Booking Irregularities with Expedia

[badbadboy]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...isted-rooms-unavailable-for-2-years-1.4648991

I've used Expedia and various other sites for booking personal and business trips. Colleagues will say book at such and such hotel. Expedia will say no rooms but phoning the hotel directly always worked. I never knew why online was always full yet rooms were available.

The CBC link indicates that if a hotel property doesn't sign up with Expedia then the booking platform lists their hotel as "No Rooms Available".

Turns out they have used this business practise worldwide and there are class action lawsuits in France and Washington DC. Expedia always calls it a Glitch.

Talk about dishonest business practises. The amount of time I wasted on their site pisses me off.

 

[take8easy]

I have used Expedia quite a bit and although I have never had any issues, I agree with No Rooms Available thing.
Also, these website almost always add a red tag saying, "Only two rooms/seats left".

 

[felixthecat]

"Booking Irregularities".

Here it comes, a bad review by BBB.

Sorry to hear about your experience.

 

[clu]

Even for hotels they do offer, their allotment can be only a portion of the hotel's capacity, so what they really mean is there are no rooms left that they can offer you, not that there are no rooms. When I find a hotel I'm interested in, I'll often check the hotel's own site too.

 

[ddcanz]

Even for hotels they do offer, their allotment can be only a portion of the hotel's capacity, so what they really mean is there are no rooms left that they can offer you, not that there are no rooms. When I find a hotel I'm interested in, I'll often check the hotel's own site too.

I use Expedia to locate the property, then call the hotel directly to book.
They will always match the best price IME, and when checking in there is a much better chance of getting free or low-cost upgrades.
Also, when booking a US hotel, you can sometimes get a Canadian at par additional discount to the already price matched rate.

 

[PuntMeister]

I use Expedia to locate the property, then call the hotel directly to book.
They will always match the best price IME, and when checking in there is a much better chance of getting free or low-cost upgrades.
Also, when booking a US hotel, you can sometimes get a Canadian at par additional discount to the already price matched rate.

Yes! I pretty much do the same using third-party sites for research and reviews, then book flights and hotels directly to avoid the BS. No more “oh sorry, we can’t seem to find your reservation, and that email your waving at me wasn’t from us and it doesn’t mean we have a room for you!”. Especially with flights, I want my purchase to be directly with the airline so I can hold them accountable. One time I booked a connecting flight with a third party and when they oversold the flight, the airline wouldn’t let me check in on-line the day before, and the I was treated like the lowest class citizen with the least priority ticket. I really needed to get home that day for work, and there were no other flights available. Fortunately someone offered to go the next day in exchange for a free flight so I got home OK. Now I always book with the airline and check in and reserve my seat on-line 24hrs before the flight. A buddy of mine is more flexible and hopes flights get oversold so he can offer up his place and get a free flight. Life’s to short for that aggravation imho.

 

[westwoody]

yeah...I spent twelve hours in Montreal Airport getting bumped from one flight after another because of third party booking.

Direct is the only way to go.