Is Expedia trustworthy? It’s a serious question which, if answered, can help you make an informed decision that it can either make your dreams come true with the cheapest price booking to your destination or make you the most frustrated customer in the world. In a travel-obsessed world, both suppliers and travelers use online travel portals to mark their presence. Such portals effectually broaden client service opportunities and seamlessly manage day-to-day operations for top-notch suppliers of airlines, hotels, and car rentals.
One such platform that offers a clear cost advantage and brings in efficiency and scalability for travelers is Expedia. Expedia is the most widely used travel portal that interacts with large segments of populations for most of the travel-related services. Being a sort of one-stop shop for travel booking for over 20 years, Expedia has gone above and beyond in taking care of customers and handling spontaneous shifts in the travel industry regarding customer expectations. However, as it is said nobody is 100% perfect, Expedia has its own positive and negative aspects among avid travelers.
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No online travel portals are 100% immune to summoning, retain and pursuing customers with utmost satisfaction. Expedia is a big third-party travel company that has vast and expansive coverage of everything you need to book for your vacation, including airlines, hotels, car rentals, etc., through its comprehensive database of travel suppliers to choose from.
Here’s our say on Expedia to let you decide whether Expedia is trustworthy and worthy of your time and try?
Background of Expedia
Before summarizing ‘Is Expedia trustworthy?’, it is essential to know what Expedia is all about. Expedia is an American online third-party booking platform used to book airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rental, cruise ships, vacation packages by facilitating connections between travelers and travel suppliers. Launched on October 22, 1996, as a division of Microsoft, Expedia now operates as an independent, publicly-traded, and full-fledged online vacation planning portal.
Expedia allows its end-users to easily research, plan, and book travel from thousands of hotels, airlines, car rental companies, and more, allowing accessibility of digital bookings and cheap price offerings. Over the years, Expedia had spun out, built up by earning the trust of people from times when people were skeptical of skipping a call or trip to local travel agents and online transactions. Now, compared to travel giants like Booking.com, Expedia deserves a tribute for undergoing a dramatic transformation to alter the behavior of travelers to online bookings by repetitively providing convenience and exceeding expectations. The company reaches out to the world through 20+ globally relevant brands, 200+ travel sites in over 70 countries, listing nearly 3 million properties to unleash more travel opportunities for everyone and everywhere.
Here are some salient features and positive aspects of Expedia that’ll make you give positive remarks on the ‘Is Expedia trustworthy’ query.
1. Affordable rates
Expedia provides after-sales services cheaper than most airlines in the air travel world. Nothing pleases frequent travelers than a well-thought-out trip booked at a bargain. Perks of last-minute travel deals, a certain percentage of savings while purchasing a bundle of services evoke the feeling of trustworthiness on this platform.
Expedia allows travelers to save several percent on hotel-only bookings through mobile apps and mobile web. Its mobile app/ web displays the latest prices and savings based on the destination, length of trips, stay dates, and selected travel suppliers.
2. Instant comparison
Expedia has separate steps to choose airfare, hotel rooms, car rentals in the booking process that simplifies to bookmark the page and provides an instant comparison regarding price listed on Expedia versus price on the company’s website.
3. High customization
Expedia creates a custom travel package to meet customers’ needs covering travel plans in 75 countries, with access to thousands of different travel principals. The website is customer-friendly to help customers find everything in an organized manner.
4. Available 24/7
As an online well-developed travel portal, users can gauge the significance of booking travel 24/7. Availability during non-working hours is an effective service offered to customers.
5. Simplicity
User-friendly interface, simple navigation, and easy online bookings make Expedia a highly rated travel site. The simple flow of the booking process, compatible payment gateway ensures you do not defer from your travel plans.
6. Payment plans
Another reason why ‘Expedia is trustworthy’ is because it allows customers to pay conveniently with a well-defined gateway module with options to make monthly payments towards your vacation. ‘Book now, Pay later’ hotel deals permit users to buy services without pressure from the looming accommodation cost.
