One of the world’s biggest third party travel companies, Expedia, has been around for over 20 years. It started as a company within Microsoft, and then was spun out, built up, and then made public as one of the fastest growing travel companies in the world. They work with thousands of hotels, airlines, car rental companies and more to create custom travel packages for anyone looking for a one stop shop to book a vacation.
But is Expedia reliable? Is it safe to book travel with them? We’ll dive into these questions and more below:
Reliability:
One of the things we love most about booking through Expedia is their vast and expansive coverage of almost every airline and hotel chain. There are a few that are missing, but when you search on Expedia, you’ll get a clear picture of just about every offering that’s out there. You can trust that you will get a great price as well, as their search results list from lowest price to highest price, but you can also filter the options in several other ways. So you know you can reliably find a vacation package, whether that’s just a flight, or a flight, hotel, and a rental car.
Expedia also offers no change fees on Hotels, which is a great benefit by booking through them. Flight changes, like with all major airlines, vary by provider, so make sure you check the flight reservation while you’re booking it.
Find the Best Deals with Expedia
Safety:
As mentioned above, Expedia offers great consumer protection across all of your purchases, especially hotels. Expedia is also one of the most reputable names in travel, and they rely heavily on providing a great experience for new customers to ensure they return for their next travel booking. They protect customer data, and make sure that your travel plans are booked safely. It is very rare that you will have any trouble with your vacation booking through the Expedia website, and even when things change, Expedia notifies you quickly and makes sure you will have other options if necessary.
Find the Best Deals with Expedia
Legitimacy:
We have never in our several years of covering travel heard of any trouble with Expedia’s legitimacy. They are a huge company, covering travel plans in 75 countries, with access to thousands of different travel packages that you can easily customize to meet your needs.
Here are just a few of the other brands that Expedia owns:
- CarRentals.com
- CheapTickets
- Classic Vacations
- Ebookers
- Egencia
- Expedia.com
- Expedia Affiliate Network
- Expedia Local Expert
- Expedia CruiseShipCenters
- Expedia Global Partner Solutions
- HomeAway
- Hotels.com
- Hotwire Group
- Orbitz
- Stayz
- Traveldoo
- Travelocity
- trivago
- Venere.com
- wotif.com
- VRBO.com
- VacationRentals.com
With access to that many platforms, you can rest easy knowing that one of the most experienced names in travel will help you book the perfect vacation.
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I had a bad experience with an Expedia.
I learned on my own that the on first leg of my trip was I no longer on that flight. I had two connecting flights that were confirmed.
Expedia although having nice agents was totally useless. After hours on the phone over the course of two days and several agents I ended up nowhere. What Expedia offered was a whole new itinerary that was very expensive and a small refund that barely covered 1/8th of the cost of the new itineray. I purchased my one ticket for the first leg. I flew on the conncecting two flights.
Expedia was responsible for not letting me know I was no longer on the first leg of the (3) flights back home. They were unwilling to book a ticket for only the first flight. They did not say it was their fault. Ispoke with the airline. I was informed that they do not “bump” and never will bump customers of flights. This airline will ask for volunteers and offer cash and later flight (Virgin Atlantic).
Therefore Expedia was at fault. The scheduled flights for return were only days away.
I will not use Expedia again. And I will use my Travel
guard Insurance and hope to get some $$ back.
I bought a return flight through Expedia. During the holiday, the homeward flight was cancelled by the airline in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. I asked Expedia to proceed with the refund. I have chased and chased them and I still don’t have it. At one point, they told me their terms were that refunds were processed within 2-12 weeks. I was shocked at this. The airline confirmed that they had issued the refund to Expedia 6 weeks into that period. The 12 weeks has now expired and despite a multitude of emails through Resolver, I still don’t have the refund. Expedia told me 3 weeks ago how much it will be and that they are processing it but they still haven’t sent the money.
I will never book with Expedia again. I do not feel protected by them. I feel that they are deliberately holding on to my money. I understand this is a difficult time for the travel industry but this is unreasonable behaviour.
