I would book anywhere. Small, dirty, no working Internet, a grafitti-covered courtyard with shady characters hanging out… Further, my passport was taken (but returned), and my coat and a cashmere scarf were stolen–though they claimed that I left it in my room. Where could I have left them in a room so small you could not haved missed a postage stamp on the floor, much less a down coat and oversized scarf? Have I received word from Expedia regarding my refund for the two nights I did not stay in this Oslo flophouse? Other than spam messages from a so-called “customer care” center I have received nothing substantive, even after writing the CEO of Expedia. The same situation happened with Travelocity; they owe me 250.00 for a cancelled booking and double-paying the hotel and Travelocity. They simply refused to do the right thing and I suspect make millions of dollars off naive customers who believe in their customer guarantees. If you can, book directly with the hotel. Booking agencies are in fact becoming a worldwide scam: if they charge you for the room, don’t be surprised if the hotel tries to make you pay as well. This way everyone wins… but you.

By: Chris, hotel worker

Chris, hotel worker — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 08:53:17 +0000

Some of these stories are beyond belief. Online booking agents are good for one thing and one thing only: comparing prices and finding hotels in the area. Booking through them is like throwing your money in a toilet. Now, I’m biased because from the hotel side, it’s of course “always Expedia’s fault”, but you have to condier the fact that every company is looking to make a quick buck, and if you’re not willing to put work in, then you’re going to be the source of that buck.

My advice is always to call the hotel directly or book on the actual hotel’s website instead of through a booking agent. Here’s a little story. Once I had a guest who booked through this godforsaken website, and they had to change their stay. Normally, this is a simple call to the front desk, and I make the world go round for you with a few clicks. However, with Expedia, in order to make a change, you have to call them first, and if they can’t make the change, they have to call us. This same guest asked me later for a copy of their receipt, but I can’t give them a receipt since the party paying for the room is Expedia; the guest has to contact them in order to get a receipt. Besides, any receipt I give them will show what we’re actually making on the room (which is still more than I would have charged you if you called me instead of booking online).

What part of this, exactly, is less hassle?

And Debi from December: if you know the area of Kansas City so well, why didn’t you contact the hotel you wanted to stay with directly?

Or think of it this way: How many hands are in the pot? Obviously, the more hands are in the pot (hotel, booking agent, etc.), the more chances there are of one making a mistake, and the more there are to pay to get what you want.

By: Former Expedia Employee

Former Expedia Employee — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:06:17 +0000

I am another former Hotels.com AND Expedia employee. I was very high up in the company– high up to see very very very quickly that this corporation (which, BTW ALSO owns Match.com, and a litany of other online companies under the umbrella IAC (InterActive Corporation) ), is strictly and SOLELY about lining CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s pockets with money. No matter who has to suffer, no matter how badly people get screwed over, they are about making that man wealthy, wealthy (as though being a 35 year old BILLIONARE was not enough)
Paul Brown left for Hilton last year.
Other senior executives have also left because of this throat-cutting behaviour. DO NOT GIVE IAC ANY MORE OF YOUR MONEY!!!!~!!!!!

By: Keith Freshwater

Keith Freshwater — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:15:01 +0000

Have just had a trip from London to Krakow in Poland cancelled due to the volcanic ash situation affecting Northern Europe. Had booked both flights and hotel through Expedia and so called them to obtain a refund.

Had spoken to the hotel directly and so was prepared to accept that I may lose at least 1 nights fee. Getting through to Expedia was a hassle though the volume of calls I imagine to be immense at this time, however when I did get through I spoke to an Irish lady who was efficient, courteous and very helpful. She arranged a complete refund on the hotel there and then and while she could not arrange the flight refund directly, she did look into it and offer advice. So assuming everything discussed works out and that the refund lands back in my account in the next week I will have to say I have been impressed with the service.

