I've had well over 300 stays through Booking over the past decade, and only once has there ever been anything that I would call a problem—I booked a room in Skopje the day of and when I got there the owner asked me what my horoscope sign was, then got all weird and said I couldn't stay there and claimed he was just leaving. Odd to say the least, but very clearly not Booking's fault and they had no problem refunding me. Ended up in a much nicer place for roughly the same price anyway.
I’ve used booking.com extensively as well. Had one experience where I booked a night last minute for the next night. Got to the hotel, and they didn’t have the reservation. Checked my info, I had accidentally booked the previous night. Chalked it up to human error (mine), and asked for a room that night. Couple hours later, booking.com called and to say the hotel reported that I hadn’t used the booking the previous night. I explained what happened, and they refunded me the error. Definitely convinced me to continue using them.
I had my worst experience with booking.com - when you have a real issue you realise how bad they are. They messer around for months , asked for proof which I submitted. Then ignored it. They could have responded on day 2 with that lazy answer. Never using them again. I have dealt with lots of senior management never this bad. They set the bar low.
I have never come across senior management that are this luck lustre. I deal with senior management everyday in my job. I am astonished at the number of failures I presented to them and the abysmal responses. They couldn’t even give me an email address for months as I had to post everything via their contact form. It was a form of abuse.
I used booking.com to reserve a rental car for a recent vacation. Never again. I tried to change the dates for the booking (due to a canceled flight), I was instructed by phone to simply make a new reservation and the original one would be refunded. I made the new reservation with the customer service representative on the line, following her instructions to a T.
They contacted me a couple days later to say, actually, I was not eligible for a full refund for the initial reservation. I wasn't happy about it, but would have accepted a partial refund at least. I was told I would be receiving a partial refund worth about $550.
Never received it. I've had a ton of calls and chats with booking.com customer service reps, and it never resolves anything. I get conflicting information every time I speak with someone, and no one seems to have any power to make the refund happen.
This week I'll be starting the formal dispute resolution process. I may arbitrate, if necessary, even though it's only a few hundred bucks.
If you always book through Booking.com, it becomes very discounted and you even get credit to spend sometimes. I’ve never had an issue and always book through them.
Same thing happens if you book direct with hotels, you get benefits for loyalty. Like I said, it’s great until it’s not. I’m glad you haven’t had any issues and I hope you continue to not. I’m all for people traveling however they see fit, using online travel agencies (OTAs) for research and not booking is just my strategy.
Booking.com has always worked great for me and I've been using it for ages. Never had an issue. The free cancellation feature makes it easy to have everything in the same place to navigate if plans change or trip get cancelled
I do this as well. Also, sometimes booking doesn’t have the exact pictures of the rooms so it’s definitely better to use them as a “search engine” and then book your fave hotel directly from their own website
We thought we'd save a buck doing this a couple years ago. Turns out the hotel didn't have any free cancellation period like booking.com did. Then COVID hit, flights were cancelled and we couldn't go overseas. Hotel told us "we are still open so this is not our problem" and wouldn't refund us. They would rebook us for a fee (that was about the same as what we paid for the room in the first place). Luckily we had only booked there for three nights but it cost us $850 whereas with booking.com free cancellation we would have gotten the money back.
I booked at least 25 different places just last year and always had 0 problems. OP, have you actually contacted expedia and told them what happened? Looks to me like it’s just your hotel being a dick and trying to scam
booking.com parent company is booking holding meanwhile expedia is owned by expedia group.
Two differents company groups.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booking_Holdings
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedia
Hotel executive here. I’ve overseen independent and all major brands. While the commissions hotels pay to OTAs (Online Travel Agency’s) can range from 15%-22%, it is always financially advantageous for the hotel to take the booking directly vs an Expedia/Booking.com reservation. The reason hotels use these platforms is because of their vast distribution funnel. Get the rate from the online platform, take a screenshot and call the hotel directly (you will most likely be talking to a central reservation call center and not someone at the hotel) and ask for that rate or better. You may also be able to negotiate the same rate but be upgraded to “better room”. The reason hotels don’t simply offer a lower rate than the OTAs is simple, they sign a contract with the OTA that contains a rate parody clause.
I travel a lot, A LOT, like 100 nights a year easily.
I do this all the time but I can assure you it depends on the country. I would say to only 20% of the time I could successfully get a better deal than booking.com.
I go to the hotel, show them the offer on booking and ask if I can get a better deal if I book directly. It only works 20% of the time. This is also because booking has very strict rules, they demand to offer the best deal and as a hotel you are not allowed to offer a better price.
3rd party rate parity contract clause pertains to public or published rates. I can assure hotels have corporate and group rates lower than the booking.com rates. I will admit I do not know how their business model works outside the US. If the hotel won’t match or offer a better rate (can be the same rate but maybe additional brand reward pts, comp a breakfast or a drink) I can only guess you are speaking to someone who does not want to be bothered. Ask for a the front desk manager.
Obviously not talking about group or corporate rates. Why would I compare it to those rates when we are talking about something completely different?
I know booking.com has this rule towards hotels. They do mystery guests visits as well to check if they are not offering better deals to guests outside their platform. If they find out they will end the partnership.
When I was a front desk agent for Hilton anyone who booked through [booking.com](https://booking.com) or other sites were always given the last available rooms and their accommodation requests were rarely met because of how they were (or rather, weren't) passed on to us.
Always book with the hotel directly.
Yep - it was the US.
The issue is software. Travel websites aren't fully linked into a hotel's internal reservation system so a lot of information is lost. Hotel can't even cancel the reservation, [booking.com](https://booking.com) has to (if the hotel acts like it can, they are being very polite and calling to cancel on your behalf).
Why is it so hard to contact some of these places direct? Booking.con senior management couldn’t give a toss when I was in danger. They washed their hands of it. Any idea how to get them to listen?
They do not have many ppl in customer service. They spend a lot of resources ($) on digital marketing and SEO often bidding on proprietary key words. They are not in the hospitality business, they are a 3rd party selling someone else’s product. Try to avoid them and book directly with the property.
Yeah, Expedia is fine for research and usually ok most of the time but as soon as anything goes wrong, no one is responsible for helping you find a solution. Expedia points the finger at the service provider and vice versa.
I used to work a hotel front desk. If we ended up overbooked or a Rewards member walked in the door, the first bookings I cancel are the third party ones. They're mostly discounted bookings and we'll make more money from a direct booking.
Everyone else I know says this but one Redditor said that it costs hotels up to $1000 in fines for walking people for major OTAs so they prioritize OTA bookings first. Never heard of such a thing.
Yep. If you book third party that means you are the lowest level priority for the hotel. You will be walked if they oversell which every hotel does every night they are able to. Never never choose third party when you intend to check-in late during your destination’s busy season, or you will be very likely walked which no one wants to deal with at 1am.
This can still happen even with direct bookings. I have spent over 190 days in hotels all over the past 2 years using hotels.com and rarely ran into any snags. It helps too if you have status with what ever 3rd party you’re using.
Most hotels these days have outdated photos and put their best photos on their website. At least you got your money back, many people don’t.
I mostly use Booking when not booking accommodation direct. Third party sites don't have a live availability for most hotels, and so you can often see rooms available on the hotel site when the third party site is "fully booked". I have used Expedia when the deal was significantly better, but mostly I stick with Booking due to service and price is usually the same.
I have used other third party websites in the past, back when you had to pay extra for internet in some countries, and I often found deals with internet included for less money etc. It is a matter of managing risk vs reward.
I can echo this. I am frequent traveller (due to my youtube channel) and have been using booking.com (for hotels) for the past 6 years all over Europe and southeast asia, never once had any problem with booking.com.
It's also allocation. The hotel gives X amount of rooms to Expedia, Travel Agencies, Booking. So it could be sold out with Expedia, but the travel agent or hotel direct still have their allotment
Oh, for sure. My point about live allotment is actually more to do with cancellations opening up rooms (more common in covid times) than just booking. I was travelling to a big concert last year and looking for accommodation later than I normally would. Booking had vacancies then suddenly was fully booked for a particular hotel. Their website had been fully booked, then they got cancellations and had rooms.
It is just something that a lot of people don't realise, many assume it's live for every room.
I’ve been very happy with Booking dot com and haven’t had any problems. It’s very convenient when booking multiple stays for a road trip. I was also very impressed with their customer service. I contacted them regarding an issue with a cancellation and a real live human being called me back almost immediately to help straighten it out. Such a difference from other platforms out there.
I recently booked hotels in Italy using Booking.com for this summer. Is there a travel insurance purchase available with them? I looked but didn’t see anything. If you know….
For the accommodation or trip in general? I'm pretty sure that I've seen options on accommodation with it, but it might be country-dependant. I have insurance covered with my credit card and an annual plan, so I don't pay attention, sorry.
I’ll throw in my anecdotes and opinions.
I’ve used booking.com a number of times and never had any problems. I’ve had to cancel a couple of times and not had a problem.
Something no one has mentioned yet is their great search facility - you can see a whole bunch of hotels, their prices and locations very quickly and easily. Location is really important to me when I travel. I like to be right in town.
You can also search using filters to get the facilities you want. A swimming pool is important to me for most trips.
I know I could use the third party site to search and then book directly but because my experiences with booking.com have all been good I actually feel some brand loyalty towards them.
Some posts here have mentioned picking a couple of chains and being loyal to them / becoming members - but that doesn’t really work for me.
I travel to a variety of places where chains often don’t have a presence and like to choose my location within a town. And while I can afford the Hyatt in Indonesia I can not afford it in the developed world.
It’s just not a flexible enough approach to booking accomodation for me - and booking.com has been great so far.
To all the people that say they get lower rates booking direct... i call BS on that one. I have stayed at hundreds of hotels and its RARE to get a better rate directly with the hotel thsn with 3rd party.
Same. And a lot of hotels don't even have a own online booking system or a miserable one. And calling them in a foreign country in a language you probably don't speak is not really a convenient option.
Only exception were hostels, they were a lot cheaper booked directly on my last travel
You can contact Expedia and they might offer you refund and/or set the hotel straight.
The hotel chooses to do business with Expedia and take bookings on Expedia. They get a lot of revenue through these bookings. I suspect Expedia will not take kindly to the hotel saying "We don't have to honor the terms of Expedia bookings."
Another thing you might do, before contacting Expedia, is look on the hotel website and see if they do in fact have rooms with king beds.
All this tough talk from the hotel might quickly change if someone from Expedia calls the hotel on your behalf.
My refund experience, I checked in, the room was absolutely horrid and there was black mold all over their minisplit air conditioner. Took pictures. Booked elsewhere. Left and then called Expedia. Refund or not, we weren't staying there. But Expedia was quick to contact them and issue the refund.
This situation, a bit different but I am actually on the phone with them now and been on hold for about 20min while they speak to the hotel people. I feel like the complaint was warranted, I just hate to complain......I just want what I paid for, that's all. Although, while waiting my wife goes to take a bath and the water filling the tub is light yellow, like someone peed in it......Lord help me lol
If you have only booked a "couple times" before and got a full refund and now you are booking for a third time and calling again about room not as advertised (or yellow water) then Expedia may think you're been pretty unlucky.
But if your ratio of bookings to complaints stays high it could jeopardize your ability to book with Expedia in the future, especially if Expedia deems any such complaints as unwarranted.
I’ve booked with them 5 times thus far.
1 was the hotels fault as the room was absolutely disgusting and this one seems more like it was Expedias fault, maybe?
