Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Expedia Drops $25 Hotel Cancel Fee?

For about as long as I can remember, Expedia has always charged a $25 hotel cancel fee (in addition to any fees imposed by the hotel itself). This of course for refundable hotel purchases. However today I was pricing a few hotels, and noticed in the fine print the wording "We understand that sometimes plans fall through. We do not charge a cancel or change fee." It goes on to say that the traveler will still be subject to the specific cancel policy of the hotel being booked, which of course is understandable. Incidentally, the wording is the same used by Expedia-affiliate Hotels.com, who for quite some time has not charged a $25 fee.

I assume this to be a fairly recent development for Expedia. Does anyone know when they dropped this fee?

I paid the fee when I had to cancel in mid-March.

I paid the fee when I had to cancel in mid-March.

I figured it was fairly recent. I notice Travelocity is still charging a $25 hotel cancel fee. It will be interesting to see if they follow suit.

Must be real recent. I called around April 30 one last time cuz I still wasn't sure if I needed to cancel a trip starting May 2 and the fee was there. Waived for me, but death in the family usually waives a lot of fees.

Must be real recent. I called around April 30 one last time cuz I still wasn't sure if I needed to cancel a trip starting May 2 and the fee was there. Waived for me, but death in the family usually waives a lot of fees.

Yeah I wasn't aware of this either, any how, it's good news. ^

Previously they have just pocketed the $25 for canceled booking. Unless it is a prepaid rate you can normally cancel up to 6PM local time.