7. Trip insurance
Customers can purchase a trip insurance policy for trip cancellations covering all essential aspects like hotel booing protection, flight cancellation plan, vacation waiver, cruise insurance, car rental insurance, etc.
8. Reliability
Expedia offers transparency in booking and transactions with verified guest reviews, high resolutions images, and price comparisons. The search result of Expedia lists from the lowest price to the highest price on vacation package with no change fees on Hotels.
9. Cancellation and refund
Expedia’s cancellation policy involves the need to cancel flights booked through Expedia within 24 hours to get a full refund. Depending on the rules and restrictions of the hotel, Expedia generally doesn’t charge any money in case of room change or cancellation.
10. Reward programs
The Expedia Reward Program is available to Expedia customers to earn points when booking eligible travel on stays, car rentals, activities, packages, and flights that can be used towards future redemption rewards, lower prices, and savings on future eligible bookings. Blue, silver, and gold tiers travel programs award status and significant points to frequent travelers.
These key features of Expedia help travelers to make straightforward bookings aside from featuring deals on airfare, car rental, cruises, and more. So, this pretty sums up the query ‘Is Expedia trustworthy’ in a positive light.
Brands owned by Expedia
Expedia owns several reputed brands like CheapTickets, CarRentals.com, Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, Trivago, VacationRental.com, etc., to allow easy access and perfect vacation booking. The experienced name in travel Expedia is trustworthy with access to multiple popular platforms. It makes a large inventory of flight tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, etc., available at your fingertips as it integrates Global Distribution System (GDS) services.
Transparent and affordable prices without hidden costs and discounts to customers excite travelers for their on-the-go.
The possibility of mix-up or unprecedented variables on travel booking sometimes leads to poor reviews online. Expedia is also prone to negative customer reviews that are the main turn-offs for vacation booking through the Expedia website. Confronting the harsh realities of using Expedia, here are drawbacks mostly circling around customer service.
- Website ads
Text-heavy pages overshadow information related to deals and travel options due to the unnecessary amount of ads on the platform. Website ads interrupt the browsing experience that makes users feel overwhelmed and frustrated. The hassle of navigating the Expedia website raises a question mark upon travel options if it is legal or fake.
- Fewer upgrade opportunities
Expedia doesn’t always promise a room type or fare type for travelers to receive free upgrades or other significant loyalty membership benefits.
- Customer complaints
Issues of extra person add a late response or no response on flight schedule change or reimbursements, cancellation on Expedia have raised customer complaints. So is Expedia trustworthy? Not 100%. Miscommunication, inexperienced customer service representatives, and long-run around to get your issue solved chase away potential clients and frequent travelers.
- Capricious cancellation policy
Canceling a flight or hotel room after crossing the 24-hour threshold isn’t fun on the Expedia website as it charges you a cancellation fee. If a booking isn’t canceled within 24 hours of confirmation, standard cancellation fees apply that can make your user experience bitter. Moreover, hotel or flight cancellation deadlines also need to be followed to avoid potential financial consequences.
Bottom line ‘Is Expedia trustworthy?’
Modern technology has radically transformed the travel sector by leveraging the digital world. Expedia has offered an automated great experience to customers to ensure their return for the next travel booking. On the note of highlighting ‘is Expedia trustworthy’ topic, we have mentioned several positive aspects and perks of purchasing travel through Expedia along with some drawbacks that throw a wrench into your plans. Aside from customer service complaints and cancellation policies, Expedia is trustworthy concerning complicated up-to-date technology, site features, rewards program, travel protection, chance to save big, and pay over time. Weighing both pros and cons before booking the next travel package gives you an insight into what to expect. With the right deal and your due diligence, booking on Expedia is worth the trust and time.
To avoid nasty surprises and being scammed, it’s essential to read the terms and conditions of hotels/ airlines, ignore scam advertisements, and save booking and payment details in the event of misunderstanding. By paying attention to these things, you can focus on your preferences in an incredibly user-friendly interface of Expedia without any worry.