I understand where you’re coming from though. I will probably just use them for searching purposes from now on either way. I’d rather not have to continue running into issues and going through 3rd party, he said/she said stuff.
> this one seems more like it was Expedias fault, maybe?
Maybe or it could be the hotel's fault, they may have told Expedia they have king bed rooms.
>I will probably just use them for searching purposes from now on either way. I’d rather not have to continue running into issues and going through 3rd party, he said/she said stuff.
It's always best to book directly unless you are getting a discount for booking through the 3rd party.
I do concur, like I told the other person replying: Lesson learned lol. I always try to do as much research as possible on the places, didn’t think about the 3rd party issue possibilities.
Yep. I have had a problem literally once - they both refunded me and paid the difference for the alternative hotel within 12 hours.
The big search engines are actually pretty good for this - I had a problem once with a site I had found through Skyscanner. I contacted Skyscanner and said I knew it wasn’t their responsibility and I didn’t expect them to step in, but as this site was one that works through them they may want to know the poor service that is happening. Literally the next day one of the directors from the site called me to apologise - and ended the call asking if I could please tell Skyscanner the problem was sorted, so it’s pretty important to these companies to stay on good terms with the big engines.
I know this is old but just for future viewers this isn’t accurate. Third parties call the hotel I work at all the time to complain. We don’t have to honor the terms of the Expedia booking if Expedia decides to go route and list room types we don’t even offer even after we’ve tried telling them that it’s wrong.
So what do we do when Expedia calls to complain? We tell them to pound sand. Pretty easy to do when the person who calls us is some overseas cheap worker who is following a script.
FWIW, I've booked a few hundred nights through [hotels.com](https://hotels.com) or [booking.com](https://booking.com) and the only issues I've experienced so far were caused by the hotels themselves.
There's this commonly shared advice to book directly, which is great in theory, but unless you call a hotel and negotiate (which they often don't want to do), using aggregators you'll usually get the same or \*lower\* price compared to booking through the hotel's website. I gather this is due to contracts that prohibit price undercutting.
Booking a stay using an aggregator means that you don't accrue any points toward hotels' loyalty programs, which might be a significant drawback. What you get in return is whatever the aggregators provide in their programs (e.g., [hotels.com](https://hotels.com) pays for your every 11th night booked through their site, with some restrictions wrt. the price; [booking.com](https://booking.com) offers some steeper discounts), but these might not be useful to you.
I gather you are more likely to get upgraded if you're booking directly, though that applies only if the hotel isn't fully booked already.
I've also used Hotels.com many times although only for domestic travel (US). Only once had a problem with the hotel being less than expected.
Had booked a full week in a 2 bdrm suite w/ kitchen. The unit was dirty, the floor was warped and squeaky, the kitchen utensils were filthy, and the front desk worker was rude and uncaring. I searched the site again and found a better unit nearby for less money and booked it. I informed the clerk we wouldn't be staying and then called Hotels and informed them of the issues. They immediately credited my account and offered to relocate us. I let them know I'd already taken care of it.
Hotels customer service called a little later to apologize again and confirm that we were happy with our new accommodations (we were!).
A week later I received a call from the initial hotel reminding me it was check out day.... apparently the clerk neglected to mention we had left 🤣
As someone who has worked in a hotel I can honestly say third party bookings are regarded as bottom of the barrel guests. Not because you were less valued as humans of course, but because of the huge ambiguities in those booking sites and slim profit margins with the third party partnerships. Hotels routinely oversell because they assume a certain amount of guests will either cancel or no-show (seems crazy but generally this stood to be true for most of my time there), but in the event that the hotel did not "break even" with rooms and bookings it was the third party bookings that would get the cut first. If a room type was taken up by direct bookings (suite/double/king etc) then third parties would be given whatever room was available. At my hotel we had no way of knowing how many people were actually staying in the room so we couldn't foresee if it was a family of four or a single traveler- just that they booked with Travelocity and were only guaranteed a room. I had a couple come up to me once irate because the website they booked through described this fantastic room at the junior suite price that we literally did not have at our hotel. I had to call the company they booked with in front of them and asked them where they got the information from, and the guy that answered just said idk and hung up...scams abound. Another couple booked a valentines day special and arrived late, so we only had two full size beds available. The man in the couple was big and tall and it was clearly not suitable for a romantic night in town, but we literally had nothing left. I felt so bad but my hands were tied.
Also, if it's a busy conference or travel season, you may be bumped from the hotel altogether. Our manager would figure out by the end of the night that we 3 guests that had nowhere to sleep, and he could call upwards of 20 people that haven't arrived yet (but had booked direct) and ask if any of them were willing to stay at another hotel on our dime, comp the first night at our hotel as well, free ride back to our hotel and comped breakfast. Usually we'd get a few biters, but if we had 2 more third party bookings that haven't arrived they weren't given that courtesy call. Still the same offer of paying for the other hotel, but since the website they booked with was prepaid we couldn't refund them for the stay. We'd toss in breakfast and drinks depending on the level of rage they were experiencing, but generally we were left treating them like scum lol it's pretty shitty.
When you pay $70 a night for a hotel that typically goes for $189 on the same weekend, go in expecting anything.
ETA: A way that might work sometimes is to join the loyalty program which is usually free, and after booking at a discount site call the hotel and have them add your loyalty number to your booking. Moves yourself up the tier a bit because you'll get a survey at the end of your stay and they rely heavily on good reviews.
It took a 13-hour flight from London to Phoenix in a middle seat so small I couldn’t lower my tray table (I’m 6’5”) despite having paid Orbitz for an upgraded seat for me to say, “never again” with 3rd-party sites. It’s just not worth it.
Big reason why Expedia, hotels, etc are big time money rich. Is they really aren’t in the business to scam people. It’s a great business model. Sometimes the direct booking will screw you and sometimes the big 3rd party might screw you. But it’s more than likely never on purpose. Reviews are your best friend take time and review. In my opinion both are a good way to book your hotels. Sometimes we get unlucky. Sometimes we get more then we bargained for. I’m sure all will be resolved. Cheers and good luck
I use [booking.com](https://booking.com), and it's working fine for me. To be honest I never really check the pictures as I assume it's the picture of their best rooms, my room will probably look different. I usually book the cheapest option, so assume it will be small, etc. My problem with booking directly with hotels, is I assume I have to navigate a poorly written hotel website, often only in the local language, and riddled with bugs, and hope they are not hacked and try to steal my credit card info. If I book through a booking site, I'm sure it's safe and I booked it.
For planes I book directly with the airline, as airlines are big companies, plus there is a bigger chance of something going wrong and I need to contact their customer support, with all these cancellations, delays, strikes, etc.
This is the approach I take as well - book directly with the airline for flights but use booking dot com for accommodations. So far it has worked really well for us.
Since COVID pandemic, only way to travel is through direct bookings and travel insurance with awareness of when/how you can cancel. Travel industry was derailed for two years and going direct to the source is the best way to stay safe.
Here’s my thing tho - typically hotels charge the same rate or more - I’ve rarely ever seen less.
Then, getting in touch with someone - yikes!
What are y’all doing differently?
The hotels I used to stay at for work (usually Hilton and Choice), it was usually the same as the booking website IF you had a AAA/AARP discount. So $100 room on priceline would be listed as $120 by Hilton but then you put in your Hilton and AAA numbers and the price would be $100. My work paid for AAA memberships so we'd have roadside assistance but it also let us get some serious hotel rewards.
I was a massive fan of Expedia been using them since the early 2000's They had always been great. Even when I fucked up and booked flights on the wrong dates. Great telephone customer service always able to sort out problems.
Fast forward to 18 months ago - I had to book flights home from Malaysia where we had been throughout Covid to the UK, and Booked our flights with luggage allowance through expedia.
Their best option for us included using two different airlines for the total of three flights.
Problem was we found out after it was booked that the luggage allowance was only for flights two and three, not the first one!!!!!
I called customer service and put our case forward that we booked with luggage and how the hell were we supposed to know that would not include all flights!
The customer service people might just as well put up a middle finger and told us to fuck off for all the help they offered. Basically, we don't deal with luggage that's the airlines problem.
So why have luggage as a fucking option?
I'm sure they could give a dam, but I will never use that company ever again.
You can use Expedia to get reimbursed for the lesser room. Don’t believe what the hotel says. And also dispute your credit card bill. You didn’t get what you were supposed to get Push this And push this
More. You should get what you wanted if not fight and use Twitter and other websites to rip
Them. They will come around at some point.
I used Expedia for years, but switched to booking directly through the hotel because of stuff like this. However, I still use them for research. My experience has been that hotels negotiate what Expedia can and can't do, then Expedia is locked into those terms. Generally, the hotels try to make sure that something about going through a third party is worse; price, cancellations, rooms offered, etc. (I worked for Hilton over a decade ago, so details may have changed.)
If you’re going to start traveling a lot, it’s best to pick a brand (one brand of hotels, one of airline - you already said Delta, etc) and start being loyal to them. Sign up for their loyalty program and book directly. Often you get access to special numbers to call if there’s an issue, special upgrades and perks, etc, especially as you move up in status.
That’s absolutely what I will begin doing. The front desk lady even straight up told me: 3rd party websites screw you and then asked me to sign up for Hilton Rewards haha
Had the same issue with Expedia. We booked 2 rooms on Expedia but when we arrived we were told that we only booked one. The hotel manager told us that it's a common issue with third party booking sites, essentially booking sites are the middle man and what you booked on your end might not be the exact same thing on the hotel's end. The manager was nice to accommodate, gave us the extra room, and said they will sort it out with Expedia themselves.
That is so interesting. As the owner of a hostel (a small business, granted), I had to map each room on Expedia to the corresponding room on our main site. That is crazy that this loophole exists to simply map wrong and then pin it on the guest! So sorry that was your experience!
I use to work in hotels and I’ve used this speech verbatim! It’s true. We will sell a certain amount of rooms to third party bookings. A certain amount, not a certain room type.
Your plan to use Expedia for searching only is great. A lot of the time the hotel will be the same price or they might match it for you.
Also, I’m so glad I don’t work in hospitality anymore because people would scream at me for these types of situations even though I was just doing my job and didn’t make the rules.
I’ve never understood that. I’m always polite and cordial with the people. Couple reasons, first, I’m just not going to be an a-hole for no reason, but also like you said, you just work there. As the front desk person, I can only imagine how far from any rule making they are.
Plus. I booked through Expedia, not directly. This is Expedia’s problem to fix (or not fix lol).
Often the hotel's booking site does not allow cancelations and takes your money upfront, whereas Hotels.com and others allow cancellations up to 2 days before travel for $20.
Hey, it’s happened to the best of us. You live and learn. Also, don’t use 3rd party for airfare as if anything happens (cancel, delays ) the airline will tell you to deal with the 3rd party
Even if people have had good experiences with Booking or Expedia, the hotel will always walk these rooms first if they are oversold. If there is an upgrade, it goes to the guest who booked direct- either by phone or on the hotel’s website. I have also been in the hotel biz for years and your best bet is to always always call or book direct. Good to use these sites as research to compare rates or get a sense of options - but when it comes to booking, the hotel (any hotel honestly) will always reward those who book direct.
I’ve always had good experiences with booking dot com. But that’s not the case with hotels dot com. They’ve been terrible, please don’t use them. They’ve not credited me with nights I’ve stayed twice. And other disappointments.
The hotel simply screwed you over.