The travel guard insurance is a joke and cannot be trusted. They told me they refund at their own discretion. Don’t trust Expedia or the insurance.
Never, ever use Expedia. We were booked with Thomas Cook to NewYork in October, but they went bust. 8 months later and we still haven’t got our money back. Phone calls to them have cost me £83 as they keep you on hold for 2 hours. Absolutely disgusting. Even though they are ATOL protected, because it is their name on the ATOL certificate they still won’t pay out. I wouldn’t like anyone else to be in the same position, so DO NOT BOOK through them.
Same with me. I will never again use or recommend Expedia to anyone. I’m getting the run around from their terrible customer service center and they are refusing to refund or give me a credit even though I’m within the timeframe to do so.
NEVER use Expedia, they present themselves as a US company that is reliable yet when you call they all live in other countries with random American first names and obviously a foreign country accent and last name. They are fraudulent they say book with free cancellations but that’s FALSE. Expedia’s fine print reads any hotel airline or rental company can use their own discretion. Frontier and Expedia (the company) were the only two that refused my request for a $100 flight. Both gave me the total run around. Frontier said Expedia and Expedia said Frontier. I wonder If they are owned by same people 🤔 that’s a genius scam.
I used to be a happy Expedia customer. In fact, I got a Gold membership for using Expedia for at least 13 years. However, today, I am the most frustrated customer in the world. They keep repeating they are not responsible for provider policies for changes or reimbursements. I have lost so far more than $2000 because of their irresponsible responses. Looking forward, I will work directly with airlines and providers, not with middle-men that get your money, but it’s not responsible for the service. Bye, bye, Expedia!!
Extremely terrible experience with Expedia
The booking that I made clearly indicated “free date change”. I contacted the customer service to change the date of my flight and the agent insisted (for more than 1 hour) that the new date is $260 more expensive. I checked on their website, it was not. The rude agent just doubted me all the way through, saying the ticket is no longer available, the currency was different, tax was not included, and even if I can make the booking it will show error. I was so pissed and bought the ticket just to show the agent that IT WAS THERE, AVAILABLE, FROM THE BEGINNING. The agent finally agree to change the date and charge me $3, which is reasonable, and they should refund me the new ticket that I bought (free cancellation on the same day policy).
A week later, not only that the refund hasn’t been received, another agent called me at 11pm, called me 10 times, leaving empty voicemails 6 times and then called me again, woke me up from my sleep at 1am. Doing long conversation about the chat with the agent, etc, wasting my time. The point is he wants the $3 payment hasn’t gone through (for some reason) + defending the agent as well and leave me feeling very annoyed right now. Plus gave me the task to call the bank soon to release the payment asap.
Transparency
I have usually found Expedia to be reliable but this time when I booked a package with flight and hotel, they changed up the return time of my flight and I immediately called and cancelled the flight portion. I was told a refund would come to my credit card within 10 business days. I rebooked with them and got the right return flight. When I called 9 business days later to see the status of my refund I was told that refund had indeed been processed but to give it a couple of more days. AFter 13 business days, I called again only to be told that the refund had NOT been processed and that the agent would now process it and that I would be able to call back and get a transaction id within 24 hours and that the refund would be in my CC within 5 business days. Ridiculous!
Never use Expedia again. Booked a hotel through them. They charged us, then hotel said that card didn’t work, had to give another card. Ended up being charged twice for hotel. Tried to contact Expedia, cannot get through by phone, Chat would not give us anyone on that subject, and no email provided. Tried to contact Hotel, they said they charged only the one card and that our charge/reservation with Expedia would have to be disputed with them. But you can never reach them!
Appalling experience with Expedia. Appalling.
Expedia sucks. Do not use it. All they want is your money and have zero customer service. Worst experience ever
I was charged for an overnight stay at a Denver USA hotel that I did not even stay at. When I spoke with hotel staff they said the booking had been made through a third party – Expedia. The booking was on their books and had been listed as a ‘No show’.
