Sorry about the click-bait title. I just couldn’t think of anything better for this post. I actually don’t have any issues with Expedia or similar services; I use them all the time when I’m researching and planning a trip. But there are some significant downsides.
For the sake of this post, I’m going to use the term ‘Expedia’ to refer to any company like Expedia that helps you compare flights on different airlines, hotel options, and gives you the ability to book directly through their site. They’re a great way to compare options, like flight times, flight duration, layover cities, prices, etc across a multitude of airlines all on a single page. Some sites even tell you what the on-time percentage is for each leg of your flight, so you can figure out how likely you are to miss your connection. Searching for hotels gives you options from the big chains as well as the smaller venues, and you can see them plotted on a map so you can figure out what’s close to where you want to be. That’s hugely helpful.
But when it comes time to book, I recommend going directly to the airline or hotel site if you can. I recently booked a flight through Expedia and I was not allowed to select a seat. When I called the airline directly, I was told that, because I booked through Expedia, I’d only be able to select a seat the day before the flight. Fortunately, I didn’t end up in a middle seat. But that could have been an uncomfortable flight if I had. A friend and I recently booked hotel rooms in Buenos Aires. I booked through the hotel’s page, she booked through Expedia. A few hours after I booked, I got an email from the hotel saying that, tourists were entitled to a 21% VAT refund on the cost of the prepaid room, but I had to send them proof of citizenship. My friend didn’t get that notice. She had to call Expedia and sat on the phone with them for an hour to get the discount, and even then they made it sound like they were doing her a favor. If I hadn’t booked through the hotel site and told her, we would both have paid an extra 21% for the rooms. Instead, we saved about $100 each and that’ll cover a very nice meal and a few bottles of wine in Argentina. If you look online, you’ll hear stories about people getting the worst room in a hotel because they booked through a 3rd party like Expedia. If the room is $99 on the hotel site and $99 on Expedia, Expedia has to take a cut off the top, so the hotel may only get $80 or $90. They know that they didn’t get the full rate, so they have no major incentive to comp you a room upgrade or hook you up in anyway.
Like I said, I use Expedia all the time. But they have to make money somehow, and their fees put less money in the pockets of the companies that provide the final service. As a result, the quality of your experience may be diminished. Use Expedia to do your research, and book direct if you can. If I have a choice of spending 2 extra minutes on my booking or running the risk of getting stuck in a middle seat next to the bathroom on an 8 hour flight, you can be sure I’ll spend the 2 minutes.
