Expedia pricing mistake: will it be honoured?
 

I'm a newcomer to this site, having come across it after searching the internet when I recently made a hotel booking on Expedia which must have been a mistake as it was so cheap. (The rate has disappeared now unfortunately, sorry!)

Having searched some of the threads on this site for similar situations, it's difficult to know whether the rate will be honoured by Expedia, and what I should do about it. Has anyone got any tips, eg contacting Expedia?

If I had a hotel confirmation and the charge was already posted to my credit card, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'd just make sure to have a printed out hotel confirmation with me at check-in and the number to call Expedia if the hotel were to give me a problem. For a non-prepaid booking, there may be more issue than with pre-paid bookings.

I think that conventional wisdom here says that contacting Expedia is the last thing that you would want to do. If they're going to cancel it, they'll let you know that it's cancelled, but pointing out an error to them increases the chances of that cancellation actually occurring.

Mike

The charge hasn't been posted to my credit card yet, but I have a confirmation from Expedia stating that the reservation has been confirmed with the hotel, and is guaranteed with my credit card. If that's worth anything...

That may not be worth much. It's hard to tell without knowing more details. Some mistake rates show up on websites, but then are transmitted to the hotel correctly. Most people would find it quite unpleasant to have to argue their case at check-in. Generally, if your booking isn't pre-paid, then the odds of getting your rate honored are lower. For future reference, just post your finds here while they are active, and then FTers can be counted on to put up a good fight.

WHAT DID U GET?

Chances are they will not honor it. Travelocity would be worse, they are scum.
Welcome to Flyer Talk!

I love travelocity -- they honored my $3/night for 4 nights in Milan at a 4* hotel. It was wonderful.

Travelocity has been awesome to me as well- both with Fiji fare mistake and "normal" bookings. Overall I think TL policy - (more than say Expedia) in these situations is geared toward customer service.

This board is full of moaning about how Expedia treated them poorly about some specific event in the past, but in the end, every situation is different. Ya may do just fine. =) (or not). Having it already charged to your card should be a plus.

Hmm. From the comments posted here, it doesn't look good. The question is do I check with Expedia to see if it will be honoured. I'd rather know before I go as I have other travel plans for the same trip; I don't want to turn up at the hotel and be hit with a huge bill.

fishee - when Travelocity honoured your booking, did you check with them before you went?

I agree that TL is great about upholding their mistakes. It helps that they have their guarantee. I just stayed at a resort booked on TL for $25 (should have been $250) and never called in adavnce. I was a little nervous, but nearly certain that it wouldn't be a problem. I even had to drive 4 hours to get there. If I had to fly, that would have been a different situation. Since you're nervous - call the hotel to confirm (not Expedia). The resort I stayed at had no idea how much I paid since it was pre-paid.

I agree with the assessment that pre-paid is a much smaller risk.

If it's just a rate that guaranteed, I'd expect there to be a good chance the hotel will bounce it -- the people at the front desk will see the $25 rate for a room they have been had everyone checking in at $250 all day (an example), and they will be afraid for their own jobs and figure there's simply no way they will get in trouble for sending you away.

But on the pre-paid stuff you should be good if they never contact you.

Steve

Is your room pre-paid? I think this might be important, as others have said.

My room was pre-paid and I had a CC statement. I emailed travelocity after the charge showed up on my CC, and wrote that I had purchased plane tickets to Italy and wanted to make sure there were no problems with the hotel and to please send a confirmation. They sent me a confirmation # and told me to have a good trip.

I brought with me to the hotel -- CC statement, travelocity email confirming reservation, and the regular itinerary stuff you print out on-line during purchase process.

Our plane tickets were FF award tix so it wasn't going to be too big a deal if travelocity called trying to get out of it before I left. I can see how this might be nerve-wracking if you purchase non-refundable tickets for a trip you would not otherwise take.

If you're heading to this city anyway as part of your travel plans, can you have a back-up hotel (or hostel) in case something goes wrong?

Good luck.

As this is not about a publicly-available hotel deal, but rather how a travel site will handle a specific booking, I'll move it to TravelBuzz for further discussion.

Dave, a.k.a. dmfriedman
Moderator, Mileage Run

Don't check with Expedia. Instead, make a back-up reservation someplace that you can afford to stay. Most hotels won't charge for a reservation cancelled before 6 P.M. When you check in at the mistake-rate hotel, make sure that what you sign has the rate printed on it. If it is your mistake-rate, ask for a copy after you sign it. If it isn't your mistake rate, then pull out your reservation and argue it out then and there. If, in the end, you lose, go to the back-up hotel. If you win, call the back-up hotel and cancel the reservation within their grace window.