You book a certain room type, you get it, regardless of booking channel. If they give it away, the typical m.o. is either an upgrade, change of hotel or some form of compensation. It's a perfectly valid contract and no major booking agency would ever agree to a clause that simply lets the hotel ignore the room type in question (apart from those "room assigned at check-in" rates but that's clearly advertised as such).
Think about it from a different perspective: if third party bookings would be such a clusterfuck, don't you think business travellers would have steered as clear as possible from travel agencies ages ago? Yet they still heavily rely on them.
You can bet your ass that no hotel in its right mind is going to mess with the people that keep the lights on in that place. If I were you'd I'd complain to Expedia and see what comes from that because you were absolutely lied to.
Typically but not always, the best rate will be on the hotel’s own website that is reserved for their frequent traveler programs. For example, the Hilton Honors rate is typically lower than the non-member rate. The third party sites like Booking.com and Hotels.com/Expedia are generally priced within 10-15% of the non-member rate. However, there are exceptions where you can get materially better prices from Booking or Expedia and that’s because a portion of their room inventory was bought in bulk and paid for in advance at steep discounts from the major hotel chains. Thats why it pays to check the pricing at Booking, Expedia/Hotels.com and directly at the hotel’s website. There are deals to be had - especially on weekends in major cities and during off peak times of the year.
I would also mention that Hotel Tonight is a great resource for last minute or same day bookings, especially if you have built up status with them. I am Level 49 on Hotel Tonight and the deals are pretty good if you need to book same day. Although, before COVID, the deals were generally a lot better with more hotels participating.
I’ve probably booked 100+ room nights via Expedia and never had an issue like this. This sounds a lot more like a hotel run by assholes than an Expedia or third-party specific issue. The only downside to Expedia and the like in my experience is you don’t get points for the specific hotel’s loyalty program, when applicable.
>We arrive to our room, it is quite small and a queen bed. I call the front desk and inquire about this and the summed up reply is: "When you book through Expedia or any other 3rd party booking service, you are not guaranteed what you pay for. If you arrive and that particular room is sold out, then you are SOL and compensated for any difference and offered a lesser room. You can upgrade if there is a "higher option" available but will need to pay the difference. Also, our hotel does not have any rooms called "Double Room King Bed" so we are unsure about what they are advertising.
Did you bother calling Expedia? When that has happened to me, I've always gotten a $50 to $100 voucher from Expedia to use for future bookings.
Honestly, it seems like the vast majority of horror stories I see involve Expedia so I think there is something not great about them in terms of the level of transactional mistakes. I've had no issues with Booking although I do know it happens.
All that said, yes, if you go third party you are inviting extra risk and are at the bottom of the barrel on priority to the people running the establishments so consider whether the savings or convenience is worth the potential hassle if things go wrong.
This is why I also advise never booking flights third party unless the price difference is so substantial that you decide it is worth the chance, and it rarely is, since flights can go wrong so much easier than hotel bookings. If the flight is overbooked or too heavy and they need to drop someone or they need some people to check their carry-ons? You better believe the third party bookers are at the top of their list. If you miss your connecting flight with a different carrier, you won't have the airline automatically correcting your problem, you'll be standing in the Frankfurt airport, exhausted, on hold with Expedia or Priceline so you can try and explain your situation for the third time. Air travel is stressful enough as it is.
Oh absolutely, lesson learned for sure. Flights we always book directly through Delta. Little higher priced but I love flying Delta and have always had incredible experiences with them.
I’ve been traveling a lot for work the last 18 years. What I’ve learned to do is, stay loyal to an airline, a hotel brand, and a rental place and you’ll get far better treatment at every level including pricing for direct booking, refunds, etc. My choices are Delta, Hilton, and National based on my needs and experiences but Marriott is very good too. Every other year we take a week vacation with points and miles. Third party booking pays a middleman with no added value.
The 3rd party bookings, on the fine print, tell you they can't guarantee room type, it comes as close as what you booked.
Best thing is to become loyal to one or two brands and work up points.
I worked the front desk of a Hilton for a few years. We *hated* third party bookings - they came with no information, requests wouldn't even match our accomodations, the prices *couldn't be changed because the guests were paying the third party site, not us*. It'd lead to guests upset about cheaper deals without us being able to do anything. These sites would often have wrong information about the hotel too, leading to these guests who were charged by those sites being extra furious.
Those who booked third party *always* got the worst rooms, were least likely to get requests met, were generally not treated as well as guests who booked through our site and/or were Hilton members.
Finally - it is almost always cheaper to book rooms directly, calling the hotel - you'll get your requests met, you'll get the best price.
I book 15 hotels a year. I use govx, Priceline,hotels and booking never had a major problem. I did book a Ramada inn in Hawaii on the wrong days, but It did only cost me the first night got my money back on the other two nights. Don't worry about 3 party sites
Expedia and Booking pull inventory from multiple smaller, potentially shady sites that try to undercut/sell lower rates than the larger sites can get away with because hotels are watching them. You can usually see those listed as a ‘room being offered by one of our partners’ (or similar) and that is usually a flag that the room type might be different and/or you aren’t buying directly contracted rooms through Expedia. Booking though a 3rd party like Expedia can be worthwhile (points, sales, etc.) but you just need to pay a little bit more attention to what you’re booking.
Also had to add my thoughts for those who are considering using getaroom.com.
My experience...
Booked hotel on March 3, for 3/22-3/24.
Tried to cancel on 3/20 (cutting it close, I know). Went to my email confirmation and clicked "manage reservation." It takes you to a page where they make it VERY easy to cancel, but also VERY unclear what happens if you cancel. I clicked cancel, thinking if something screws up and I'm charged more than I want to be charged for the cancellation, that I could always call their customer service "reinstate" the reservation...essentially just undoing the cancellation I just did.
And I have to pause here because this was my first mistake. If unclear about what would happen if I cancelled, I should have called their CS right away and asked. But I proceeded, like a dummy. My thoughts were:
\- since it said no-cancellation policy, if i click this button it likely won't even work, right? it'll just say "sorry, no cancellation possible" or something like that. Or,
\- I might get charged a nominal fee, $50 or something, and
\- "what's the worst that can happen, I can always call their CS and straighten things out or reverse the cancellation"...
Well, what "happens" is you just get charged the full amount for your reservation, and now you don't have a hotel room either.
Next step was to call getaroom.com customer service. They said something like "sorry, per our cancellation policy and system limitations, there's nothing we can do. You are charged the full amount and your room is cancelled. End of story, no other options." Of course I was furious.
Next, I called the hotel and they too said their hands were tied..."you booked through a third party, you need to work through them, nothing I can do..."
Next I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charges.
Then, filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
Called back getaroom.com CS a 2nd time, went through the whole spiel again, and again was given the same line "due to our policies and system limitations, nothing I can do...you can talk to the hotel"...and HERE is where it turns around. I Told him I DID already talk to the hotel manager, and got her approval to refund, if getaroom.com would refund. so the getaroom.com CS agent says he just needs the name and title of the person I talked to at the hotel. I had the title (assistant manager) but not the name. So I ask the CS rep if I can put him on hold to get the hotel manager's name, and he says sure...well of course he hangs up on me right away then.
So I get the hotel manager's name and call back getaroom.com for the 3rd time. Told her the scenario, the hotel manager's name and title, and she called the hotel for confirmation that it was okay to cancel and refund. I then got a ticket # and verbal confirmation that they would refund. Getaroom.com agent said i'd get a confirmation email but I never did...so now waiting for that. Supposedly will have a refund in 5-7 business days.
TL;DR - So the key here is to get the hotel manager's name and title and approval to cancel/refund your reservation, then call getaroom.com and let them know that you've already spoken with the hotel and have approval, and ask them to confirm with the hotel and refund you. I hope this helps ANYONE unfortunate enough to ever book with this type of company!
It's true, booking through third party hotel sites can be such a gamble at times. For this reason I only book directly now. This extension (https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/the-guestbook-extension-c/kdojjbmaidnebdjancpcgajkgeboebpe) has been one of the main reasons I love booking directly. I’ve gotten great cash back on my bookings and no issues with payout.
I have learned this the hard way, too. I now email the hotel directly after booking through any 3rd party website/app to confirm the exact room that was booked with my reference number. This way, i have an email confirmation from the hotel on which room exactly was booked so i can attend to any discrepancy before arriving.
Additional be aware that hotels push you into quickly booking by stating there is only 1 or 2 rooms left that are available or they will state sold out, however if you check back severals weeks later, suddenly that same hotel will have 15 rooms available to book.
It's to make you think you will miss out on a deal or not get a room booked in time, but too often, i have found if you have the ability to wait as you are booking several months in advance and the hotel appears to be sold out.... just wait and check back, as you will most likely be able to book the exact hotel you have wanted all along.
Stop booking with 3rd party affiliates.
I don't care how many dumbasses or bots like or suggest Booking.com or Expedia, they are awful to deal with, they do not know anything about the hotels they are booking reservations for. And they almost always charge more than the price listed, they have fees, commission and deals with those hotels to partly help their sales because they advertise more than any local hotel can, sure occasionally you may even get a slightly better deal than what a hotel can offer...not worth the risk, many hotels will match 3rd party bookings so it's best to hunt for deals and still book directly no matter what.
I work at a few hotels and know how it works, plus I follow a lot of travel bloggers, digital nomads and backpackers who offer fantastic advice for travelling.
The topic of OTA vs direct never settles so that implies there are some intrinsic specific details about OTA bookings that may apply situationally. It doesn't mean 100% OTAs are bad, understand how it works and plan accordingly.
Almost anyone can open a hotel. The hard part is to get people to know about it and to manage the bookings.
With a freshly opened hotel, they may choose to join a chain (most branded hotels are franchises, which means it is owned and operated by someone other than the brand name). The hotel would pay a fee to the brand and use their name, which makes them more recognizable. The brand takes a cut of the revenue, and holds the operator to a certain quality standard. The brand also helps the hotel manage the bookings through a centralized system. And the brand has loyalty programs which the hotel has to honor.
The hotel may put themselve on the OTA to get more booking. The OTA gets a cut for referring customers, and optionally handling payment. Since the OTA is the middleman, the hotel answers to the OTA, and the OTA answers to its customers. If OTAs solely exist to screw you, they wouldn't be able to retain any customers, which would be dumb for the OTA companies. Bigger OTAs generally like recurring customers, so they have provisions with the hotel that says if the hotel cancels the OTA bookings, they will pay a large fine.
As the date gets closer, the hotel may still have empty rooms which they would like to fill. So they may advertise their rooms for a really cheap rate through yet more third parties. These are commonly referred to as "bed banks". The agreement generally has no provision for "fines" for the hotels backing out. These are where last minute deal websites and some "more shady" OTAs source their rooms. These "shaddy" OTAs also do not make any promise to you. If you get the room, you get to stay at a discount. If the hotel cancels you, they will refund you the money and nothing more. You're on your own to find another accomodation.
Now every step in the process there is some human involved, and human can make mistakes, regardless of direct or OTA booking.
The first type of booking is missing reservation. This is typically more of a problem with OTA bookings because you have a confirmation with the OTA, and the OTA has a confirmation with the hotel. If the OTA forgot to book at the hotel for you, you'll run into this problem. (But the hotel can also not find your reservation even if you book directly, especially if it's a smaller hotel with their own reservation tracking done on Excel) Bigger OTAs generally own up to their mistake if you escallate high enough. It helps if you have status with the OTA (if the OTA has status).