I did not receive any email confirmation that I had made the booking. In fact no emails at all ever came to me about the booking.
The first thing I knew about the fact that the booking had been made was when I checked my credit card account and found the charge had been made.
I will never go near the Expedia website again.
Hi there,
I was made aware by my credit card fraud agents that hotel in Langkawi has been trying to take £1670,58 of my credit card on the 20.12.21 for the booking I have never made, Lucky the credit card company declined the payment. I have never been in that hotel or Langkawi I only searched this hotel via Expedia back in October. two days ago I got a email from Expedia asking me to review the hotel! I Went on Expedia profile to find out that there is recent booking to that hotel! I don’t understand I never used Expedia before and only search through them, they only have my email and name and surname no credit card details there! so I will be talking with fraud agents about it. I will never use Expedia .
I have had similar experiences when booking with Expedia. They charged my card for 2 trips with the same information and same name. When I called to tell them they double booked me they could not understand why I wanted to cancel the second trip. They refused so I had to contest the charge with my credit card.
Expedia has yet to refund money from a hotel reservation that was cancelled 1 hour after it was booked, the hotel said Expedia never submitted anything to them and should have refunded the money once the reservation was cancelled, when inquired Expedia directed me to some out of the country customer service, that said they couldn’t help me, it appears to be some kind of scam, run, run, run, don’t book with Expedia.
I was about to book a multicity international trip for two as I had TD reward points. Thanks for the advice. I will look for an alternative
I had a very bad experience with Expedia. I booked a flight with them with the option to cancel paying a penalty fee. Since flight was delayed for many hours, I chose to cancel it, paying the penalty fee, however, they denied the cancellation and let me deal directly with airline. Airline said had to be through Expedia since I booked with them. They made me wait on purpose, and at the end, they came with extra fees to pay so they didn’t have to reimburse me any money, and they were fees the airline wasn’t even aware of. Expedia just gave excuses. I even had a three-way call with the airline, Expedia and I, and they chose no to speak to the representative of the airline in front to me to deal with the cancelation fee. They pretty much stole my flight ticket money.
Moral: Think twice when buying plane tickets from Expedia. Since is already problematic to deal with an airline and their policies, with Expedia you have to add its poor customer service.
DO NOT USE EXPEDIA! I have been trying to contact them for 2 weeks now. Attempting to use my airline credit that they only have to book a 1 way trip. They give you the option to get a call back, that never happens. Been put on hold from 3 to 4 hours just to be hung up on. Go through any other company but them. Absolutely worse company I have booked flights through.
I will never book with Expedia again. Booked a rental car with Mex Rent a Car and when I arrived to get the car I was told I was 5 hours late. No car, no return on my money. Expedia who got the money, also did not refund a dime. I’ve rented cars before and picking up 5 hours late was not a problem. I should have been helped by both companies. Left out in the cold at 10 pm in Mexico was not fun.
Do not use Expedia. Do not use Mex Rent a Car. Both are dysfunctional and rip offs.
After having used Expedia numerous times in the past, I will never ever book with them again. Booked airfares to Germany which were subsequently cancelled by the airline due to COVID-19. According to airline policy (and consumer affairs), I am entitled to a full refund. Firstly, Expedia tried to tell me I couldn’t get a refund, then they picked an arbitrary date when I could apply again. So I did – and I included a copy of the airline’s cancellation policy in case they didn’t have it (!) … surprise, they said I would receive my refund within 12 weeks. 13 weeks later, after querying them (and being told to check with my bank), I contacted the airline directly. They had never received a request from Expedia for my refund! Despite emails from Expedia, they had NEVER acted on my request. Obstruction, inefficiency, lies and rudeness from Expedia. Never can you deal wit( the same person twice. And I’m still fighting for my refund. Never again. Spread the word!
