Yes. Expedia is a legit travel accommodation booking website known to always offer low prices and quick reservations on accommodations. Note that you can cancel your bookings without attracting extra charges, and your reservations are guaranteed by Expedia.
If you ever encounter any issue, you can always reach out to their customer support team. Expedia was established by Microsoft, a world tech giant in 1996 as a division of Microsoft, and the company became a publicly traded company in 1999.
Microsoft sold Expedia to IAC (formerly USA Networks, Inc.) in 2002, IAC, later on, spun off Expedia and it became an independent publicly traded company currently owned by Expedia Group, an online travel shopping company. Some of its major acquisitions include Travelocity, Trivago and Orbitz.
What this means to the consumer is that it has a lot to offer and can keep prices lower. In addition Expedia spends a lot on technology and its search and find functions are very slick and easy to use. Expedia.ca offers flights, hotels, all inclusive vacation packages, car rental, cruises, and travel insurance to just about anywhere your heart desires.
Expedia is a very legit and reliable online travel agency you can use to book your travel arrangement; however, it is not very dependable when it comes to changing or canceling your bookings. This simply entails that getting a refund is always a complex issue because it works as a middleman between travelers and hotels, airlines, rental, and cruise companies.
Although Expedia tends to offer better prices than booking directly, when there is a problem, you will be expected to go through or deal with Expedia since your contract is not directly with the airline, hotel, or rental company. This makes the entire process very tasking and your issue will take longer to resolve than if you booked directly.
Expedia remains one of the safest websites to book travel accommodations. It is well-established, with thousands of users booking accommodations every day. It leverages a secure server to store user information, and users can easily book accommodations without exposing private delicate information. Expedia is a reliable booking website, as it is partnered with numerous well-known travel accommodation companies, and this guarantees that they can offer visitors tons of options.
What Services Do Expedia Offer?
Expedia remains one of the world’s leading full-service online travel brands established mainly to aid travelers easily plan and book travel from the widest selection of services that include:
- Vacation packages
- Flights
- Hotels
- Rental cars
- Rail
- Cruises
- Activities
- Attractions and other services
Why Book your Travel on Expedia Canada?
Its Last Minute Travel deals are laid out really well and offer something new every day. If you are not sure where you want to go but just want a good deal to somewhere, this is the page to check out. Depending on the season, you might find Shopping Getaways, Beach Destinations, Ski Sales, or just plain flight and hotel deals.
You can also sign up to get Mobile-Exclusive deals sent right to your phone. Another great feature is the “My Scratchpad” tool. You can save your searches and save notes so when you are planning out that dream vacation, you have a base to build on for all your information. Expedia.ca also offers discounts to customers who book their whole trip in a package. This is particularly true if you’re booking a flight, hotel, and rental car together.
Another plus is that Expedia shows all the important information up front about the trip itinerary on one page for easy viewing. Essentials of a particular vacation package can be changed as needed to suit you. Using the filter tools to narrow your search is a good way to save time while searching, and you can also view the available hotels on a map. This tool is helpful if it’s important to you to stay in a particular area.
You can also filter the results by total savings so if the deal is most important, you can find the one with the biggest savings. Taxes and service fees are included in the total trip cost listed, so you don’t have to worry about setting aside any extra money. Expedia Canada has the pricing in CAD – Canadian dollars which is always a plus.
No one likes the sticker shock of the conversion to from US to Canadian Dollars – especially when the Canadian dollar is so low! Also you can get an additional 10% off select hotels when you sign up to become a member along with points and other benefits, its free and you only need to provide limited information.
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Any Lawsuits or Complaints Against Expedia?
Yes. Over the years, Expedia has been hit with numerous lawsuits for unfair or deceptive practices in trade or commerce. In 2014, a class action accused Expedia of lowballing luggage fees for airline tickets and of leveraging a deceptive pop-up ad to offer a faux discount through an Expedia mobile app. In 2019, another lawsuit accusing the company of deceiving customers by inflating the taxes and fees collected through the website Reservations.com was filed in federal court in Seattle by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro.
Also, in 2020, Expedia was hit with a class action lawsuit for refusing refunds for flights canceled owing to the coronavirus outbreak. Aside from that, there are numerous customer complaints that have to do with Expedia user experience on the internet. Luckily, most of them center on the lagging customer service rather than problems regarding flight and hotel bookings.
Is Expedia Pricing Fair?
