http://thebestcompanys.com/hotel-booking/company/expedia-com/
Expedia offers hotel booking services to customers all around the world. They are a big competitor to other major brands in the hotel booking industry like Kayak.com, Orbitz and HotelBooking.com.
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2. About Expedia
Expedia was one of the first third-party discount travel companies
and has gained a reputation and brand awareness which is fairly
solid.
As a corporate citizen, Expedia is community-minded and has long
been a sponsor of St. Jude’s Hospital for Children. They offer
opportunities for like-minded travelers to donate their
accumulated Expedia points to the hospital to ease travel burdens
for those needing to bring their child for treatment for childhood
cancer.
3. Why Expedia?
• Extensive search engine with many results and options available for
filtering results (price, time of departure, arrival time, non-stop vs. layovers,
flight duration and airline preferances)
• Hotel searches are filtered by: ratings, price, amenities, neighborhoods
and proximity to landmarks, etc.
• Expedia + Rewards program allows travelers to accumulate points for their
travel booked with Expedia.com
• Expedia has a full-featured mobile app which allows travelers to search for
travel and book on the go
4. The Good
• Expedia offers a low price guarantee
• Changes are free from Expedia charges, but airline, hotels,
etc. may charge fees to change reservations
• Travelers can cancel their reservations free of charge within
24 hours of booking
• Scratchpad saves prior searches
• Expedia + Rewards program and Expedia Rewards credit
card allow travelers to earn points for their future travel
• Book travel with a variety of options (flight only, flight + car,
flight + room, flight + room + car, room + car)
5. The Bad
Customer service for Expedia is below average and the wait
times to speak to a customer service representative are long.
Many of the agents with whom reviewers spoke were not
native English speakers and in interactions with prospective
travelers, seemed to give a run-around and did not offer clear
information or help.
6. One should be fully aware of all change and cancellation policies before
booking travel with any third party discount travel company, because there
can be significant restrictions. With this being stated, we recommend Expedia
for consideration when looking for a good price for your travel arrangements.
Be aware that Expedia’s customer service department was scored as less than
the industry average and when trouble arrives, one may not be able to
receive the assistance which they need.
7. Contract and Cancellation Policies
Expedia is not as transparent as their competitors in revealing
the full terms and conditions of their contract.
They advertise a 24 hour free cancellation policy and that
changes are possible on many of the reservations made online
or through an agent, but are not clear of the timeframe or terms
for these changes.
Full terms can be found at: http://www.expedia.com/p/info-
other/legal.htm#
8. Website Usability
Their website is easy to use and offers the ability for travelers to
examine and compare their previous searches with Sketchpad.
This makes searching for travel easy.
Expedia.com is far ahead of their competition in this
functionality, both for searches made online via a desktop/
laptop or those using their mobile app.
9. Better Business Bureau
• Accredited since 2000
• A+ rating
• 2622 complaints closed with BBB in last 3 years
• 1183 closed in last 12 months
• The BBB states that Expedia handles complaints in a satisfactory
manner, has a low number of complaints relative to the size of the
company and has been in business for a sufficient amount of time
10. Social Media
Expedia has active social media accounts and offers contests,
discounts, etc. for their followers.
Find Expedia on:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn
11. Mobile
Expedia offers mobile apps for both iOS and Android users as well
as a discount for booking travel via the mobile app for the first
booking done via their mobile app.
12. Contact Information
Phone number: 800-391-3613
Address:
Expedia Headquarters
333 108th Ave NE Ste 300
Bellevue, WA 98004-5736
13. Summary
Expedia is a full-featured site which offers their users a one-stop destination to
save money on their travel plans. There are options to reserve flights, hotel,
rental cars and cruises as well as combining purchases to make a unique travel
package.
For those who travel frequently, the Rewards program is a benefit in that points
are accumulated for travel and can be redeemed for future reservations.
Expedia earns high marks for their website and mobile app, but could use some
improvement in the customer service.