[REQUEST] Booking a Hotel

[Appletax]

I booked a hotel room through Expedia so I could get 10% eBates (now Rakuten) cash back + Expedia rewards points. I am reading that sometimes people get screwed over by 3rd party booking sites. Some get extra fees at the end of their stay and some lose their hotel room do to overbooking and Expedia would not give them a refund or make things right until they called and fussed. Should I avoid using a 3rd party site to book? Apparently the hotel will have nothing to do with anything that goes wrong and you'll be stuck chatting to someone in another country. I am getting $57.66 back from eBates.

 

[mraikes]

Over the years, I've used Expedia and similar sites many times for hotels. Never had a problem even once.

But if you have any doubts, particularly if this is a "trip of a lifetime" type of thing, ask yourself how much risk you're willing to assume for a measly $57.66.

 

[MDD1963]

Got what I considered a good rate at Booking.com for a brief trip to Taiwan this past April...; saw lots of remarkably low- cost $30-$50 a night rooms/suites....

 

[sapphirescales]

Not worth the stress and BS involving a third party. It's just something else that can go wrong. The more people you have involved in booking your vacation, the more potential problems there can be. I'd rather just call the hotel and book a room. $56 isn't going to break me and it isn't worth stressing over. Hell, you can't even get a decent dinner for 2 for $56, and you'll be buying plenty of those on your vacation.

 

[Appletax]

Thanks for the replies. This hotel stay is reimbursed as it is a business expense. Definitely not a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Spending 4 nights at a My Place Hotel with another person. Booked both our rooms for about $622 in total and getting the $56 back. Trying to milk it as good as I can lol.

 

[Your PCMD]

I've had 2 issues with Hotels - one with Expedia and one with Travelocity (which are now both the same company) and both times I had no problems after calling them - they took care of it. For domestic trips, I typically only use Expedia however for international and trips to Hawaii, I use AirBnB to book a stay, the actual airlines site to book the flights as they give you the true cost because trip sites dont tell you the cost for seats, luggage, etc., but I do use Expedia to reserve a vehicle.

Over the years I've learned where and when to shop around for trips. I can typically put a trip together much cheaper than a 3rd party site. Case in point my family's recent trip to Maui. The whole trip - flight, condo and car - for 6 was just shy of $9,000. I did the research and booking separate for just over $7,000.

Currently I am working on our vacation back to Maui for next year - just me and my wife - and I can get the condo, car and flights, the whole trip for less than $4500 whereas through Expedia it was $6200.

 

[nerd2u]

Last year we booked a hotel through Expedia and we made sure to find one with a pool that had a water slide for my son.

When we got to the hotel they informed us the pool was closed for a month for maintenance.

Not only did Expedia happily refund the purchase they happily helped us find another hotel in the area with a water slide.

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

my friend use to work at a hotel about 4 years ago and she recommended you call the hotel to confirm your reservation.

 

[Appletax]

I have been to hotels with pools that were down for maintenance. Should always call the hotel and inquire if the pool/hot tub are essential.

In the future, I will be sure to confirm the reservation.

Glad that some of you never had issues and some who did were made right.

 

[frase]

I ring the Hotel directly - stuff dodgy 3rd parties.

 

[Appletax]

I ring the Hotel directly - stuff dodgy 3rd parties.

No, no stuffing. I got 10% back in eBates cash back. Worth it. Only issue is that the organization that is reimbursing my stay would like for the taxes and fees to be separated as they only cover $75 + tax (no fees). Expedia lumps them together. Called customer service and they can't do squat to provide me with a completely broken down bill. Oh well, most people probably don't need that.

 

[MichaelBits]

Back in April the Owner and I went to MUM (Mikrotik Users Meeting) down in Texas.
Driving back to Iowa on the last day we drove until it got late and we were tired, was around midnight. Anticipating this, the boss man pulled out his phone and booked a room for us up the road a ways so we could get some sleep and continue home in the morning.

Well, we get there and go into our room... It's a single Queen bed. We look at each other.... and both say, "Noooo!" We go back to the lobby and they say there are no more rooms. He shows them the app and the room we booked. After about 10 minutes they somehow found a room for us.
I don't remember the app he was using, but it sure seems as though they wanted to comply with what was booked through it.

 

[Appletax]

Back in April the Owner and I went to MUM (Mikrotik Users Meeting) down in Texas.
Driving back to Iowa on the last day we drove until it got late and we were tired, was around midnight. Anticipating this, the boss man pulled out his phone and booked a room for us up the road a ways so we could get some sleep and continue home in the morning.

Well, we get there and go into our room... It's a single Queen bed. We look at each other.... and both say, "Noooo!" We go back to the lobby and they say there are no more rooms. He shows them the app and the room we booked. After about 10 minutes they somehow found a room for us.
I don't remember the app he was using, but it sure seems as though they wanted to comply with what was booked through it.

lol. I would have been fine with sharing a bed if it were a King but with a Queen you two would have been awfully close to each other

 

[MichaelBits]

I would have been fine with sharing a bed if it were a King

I'm not sure that would have even worked... neither one of us is very, ummmm, small...

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

Interesting, when I was at the ASCII SMB Success Summit in Chicago (Marriot) there was a guy there having the same conversation with hotel staff.

 

[brandonh]

I am loyal to IHG hotels if possible (free nights and room upgrades). Booking through 3rd party sites does not allow you to collect loyalty rewards points. Also you can get 4% back through eBates and it does not reduce your reward points in any way.