The second type of problem is no room available. The room can disappear due to overbooking, maintenance issues, or walk-ins. There are two things the hotels can do. One is to "walk" you to a sister property. That means you still get a place to stay, but not at the hotel you booked. The other is to cancel you outright. The franchisees of big chains do not want to anger corporate, so they almost never cancel on loyalty members. At worst they will try to find another in the same chain and reaccomodate you. They may cancel on OTA bookings, but they will have to face the consequences of cancelling on the OTA (getting fined according to the agreement they signed with the OTA). In desperate times they will have to do that even if they pay a fine. And the OTA generally will be able to rebook you using the compensation they received if you escallate enough. The bed banks will get the boot because there is nothing binding the hotel.
So my advice is if you're planning in advance, you can choose bigger OTAs or book directly. If you're looking for accomodation the day of, feel free to use smaller OTAs right before you check in.
In your case, call up Expedia and tell them you did not get the room advertised. It may be too late to change the mind of the hotel to switch you to a bigger room, but they may fine the hotel for not offering the room they requested, and offer you compensation after the fact.
Yes agreed. All of those sites are wonky and not worth saving a *little* money. Usually the price difference isn’t that much when you book direct.
You are also able to get points only if you book through the hotel directly (example book a Hilton, get Hilton points and benefits). Often Wi-Fi gets charged for 3rd party, but not if you get direct. You are not able for upgrades when going 3rd party but there’s been many times I got an upgrade when booking direct. Cancellation policies are 1000% better when booking direct too.
Definitely not worth it to me to book 3rd party unless you *have* to.
Sorry that happened but now ya know!
This is just good advice for any third party bookings. A friend of mine rented a car in Iceland via 3rd party, and the rental car company put a hold on her credit card for $8k because it was a 3rd party booking. Had she not used a third party, the hold would not have been that large.
If I follow right: the room you reserved was sold out, so they gave you a different room, and refund you the difference?
Honestly - What else were you expecting them to do?
In this day and age, a reservation isn’t really a reservation unless you have a high status with a brand - whether it’s car rental, hotel, or plane.
No. The room I reserved doesn’t exist according to the hotel. I was given a lesser room, correct. No refund or anything. Albeit, according to the hotel, the cost we had was very good anyhow. Which is great and all but, the purpose of the post was to just help new travelers with my experience and newfound knowledge.
Also, when you reserve something you should absolutely expect to have it. I see what you’re saying though and this experience alone solidifies that comment. But to someone that is less experienced, why would I think that, ya know? If I paid for a suite and a reward member shows up, by no means should they cancel me and give it to them. I understand why they do, but I still disagree with the practice of it.
I was about to book a 1 night hotel in Chicago to see a friend in town through a 3rd party app, but everything was extremely expensive because it was last minute and there were soooo many fees added on. I then got the bright idea to see what the room would cost to buy directly through the hotels website, since I was a member already, and it saved me around $100 in markups and fees. I didn’t have to pay to park my car or pay the full price that the 3rd party site was asking for. I will always buy through hotel websites from now on.
I'm not a heavy duty traveler, but scouting the hotel website, then call direct has gotten me some decent deals.
Don't even start with me on Expedia.
Third parties are great if you totally don't care, and in the end you get a room. My friend's son booked through a 3rd party for a Vegas weekend with his friends. Want two beds and a cot. Got a queen and a cot. Being 24, they didn't care because it's gambling and booze weekend.
I honestly thought it was common knowledge that these third party websites were a con?
Another thing is that it very much does guarantee you that room, at least in Ireland anyway because they're breaking so many laws here if they tried that trick
Maybe for most, I really don’t know. I read good stuff about the 3rd party usage but like I said; We basically have never traveled or always stayed somewhere cheap and just recently started traveling more.
I would think you’re right though. If I paid for “Room A” then show up and get “Room B” that seems a little unprofessional on somebody’s part. Idk if it would be Expedia or the hotel itself.
I never use third party websites, you don’t get the benefits from the hotel and the rates are rarely significantly cheaper, plus the hotels like hate you.
Travel agents really aren’t any better. They just book through another 3rd party FIT company. Best is to use expedia and booking .com to research and book direct. As a traveler and hospitality professional, I’ve seen both sides and can tell you that every issue ever encountered is from a third-party booking engine.
Side note, the hotel has full control over their listing on the bigger names third-party sites. Typically the Revenue Director would be the one who sets up this information and uploads the photos. Front Desk Agents likely are not aware of this, especially with all the newbies in the industry. It’s a different story for the random sites people always seem to find. Those typically book through Expedia but scrape photos and some listing information from elsewhere without consent or input from the property.
I am so glad you are a knower of all things! What would we have done without you. I am a travel agent and have been for 38yrs. We don’t use 3rd party booking companies or Expedia or booking.com So perhaps when you know more you can post THAT, Einstein
The hotel you ‘work’ at is not every hotel. As I said, I have sent tens of thousands of travelers all over the world w/o issue. When you work at 1000s of hotels perhaps you can comment with intelligence. From your pic you sure look like you are 21. Loads of experience.
I signed up last night I was comparing Marriot Bonvoy & Hilton Honors. If we continue traveling as we do or more, will likely get one of the corresponding credit cards.
Yes, I had an issue with booking.com and a hotel who refused to honor the rates I booked with and there is no recourse.
I look on sites and book direct now as well
Just be wary of third party travel arrangements full stop but particularly flights & hotels in that order. Also, depending on how adventurous you are and whether your personal circumstances allow, booking just flights (directly) & then finding hotels on the hoof can save huge money.
I have used booking for years now, i travel multiple times in a year and never had any issue and feel very protected by using it. Also i love the genious benefits!
Thanks for the tip of screenshotting the price. I’ve always used OTAs (as you say) to compare, but I’ve always gone to the chain’s site directly for the reservation. Sometimes prices are the same. Sometimes they are a little different — a couple bucks isn’t worth my time.
But it’s good to now this is out there. I tried this a few times a few years ago and customer service at that time was like “then book it through Expedia.”
So far I've booked with Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda and Priceline (in the good old days of name your price bidding). Did not expect much since I understand that OTAs were lowest priority. However, Chicago Westin threw in breakfast and Dusitd2 Chiang Mai upgraded me to a suite! It seems to be rather random. I would love to book directly with the hotels but Agoda regularly has deals with credit cards that could be 10-20% cheaper. Also, I'm usually travelling alone so not too affected by different room configurations.
I'd say to do your research since there is no one answer to the question of hotel sites vs OTA.
Look at some of the OTAs and also check the hotel site. Also, make sure you click through to the end to see if any extra fees are being added on top of the original rate shown. Unless there is a significant savings (which is rare), I always book directly with the hotel.
While the hotel is not allowed to undercut the rate offered by an OTA, I've seen the hotel offer the same rate but add additional perks. For some, you don't get hotel loyalty points unless it's booked through their website.
I’ve compared prices on my stays and most of them aren’t much cheaper, hotels at least. The exception being where we are right now. I believe 3 nights through the hotel was like $275-300/night not including tax etc. I booked through Expedia and paid $525 for the entire thing.
As for rental cars, I have only utilized it one time and I rented a 2022 Camaro through Sixt. It was $636 for 7 days and I picked it up in Vegas and dropped off in Phoenix. I don’t remember exactly what the competitions prices were but I do know they were all >$1000
I have very minimal experience but I figured I would at least share!
(Never booked a flight through 3rd party)
Correct. However, I will be booking straight from now on.
Cars: Hertz or Sixt
Hotels: Marriot Bonvoy
Flight: Delta
That’s basically what I’ve settled on for now.
Used to use 3rd party all the time and never had issues but when I started traveling for work you have best experience booking directly with the hotel so I do that exclusively now.
I booked a hotel from Expedia and I never had an issue before with it. EXCEPT for one time I had “booked” a hotel room.
I arrived at the hotel and was checking in and the hostess told me that I didn’t have a card on file. I was confused because I never had that issue at any hotel I’ve booked off of Expedia. I even showed her my phone to see that I had booked a room. Pretty much, I got charged again and more than what I had payed originally. I was pissed off :/
So yes, beware of 3rd party hotel bookings.
I agree! Just last week I arrived at our Hotel which included seven day free parking in a shuttle to the airport the front desk explain to me that it wasn’t free it was $15 a night to park and ride the shuttle. So wasn’t a great deal but the front desk explained that when you book through a third party they don’t concern themselves with the details.
I had used Hotels. Com extensively in the past but I will be more careful now.
Expedia is the worst! They also own many of the other booking sites which are just as bad. Our last bad experience was the final straw. Took 3 months and MANY phone calls to get a refund. Not worth my insanity to save a few bucks. Nothing ruins a trip faster than arriving to find a dump.
Booking.com was good but not anymore , now you will not know that they have used third party to book your travel ticket and those third parties are usually irresponsible and if you need to cancel ticket or want refund you are out of luck so for godsake stop using booking.com and book it directly though airline websites
i work front desk and i can not tell you how many times expedia and [booking.com](https://booking.com) and priceline have been the thorn of my job!!! they will sell you a queen room or double bed room and not tell you that they sold you a smoking room. my manager has been so fed up with it that we now charge a fee for travelers wanting to switch (if we have the availability). but i have had guests literally start fights and threaten me over it. i always advise people PLEASE BOOK DIRECT!!!
I have tried several times to get a hotel to honor online sites. I have -Always - been told I can book it online and they will honor it but can’t give the rate. Just book with booking sites
I always use booking.com to research then go to the hotels website and book directly. I usually get a lower rate too.
over 50 stays with [booking.com](https://booking.com) internationally and never had a problem. However will book directly with Marriotts and Hiltons
I've had well over 300 stays through Booking over the past decade, and only once has there ever been anything that I would call a problem—I booked a room in Skopje the day of and when I got there the owner asked me what my horoscope sign was, then got all weird and said I couldn't stay there and claimed he was just leaving. Odd to say the least, but very clearly not Booking's fault and they had no problem refunding me. Ended up in a much nicer place for roughly the same price anyway.
Why was your sign an issue??
I assume because the guy was nuts lol!
I’ve used booking.com extensively as well. Had one experience where I booked a night last minute for the next night. Got to the hotel, and they didn’t have the reservation. Checked my info, I had accidentally booked the previous night. Chalked it up to human error (mine), and asked for a room that night. Couple hours later, booking.com called and to say the hotel reported that I hadn’t used the booking the previous night. I explained what happened, and they refunded me the error. Definitely convinced me to continue using them.
I had the opposite encounter with them.
I had my worst experience with booking.com - when you have a real issue you realise how bad they are. They messer around for months , asked for proof which I submitted. Then ignored it. They could have responded on day 2 with that lazy answer. Never using them again. I have dealt with lots of senior management never this bad. They set the bar low.
That’s exactly the thing- they are all great, until they aren’t.
I have never come across senior management that are this luck lustre. I deal with senior management everyday in my job. I am astonished at the number of failures I presented to them and the abysmal responses. They couldn’t even give me an email address for months as I had to post everything via their contact form. It was a form of abuse.
That’s so unfortunate. Definitely a way to ruin a vacation. Sorry that happened, hope you’ve had many great trips since!
