Welcome To The Hotel Expedia

Gee ... an internet business scam. Whoda thunkit?

Does one not wonder how much dinero Expedia may have contributed to certain political campaigns?

Yeeeeahhhhh...never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence. I would bet a Caribbean vacation that nobody at Expedia set out to screw these people over deliberately; they've simply been caught up in the sort of half-assed operations failures all dot-coms constantly suffer from. Add the fact that they're dealing with the Latin American office; the quality of business and IT services in that part of the world is a joke. Customer service is nonexistent and the IT operations staff barely better than shaved monkeys.

I'm sure these people have been badly injured financially by all this, but this is nothing more than left-hand-ignorant-of-the-right organizational dysfunction.

Assuming this sorry tale true, and I have no reason to disbelieve it. There are three things taht come to mind:

1. This sounds like a classic shake-down - local managers asking for private meetings. If Expedia wanted to charge a fee for their services, above and beyond what they announced, then they could. Perhaps mebig-chain competitors were controlling Expedia.

2. SDA should never use Expedia.

3. SDA should go on vacation to the Luna Blue Hotel.

Interesting! We have not had a problem with booking rooms through Hotels.com. Although we have run into the no rooms available problem. Also, because of a flight delay because of an ill copilot, one of three nights in Rome in late October, which we had paid for in advance, had to be cancelled. The hotel told us we would have to see Hotels.com for a refund, which they would not do. Now knowing that Hotels.com charges the hotel 25%, it is not surprising that the hotel in Rome would not give us the refund as they would have been out the 25%.

In the future we will try to find the websites and or phone numbers of hotels we might like to stay in.

Mark Matis @ 6.03 pm
Shouldn't be too difficult to figure out, knowing which side of the fence to look helps ...

http://www.freedomtomarry.org/blog/entry/expedia-supports-the-freedom-to-marry-in-washington

Article came three hours too late. I just booked three nights through Expedia.

I've never been cheated by Expedia, but I didn't know that I could do better.

Thanks.

the problem is people shop for a vacation like they where buying au aused car

I recently used Expedia to book a hotel in Nicaragua. And the flight there and back, too, for that matter.

The hotel was fine, and quite reasonably priced. When I checked out, the desk clerk made a point of telling me that, should I want to stay there again, book directly for a much better price. He didn't explicitly say that Expedia was getting 25%, but the inference is obvious.

That Expedia gnome doesn't work for free. I always call the hotel direct to make a reservation. Even in a country who's first language isn't English, there's always someone who can speak it. It may cost you a few bucks more but if you can afford to go there, you can certainly pay the extra freight.

Well, marc in calgary, that is indeed ONE sign of their propensities. Of course, with their offices ALSO in Mexico and 58 other countries around the world, one might expect they would pay the appropriate baksheesh in each of those as well. Since after all, corruption is not UNIQUE to the United States. Although Chicago does seem to take it to a whole new level...

Daniel, I think I read in this article that France was suing expedia for the same business practices. That sort of makes me think this is a business plan.

I wish these people well but I would never vacation in Mexico.

Margaret: all that shows is that they were fined for it happening, not that it's a deliberate policy. This is what I do for a living, and believe me, I am much more inclined to believe the source of this problem is sloppy programming and a lack of any real incentive to fix bugs internally. People tend not to realize just how automated the systems on the back end of these web sites are, nor how difficult it would be to inject such business logic once the system's already written.

Pretty much everything else can be explained by an attitude of "you are too small a hotel for me to care if I piss you off" amongst the management in the Latin America sales region. Admittedly that's a problem for small hotels, but it's the same problem every small business faces when you deal with a large middleman who has bigger clients than you.

Hotel?
Let me tell you obout the Banff Springs.
Or the Eagles say it better.
"Hotel California"

Enjoy.

Can't even get an album that I paid for, 3 times, gotta love Hollywood. Creeps.

dwright

I was at Schipol airport once and needed a hotel for the night. I walked into the Amderstdam Airport Sheraton, flirted with the woman at the desk told her i didn't have much money and asked if she'd put me up in the hotel broom closet.