Given the sea of bad experiences I thought I should add a positive one that I have had. The one negative is that I feel the Expedia website should do far more to advise people on these events when they will affect so many and provide advice to help put peoples minds at rest. Making it so difficult to trak down contact details always suggests that an organisation has something to hide and cannot be best practice for a service industry such as Expedia.

By: Willie J. Johnson lawyer

Willie J. Johnson lawyer — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:19:19 +0000

I will never ever use expedia again because of their ineffective call representatives that turned out to be Filipinos who can hardly speak english~!

By: Debi

Debi — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:01:56 +0000

I didn’t realize that Expedia was associated with hotwire.com. I’ve always had good experiences with Expedia, but I tried hotwire.com for the first time this week, and it was a terrible experience. Because of this, I will not use Expedia again either. What has happened to Customer Service??? It’s so disappointing. On the hotwire.com site I checked the box for Country Club Plaza -this is an area about 3 square miles max in Kansas City. It’s a nice, upscale shopping area with lights up for the holidays…a good family place. When I got my hotel, it was in Westport which is a bar district and DEFINITELY not a good place for families and DEFINITELY not the Plaza. If I weren’t familiar with Kansas City, I would have been SHOCKED when I arrived. However, since I used to live in the area, I called and emailed customer service immediately stating that I know that area, it’s not safe after dark, and it is definitely not the Plaza. They told me their definition of the plaza area was 30 miles tip to tip! This is like saying you are staying in a French Quarter hotel when you are 30 miles away! It’s very deceptive. I feel cheated and deceived. Now I am stuck paying for this room and not staying there, or staying there because I paid for it and putting my 4 year old and myself at risk. They respond to my emails with the old “we’re sorry you feel this way, but yada yada yada.” I’m not sure how they will stay in business like this. I will definitely book directly with airlines, hotels, etc. from now on. Terrible, just terrible customer service.

By: saramel

saramel — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:35:37 +0000

I book flights for our company and I will never use Expedia again. I have had two different flights that turned into nightmares. The customer service is horrible.

By: barbie45

barbie45 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:17:56 +0000

Well when I read Ambers comment no company gets it right the first timme; it answered my question about the quality of its employees ; forget expedia not worth it.

By: Tina

Tina — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:33:57 +0000

I am a desk clerk. Here is what I find. Third party bookings have a bad habit of booking smoking rooms for non smoking guests they will put a note on the account that the guest requests non smoking but if we are sold out I can’t change the room for you. I can not help you if you need to cancel at the last minute or change your reservation in any way when you book third party. You must call the third party to make changes and sometimes there is a charge.
If you call me I will tell you I don’t have a non smoking room available if I don’t so you make the choice if you would like to book what is available or book with another brand. I want you happy when you arrive at the hotel I have to face you every day of your stay.
I can help you if you book with me or with our chain web pages our hotel doesn’t charge you for these changes ever we are willing to work with you. I also know a lot about the area around our hotel how far things are from our hotel what restaurants are around other facts. It is in your best interest to book directly with the hotel you choose. I don’t have booking fees or extra charges Room and tax (safe fee that can be removed)
If I don’t know the answer to your question I will find it for you. You won’t get service like that with a third party booking system. They have never been to the hotel or the area you are booking.
Contrary to the post about room changes I have never changed a third party room to make more money. I have upgraded them to fix third party mistakes.
Costing my boss more money if I have a room available. We don’t pick on you because your third party, we would like you to return to our hotel.

By: Francine Leaning

Francine Leaning — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:11:31 +0000

I booked two tickets to Manchster England on Expedia Saturday, 22nd August 2009 from JFK to return on 6th September via British Airways for me and my daugher. I have used Expedia several times and everything has always run smoothly. This time I could not make my JFK flight which was leaving at 8.06pm because of Hurricane Bill and live in Bermuda our airport was closed and my Bermuda to JFK flight was cancelled. I called Expedia to change the ticker to Sunday, 23rd August but Expedia wanted $3,000 to change my tickets. British Airways would not even speak to me and told me to call Expedia. I was desparate to go home to England so I booked two tickets to Manchster , England on Jet Arilines for $700.00. when I was in England on the Sunday I received an email from Expedia telling me BA have cancelled my teturn tickess to England because of nop show even though I had called Expedia several times to tell them I could not make my JFK flight and I called BA to tell them they still cancelled my tickets, When I was in England I found two airline tickets via Dublin, Ireland on Aer Lingus back from Manchester to JFK for $1000.00 so I was still $1,300 better off than changing my ticket with Expedia. I will not use Expedia again.