Yes. Aside from the cheaper prices offered by this platform, note that one of the many advantages of booking travel through Expedia is that you can choose your hotel, airfare, and car rental in separate steps in the process. Ideally, this makes it more convenient to bookmark the page and compare the cost of these items on Expedia against the cost on the company’s direct website.
Aside from that, if you can’t or do not intend to pay for your whole trip at the time of booking, Expedia offers you the platform to make smaller payments through Affirm, which is a service that offers short-term loans for online purchases. If approved by Affirm, note that you will be able to pay for your trip in monthly installments.
How is Expedia’s Quality of Service?
Average! When you are considering booking your whole vacation with a single website, you will always want some one-on-one support at some point. Howbeit, user reviews about Expedia buttress the fact that their responses to customers in time of need are pretty delayed. Aside from that, there are also other complaints of poor user experience.
Luckily, most of them tend to center around the lagging customer service rather than problems regarding flight and hotel bookings. While other operations on the Expedia website are quite easy, it can be difficult to cancel your booking. If you cancel your booking within 24 hours of confirmation, you may not have to pay any fee to the website.
However, if you cross the time limit, you will have to pay a cancellation fee if you haven’t purchased insurance from the platform. Howbeit, note that money isn’t the only issue. Immediately you cross the 24-hour threshold, you have to meet hotel or flight cancellation deadlines and cancellation fees, which aren’t always stated beforehand.
Common Complaints about Expedia Canada
In our Expedia Canada review, the most common complaint that we came across was customer service. Unfortunately there is a downside to being the mega guy on the block. But keep in mind that when you service millions of customers to the tune of billions of dollars, some of them are bound to be unhappy.
Other Things to Know About Expedia
Aside from the numerous facts noted above, here are other key details to note about Expedia;
Price Match Guarantee
One of the many benefits of leveraging Expedia flight bookings is the Price Match Guarantee. This simply means that the platform guarantees that you get the lowest price for the flight of your choice and get refunded in the case of fluctuations. However, have it in mind that you will have to pay anywhere from $5-30 for every ticket if you opt for the Price Match Guarantee.
With this guarantee, note that you can claim the fluctuations in your itinerary up until six hours before your flight. In addition, whenever the price of your booked itinerary goes down, you will get refunded through Expedia for the price difference. It is more or less a risk especially since prices may not go down or go higher, but you can obtain good benefits from the website if they considerably drop.
Accessible Payment Plans
This is, without doubt, the best part of using Expedia as you don’t have to pay your entire amount while booking. Instead, Expedia offers you the platform to pay for your bookings in monthly installments leading up to your vacation. This makes it more convenient for people traveling on a tight budget to make arrangements for the vacation of their dreams.
Website Ads
When looking to use the Expedia website to make your traveling arrangements, it is important to prep yourself to deal with numerous website ads. This is, without doubt, a significant turn-off due to the insane amount of ads on the platform. These ads add to the stress of navigating the overcrowded website and make it quite tasking to differentiate legit deals from fake ones.
Reliability
Truth be told, in this modern age, everyone is advised to be cautious when dealing with go-betweens or third-party booking sites. However, just as was noted above, Expedia is a legitimate online travel agency that’s been around for years. Microsoft originally founded the Expedia website in 1996.
These days, Expedia is part of the larger Expedia Group, which includes brands such as Hotels.com, Orbitz, Hotwire, Travelocity, Vrbo, and CarRentals.com. All these go to prove that Expedia is a reliable company and not some shady, fly-by-night operation.
Refund Timelines and Process
With Expedia, the refunds for most flights are issued within 12 weeks. However, note that some refunds could take longer than 12 weeks depending on the airline. Meanwhile, refunds for hotels, rental cars, and activities including when they are part of a vacation package, are issued within 24 hours from the time the cancellation request is made.
Your bank or payment service will also influence when the funds become available in your account. You will receive a refund on the payment method you used to pay for the booking. For instance, if you paid with your debit card, you will get a refund on your debit card. If there is a cancellation fee with your booking, note that you will be refunded your total amount minus the cancellation fee. For instance, if you paid $150 and the cancellation fee is $10, you’ll be refunded $140.
Conclusion
Expedia is without a doubt a legit platform that is genuinely worth a try. With the right deal, booking travel — including flights, hotels, cruises, or car rentals — on Expedia could be the real deal. Also, note that Expedia makes searching for travel quite easy owing to their wide range of available listings.
However, always remember there is a certain amount of risk that comes with carrying out travel bookings online. That is why you should always conduct your due diligence about flight details and accommodation sites. Also, ensure to always keep your booking confirmation and travel details saved to claim your refund in case of a mishap.