She smiled and gave me the keys to the best unoccupied suite in the hotel which was 700 euro a night room according to the room card for 110 Euros. The suite I stayed in was larger than my apartment with access to the exclusive guest VIP club for only that floor that had complimentary beverages and food. I got Satelite TV with all channels from everywhere. Mints on the pillows, it had access to the spa, the room was nothing short of immaculate and I didn't use a credit card or pay a room deposit, just the cash I had in my pocket. I Enjoyed the complimentary breakfast the next morning and lived for a night like a celebrity guest.

The point I make is, walking into a hotel most any given night. You can really come up with some amazing deals.

Nice headline to the post Kate!

This is not the first time I have heard about this type of thing with Expedia.

I make use of Expedia's database to do some general searching for hotels in the area where I plan to stay, but then I always call the hotel direct. That way Expedia gets nothing.

Besides, try booking something as simple as a connecting room with Expedia....impossible.

We are the owners of the hotel in question and we have to be honest here...when we saw on our blog stats there was a huge influx from a site called "Small Dead Animals" we were a little afraid to go and see where we had ended up. But after we got here, we fell in love...great blog!!! And thanks for the boost you gave us. We are still reeling from the magnitude of the response our story has received around the world. As a result of all the action on the internet there are some positive things happening to us (Expedia has backed down...a little) which we will blog about tomorrow. We will also be sharing some of the responses we received from other businesses detailing their horror stories with Expedia. It is pretty clear to us that this is not a problem stemming from a small office in Latin America, but is a world wide Expedia policy. We hope that blogs like SDA can help educate the consumer public on this. In the meantime, we are back to running our hotel and occasionally swimming in the Caribbean Sea. SDA...thanks again!

Tony & Cheri
Luna Blue Hotel

Kate, thanks for revealing the Expedia scam. I've encountered the "no rooms available" with Expedia. When I called the hotels directly, I have always been given a room.

Now I know why! No more Expedia or affiliates for me ever again.

I returned from Egypt in mid September and landed at Trudeau airport in Montreal. It was late in the evening and I had a flight to catch back to Saskatoon early the next morning. I had not booked a hotel so I walked down to the Marriot attached to the airport and asked the rate thinking that late a night they would offer a discount. Not so. They wanted $250 plus tax. I walked away and slept on a bench that night.

Some people play down Mexican crime by saying there is crime in US and Canadian cities as well. The difference is that the police in Canada and the US aren't usually working for the criminals.

So, I wouldn't find it surprising that the Mexican justice system would do nothing about such a con game. Unless someone has the money to bribe them to do otherwise...

It sounds like Expedia has not treated the proprietors of this hotel well. But as a customer, I have done well by hotels.com, expedia, priceline and hotwire. To wit:

-Good prices. In my experience, hotel websites almost never beat the prices on hotels.com, expedia and the like. If hoteliers don't have to pay commission on those reservations, then why are they always higher than what you are quoted on the big travel sites?

-I like the ability to compare hotels quickly and at a glance.

-I like the idea of having a middleman there to protect me if a hotel screws me over. Reality is that some small hotels are run by shady characters and I do not like the idea of having no recourse if something goes amiss. Hotels.com has gone the extra mile for me on numerous occasions.

-I like the loyalty rewards that come from using the site. Discounts and free rooms make me happy.

The bottom line is that I am paying less money than I did 20 years ago for better hotel rooms. Travel websites have evened out the playing field between consumer and proprietor and I am grateful for that. Independents still have tripadvisor which is very well suited to smaller properties.

Ten minutes of Googling revealed people complaining about getting erroneous "no rooms available" messages on such poor oppressed tiny hotel chains as Disney, the Sheraton Boston, and the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay.

Daniel: I am going with Tony and Cheri on this one. It sounds like deliberate business practice.

Paul: I am guessing that you are drop dead good looking and have a killer smile.

I'm like Tim, never had any issue booking hotels, flights and cars with Expedia, Travelocity, or Hotels.com. Granted, some rooms were by the ice machine, facing the next building A/C unit but others were upgrades from what I asked for. A lot depends on the hotel/personnel, I guess.

I do tend to book my flights through Expedia or Travelocity mainly because their rates are either the same or cheaper than the airlines site. You would figure without the middle man the airlines might pass on some to the customers.

I have bookmarked the website for the Luna Blue and might consider it once Mexico gets their crime under control.

