Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Book through the brand and have them price match Expedia.

I just tried doing this with a Fairmont hotel. They told me they don’t do that and I could try to file a price match claim and see if it gets approved. I immediately canceled my reservations and booked though the third party site. I saved $450 doing this. Why the direct site doesn’t have the cheapest rate is beyond me.

Yeah you probably got a Nonrefundable/Noncancellable rate through the 3rd party site, which sucks.

We use Hotels.com (part of Expedia) all the time with no issues. We're Gold members so get good upgraded rooms and other perks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Book through the brand and have them price match Expedia.

I just tried doing this with a Fairmont hotel. They told me they don’t do that and I could try to file a price match claim and see if it gets approved. I immediately canceled my reservations and booked though the third party site. I saved $450 doing this. Why the direct site doesn’t have the cheapest rate is beyond me.

Because they are hedging bets. See the posts above about people who book through discount sites getting booted from their reservations. If the hotels think they can book the rooms at higher rates they will do so, and then they will have no problem booting you and you won't know til you arrive.

Overbooking is a regular thing with hotels now, just as it is with airlines, and the guest paying the least for the room is the first to go.

Anonymous wrote:Book through the brand and have them price match Expedia.

I just tried doing this with a Fairmont hotel. They told me they don’t do that and I could try to file a price match claim and see if it gets approved. I immediately canceled my reservations and booked though the third party site. I saved $450 doing this. Why the direct site doesn’t have the cheapest rate is beyond me.

Anonymous wrote:I had a terrible experience when I booked through Expedia. I'd chosen the location for the long weekend in large part on a beautiful historic hotel. When we got there, they had no room for us. They'd overbooked the hotel and gotten us a room elsewhere. No amount of protest from me worked. The place they got for us was a shitty motel miles away from the quaint downtown where we wanted to be. At a higher rate. We also hadn't rented a car, because everything was walking distance from the nice hotel that booted us, but nothing was from the other place. It was so bad we went to the airport and just went home.

No more Expedia.

This happened to me once too, and they’d rebooked us into a hooker hotel in Atlantic City. Good thing my husband is from Nj and knows how to complain. They ended up relenting and gave us a room, but it was a huge deal and there is no way I will ever use a site like that again.

I've been using Booking.com for years, never had an issue.

The other risk is the room doesn’t exist, hotel is double booked. Or hotel is unavailable.
Has happened to me twice now for Europe (Lisbon, Amsterdam) in the last 6 weeks.
Lisbon - when I arrived at hotel they said no room available. But, they put me up on another hotel fortunately.

Amsterdam - received an email two days before check in. “Accommodations are not ready”. Booked me in a different place, a terrible location, terrible reviews - noisy, problems with room, no one to assist etc. I cancelled and had to scramble to find new place, and of course prices were now 50% higher.

This was on booking.com

Will never book there again. Book with hotel directly.

I had a terrible experience when I booked through Expedia. I'd chosen the location for the long weekend in large part on a beautiful historic hotel. When we got there, they had no room for us. They'd overbooked the hotel and gotten us a room elsewhere. No amount of protest from me worked. The place they got for us was a shitty motel miles away from the quaint downtown where we wanted to be. At a higher rate. We also hadn't rented a car, because everything was walking distance from the nice hotel that booted us, but nothing was from the other place. It was so bad we went to the airport and just went home.

No more Expedia.

Anonymous wrote:You definitely get worse rooms. It’s also a hassle to cancel a reservation if you go through a third party site.

100% this, during our recent trip we found a great price - booked it through Expedia. Our plans changed and we tried calling the hotel to modify our reservation - they had no record of our hotel stay or the confirmation number. We spent a long time on the phone with Expedia to make changes, they were able to do it. Nothing worse than being on a trip and having to spend the time to modify a reservation or show up and have the front desk struggle to find your reservation. I've gone to booking directly with hotels and using their apps and rewards for better prices.

I always book direct. I've heard too many stories about hotels canceling, or having no record of, reservations made through third party sites and if that happens to you, the hotel won't help you, they'll tell you to take it up with expedia.

I would call the hotel directly and ask if they will match the rate. I was told by a hotel manager that rooms booked by third party vendors are the first to get cancelled. The fine print basically gives the hotel the right to cancel your stay if they have a person in front of them willing to pay the full rate. This conversation was after we had arrived at the hotel with a confirmed room through Expedia for a room with 2 queen beds and a pull out sofa so that we could fit our family of 6. That room had been given away and all the hotel had left was a room with 2 beds. The manager was very kind and actually took the cushions off of the sofas in the lobby to make "beds" for our kids. She explained that corporate policy dictates that they prioritize bookings directly with the hotel including walk ins. Since then we always book directly with the hotels.

Book through the brand and have them price match Expedia.

You definitely get worse rooms. It’s also a hassle to cancel a reservation if you go through a third party site.

Anonymous wrote:I found a great rate. I think they give the worst rooms to people who buy at a discount but I’m ok with being next to an ice machine or elevator. Are those the only risks?

Can you find the same rate on the hotel website? Normally better to go there- earn points, etc.

I found a great rate. I think they give the worst rooms to people who buy at a discount but I’m ok with being next to an ice machine or elevator. Are those the only risks?