Expedia Hotel Booking
4.2
5.3
Overall Score
Author: Kalicia Bateman
LAST UPDATED: December 28th, 2020
The Good
- Great features
- Customer service 24/7
- Rewards program
Great Features
Expedia has been in business for more than 15 years and is one of the leading travel sites on the web and has helped thousands of travelers with all of their booking needs. Over time, they have made innovations in the online booking space and their technology ultimately allows them to pull data and pricing information from thousands of traveling and airfare sites. These results are then presented to the traveler to compare, contrast, and book. Aside from allowing travelers to book the standard accommodations on their site, Expedia has also found a way to help travelers make their trip as straight-forward as possible. Features that travelers will find to be useful during their research and planning time include the following:- Low price guarantee
- No cancellation or change charges (from Expedia.com - there may be some from airlines, hotels, etc.)
- Cutting edge technology of Scratchpad to keep track of your searches
- Expedia + Rewards program
- Easy interface with suggestions available
- Ability to book with a variety of options (flight only, flight + car, flight + room, flight + room + car, room + car)
- Free cancellation within 24 hours of booking
Customer Service 24/7
Access to customer service is available 24/7, which is helpful for night owls looking for a vacation getaway after normal business hours. With this being said, our reviewers did experience long hold times when trying to contact customer service.Rewards Program
Expedia offers a rewards program in which points are accumulated for reservations made through Expedia.com and can be donated to charity or redeemed for travel rewards on future trips. The program, Expedia + Rewards, offers three tiers of increasing benefits per tier (Blue, Silver and Gold). Additionally, members of Expedia + Rewards are given access to special deals of the day.The Bad
- Long wait time
- Not as popular as TripAdvisor
Long Wait Time
Customer service for Expedia.com is lacking some of the polish that one would expect from a large company. The wait time was longer than average and customers explain when agents pick up calls, they are not as professional or helpful as one would expect as well. Since most of the interaction and arrangements are made online and one of the main reasons for calling customer service would be if there was a problem with a reservation, this could be a more significant factor in the resolution of these issues should they arise. Common complaints of frequent Expedia users include:- Failed anniversary cruises
- Miscommunicated airline ticket scheduling
- Terrible experiences with Expedia customer service
Not as Popular as TripAdvisor
Not only has Expedia demonstrated a struggle in customer service and consistency in travel packages, but it also isn't the most popular go-to travel site. Overall estimated desktop visits to Expedia sites were 63.5 million for May of 2014 compared to TripAdvisor's 159.6 million and Booking.com's 210.5 million.The Bottom Line
- Booking Incentives: Rewards program and membership benefits
- Insurance: Travel protection
- Support: 24/7 customer support
- Compiled information: Family of brands to use to aggregate data
- Sorting tool: Thousands of results that can be sorted in a matter of seconds
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