Very glad to see this post. Last time I used Expedia it was obvious I was being steered in the direction of certain hotels. I will now change the way I book a hotel. Hope to visit Luna Blue sometime -- will book directly.

I use one called Trivago.ca
it rolls up all the different ones like hotel.com and expedia and compares them . sometimes expedia comes up the winner , but rarely , so you dont go there.
seems to be worldwide. I was just checking out the south Aegean

This is good. Now that I know this I can burn up Expedia's expensive server time to hunt down my hotel, and then BOOK IT DIRECT.

I already do that with airlines because Expedia etc. are at best iffy on airline bookings, and sometimes just impossible.

Kachow, baby. You can fool some of the people, some of the time...

You know what this means though, right? Another possibility for profit through honest business practices. Expedia could easily be put out of business by competition.

I've used Expedia many times to book flights, hotels, rental cars and even excursion tickets. I have never had a problem. So I don't know why these people are having such a rough time. A local problem perhaps?

I've had similar experiences with Hotels.com - no rooms available, regardless of date (Taipei) rooms badly in need of renovation (Pisa) and most recently, a promised non-existent washer/dryer in a luxe hotel in Vietnam. So it seems their practices aren't limited to Mexico. Now that I've been filled in on their business model, I'll be steering a wide berth.

Not blaming the Luna Blue but I'll never stay there because last time I went to Mexico I got married. I hear even worse things happen there these days.

Good luck Tony & Cheri, and after publishing your experiences of Expedia, don't trust them backing down and trying to make amends - there will be at least individuals in the organisation who resent the work you have caused them and they will look for new ways to screw you.

Just cancelled my room booked thru Expedia.

Will not use again.

I don't use Expedia except to get a rough idea of what flights are available to get me to my destination. My trip to Northern Florida is a bit complicated as I don't want to end up in Orlando. Curiously, Expedia never has the flights that I usually end up taking and tries to steer me to United. The last time I flew United, I ended up spending the night sleeping in a chair in Atlanta airport and I wouldn't recommend flying United given my experience with them. Delta has the best service and I book directly through the Delta site. I've noticed total lack of certain flights for other locations that I go to and have long ago decided that "services" like Expedia are a waste of time. Now that I know they're also internet scams, I'll never use them again.

As far as booking hotels go, I usually book online directly with the hotels website if they have one. If they don't, I look for hotels close to where I want to go and phone them directly. Most of the hotels I use are based on recommendations of people who've stayed at that particular hotel. Some I don't have a choice about like the Calgary Airport Delta hotel from which one can walk to ones US departure gate in a few minutes. After the last time I experienced Calgary traffic I won't stay any further from the airport than that.

What's needed is some form of open source travel site where one could get unbiased travel information. I can't believe that Expedia takes a 25% cut of the room rate -- that explains why they really try to push you into booking a hotel at your destination.

Those of you who use Expedia because you get better rates don't know how the system works.

No matter what rate you find on Expedia, call the hotel direct. Quote the Expedia rate if it is less than what the hotel is quoting you. If the hotel does not match it, don't stay there. Many times I have had the hotel match or improve upon the Expedia rate.

Expedia always tries to suck more out of the transaction than they deserve and you are the one who is paying for it.

I tried to book a hotel in New Orleans a couple of years back using Expedia. I found a room at a decent price and decided to book it. The listed price was $139.00 a night at the Omni in the French Quarter. When I was in the process of booking the price went up to $179.99! So I cancelled it and stated again and the same thing happened. As a result, I went to another site, Travelocity, and booked the same hotel for $135.99 a night. Hmmmmmm.........was Expedia trying to pull a bait and switch on me or was this an honest mistake? I guess I'll never know for sure.

1) Use whatever search/travel web-sites to find a suitable range of hotels, flights, car rentals, whatever in the area one is travelling to - I tend to ignore prices provided and availabilities

2) Goto the direct website to do the actual bookings

If the direct website (i.e. the sheraton) is more expensive than say expedia, tell them on the phone and they almost always come down in price to match. Plus, I too have found that expedia's room description often bear little resemblance to the actual rooms particularly for the non-chain hotels.

For flights, I've never, ever seen sites like expedia provide cheaper flights than going to the airline directly.

If you book at the actual website directly, then any problems or faults are theirs to correct directly. They can
t blame the travel site, this is particularly useful for flights in case a connection is just a little too tight and you miss it.