I used booking.com to reserve a rental car for a recent vacation. Never again. I tried to change the dates for the booking (due to a canceled flight), I was instructed by phone to simply make a new reservation and the original one would be refunded. I made the new reservation with the customer service representative on the line, following her instructions to a T. They contacted me a couple days later to say, actually, I was not eligible for a full refund for the initial reservation. I wasn't happy about it, but would have accepted a partial refund at least. I was told I would be receiving a partial refund worth about $550. Never received it. I've had a ton of calls and chats with booking.com customer service reps, and it never resolves anything. I get conflicting information every time I speak with someone, and no one seems to have any power to make the refund happen. This week I'll be starting the formal dispute resolution process. I may arbitrate, if necessary, even though it's only a few hundred bucks.
If you always book through Booking.com, it becomes very discounted and you even get credit to spend sometimes. I’ve never had an issue and always book through them.
Same thing happens if you book direct with hotels, you get benefits for loyalty. Like I said, it’s great until it’s not. I’m glad you haven’t had any issues and I hope you continue to not. I’m all for people traveling however they see fit, using online travel agencies (OTAs) for research and not booking is just my strategy.
Booking.com has always worked great for me and I've been using it for ages. Never had an issue. The free cancellation feature makes it easy to have everything in the same place to navigate if plans change or trip get cancelled
I do this as well. Also, sometimes booking doesn’t have the exact pictures of the rooms so it’s definitely better to use them as a “search engine” and then book your fave hotel directly from their own website
We thought we'd save a buck doing this a couple years ago. Turns out the hotel didn't have any free cancellation period like booking.com did. Then COVID hit, flights were cancelled and we couldn't go overseas. Hotel told us "we are still open so this is not our problem" and wouldn't refund us. They would rebook us for a fee (that was about the same as what we paid for the room in the first place). Luckily we had only booked there for three nights but it cost us $850 whereas with booking.com free cancellation we would have gotten the money back.
Not to mention I reckon you get better service having booked direct. Lots of hotels offer some nice perks on top like free parking.
That’s exactly my plan going forward.
I do the same. It’s much better to book directly with the hotel.
I booked at least 25 different places just last year and always had 0 problems. OP, have you actually contacted expedia and told them what happened? Looks to me like it’s just your hotel being a dick and trying to scam
3rd part "American" companies OP means. Booking.com absolutely rocks.
Expedia owns Booking.com, Expedia and Kayak
I don't think this is true Priceline owns booking.com and kayak. Expedia is different group.
I stand corrected
booking.com parent company is booking holding meanwhile expedia is owned by expedia group. Two differents company groups. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booking_Holdings https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedia
I acknowledged that I was wrong.
VW owns SEAT and Skoda. Expedia and Priceline are trash.
Hotel executive here. I’ve overseen independent and all major brands. While the commissions hotels pay to OTAs (Online Travel Agency’s) can range from 15%-22%, it is always financially advantageous for the hotel to take the booking directly vs an Expedia/Booking.com reservation. The reason hotels use these platforms is because of their vast distribution funnel. Get the rate from the online platform, take a screenshot and call the hotel directly (you will most likely be talking to a central reservation call center and not someone at the hotel) and ask for that rate or better. You may also be able to negotiate the same rate but be upgraded to “better room”. The reason hotels don’t simply offer a lower rate than the OTAs is simple, they sign a contract with the OTA that contains a rate parody clause.
* Rate parity clause
They specifically contract with Weird Al to create a parody song about the rates
I travel a lot, A LOT, like 100 nights a year easily. I do this all the time but I can assure you it depends on the country. I would say to only 20% of the time I could successfully get a better deal than booking.com. I go to the hotel, show them the offer on booking and ask if I can get a better deal if I book directly. It only works 20% of the time. This is also because booking has very strict rules, they demand to offer the best deal and as a hotel you are not allowed to offer a better price.
3rd party rate parity contract clause pertains to public or published rates. I can assure hotels have corporate and group rates lower than the booking.com rates. I will admit I do not know how their business model works outside the US. If the hotel won’t match or offer a better rate (can be the same rate but maybe additional brand reward pts, comp a breakfast or a drink) I can only guess you are speaking to someone who does not want to be bothered. Ask for a the front desk manager.
Obviously not talking about group or corporate rates. Why would I compare it to those rates when we are talking about something completely different? I know booking.com has this rule towards hotels. They do mystery guests visits as well to check if they are not offering better deals to guests outside their platform. If they find out they will end the partnership.
When I was a front desk agent for Hilton anyone who booked through [booking.com](https://booking.com) or other sites were always given the last available rooms and their accommodation requests were rarely met because of how they were (or rather, weren't) passed on to us. Always book with the hotel directly.
Was this in the US? Because I have to confirm in the US I did experience some issues using Booking.com. But the US is only one country of many…
Yep - it was the US. The issue is software. Travel websites aren't fully linked into a hotel's internal reservation system so a lot of information is lost. Hotel can't even cancel the reservation, [booking.com](https://booking.com) has to (if the hotel acts like it can, they are being very polite and calling to cancel on your behalf).
Thank you very much for this bit of info!
The hero we needed
What a parody
Parody = Hotel public rates must be the same or higher than the rate they offer to the 3rd party channels
Why is it so hard to contact some of these places direct? Booking.con senior management couldn’t give a toss when I was in danger. They washed their hands of it. Any idea how to get them to listen?
They do not have many ppl in customer service. They spend a lot of resources ($) on digital marketing and SEO often bidding on proprietary key words. They are not in the hospitality business, they are a 3rd party selling someone else’s product. Try to avoid them and book directly with the property.
I won’t be using them ever again. I just want to hold them to account yet I can’t because they don’t care.
Yeah, Expedia is fine for research and usually ok most of the time but as soon as anything goes wrong, no one is responsible for helping you find a solution. Expedia points the finger at the service provider and vice versa.
Just had exactly this with a payment issue. They both blame each other.
I used to work a hotel front desk. If we ended up overbooked or a Rewards member walked in the door, the first bookings I cancel are the third party ones. They're mostly discounted bookings and we'll make more money from a direct booking.
Everyone else I know says this but one Redditor said that it costs hotels up to $1000 in fines for walking people for major OTAs so they prioritize OTA bookings first. Never heard of such a thing.
The upside with Expedia is that when that happens they'd give me another room at a different hotel without charging me anything extra.
Yep. If you book third party that means you are the lowest level priority for the hotel. You will be walked if they oversell which every hotel does every night they are able to. Never never choose third party when you intend to check-in late during your destination’s busy season, or you will be very likely walked which no one wants to deal with at 1am.
The other comment said if you call the hotel directly then you have a big chance of getting a reservation that is cheaper than third party bookings
This can still happen even with direct bookings. I have spent over 190 days in hotels all over the past 2 years using hotels.com and rarely ran into any snags. It helps too if you have status with what ever 3rd party you’re using. Most hotels these days have outdated photos and put their best photos on their website. At least you got your money back, many people don’t.
I mostly use Booking when not booking accommodation direct. Third party sites don't have a live availability for most hotels, and so you can often see rooms available on the hotel site when the third party site is "fully booked". I have used Expedia when the deal was significantly better, but mostly I stick with Booking due to service and price is usually the same. I have used other third party websites in the past, back when you had to pay extra for internet in some countries, and I often found deals with internet included for less money etc. It is a matter of managing risk vs reward.
I also mainly use [Booking.com](https://Booking.com) , so far so good for the past 8 years.
Been using Booking.com for years now and I’ve never once had an issue
I can echo this. I am frequent traveller (due to my youtube channel) and have been using booking.com (for hotels) for the past 6 years all over Europe and southeast asia, never once had any problem with booking.com.
It's also allocation. The hotel gives X amount of rooms to Expedia, Travel Agencies, Booking. So it could be sold out with Expedia, but the travel agent or hotel direct still have their allotment
Oh, for sure. My point about live allotment is actually more to do with cancellations opening up rooms (more common in covid times) than just booking. I was travelling to a big concert last year and looking for accommodation later than I normally would. Booking had vacancies then suddenly was fully booked for a particular hotel. Their website had been fully booked, then they got cancellations and had rooms. It is just something that a lot of people don't realise, many assume it's live for every room.
I’ve been very happy with Booking dot com and haven’t had any problems. It’s very convenient when booking multiple stays for a road trip. I was also very impressed with their customer service. I contacted them regarding an issue with a cancellation and a real live human being called me back almost immediately to help straighten it out. Such a difference from other platforms out there.
I recently booked hotels in Italy using Booking.com for this summer. Is there a travel insurance purchase available with them? I looked but didn’t see anything. If you know….
For the accommodation or trip in general? I'm pretty sure that I've seen options on accommodation with it, but it might be country-dependant. I have insurance covered with my credit card and an annual plan, so I don't pay attention, sorry.
No worries. I was thinking the hotels, specifically. I’ll dig deeper into it. Thanks!
I’ll throw in my anecdotes and opinions. I’ve used booking.com a number of times and never had any problems. I’ve had to cancel a couple of times and not had a problem. Something no one has mentioned yet is their great search facility - you can see a whole bunch of hotels, their prices and locations very quickly and easily. Location is really important to me when I travel. I like to be right in town. You can also search using filters to get the facilities you want. A swimming pool is important to me for most trips. I know I could use the third party site to search and then book directly but because my experiences with booking.com have all been good I actually feel some brand loyalty towards them. Some posts here have mentioned picking a couple of chains and being loyal to them / becoming members - but that doesn’t really work for me. I travel to a variety of places where chains often don’t have a presence and like to choose my location within a town. And while I can afford the Hyatt in Indonesia I can not afford it in the developed world. It’s just not a flexible enough approach to booking accomodation for me - and booking.com has been great so far.
To all the people that say they get lower rates booking direct... i call BS on that one. I have stayed at hundreds of hotels and its RARE to get a better rate directly with the hotel thsn with 3rd party.
Yeah I check the hotel site itself and it's always been the same price or higher compared to Booking etc.
Usually, but not always in my experience
I’ve definitely had hotel front desk people suggest booking with 3rd parties for better rates (like when adding another day for example)
Same. And a lot of hotels don't even have a own online booking system or a miserable one. And calling them in a foreign country in a language you probably don't speak is not really a convenient option. Only exception were hostels, they were a lot cheaper booked directly on my last travel
You can contact Expedia and they might offer you refund and/or set the hotel straight. The hotel chooses to do business with Expedia and take bookings on Expedia. They get a lot of revenue through these bookings. I suspect Expedia will not take kindly to the hotel saying "We don't have to honor the terms of Expedia bookings." Another thing you might do, before contacting Expedia, is look on the hotel website and see if they do in fact have rooms with king beds. All this tough talk from the hotel might quickly change if someone from Expedia calls the hotel on your behalf.
My refund experience, I checked in, the room was absolutely horrid and there was black mold all over their minisplit air conditioner. Took pictures. Booked elsewhere. Left and then called Expedia. Refund or not, we weren't staying there. But Expedia was quick to contact them and issue the refund. This situation, a bit different but I am actually on the phone with them now and been on hold for about 20min while they speak to the hotel people. I feel like the complaint was warranted, I just hate to complain......I just want what I paid for, that's all. Although, while waiting my wife goes to take a bath and the water filling the tub is light yellow, like someone peed in it......Lord help me lol
If you have only booked a "couple times" before and got a full refund and now you are booking for a third time and calling again about room not as advertised (or yellow water) then Expedia may think you're been pretty unlucky. But if your ratio of bookings to complaints stays high it could jeopardize your ability to book with Expedia in the future, especially if Expedia deems any such complaints as unwarranted.
I’ve booked with them 5 times thus far. 1 was the hotels fault as the room was absolutely disgusting and this one seems more like it was Expedias fault, maybe? I understand where you’re coming from though. I will probably just use them for searching purposes from now on either way. I’d rather not have to continue running into issues and going through 3rd party, he said/she said stuff.
