Vivienne Chan / 06 February 2025 / Categories: Brands

Expedia.com

I’m back as a more informed customer

About 10 years ago I got burned by Expedia, who also own Hotels.com. Expedia a travel business started by Microsoft in 1996 it was aquired in 2003 by USA Interactive corporation is now publically traded but with key stakeholders being the usual group of money making suspects, BlackRock, State Street Global Advisors, Par Capital Management, and ValueAct Capital Management

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I bought into a vacation that was mis marketed, mis represented, spent a fortune, had a terrible time and then found out exactly what kind of company Expedia is:was.

I haven’t given them any business for at least 10 years and have recounted my avoid Expedia mantra to everyone who would listen until this week.

I’d booked a hotel using Bonvoy Marriott club points and I needed to add on a couple of extra nights.

I’ve stayed at the particular property before so I didn’t need to read reviews or the description of where I was going (that had been so lacking and regarding some facilities completely made up, in the past)

The price for these couple of nights ranged online from Expedia being the cheapest at around $400 per night up to some sites offering the same room for as much a $700 per night.

In this situation I just went with the cheapest and booked with Expedia. I was completely aware this booking could not be changed and was completely non refundable. I was happy with the terms for the low price.

One thing I will say when I emailed the property to connect my redeemed points based booking with the new on a serious budget Expedia booking the reception at my chosen property was less than warm when they saw who I had chosen to book with.

I appreciate this is just the property maybe judging me a bit for booking through Expedia and going for the rock bottom price above anything else.

I guess my point here in this case it was better for me this time to give my business to a company I have been treated badly by in the past. And that’s OK.

To sum up if you don’t care about after care or service. And you are just looking for the cheapest price, go with Expedia. DONT expect them to be there should anything go wrong. They won’t be based on my experience and I had an unbelievable experience with no food available they never even acknowledged even after the story appeared in a local newspaper.

I used Trivago this trip for the first time. I didn’t really rate it.