Bravo Kate for posting this - I also did not know that Expedia takes a 25% cut. I am pleased that the Luna Blue Hotel owners wrote and thanked you for your posting. I went to their website to look at their Hotel and it is lovely. My better half and I are traveling that way, the courtesy of this Hotel owner has sealed the deal for us - we will book a room there- if they have any left after the SDAers book their holidays!

Since all hotels, even the smallest, typically have web sites now, I'd imagine sites like Expedia.com are one iPhone app away from irrelevance.

Thanks for posting this Kate. I have also used Expedia without any problem, but I don't like this kind of business practice. The other posters have the right idea, which I will follow-do research on Expedia and then book directly. One other issue that we have encountered frequently on Expedia is that it says "exceeds maximum number of children", even when the booking is for two adults and two children in a room with two double beds. There has got to be something very weird about that. How can a room with two double beds not accommodate two adults and two children? I will spread the word about this as well. I wonder if Expedia has a local Canadian operation if there wouldn't be merit in a complaint to the federal agency that regulates the travel industry? Not sure what Ministry has oversight, but I will look into it.

A few years back, I came across a little hotel in Playa with a garden, a few blocks from the beach and swore that I would find it again. It was a stunning locale, but when you wandered off the hot street, stepping into the garden was like walking into a cool oasis. It was spectacular.

Now I find the hotel on SDA. Funny that.

And to think I JUST booked and paid for a vacation at a large chain hotel in Playa. Might have to re-think that whole plan.

Is there some sort of natural law that say's "everything big is corrupt and ultimately leads to doing exactly the opposite of it's original purpose"?

If there isn't, I'm calling it "richfisher's law"
Lick it, stick it, stamp it.

One might also note that Google Earth and Mapquest generally do a good job of identifying lodging near a destination address. Once you've found the name of a potential accommodation, a Google search on that name and the city tends to be fairly productive. Also works well for restaurants...

Sorry richfisher I think Murphy owns that one.

No, Reverend Ken. The US copyright on that belongs to Microsoft. Although they are suing Google and Apple for misappropriation without compensation.

My family has spent 1-2 weeks a year for almost a decade on the Mayan Riviera not far from LunaBlue, and we've never had any problems with crime, military, etc. There are army roadblocks at some locations looking for d*rug-runners coming up from Belize, and military personnel do patrol the coast - but they've never bothered us. In fact, it's reassuring to see them there.

The police, on the other hand, are swine. We got nailed once by a phoney speed trap near the Cancun airport, and forced into "paying the fine in advance" (bribing) the police. It's somewhat of a local industry; after talking to other travelers and some of the locals, we heard that the police try hard to get certain assignments (like near the airport) where they can prey on anyone on the road. Of course, there's no oversight. But, the police can be "circumvented" by not having a wallet-full of cash; they'll settle for the $20 you show them is all that you have, and won't search for the $500 you have stashed in your luggage.

There's no place that is "safe". We were actually warned more strongly about crime in Italy than we about in Mexico; the pickpockets and purse-snatchers in Rome are legendary.

I've never used Expedia; I've found that I can get good rooms at fair prices by contacting hotels directly, and I've been able to pick where I want to stay instead of being at the mercy of a computer. If you don't care where you stay, Expedia and others are fine - but you have to remember that the cost of running Expedia has to come from somewhere, and the "somewhere" is the people who book using it.

Tonight we are staying in a hotel in Managua, Nicaragua. Expedia site showed it as no rooms available when I called the hotel directly this afternoon they said they had rooms.

I booked through Expedia over Xmas and there were a few hotels that were alledgedly 'overbooked' but weren't. their no refund no cancellation policy turned me off from using them again.

The only way to beat the 600 pound gorilla is to beat them at their own game... I see a ripe business opportunity here. Offer a "Checking Service" or something of the sort.

If Expedia says it's not available you check with the motel/hotel directly and book it for the inquiring customer.

Then list this feat as one of your documented accomplishments. I guarantee Expedia will start freaking out when you build your reputation on showing them to be liars and manipulators. Advertise it widely. Bank the money. Laughing all the way to the bank is optional but highly recommended.

8)

Very interesting topic , thanks for posting . "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." by Lisa Grossman.