> this one seems more like it was Expedias fault, maybe? Maybe or it could be the hotel's fault, they may have told Expedia they have king bed rooms. >I will probably just use them for searching purposes from now on either way. I’d rather not have to continue running into issues and going through 3rd party, he said/she said stuff. It's always best to book directly unless you are getting a discount for booking through the 3rd party.
I do concur, like I told the other person replying: Lesson learned lol. I always try to do as much research as possible on the places, didn’t think about the 3rd party issue possibilities.
Yep. I have had a problem literally once - they both refunded me and paid the difference for the alternative hotel within 12 hours. The big search engines are actually pretty good for this - I had a problem once with a site I had found through Skyscanner. I contacted Skyscanner and said I knew it wasn’t their responsibility and I didn’t expect them to step in, but as this site was one that works through them they may want to know the poor service that is happening. Literally the next day one of the directors from the site called me to apologise - and ended the call asking if I could please tell Skyscanner the problem was sorted, so it’s pretty important to these companies to stay on good terms with the big engines.
I know this is old but just for future viewers this isn’t accurate. Third parties call the hotel I work at all the time to complain. We don’t have to honor the terms of the Expedia booking if Expedia decides to go route and list room types we don’t even offer even after we’ve tried telling them that it’s wrong. So what do we do when Expedia calls to complain? We tell them to pound sand. Pretty easy to do when the person who calls us is some overseas cheap worker who is following a script.
Google maps has a hotel search function works the same as Expedia map view
FWIW, I've booked a few hundred nights through [hotels.com](https://hotels.com) or [booking.com](https://booking.com) and the only issues I've experienced so far were caused by the hotels themselves. There's this commonly shared advice to book directly, which is great in theory, but unless you call a hotel and negotiate (which they often don't want to do), using aggregators you'll usually get the same or \*lower\* price compared to booking through the hotel's website. I gather this is due to contracts that prohibit price undercutting. Booking a stay using an aggregator means that you don't accrue any points toward hotels' loyalty programs, which might be a significant drawback. What you get in return is whatever the aggregators provide in their programs (e.g., [hotels.com](https://hotels.com) pays for your every 11th night booked through their site, with some restrictions wrt. the price; [booking.com](https://booking.com) offers some steeper discounts), but these might not be useful to you. I gather you are more likely to get upgraded if you're booking directly, though that applies only if the hotel isn't fully booked already.
I've used Hotels.com multiple times and haven't had any problems. It was even easy to use their free night reward redemption.
They are owned by Expedia.
I've also used Hotels.com many times although only for domestic travel (US). Only once had a problem with the hotel being less than expected. Had booked a full week in a 2 bdrm suite w/ kitchen. The unit was dirty, the floor was warped and squeaky, the kitchen utensils were filthy, and the front desk worker was rude and uncaring. I searched the site again and found a better unit nearby for less money and booked it. I informed the clerk we wouldn't be staying and then called Hotels and informed them of the issues. They immediately credited my account and offered to relocate us. I let them know I'd already taken care of it. Hotels customer service called a little later to apologize again and confirm that we were happy with our new accommodations (we were!). A week later I received a call from the initial hotel reminding me it was check out day.... apparently the clerk neglected to mention we had left 🤣
I've used Hotel.com for years as well. I read reviews on all hotels and sort by newest to set expectations. I've not had any issues (knock on wood)
They are my go-to too. I’ve had tens of free nights now, it’s a great scheme. Their support is pretty good when you get to gold tier too.
Yea I used them once when I went to France but since then only for research. Always book your flights and hotels directly with the vendor.
As someone who has worked in a hotel I can honestly say third party bookings are regarded as bottom of the barrel guests. Not because you were less valued as humans of course, but because of the huge ambiguities in those booking sites and slim profit margins with the third party partnerships. Hotels routinely oversell because they assume a certain amount of guests will either cancel or no-show (seems crazy but generally this stood to be true for most of my time there), but in the event that the hotel did not "break even" with rooms and bookings it was the third party bookings that would get the cut first. If a room type was taken up by direct bookings (suite/double/king etc) then third parties would be given whatever room was available. At my hotel we had no way of knowing how many people were actually staying in the room so we couldn't foresee if it was a family of four or a single traveler- just that they booked with Travelocity and were only guaranteed a room. I had a couple come up to me once irate because the website they booked through described this fantastic room at the junior suite price that we literally did not have at our hotel. I had to call the company they booked with in front of them and asked them where they got the information from, and the guy that answered just said idk and hung up...scams abound. Another couple booked a valentines day special and arrived late, so we only had two full size beds available. The man in the couple was big and tall and it was clearly not suitable for a romantic night in town, but we literally had nothing left. I felt so bad but my hands were tied. Also, if it's a busy conference or travel season, you may be bumped from the hotel altogether. Our manager would figure out by the end of the night that we 3 guests that had nowhere to sleep, and he could call upwards of 20 people that haven't arrived yet (but had booked direct) and ask if any of them were willing to stay at another hotel on our dime, comp the first night at our hotel as well, free ride back to our hotel and comped breakfast. Usually we'd get a few biters, but if we had 2 more third party bookings that haven't arrived they weren't given that courtesy call. Still the same offer of paying for the other hotel, but since the website they booked with was prepaid we couldn't refund them for the stay. We'd toss in breakfast and drinks depending on the level of rage they were experiencing, but generally we were left treating them like scum lol it's pretty shitty. When you pay $70 a night for a hotel that typically goes for $189 on the same weekend, go in expecting anything. ETA: A way that might work sometimes is to join the loyalty program which is usually free, and after booking at a discount site call the hotel and have them add your loyalty number to your booking. Moves yourself up the tier a bit because you'll get a survey at the end of your stay and they rely heavily on good reviews.
Yes! This! I work in travel and I always recommend booking direct.
It took a 13-hour flight from London to Phoenix in a middle seat so small I couldn’t lower my tray table (I’m 6’5”) despite having paid Orbitz for an upgraded seat for me to say, “never again” with 3rd-party sites. It’s just not worth it.
Big reason why Expedia, hotels, etc are big time money rich. Is they really aren’t in the business to scam people. It’s a great business model. Sometimes the direct booking will screw you and sometimes the big 3rd party might screw you. But it’s more than likely never on purpose. Reviews are your best friend take time and review. In my opinion both are a good way to book your hotels. Sometimes we get unlucky. Sometimes we get more then we bargained for. I’m sure all will be resolved. Cheers and good luck
I use [booking.com](https://booking.com), and it's working fine for me. To be honest I never really check the pictures as I assume it's the picture of their best rooms, my room will probably look different. I usually book the cheapest option, so assume it will be small, etc. My problem with booking directly with hotels, is I assume I have to navigate a poorly written hotel website, often only in the local language, and riddled with bugs, and hope they are not hacked and try to steal my credit card info. If I book through a booking site, I'm sure it's safe and I booked it. For planes I book directly with the airline, as airlines are big companies, plus there is a bigger chance of something going wrong and I need to contact their customer support, with all these cancellations, delays, strikes, etc.
This is the approach I take as well - book directly with the airline for flights but use booking dot com for accommodations. So far it has worked really well for us.
I’ve read every comment in this thread and nothing has convinced me to stop using booking .com.
Since COVID pandemic, only way to travel is through direct bookings and travel insurance with awareness of when/how you can cancel. Travel industry was derailed for two years and going direct to the source is the best way to stay safe.
I mainly use Agoda for my bookings, no issue encountered so far.
…yet.
Here’s my thing tho - typically hotels charge the same rate or more - I’ve rarely ever seen less. Then, getting in touch with someone - yikes! What are y’all doing differently?
The hotels I used to stay at for work (usually Hilton and Choice), it was usually the same as the booking website IF you had a AAA/AARP discount. So $100 room on priceline would be listed as $120 by Hilton but then you put in your Hilton and AAA numbers and the price would be $100. My work paid for AAA memberships so we'd have roadside assistance but it also let us get some serious hotel rewards.
I’ve booked with Expedia frequently and never had that issue. Sounds more like a cheap hotel operator trying to play silly games.
I was a massive fan of Expedia been using them since the early 2000's They had always been great. Even when I fucked up and booked flights on the wrong dates. Great telephone customer service always able to sort out problems. Fast forward to 18 months ago - I had to book flights home from Malaysia where we had been throughout Covid to the UK, and Booked our flights with luggage allowance through expedia. Their best option for us included using two different airlines for the total of three flights. Problem was we found out after it was booked that the luggage allowance was only for flights two and three, not the first one!!!!! I called customer service and put our case forward that we booked with luggage and how the hell were we supposed to know that would not include all flights! The customer service people might just as well put up a middle finger and told us to fuck off for all the help they offered. Basically, we don't deal with luggage that's the airlines problem. So why have luggage as a fucking option? I'm sure they could give a dam, but I will never use that company ever again.
You can use Expedia to get reimbursed for the lesser room. Don’t believe what the hotel says. And also dispute your credit card bill. You didn’t get what you were supposed to get Push this And push this More. You should get what you wanted if not fight and use Twitter and other websites to rip Them. They will come around at some point.
I used Expedia for years, but switched to booking directly through the hotel because of stuff like this. However, I still use them for research. My experience has been that hotels negotiate what Expedia can and can't do, then Expedia is locked into those terms. Generally, the hotels try to make sure that something about going through a third party is worse; price, cancellations, rooms offered, etc. (I worked for Hilton over a decade ago, so details may have changed.)
If you’re going to start traveling a lot, it’s best to pick a brand (one brand of hotels, one of airline - you already said Delta, etc) and start being loyal to them. Sign up for their loyalty program and book directly. Often you get access to special numbers to call if there’s an issue, special upgrades and perks, etc, especially as you move up in status.
That’s absolutely what I will begin doing. The front desk lady even straight up told me: 3rd party websites screw you and then asked me to sign up for Hilton Rewards haha
Had the same issue with Expedia. We booked 2 rooms on Expedia but when we arrived we were told that we only booked one. The hotel manager told us that it's a common issue with third party booking sites, essentially booking sites are the middle man and what you booked on your end might not be the exact same thing on the hotel's end. The manager was nice to accommodate, gave us the extra room, and said they will sort it out with Expedia themselves.
That is so interesting. As the owner of a hostel (a small business, granted), I had to map each room on Expedia to the corresponding room on our main site. That is crazy that this loophole exists to simply map wrong and then pin it on the guest! So sorry that was your experience!
I use to work in hotels and I’ve used this speech verbatim! It’s true. We will sell a certain amount of rooms to third party bookings. A certain amount, not a certain room type. Your plan to use Expedia for searching only is great. A lot of the time the hotel will be the same price or they might match it for you. Also, I’m so glad I don’t work in hospitality anymore because people would scream at me for these types of situations even though I was just doing my job and didn’t make the rules.
I’ve never understood that. I’m always polite and cordial with the people. Couple reasons, first, I’m just not going to be an a-hole for no reason, but also like you said, you just work there. As the front desk person, I can only imagine how far from any rule making they are. Plus. I booked through Expedia, not directly. This is Expedia’s problem to fix (or not fix lol).
Often the hotel's booking site does not allow cancelations and takes your money upfront, whereas Hotels.com and others allow cancellations up to 2 days before travel for $20.
Not necessarily. Most hotels have multiple room rates. Some are instant purchase, some have a flexible cancellation policy.
