Jimmy O's

I have had two hotels recently tell me, without a doubt, that I booked using Travelocity when I booked using AMEX Travel. The two hotels were, if I remember correctly, the Hilton ORD and the Bellagio.

Anyone know why the employees thought this? Could AMEX use Travelocity somehow on their back end? Or is it just a weird random coincidence of two errors by the employees?

cfischer

it may not be a coincidence that the booking tools look the same

ExitrowPlease

I believe AMEX does use Travelocity to power their online booking system.

TXTBIRD13

I used to be an Amex Platinum agent. Yeah, the online booking tool is powered by Travelocity, which is basically SABRE.

aviationwiz

I think they might outsource some (or all) of their Travel section to Travelocity. I got a call from Amex Travel about a hotel reservation once, and it showed up as Travelocity on the Caller ID.

Tupelo

I booked a hotel in Rome using the Amex travel booking engine, and the booking confirmation very prominently shows a lastminute.com booking number for the reservation. I suspect that Amex obtains some of its available inventory from other aggregators.

willcoop

While using AMEX travel's website can have its advantages with the double points on flights and in some circumstances hotels, I often find its not worth it, at least for flights.
Why? Because it sucks in terms of selection. Even if you have a simple round-trip flight it often doesn't list all available flight options. Tends to only offer a few. If you have a multi-destination itinerary than you might as well forget it. I personally don't use the other online travel sites either for the same reason. If I find a slightly complicated itinerary on ITA Software that I can't book directly on the airline's site I just do it over the phone with the airline, you can't build them on any of the internet travel sites.

TTT

Sorry to bump this old thread but I am trying to book a flight on Amex travel using MR points. Unfortunately, the same fare information is not loaded on Amex Travel as on Travelocity or the airline website - Amex travel wants an extra $80 per ticket. Any idea as to why this may be?

Edit: I just tried using a different browser and the lower fare appeared. Hmmmm - I guess I should clean out my Amex cache and cookies.

g50

Having the same issue with Travelocity and DL for a regular paid flight. First time I have ever had this happen.

Nicksta

I checked into the Grand Wailea last year (Amex booking) and the agent showed me my reservation was booked through Priceline! I had booked a flight/hotel package because it priced out well and I prepaid the reservation, as required.

Also, every morning the hotel called me to tell me my credit card was declined, but I printed out my AMEX statement and showed them that I had already paid for my reservation weeks prior to arriving. It had nothing to do with incidentals or AMEX, so something was amiss - anyway, interesting to note where some of the inventory comes from.

vi-wow

Does anyone know whether Amex outsource all operation to Travelocity or only the online channel? If I call to book, would I get the same price as on the web? What if I go to the agent office, would they book on Amex web (which is Travelocity ++) anyhow?

Anyone experiecing an aftersales service for their web booking?

chriswufgator

Not trying to start another Amex-bashing thread around here, we've certainly had enough of those already and don't need another. But with all that said, I'm really left wondering what the point is of paying a $450-$675 AF for Plat, or $2500 AF for Cent, etc., is, when this company no longer actually does anything?

They just sub you out to 3rd parties (travelocity, circles, etc., that you could easily use yourself on the internet without waiting on hold or tediously reading your info and password 5X) and are then charging you for the privilege (a "booking fee" for using PTS when I'm already paying a $675/yr AF is, frankly, over the top).

Honestly, what's the point anymore? They just outsource it all. I can do the same thing myself online in less time and save the annual fee. Cent I at least 10% understand, because the FF status may be nice for some, but then again I am always generally Plat or CP on US and normally Gold on Delta, depending on the qualifying year, and since the routes I fly are dominated by those two carriers, I'd have no benefit there. And as for Plat, I'm on US 85% of the time, which doesn't participate in the airport lounge program, and is really stingy about letting the clubs you'd ever actually use participate in PP (Ex., none of the CLT hub's clubs are in PP) so there's no benefit there either.

FHR became a real joke over the last year or so, with 3 of my last 4 FHR bookings making it obvious the hotels are now playing games with the benefits and nobody at Amex polices them. I just don't see the point. I did the PR Gold "downgrade" and have racked up probably 50% more points than I used to with Plat. I haven't missed the alleged "benefits" at all. I know this is an old thread ('08) but it really indicates the likely source of the customer service decline.

Centurion

Is Amex still using Travelocity for there web online booking or did they separate?

mia

Orbitz since second half of 2012:

http://www.tnooz.com/article/travelo...s-travel-site/