Expedia

Hotel  Booking  

About Expedia

Expedia was one of the first third-party discount travel companies and has gained a reputation and brand awareness which is fairly solid. As a corporate citizen, Expedia is community-minded and has long been a sponsor of St. Jude’s Hospital for Children. They offer opportunities for like-minded travelers to donate their accumulated Expedia points to the hospital to ease travel burdens for those needing to bring their child for treatment for childhood cancer.

Why Expedia?

•  Extensive search engine with many results and options available for filtering results (price, time of departure, arrival time, non-stop vs. layovers, flight duration and airline preferances)

•  Hotel searches are filtered by: ratings, price, amenities, neighborhoods and proximity to landmarks, etc. 

•  Expedia + Rewards program allows travelers to accumulate points for their travel booked with Expedia.com

•  Expedia has a full-featured mobile app which allows travelers to search for travel and book on the go

The Good

•  Expedia offers a low price guarantee

•  Changes are free from Expedia charges, but airline, hotels, etc. may charge fees to change reservations

•  Travelers can cancel their reservations free of charge within 24 hours of booking

•  Scratchpad saves prior searches

•  Expedia + Rewards program and Expedia Rewards credit card allow travelers to earn points for their future travel

•  Book travel with a variety of options (flight only, flight + car, flight + room, flight + room + car, room + car)

The Bad

Customer service for Expedia is below average and the wait times to speak to a customer service representative are long. Many of the agents with whom reviewers spoke were not native English speakers and in interactions with prospective travelers, seemed to give a run-around and did not offer clear information or help.    

One should be fully aware of all change and cancellation policies before booking travel with any third party discount travel company, because there can be significant restrictions. With this being stated, we recommend Expedia for consideration when looking for a good price for your travel arrangements. Be aware that Expedia’s customer service department was scored as less than the industry average and when trouble arrives, one may not be able to receive the assistance which they need.

Contract and Cancellation Policies

Expedia is not as transparent as their competitors in revealing the full terms and conditions of their contract. They advertise a 24 hour free cancellation policy and that changes are possible on many of the reservations made online or through an agent, but are not clear of the timeframe or terms for these changes. Full terms can be found at: http://www.expedia.com/p/info-other/legal.htm#

Website Usability

Their website is easy to use and offers the ability for travelers to examine and compare their previous searches with Sketchpad. This makes searching for travel easy. Expedia.com is far ahead of their competition in this functionality, both for searches made online via a desktop/laptop or those using their mobile app.

Better Business Bureau

•  Accredited since 2000

•  A+ rating 

•  2622 complaints closed with BBB in last 3 years •  1183 closed in last 12 months •  The BBB states that Expedia handles complaints in a satisfactory manner, has a low number of complaints relative to the size of the company and has been in business for a sufficient amount of time

Social Media

Expedia has active social media accounts and offers contests, discounts, etc. for their followers. Find Expedia on: •  Facebook •  Twitter •  Google+ • YouTube •  Pinterest •  LinkedIn

Mobile

Expedia offers mobile apps for both iOS and Android users as well as a discount for booking travel via the mobile app for the first booking done via their mobile app.

Contact Information  

Phone number: 800-391-3613 Address: Expedia Headquarters 333 108th Ave NE Ste 300 Bellevue, WA 98004-5736

Summary  

Expedia is a full-featured site which offers their users a one-stop destination to save money on their travel plans. There are options to reserve flights, hotel, rental cars and cruises as well as combining purchases to make a unique travel package. For those who travel frequently, the Rewards program is a benefit in that points are accumulated for travel and can be redeemed for future reservations. Expedia earns high marks for their website and mobile app, but could use some improvement in the customer service.

http://thebestcompanys.com/hotel-booking/company/expedia-com/