I used Expedia when I booked our California and Vegas road trip last year and was especially pleased with the price I got at The Marriott Courtyard in San Diego. Hand on heart, they had the cheapest price that I could find for the hotel online and with the extra benefit that I paid the bill to the hotel direct when we checked out.
San Diego
My Scratchpad
One of the standout features of Expedia is 'My Scratchpad'. This tool tracks and saves your travel searches. This can be a very useful tool to monitor prices as you can see when prices increase and when they drop over long periods. It's easy to re-check prices, and by monitoring prices in advance you can pounce when the prices decrease. Obviously , rices can go up as well as down but if you are planning well in advance this is an extremely useful tool.
Searching
Below I have searched for a package deal - flight and hotel leaving from Gatwick on the 1st of August 2016 to Orlando, with economy flights.
You can sort your searches via Package Discount, Most Popular, Price, Guest Rating and Star Rating. The first hotel above is a sponsored link but the rest of the hotels are organised via price. You can also filter your results with Area, Star Rating and Hotel Preferences.
These prices are per person for flights, going indirect, and hotel accommodation for 14 nights from the 1st of August 2016. This is the school summer holidays in the UK and a time which is on of the most expensive to go to Orlando. As you can see above there are some good deals here, and the cheapest I could find was £851 per person for The M @ 6603 International Drive. You can also add on attraction tickets in the process if you wish, before you finalise your flights.
By booking a flight and hotel together the very best deals are highlighted with the Smart Deal combination. This is because Expedia has negotiated great deals with hotels and airlines alike.
What I particularly like is that, if your plans change, in the majority of cases, there is no Expedia cancellation fee. This is great if you have to cancel or amend a hotel, in fact (shhh don't tell anyone), I did actually cancel one hotel on my road trip. I was pleased that it was straightforward to do so, I just logged into my account online and cancelled it by clicking on a link.
Obviously, you need to check the booking conditions with which you booked the hotel, however, I have found in my experience, that many hotels can be cancelled up to 24 hours before, a flight or package holiday may have different conditions.
Best Price Guarantee
If you book a hotel room on Expedia and later find a lower price any time up to 48 hours prior to check in, they will match the price. Something that I think is really impressive.
If you book and pay for a flight and hotel, at the same time on Expedia and within 48 hours find a cheaper price they will refund the difference.
All the terms and conditions for their 'Best Price Guarantee' are on their website and it must be like for like - but if it is, you have nothing to lose!
All the terms and conditions for their 'Best Price Guarantee' are on their website and it must be like for like - but if it is, you have nothing to lose!
Cashback Sites
Now here is a top tip ...Expedia can be found on the top two cashback sites in the UK, Quidco and Topcashback. * contains my referral links.
I have used both Quidco and Topcashback for a long time now and although it is important to point out that cashback amounts are never guaranteed, in the majority of cases you do get the cashback. As Expedia is showing up to 12% cashback with both Quidco and Topcashback at the moment, it is certainly worth using these sites to save more money.
* A collaborative post
So there you are a guide to saving money with Expedia when booking your holiday. With 24-hour customer service at the end of the phone, a useful Expedia app and also being ATOL bonded, Expedia is one site that is constantly price smart and one which I will continue to use to book my hotels and package holidays. But don't just take my word for it, see full Expedia holiday reviews here.
Tell me have you ever used Expedia? What do you think of their prices?