Sad that a lot of very good ethical travel agencies may not survive after the pandemic. But if anyone goes down, it should be the unethical agencies that forget that the client is important.
I will never advise that anyone ever use Expedia, especially after the experience I had. I ended up having to re-book a trip that I had booked and canceled earlier that same day. The customer service was abysmal and could hardly communicate in English, made all the worse by the massive call center noise. The original trip and itinerary would not clear out of their system, so the second booking would not go through. Even after spending an entire day on the phone with them, the first itinerary would not clear. Eventually I was able to place the second booking, but still had to deal with the initial itinerary.
Then, when we had to make an emergency exit from our destination country, we had to change our reservation through Expedia, which would not let us change even though the airline was offering free flight changes. However, the fun does not end when we leave on our first flight. When we go to check in for our second flight to get home, Expedia bumped us off our corrected booking and onto the original flight. Luckily, the agent for Air Canada was able to get us onto the correct flight home.
In summation: Expedia is the bane of traveling ease and only exists to make a profit on travelers’ misery and inconvenience.
Expedia went above and beyond in taking care of a totally bad- failed situation for me. I booked a stay at a hotel that had a contract within another- RedDoorz Premium near Gaston Park Cagayan De Oro City. I was on vacation from the USA and I get there and the hotel no longer exists. Only the new hotel and the old sign above the building. After a couple calls expedia had me in another hotel close by with all above and beyond expenses paid. They even switched me one more time to an even better hotel after I found that one not up to my standards. They really took care of what could’ve been a very bad situation. Thank you so much…!
DONT USE. For same reasons above . They WERE a good company I believe but a bunch of scam artist. Keep you on hold and they won’t refund your money. Saying it’s against their policy website states other wise. I would love to see this company fall to the ground. HATE them
I booked a stay at Pla n Sta Motel in Clearwater, I thought Expedia would have my back. I was wrong with the coronavirus going on, my plans changed. With my age over 60 I’m confined to home. My airfare was taken care of, no problem but Pla n Sta said ( no refund ). I turned to Expedia for help, I don’t know how many phone calls I made, on hold 40+ minutes then the call drops. I have no other place to turn, it’s not right to lose 615.00 I’ll never use Expedia again.
Report them to the BBB, state attorney general, and finally take them to small claims court and get your money back. They ripped me off and have been steady running me in circles for 3 months. I’ll be adding up the hours on the phone with them, interest on my card, and then some for the aggravation. They can’t afford to send people to deal with court and a no show is a ruling in your favor.
This is my second comment I guess my first one was too negative, I am not happy with the way Expedia handled my situation, It’s a shame I booked my trip before all this coronavirus stuff was going on now I’m being penalized for it. I booked a room at Pla n Sta Motel in Clearwater Florida, through Expedia, No Refund. I’m stuck in my house and I loose 615.00 Thank you Expedia
Hi there,
Leaving both comments up just so I can reply. As you can clearly see from the other comments, we are letting everyone leave their feedback. Despite some business dealing with Expedia and other companies, this is a place for honest feedback and we take that seriously. We just hold comments in moderation for a short period of time. As a large travel website we get many comments, many of them spam. For users to continue finding the site useful we have to filter the spam out and find the real ones like yours.
I wish we could help you further. I’m sure the call volume is crazy right now with the virus. Hopefully you can get through and get this resolved. Unfortunately we don’t have a contact at Expedia for problem like this, but I see why you’re upset. I would be too.
They owe us £1100 James.
In a nutshell most travel companies are coping with the increased demand for service (cancelled flights etc). Expedia is totally failing it’s customers by having no support either using web options or phone. Can only mean they need your money to survive. Don’t give it to them
I don’t trust Expedia. I have experienced issues with hotel pricing when using their app. Whether transferring from another app (Trivago) to Expedia, or going directly through the Expedia App, I experience the same thing.
One price is advertised along with a description of the features. You start going through the booking process, and suddenly the room and features cost more.