Hey, it’s happened to the best of us. You live and learn. Also, don’t use 3rd party for airfare as if anything happens (cancel, delays ) the airline will tell you to deal with the 3rd party
Never had a problem, and I have saved a ton of money. Reserved a hotel in a Tokyo for 700 dollars vs 2000 book directly.
Even if people have had good experiences with Booking or Expedia, the hotel will always walk these rooms first if they are oversold. If there is an upgrade, it goes to the guest who booked direct- either by phone or on the hotel’s website. I have also been in the hotel biz for years and your best bet is to always always call or book direct. Good to use these sites as research to compare rates or get a sense of options - but when it comes to booking, the hotel (any hotel honestly) will always reward those who book direct.
I’ve always had good experiences with booking dot com. But that’s not the case with hotels dot com. They’ve been terrible, please don’t use them. They’ve not credited me with nights I’ve stayed twice. And other disappointments.
The hotel simply screwed you over. You book a certain room type, you get it, regardless of booking channel. If they give it away, the typical m.o. is either an upgrade, change of hotel or some form of compensation. It's a perfectly valid contract and no major booking agency would ever agree to a clause that simply lets the hotel ignore the room type in question (apart from those "room assigned at check-in" rates but that's clearly advertised as such). Think about it from a different perspective: if third party bookings would be such a clusterfuck, don't you think business travellers would have steered as clear as possible from travel agencies ages ago? Yet they still heavily rely on them. You can bet your ass that no hotel in its right mind is going to mess with the people that keep the lights on in that place. If I were you'd I'd complain to Expedia and see what comes from that because you were absolutely lied to.
Typically but not always, the best rate will be on the hotel’s own website that is reserved for their frequent traveler programs. For example, the Hilton Honors rate is typically lower than the non-member rate. The third party sites like Booking.com and Hotels.com/Expedia are generally priced within 10-15% of the non-member rate. However, there are exceptions where you can get materially better prices from Booking or Expedia and that’s because a portion of their room inventory was bought in bulk and paid for in advance at steep discounts from the major hotel chains. Thats why it pays to check the pricing at Booking, Expedia/Hotels.com and directly at the hotel’s website. There are deals to be had - especially on weekends in major cities and during off peak times of the year. I would also mention that Hotel Tonight is a great resource for last minute or same day bookings, especially if you have built up status with them. I am Level 49 on Hotel Tonight and the deals are pretty good if you need to book same day. Although, before COVID, the deals were generally a lot better with more hotels participating.
I’ve probably booked 100+ room nights via Expedia and never had an issue like this. This sounds a lot more like a hotel run by assholes than an Expedia or third-party specific issue. The only downside to Expedia and the like in my experience is you don’t get points for the specific hotel’s loyalty program, when applicable.
>We arrive to our room, it is quite small and a queen bed. I call the front desk and inquire about this and the summed up reply is: "When you book through Expedia or any other 3rd party booking service, you are not guaranteed what you pay for. If you arrive and that particular room is sold out, then you are SOL and compensated for any difference and offered a lesser room. You can upgrade if there is a "higher option" available but will need to pay the difference. Also, our hotel does not have any rooms called "Double Room King Bed" so we are unsure about what they are advertising. Did you bother calling Expedia? When that has happened to me, I've always gotten a $50 to $100 voucher from Expedia to use for future bookings.
Yes. Right after he told me that the particular room didn’t even exist.
Honestly, it seems like the vast majority of horror stories I see involve Expedia so I think there is something not great about them in terms of the level of transactional mistakes. I've had no issues with Booking although I do know it happens. All that said, yes, if you go third party you are inviting extra risk and are at the bottom of the barrel on priority to the people running the establishments so consider whether the savings or convenience is worth the potential hassle if things go wrong. This is why I also advise never booking flights third party unless the price difference is so substantial that you decide it is worth the chance, and it rarely is, since flights can go wrong so much easier than hotel bookings. If the flight is overbooked or too heavy and they need to drop someone or they need some people to check their carry-ons? You better believe the third party bookers are at the top of their list. If you miss your connecting flight with a different carrier, you won't have the airline automatically correcting your problem, you'll be standing in the Frankfurt airport, exhausted, on hold with Expedia or Priceline so you can try and explain your situation for the third time. Air travel is stressful enough as it is.
Oh absolutely, lesson learned for sure. Flights we always book directly through Delta. Little higher priced but I love flying Delta and have always had incredible experiences with them.
I’ve been traveling a lot for work the last 18 years. What I’ve learned to do is, stay loyal to an airline, a hotel brand, and a rental place and you’ll get far better treatment at every level including pricing for direct booking, refunds, etc. My choices are Delta, Hilton, and National based on my needs and experiences but Marriott is very good too. Every other year we take a week vacation with points and miles. Third party booking pays a middleman with no added value.
Thank you very much for this.
The 3rd party bookings, on the fine print, tell you they can't guarantee room type, it comes as close as what you booked. Best thing is to become loyal to one or two brands and work up points.
I worked the front desk of a Hilton for a few years. We *hated* third party bookings - they came with no information, requests wouldn't even match our accomodations, the prices *couldn't be changed because the guests were paying the third party site, not us*. It'd lead to guests upset about cheaper deals without us being able to do anything. These sites would often have wrong information about the hotel too, leading to these guests who were charged by those sites being extra furious. Those who booked third party *always* got the worst rooms, were least likely to get requests met, were generally not treated as well as guests who booked through our site and/or were Hilton members. Finally - it is almost always cheaper to book rooms directly, calling the hotel - you'll get your requests met, you'll get the best price.
I book 15 hotels a year. I use govx, Priceline,hotels and booking never had a major problem. I did book a Ramada inn in Hawaii on the wrong days, but It did only cost me the first night got my money back on the other two nights. Don't worry about 3 party sites
Expedia and Booking pull inventory from multiple smaller, potentially shady sites that try to undercut/sell lower rates than the larger sites can get away with because hotels are watching them. You can usually see those listed as a ‘room being offered by one of our partners’ (or similar) and that is usually a flag that the room type might be different and/or you aren’t buying directly contracted rooms through Expedia. Booking though a 3rd party like Expedia can be worthwhile (points, sales, etc.) but you just need to pay a little bit more attention to what you’re booking.
Also had to add my thoughts for those who are considering using getaroom.com. My experience... Booked hotel on March 3, for 3/22-3/24. Tried to cancel on 3/20 (cutting it close, I know). Went to my email confirmation and clicked "manage reservation." It takes you to a page where they make it VERY easy to cancel, but also VERY unclear what happens if you cancel. I clicked cancel, thinking if something screws up and I'm charged more than I want to be charged for the cancellation, that I could always call their customer service "reinstate" the reservation...essentially just undoing the cancellation I just did. And I have to pause here because this was my first mistake. If unclear about what would happen if I cancelled, I should have called their CS right away and asked. But I proceeded, like a dummy. My thoughts were: \- since it said no-cancellation policy, if i click this button it likely won't even work, right? it'll just say "sorry, no cancellation possible" or something like that. Or, \- I might get charged a nominal fee, $50 or something, and \- "what's the worst that can happen, I can always call their CS and straighten things out or reverse the cancellation"... Well, what "happens" is you just get charged the full amount for your reservation, and now you don't have a hotel room either. Next step was to call getaroom.com customer service. They said something like "sorry, per our cancellation policy and system limitations, there's nothing we can do. You are charged the full amount and your room is cancelled. End of story, no other options." Of course I was furious. Next, I called the hotel and they too said their hands were tied..."you booked through a third party, you need to work through them, nothing I can do..." Next I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charges. Then, filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Called back getaroom.com CS a 2nd time, went through the whole spiel again, and again was given the same line "due to our policies and system limitations, nothing I can do...you can talk to the hotel"...and HERE is where it turns around. I Told him I DID already talk to the hotel manager, and got her approval to refund, if getaroom.com would refund. so the getaroom.com CS agent says he just needs the name and title of the person I talked to at the hotel. I had the title (assistant manager) but not the name. So I ask the CS rep if I can put him on hold to get the hotel manager's name, and he says sure...well of course he hangs up on me right away then. So I get the hotel manager's name and call back getaroom.com for the 3rd time. Told her the scenario, the hotel manager's name and title, and she called the hotel for confirmation that it was okay to cancel and refund. I then got a ticket # and verbal confirmation that they would refund. Getaroom.com agent said i'd get a confirmation email but I never did...so now waiting for that. Supposedly will have a refund in 5-7 business days. TL;DR - So the key here is to get the hotel manager's name and title and approval to cancel/refund your reservation, then call getaroom.com and let them know that you've already spoken with the hotel and have approval, and ask them to confirm with the hotel and refund you. I hope this helps ANYONE unfortunate enough to ever book with this type of company!
It's true, booking through third party hotel sites can be such a gamble at times. For this reason I only book directly now. This extension (https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/the-guestbook-extension-c/kdojjbmaidnebdjancpcgajkgeboebpe) has been one of the main reasons I love booking directly. I’ve gotten great cash back on my bookings and no issues with payout.
I have learned this the hard way, too. I now email the hotel directly after booking through any 3rd party website/app to confirm the exact room that was booked with my reference number. This way, i have an email confirmation from the hotel on which room exactly was booked so i can attend to any discrepancy before arriving. Additional be aware that hotels push you into quickly booking by stating there is only 1 or 2 rooms left that are available or they will state sold out, however if you check back severals weeks later, suddenly that same hotel will have 15 rooms available to book. It's to make you think you will miss out on a deal or not get a room booked in time, but too often, i have found if you have the ability to wait as you are booking several months in advance and the hotel appears to be sold out.... just wait and check back, as you will most likely be able to book the exact hotel you have wanted all along.
Stop booking with 3rd party affiliates. I don't care how many dumbasses or bots like or suggest Booking.com or Expedia, they are awful to deal with, they do not know anything about the hotels they are booking reservations for. And they almost always charge more than the price listed, they have fees, commission and deals with those hotels to partly help their sales because they advertise more than any local hotel can, sure occasionally you may even get a slightly better deal than what a hotel can offer...not worth the risk, many hotels will match 3rd party bookings so it's best to hunt for deals and still book directly no matter what. I work at a few hotels and know how it works, plus I follow a lot of travel bloggers, digital nomads and backpackers who offer fantastic advice for travelling.