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:57:16 +0000

I booked my trip to Ireland 4 months in advance using Expedia. This included a car rental in Dublin with a company called “Payless”. Because we booked early, we got a good rate. Apparently too good, because when we got to Dublin, we couldn’t find a “Payless” counter anywhere. We spoke with several airport employees who said that there was no company called Payless in the airport. Turns out that it was under a different name (doing business as Dooley Car Rentals). Nowhere on the Expedia printed itinerary was this listed, nor was it in the itinerary you can have e-mailed to you. The U.S. number listed on the itinerary was not helpful either due to the time zone change (voicemail). We had no choice but to rent a car for 5 times the amount at another rental counter. When we got back to the states, my husband called Expedia to explain our situation. After over an hour on the phone, we were of course told that it was our fault, because way at the bottom of the booking page on Expedia (not in the print version) buried in a bunch of other links was a link that said ‘Detailed Rental Information’, and that it was our responsibility to click these links and either print them out or remember that it is called Dooley Car Rentals during the 4 months between the time we booked and our trip. With this type of customer service, we will never use Expedia again, since there may be other times where they are ‘hiding’ CRITICAL information deep in the fine print.

By: G. Harris

G. Harris — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:22:09 +0000

Booked a stay in Vegas through Expedia because of a “special offer” on their website. Turns out, the advertsed hotel didn’t honor the offer and I had to book at a more expensive hotel. I told the overseas customer rep that the website still adevetised the offer, but all they could say is it would get fixed. The “Expedia Promise” says “We guarantee that the travel you booked with Expedia will meet the descriptions on our site and in your itinerary (as confirmed on our site within 24 hours of travel), or we will work with our partners on your behalf to find a solution”. What that means is they will throw a $50 dollar voucher for a future booking that you will never use.

By: P. Haile

P. Haile — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:12:33 +0000

I was charged twice for the same ticket expedia. I am having no luck with getting my credit card refunded. There was a message error during the time the flight was booked and expedia booked two flight for the same person, same date, and destination. Isn’t this some type of homeland security concern. It’s obvious that Expedia’s site made a mistake but are not acknowledging that there is a mistake.

By: Susan Gim

Susan Gim — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:50:30 +0000

Dear Mr. Elliot,

I found your email online, (and I am also posting this up on your website) and I was wondering if you could help me. I recently bought a roundtrip Lufthansa ticket from Incheon to Vienna from Expedia.com. The ticket was reasonaly priced at around $750. ($460 was the tax amount) The day after I bought the ticket I found out I was getting laid off from my job. I realized that I could not afford to take the trip. When I called to get a refund, both parties told me that the ticket was nonrefundable and there was nothing I could do. Later, a friend told me that I am entitled to the taxes and fees. I called Lufthansa and Expedia again, but I kept getting the runaround. Lufthansa would say that they couldn’t do anything because Expedia did not pay them yet. (My credit card statement has Lufthansa on it) Expedia would say they cannot do anything for me because it goes against their policies.
Finally, Expedia told me to call the IRS. I called the IRS today and I am even more confused. The IRS representative that I spoke with talked about filling out a form. He said he never saw a case like mine before. I’m beginning to feel that both Lufthansa and Expedia are not being honourable. Since I am not knowledable about these matters I feel like I am being taken advantage of.
I know I can’t get the full refund back, but even getting the taxes back would be such a relief for me.
Mr. Elliot please advise me on what to do. I’ve read some of your articles online and I realized that you are the person I could talk to.

Thank you for your time