Today, it’s advertising “pay at hotel” on trivago and “free cancellation” on their own app, only to offer the room at the same price, but with a no cancellation, pay up front package. Last time I didn’t document.
Their customer service is not set up to fix these problems on an individual mistake level. Nor are they set up to pass the “mistake” info along to someone who can quickly fix it.
So, it sure looks to me like Expedia lies to its customers. They bait you with a deal, and switch at the last minute. I don’t trust them, and they’re excuses give good reason to doubt them if anything goes wrong down the line with the the booking.
I do not recommend Expedia.
(My only disclaimer is that I don’t trust other 3rd party booking agents any more than them. I strongly recommend – once you find the right hotel with availability- calling the hotel directly and booking with them
I booked a package holiday with Expedia in February for the end of March and it was cancelled because of the pandemic. I called them and spoke to a very rude worker who basically said I can’t have any money back. I have raised a formal complaint with absolutely no response. They have in my view stolen over £2000 from me.
I will never book with them again and will continue to write my experience on social media.
Never use Expedia!!!!!!!! Booked flights to Jackson Hole Wyoming . Checked itinerary day before flight departure day before and they randomly changed our flight to Denver which would be another 8 hr drive to our destination. Said our one flight that we paid for and booked doesnt even exist and now won’t refund our money . How can you not refund money for booking us us on a flight that doesn’t exist and send us to a random airport without even notifying us !!!!! Never using Expedia again and hope they go bankrupt !
Expedia cheated me by charging my credit card but failed to make the reservation or pay for the room. I contested it but the credit card company allowed the charges to stand. Now I have to go to Small Claims court to recover my money. If you read this and still use Expedia and get cheated then you have nobody to blame but yourself.
I would go so far as to call Expedia and Travelocity thieves. Our family of 14 booked a group of hotel rooms valued at $4,000 for May 2020. Obviously, that couldn’t happen. Expedia/Travelocity will not refund me. They issued me a voucher instead…that we have to use by June 2021 at the same hotel overseas. I explained that wouldn’t be feasible for our original group due to group scheduling. They issued me a case number for refund, but now will not acknowledge that case number, nor refund our $4,000. I’ve been on the phone and chat line for over 12 hours the past months, but am ALWAYS mysteriously disconnected. Thieves. Dishonoring their promise to refund. Please do not trust this company!
Expedia is by far the absolute worst site I have ever used in my life. I am trying to use my reward points to book a flight and the site isn’t allowing me to use my 30,000 points that I have accumulated over the years. I am a gold status member and that doesn’t seem to mean anything to them. I have called customer service 3 times and waited about 4 hours on hold just to be hung up on all three times while speaking to a customer service employee. I am know on the line for a 4th time on hold trying to get through to a manager. The outcome will most likely be that I am hung up on for the 4th time today. I will NEVER USE THIS SITE AGAIN AND I WILL NEVER EVER TELL ANY OF MY COWORKERS/FRIENDS/FAMILY TO USE IT EITHER.
Since you made the booking, I presume it is you against whom one needs to take action for theft from a holiday apartment?
By far the worst experience dealing with EXPEDIA! They cancelled my return flights on 2 occassions, Even when they are given the itinerary number they supply, they can’t find it. Airlines depend on the locator to see itinerary and the number didn’t show up. Being a former owner of a travel agency and member IATA (ITN’L ASSOC OF TRAVEL AGENTS) EXPEDIA really needs to formulate a better plan on travel and treating their customers and knowing what their doing!
Expedia and Thrifty car rental a total POS SCAM, and have continually jerked me around when I tried to get satisfaction!
I would NEVER use those rip offs ever again!
I booked a car from THRIFTY, another turd, for the Indy 500 weekend in Indianapolis!
It was from Saturday to Monday, Memorial Day!
When I got to the counter I found out my reservation was changed from Saturday to Monday into Tuesday.
Days that I would not even be there! They also changed the price I agreed to pay from $105 to $75!