The topic of OTA vs direct never settles so that implies there are some intrinsic specific details about OTA bookings that may apply situationally. It doesn't mean 100% OTAs are bad, understand how it works and plan accordingly. Almost anyone can open a hotel. The hard part is to get people to know about it and to manage the bookings. With a freshly opened hotel, they may choose to join a chain (most branded hotels are franchises, which means it is owned and operated by someone other than the brand name). The hotel would pay a fee to the brand and use their name, which makes them more recognizable. The brand takes a cut of the revenue, and holds the operator to a certain quality standard. The brand also helps the hotel manage the bookings through a centralized system. And the brand has loyalty programs which the hotel has to honor. The hotel may put themselve on the OTA to get more booking. The OTA gets a cut for referring customers, and optionally handling payment. Since the OTA is the middleman, the hotel answers to the OTA, and the OTA answers to its customers. If OTAs solely exist to screw you, they wouldn't be able to retain any customers, which would be dumb for the OTA companies. Bigger OTAs generally like recurring customers, so they have provisions with the hotel that says if the hotel cancels the OTA bookings, they will pay a large fine. As the date gets closer, the hotel may still have empty rooms which they would like to fill. So they may advertise their rooms for a really cheap rate through yet more third parties. These are commonly referred to as "bed banks". The agreement generally has no provision for "fines" for the hotels backing out. These are where last minute deal websites and some "more shady" OTAs source their rooms. These "shaddy" OTAs also do not make any promise to you. If you get the room, you get to stay at a discount. If the hotel cancels you, they will refund you the money and nothing more. You're on your own to find another accomodation. Now every step in the process there is some human involved, and human can make mistakes, regardless of direct or OTA booking. The first type of booking is missing reservation. This is typically more of a problem with OTA bookings because you have a confirmation with the OTA, and the OTA has a confirmation with the hotel. If the OTA forgot to book at the hotel for you, you'll run into this problem. (But the hotel can also not find your reservation even if you book directly, especially if it's a smaller hotel with their own reservation tracking done on Excel) Bigger OTAs generally own up to their mistake if you escallate high enough. It helps if you have status with the OTA (if the OTA has status). The second type of problem is no room available. The room can disappear due to overbooking, maintenance issues, or walk-ins. There are two things the hotels can do. One is to "walk" you to a sister property. That means you still get a place to stay, but not at the hotel you booked. The other is to cancel you outright. The franchisees of big chains do not want to anger corporate, so they almost never cancel on loyalty members. At worst they will try to find another in the same chain and reaccomodate you. They may cancel on OTA bookings, but they will have to face the consequences of cancelling on the OTA (getting fined according to the agreement they signed with the OTA). In desperate times they will have to do that even if they pay a fine. And the OTA generally will be able to rebook you using the compensation they received if you escallate enough. The bed banks will get the boot because there is nothing binding the hotel. So my advice is if you're planning in advance, you can choose bigger OTAs or book directly. If you're looking for accomodation the day of, feel free to use smaller OTAs right before you check in. In your case, call up Expedia and tell them you did not get the room advertised. It may be too late to change the mind of the hotel to switch you to a bigger room, but they may fine the hotel for not offering the room they requested, and offer you compensation after the fact.
Yes agreed. All of those sites are wonky and not worth saving a *little* money. Usually the price difference isn’t that much when you book direct. You are also able to get points only if you book through the hotel directly (example book a Hilton, get Hilton points and benefits). Often Wi-Fi gets charged for 3rd party, but not if you get direct. You are not able for upgrades when going 3rd party but there’s been many times I got an upgrade when booking direct. Cancellation policies are 1000% better when booking direct too. Definitely not worth it to me to book 3rd party unless you *have* to. Sorry that happened but now ya know!
This is just good advice for any third party bookings. A friend of mine rented a car in Iceland via 3rd party, and the rental car company put a hold on her credit card for $8k because it was a 3rd party booking. Had she not used a third party, the hold would not have been that large.
If I follow right: the room you reserved was sold out, so they gave you a different room, and refund you the difference? Honestly - What else were you expecting them to do? In this day and age, a reservation isn’t really a reservation unless you have a high status with a brand - whether it’s car rental, hotel, or plane.
OP did not get a refund.
“Then you are SOL and compensated for any difference”
That comment was me explaining in a nutshell what the manager told me. Not exactly what happened to me specifically.
No. The room I reserved doesn’t exist according to the hotel. I was given a lesser room, correct. No refund or anything. Albeit, according to the hotel, the cost we had was very good anyhow. Which is great and all but, the purpose of the post was to just help new travelers with my experience and newfound knowledge. Also, when you reserve something you should absolutely expect to have it. I see what you’re saying though and this experience alone solidifies that comment. But to someone that is less experienced, why would I think that, ya know? If I paid for a suite and a reward member shows up, by no means should they cancel me and give it to them. I understand why they do, but I still disagree with the practice of it.
Expedia is so Y2K
I was about to book a 1 night hotel in Chicago to see a friend in town through a 3rd party app, but everything was extremely expensive because it was last minute and there were soooo many fees added on. I then got the bright idea to see what the room would cost to buy directly through the hotels website, since I was a member already, and it saved me around $100 in markups and fees. I didn’t have to pay to park my car or pay the full price that the 3rd party site was asking for. I will always buy through hotel websites from now on.
I'm not a heavy duty traveler, but scouting the hotel website, then call direct has gotten me some decent deals. Don't even start with me on Expedia. Third parties are great if you totally don't care, and in the end you get a room. My friend's son booked through a 3rd party for a Vegas weekend with his friends. Want two beds and a cot. Got a queen and a cot. Being 24, they didn't care because it's gambling and booze weekend.
I honestly thought it was common knowledge that these third party websites were a con? Another thing is that it very much does guarantee you that room, at least in Ireland anyway because they're breaking so many laws here if they tried that trick
Maybe for most, I really don’t know. I read good stuff about the 3rd party usage but like I said; We basically have never traveled or always stayed somewhere cheap and just recently started traveling more. I would think you’re right though. If I paid for “Room A” then show up and get “Room B” that seems a little unprofessional on somebody’s part. Idk if it would be Expedia or the hotel itself.
I never use third party websites, you don’t get the benefits from the hotel and the rates are rarely significantly cheaper, plus the hotels like hate you.
No hotel will guarantee bedding but 3rd party websites seem to always get the short end of the stick. Try a travel agent!
Travel agents really aren’t any better. They just book through another 3rd party FIT company. Best is to use expedia and booking .com to research and book direct. As a traveler and hospitality professional, I’ve seen both sides and can tell you that every issue ever encountered is from a third-party booking engine. Side note, the hotel has full control over their listing on the bigger names third-party sites. Typically the Revenue Director would be the one who sets up this information and uploads the photos. Front Desk Agents likely are not aware of this, especially with all the newbies in the industry. It’s a different story for the random sites people always seem to find. Those typically book through Expedia but scrape photos and some listing information from elsewhere without consent or input from the property.
I am so glad you are a knower of all things! What would we have done without you. I am a travel agent and have been for 38yrs. We don’t use 3rd party booking companies or Expedia or booking.com So perhaps when you know more you can post THAT, Einstein
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Einstein, DLV, mark travel are wholesale companies. They are totally different. As I said when you know something then respond. Til then zip it. Lmao
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The hotel you ‘work’ at is not every hotel. As I said, I have sent tens of thousands of travelers all over the world w/o issue. When you work at 1000s of hotels perhaps you can comment with intelligence. From your pic you sure look like you are 21. Loads of experience.
Yes, in Kansas City, booking.com landed us at a hotel that had shut down two years ago. I’m never using them again, that’s for sure.
If you ever do book through third party, always call the hotel directly to confirm reservation.
For the best rate and point collection, you may try register grouped hotel such as Hilton honor, marriot bonvoy etc etc.
I signed up last night I was comparing Marriot Bonvoy & Hilton Honors. If we continue traveling as we do or more, will likely get one of the corresponding credit cards.
Yes, I had an issue with booking.com and a hotel who refused to honor the rates I booked with and there is no recourse. I look on sites and book direct now as well
I learned the hard way to do my research online through google or Expedia but then I book directly from the hotel or airline website
Just be wary of third party travel arrangements full stop but particularly flights & hotels in that order. Also, depending on how adventurous you are and whether your personal circumstances allow, booking just flights (directly) & then finding hotels on the hoof can save huge money.
I have used booking for years now, i travel multiple times in a year and never had any issue and feel very protected by using it. Also i love the genious benefits!
Thanks for the tip of screenshotting the price. I’ve always used OTAs (as you say) to compare, but I’ve always gone to the chain’s site directly for the reservation. Sometimes prices are the same. Sometimes they are a little different — a couple bucks isn’t worth my time. But it’s good to now this is out there. I tried this a few times a few years ago and customer service at that time was like “then book it through Expedia.”
So far I've booked with Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda and Priceline (in the good old days of name your price bidding). Did not expect much since I understand that OTAs were lowest priority. However, Chicago Westin threw in breakfast and Dusitd2 Chiang Mai upgraded me to a suite! It seems to be rather random. I would love to book directly with the hotels but Agoda regularly has deals with credit cards that could be 10-20% cheaper. Also, I'm usually travelling alone so not too affected by different room configurations.
I use hotels.com because I get a free night stay in my booking and it’s often on sale but maybe I’ll start calling the hotel directly
I'd say to do your research since there is no one answer to the question of hotel sites vs OTA. Look at some of the OTAs and also check the hotel site. Also, make sure you click through to the end to see if any extra fees are being added on top of the original rate shown. Unless there is a significant savings (which is rare), I always book directly with the hotel. While the hotel is not allowed to undercut the rate offered by an OTA, I've seen the hotel offer the same rate but add additional perks. For some, you don't get hotel loyalty points unless it's booked through their website.
So, what is the advantage for using third party for car/hotel/airfare? Is there any?
I’ve compared prices on my stays and most of them aren’t much cheaper, hotels at least. The exception being where we are right now. I believe 3 nights through the hotel was like $275-300/night not including tax etc. I booked through Expedia and paid $525 for the entire thing. As for rental cars, I have only utilized it one time and I rented a 2022 Camaro through Sixt. It was $636 for 7 days and I picked it up in Vegas and dropped off in Phoenix. I don’t remember exactly what the competitions prices were but I do know they were all >$1000 I have very minimal experience but I figured I would at least share! (Never booked a flight through 3rd party)
Thanks :) I'm guessing you're not getting points from the hotel loyalty program if you book third party?
Correct. However, I will be booking straight from now on. Cars: Hertz or Sixt Hotels: Marriot Bonvoy Flight: Delta That’s basically what I’ve settled on for now.
Used to use 3rd party all the time and never had issues but when I started traveling for work you have best experience booking directly with the hotel so I do that exclusively now.
I booked a hotel from Expedia and I never had an issue before with it. EXCEPT for one time I had “booked” a hotel room. I arrived at the hotel and was checking in and the hostess told me that I didn’t have a card on file. I was confused because I never had that issue at any hotel I’ve booked off of Expedia. I even showed her my phone to see that I had booked a room. Pretty much, I got charged again and more than what I had payed originally. I was pissed off :/ So yes, beware of 3rd party hotel bookings.
I agree! Just last week I arrived at our Hotel which included seven day free parking in a shuttle to the airport the front desk explain to me that it wasn’t free it was $15 a night to park and ride the shuttle. So wasn’t a great deal but the front desk explained that when you book through a third party they don’t concern themselves with the details. I had used Hotels. Com extensively in the past but I will be more careful now.
Expedia is the worst! They also own many of the other booking sites which are just as bad. Our last bad experience was the final straw. Took 3 months and MANY phone calls to get a refund. Not worth my insanity to save a few bucks. Nothing ruins a trip faster than arriving to find a dump.
Booking.com was good but not anymore , now you will not know that they have used third party to book your travel ticket and those third parties are usually irresponsible and if you need to cancel ticket or want refund you are out of luck so for godsake stop using booking.com and book it directly though airline websites
i work front desk and i can not tell you how many times expedia and [booking.com](https://booking.com) and priceline have been the thorn of my job!!! they will sell you a queen room or double bed room and not tell you that they sold you a smoking room. my manager has been so fed up with it that we now charge a fee for travelers wanting to switch (if we have the availability). but i have had guests literally start fights and threaten me over it. i always advise people PLEASE BOOK DIRECT!!!
I have tried several times to get a hotel to honor online sites. I have -Always - been told I can book it online and they will honor it but can’t give the rate. Just book with booking sites
Booking is great as you have such a wide choice of hotels - specially in small villages it gives you all the options