With the arrival of online booking platforms, traveling has become easier than ever. Frequent fliers often book their flights and hotels within a few clicks via online travel booking platforms without visiting or calling any travel agent. Moreover, the eye-catching deals, discounts, festive offers, and a special reward program save a lot of money. Expedia is one of the most sought-after online travel booking platforms nowadays. It is making noise in the market for all good reasons. The online portal helps ardent travelers to book hotels, flights, car rentals, packages, cruises, etc effortlessly.
To know more in detail, lets’ have a quick look at this detailed review covering every aspect, including pros, cons, features, special offers, reward programs, etc.
PROS
- Offers in-depth options for flights, hotels, and vacations
- Fresh deals every day
- Cheaper prices than it’s competitors
- The booking process is seamless and quick
- Multiple payment methods
- Offers a trip insurance
- Brings exciting last-minute deals
- Multiple payment plans and options
CONS
- The cancellation procedure is a little confusing
- Limited options to upgrade a booking
- Advertisements on the website are annoying
- Customer support is time-consuming
Know About Expedia
Expedia is the brainchild of Rich Barton who decided to make an online travel booking portal in 1996. On 22nd October 1996, he laid the foundation of Expedia in Redmond, Washington to let frequent fliers and travelers book hotels and flights easily. It was a travel division of Microsoft.
Over the last few decades, Expedia has gained a lot of popularity and a customer base for it’s rich and versatile booking options. It has over 11,938 employees all across the world to offer unstoppable online services in more than 40 languages. Moreover, Expedia has one of the biggest networks of travel agents worldwide to cater it’s customers around the clock.
Expedia leaves no stone unturned to update it’s listings almost every day. Right from holiday packages to flights to hotels to car rentals to cruises, the company is committed to offering fresh and versatile listings at highly competitive prices.
When it comes to travel security and safety, every travel booking or package is secured by ATOL. Every traveler or user gets an ATOL certificate on a successful booking through Expedia. It is a certificate of secure booking.
Being a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Expedia is connected with almost every airline in the world.
How Does Expedia Work?
To get started, one has to create an account on Expedia. The online booking platform doesn’t have a complicated user interface. In fact, the user experience is seamless with multiple filters and options to navigate through various options.
How To Get Started?
Once you have created your account by putting your full name, address, and email id you will get access to the booking platform to book flights, hotels, etc.
All you need to do is to:
– select the dates to travel
– Select a trip, one-way or a round-trip
– Put the passenger’s details
– Furnish details for extra services or amenities required by you or any other passenger
– Now click on the Search button to find the best results
– To get the relevant results quickly, one can also use the Filters option.
Expedia makes it easier for users to make a booking through it’s mobile app. One can easily do the booking and modify or cancel it within a few clicks.
What All Can You Book on Expedia?
Expedia allows you to book:
Flights
One can easily book flights, including one-way or round-trip, or for multiple destinations. Since it’s a member of IATA one can find almost every leading airline on the portal. Simply select the dates, the airlines you wish to fly with, number and kind of seats to get the best listings.
Hotels
Expedia has a rich collection of hotels, resorts, serviced apartments, private accommodations, etc. It also offers multiple filters to get the best results such as Ratings, Most Popular, Hot Deals, etc. Over 28,000 rooms are available on the portal with guest reviews, ratings, and details. One can also find a couple of pictures of every hotel and a Price Match Guarantee for hotel booking. Get $50 as compensation for finding the lower price for the same hotel room on any other portal.
Car Rentals
If you want to get a car booked to and from the airport or for local sightseeing then one can book it right from Expedia’s official website. There is an option on the homepage, Car Rentals. All you need is to visit the page to book car on rent.
All you need to pick the car rental company, type of car, number of hours, destination, and pick up and drop off time to get the best results. However, the service is limited to the US.
Cruises
If you are planning a dream vacation with your partner in the ocean then Expedia allows you to book a cruise line of your choice. Just pick the destination, dates of travel, type of cabin, etc to book the best cruise vacation for yourself.
Vacation Packages
Expedia also offers customized and predesigned vacation packages to save you time and money. However, it also gives you a chance to design your own package by picking your preferred flight, hotel, services, car rental, etc.
Why Should You Choose Expedia?
It helps you to save a potential amount of money
Expedia has a huge network of travel companies, hotels, airlines, and travel agents all across the world. Hence, it brings the best deals and rates across all categories, including hotels, flights, car rentals, packages, etc.
It’s convenient, seamless, and user-friendly
Expedia offers a seamless user experience on both desktop and mobile websites. The interface is so simple that one can find out all the options and services right on the homepage to get started. One doesn’t need to beat around the bush to get their booking done.
It offers the Best Price Guarantee feature
To ensure customers get the best deal Expedia has the ‘Best Price Guarantee’ feature. According to this feature, if anyone will the lower price of the same booking on any other platform then Expedia will give a full refund along with a gift voucher.
It offers travel insurance to safeguard your trip
To safeguard your booking cost from unforeseen circumstances and situations, Expedia offers an optional insurance feature. The insurance feature secures your flight and hotel booking. Also, one can claim in a lost baggage situation, illness, family emergency, etc
It offers the Last-Minute bookings feature
If you don’t plan your vacation or travel then the Last Minute Bookings feature is meant for you. The feature helps you to book the cheapest hotels and flights spontaneously.
Expedia Customer Support
Expedia offers a round-the-clock chat support bot that you can find right on the Support page. The virtual agent will help you with your booking cancellation, refund, changes, etc. Through the Chat Bot option, you can also get in touch with the support executive on call.
Know About Expedia Rewards Program
If you are a frequent traveler then Expedia has a Rewards Program for you. It gives you an extra benefit through reward points that can be redeemed on future bookings. Along with that, the members also get some loyalty bonuses and exclusive deals to grab.
The reward program is divided into 3 levels, including
– Blue
– Silver
– Gold
Every level comes with some special rewards, perks, and privileges such as special drinks, lounge area access, special treatment on a flight, etc.
With every successful booking, a member gets some reward points that can be redeemed while making another booking in the future.
Expedia Alternatives
Despite being an impressive online travel booking portal, Expedia still has some potential competitors such as Priceline and Orbitz. Priceline offers some unique features such as Name Your Own Price to book some hotels, whereas Orbitz offers an impressive rewards program that offers the next booking for free.
Who Should Pick Expedia?
Expedia is meant for almost everyone. Whether you are a frequent flier/traveler or a regular one, the online travel booking platform has a lot of deals, discounts, and the best prices in store for you. Moreover, it offers a seamless and user-friendly booking process that takes only a few minutes.
With such a huge listing of properties and airlines across the world, the portal leaves no stone unturned to offer the best results to almost every budget group. And, with some enticing features such as Travel Insurance, Price Match Guarantee, and Rewards Program, Expedia enhances your booking experience tenfold.