That sorry THRIFTY was probably out of cars for the 500, and decided to place a scam booking, instead of losing business!
They also had a hidden clause of needing a $500 cash deposit, even after paying for the rental!
When I called Expedia Saturday they said they would give me a refund, but it was $75, and I know my rental was $105, so I said I would call back.
When I did the next day the idiot said they could not refund the money, after they already said they would!
Since then they have jerked me around every call!
First promising a supervisor would call back, that never happened!
Then waiting for a supervisor the next day for 25 minutes, they disconnected the call.
Then asking for a supervisor another time, the moron put me back into the 30 minute que for new incoming calls, then after another 30 minutes, they disconnected again.
Total SCAM RIP OFFS, BUYER BEWARE! I HAVE BEEN HA]Y WITH PRICELINE, BUT WILL MAKE IT MY MISSION TO ENLIGHTEN THE PUBLIC ABOUT THESE SORRY CLOWNS!
i’ve had the worst experience with Expedia- I have lost over £400. I will never use Expedia again.
Booked me a reservation and the hotel had 2 rooms both were infested with roaches. Front desk told me to go to Expedia and cancel. From that point on, only a run around to refund the room they were unable to furnish. Hotel pointed to Expedia and Expedia pointed to the hotel.
Just stay away from Expedia. They have the worst customer support; they don’t get back to your calls, hang up the phone, accuse you of being a liar despite the proof you provide.
NEVER EVER USE EXPEDIA. It was the worst decision I have ever made. They are trying to make me lose my tickets worth over $2400 because they don’t want to own their system’s mistake. I filed complaint everywhere including TICO and BBB. They don’t care about anyone.
I’m pretty easy going. I’ve never actually been annoyed enough to make a review like this.
If it were possible to give Expedia’s Customer service negative stars I absolutely would.
I needed to cancel a hotel booking that was still within the cancellation time frame. I had all the required information (eg. itinerary # confirmation #). I called 6 different numbers 3 different agents gave me. I dealt with the virtual agent 4 times before I spoke to an actual person. They gave me an incorrect number to a completely unrelated Law Firm. So I’m currently out 2 hours of my time and $600.
Do Not Recommend.
I booked a hotel room thru Expedia. The Pineola in Newland, NC. The room seemed adequate when we checked in. When we went to shower there was no hot water. I went to call the hotel desk to realize that the room did not have a phone. Which I feel is a safety condition. I never heard of a hotel room with no phone. I used my cell phone to call the hotel, the hotel lobby closes at 8:00, the message said to leave a message or call back tomorrow. What nonsense is this. What if there was an emergency. I called Expedia. They tried to call the hotel and got the same recorded message. Expedia then said they issued me a credit voucher for $25.00. I find this extremely disgusting and since I know they do not stand behind their booking reservations I will never use them again.
Expedia are a bunch of Criminals! They refused to refund my money for a hotel even though I was cancelling 2 months before the stay. Then when I said, since I had already paid for it, I would just keep the reservation, they said I was out of Luck, it was already cancelled. They simply Robbed me of hundreds of dollars and told me to get lost. These people are. Low-Life Scumbags!
I had a very bad experience with Expedia, I booked 2 round trip tickets, a hotel and car rental and trip insurance with 100% money back guarantee November2021. Due to my father dying I had to cancel everything. Their virtual assistant ended up canceling my insurance before the flights so guess what? NO REFUND on my tickets, just credit. I have only flew 4 times since 2011, I will never use those credits in time.
I had a bad experience with an Expedia. very bad
The worst company I ever try to work with and I was valued customer.
I’m still awaiting for a refund for flight that was canceled 16 month ago !!!
I spent a lot of money on international call (more than 1K$) and more than 80 emails in the last year and they continue to blame the air company even that I close the all package with EXPEDIA.
The customer service make fun of you and every week send a mail to wait another 48 hours…
the excuse is that can not contact the Airline.
Don’t believe any word , They just want to have your money but when you need them – They are not there at all