Hotel Tales: "DIE EXPEDIA! DIE! DIE! DIE!" Edition (Long, somewhat ranty)

[Amanita]

I've booked prepaid trips on expedia before, and each time I've called the hotel well in advance to confirm my reservation. I figured that way, I would be sure that the hotel had it, and if there was an issue, there would be plenty of time to sort the mess out.

[mikoyan29]

I've not had any problems with Expedia in the past but because of this thread, I decided to check up on my reservations for later in the month. Everything's fine there too.

[Moirae]

As some of you may know 3rd Party Retailers (3PR) (Expedia, Orbitz, Hotels.com, etc.) are not very well liked by those of us who work in hotels. Here is a perfect example of why.

After I run the Night Audit, I pre-charge any 3PR reservations. When the guest reserves a room with a 3PR, part of that agreement is that they must cancel the room 24 hours or more prior to check in time, which in the hotel industry is generally considered to be 4PM (so by 4PM day before arrival).

So, this morning I have an Expedia reservation to pre-charge. As is typical for some 3PR reservations, there is NO phone number, the address is "Any Street1", and the City is "Any Province". NO State, NO ZIP. I go through the motions, and the card doesn't go through. I try again, and it still doesn't go through. So I call Expedia to find out what the problem is.

I get through to a representative immediately, but things are never easy. I provide the guest last name, and guest first name, and the CRS number, and they can't find the reservation in their system.

Now, fairly recently, Expedia has been putting through reservations that use the guests CC number. This was one of those reservations. And according to the rep, sometimes they don't show up in their system. So the rep told me to call Opera Support to see if they could get some info on the reservation (like phone number or e-mail addy).

I call Opera, and they transfer me to <Corporation> Tech Support. They initially have trouble finding the reservation, but eventually do find something. They find an address, but since the reservation is due in today, that really isn't going to help a lot.

They also find the Travel agent's phone number. One problem: NO AREA CODE. The address is for a major metropolitan city, which has 4 area codes, and I am just assuming that this TA is IN that city. Last bit they have is the IATA number, which I take, but have no idea what to do with it.

That's all Tech Support can do for me, (he even commented "Gotta love Expedia.")

So, that's the situation, and this is why I pray daily for the demise of Expedia, and all 3PRs.

SC

I've worked in hotels for ten years and have extensive experience with third party extranets.

Third parties are actually rarely called third parties any more because they have decided to call themselves OTA's (Online Travel Agency).

Most expedia reservations now insist on the guest phone number so I'm not sure why the guest pay expedia reservation you saw didn't have one. I've seen many that have the Any Street, Any City stuff, but none of that don't have a phone number. It should be displayed on the original paperwork right below the guest name and on the extranet (or the new distributers site).

24 cxl is only common in smaller hotels and in smaller cities. The last two hotels I worked for were 72 hours with a 30 day cxl for special events. My current hotel is 7 days with 30 day cxl for special events.

Expedia now has two formats of reservation. One is expedia pay (meaning, the guest has paid expedia), and the other is guest pay (meaning the guest will pay on check in). By contract, you actually aren't supposed to charge the guest pay until the day of check in. Also, if you can't get the payment, it's quite simple to just wait for the guest to check in. Your reservation number isn't the same as expedia's reservation number so your reservation number won't help them find the reservation.

Do you have access to the extranet? Chances are that the person you talked to on the phone is just an idiot and didn't type it in properly. It's really very simple. Just go on the site and look for all reservations coming in starting yesterday for the next couple days. It's possible the guest cancelled, so search all reservations. The travel agent's number won't help much since it's the guests number that would be displayed on the original reservation, and the extranet insists that it has an area code and won't accept the number without it.

Either way, don't worry too much about it. If the guest is due to come in, the front desk clerks will need to get the payment on checkin. You should leave a note on the reservation that you were unable to charge the card. In opera, it will pop up automatically on accessing the booking. If the agent is doing their job, they won't just click through it. If they do, then the agent can get in trouble for it.

You did the best you could.

[violiavampyr]

I've booked prepaid trips on expedia before, and each time I've called the hotel well in advance to confirm my reservation. I figured that way, I would be sure that the hotel had it, and if there was an issue, there would be plenty of time to sort the mess out.

That's my plan too, I've got a hotel booked this summer for a family trip (already paid for). Did the same last year with a rental car. Made sure everything was set on both ends before I showed up at the car place.

I'm a little nervous this summer because the hotels already paid for and they'll still want a CC to do a hold. I don't actually have a CC, I have a bank card and the card I paid for the hotel with was my HigherOne Financial Aid card that won't have anything on it. I'll ask when I call them. I mean, I'll have money, but enough for food and stuff for a couple days for us and the kids.

[Moirae]

That's my plan too, I've got a hotel booked this summer for a family trip (already paid for). Did the same last year with a rental car. Made sure everything was set on both ends before I showed up at the car place.

I'm a little nervous this summer because the hotels already paid for and they'll still want a CC to do a hold. I don't actually have a CC, I have a bank card and the card I paid for the hotel with was my HigherOne Financial Aid card that won't have anything on it. I'll ask when I call them. I mean, I'll have money, but enough for food and stuff for a couple days for us and the kids.

Its become typical hotel practice to place an authorization on all credit cards to ensure the hotel gets paid for all extras no matter what, and a "just in case" for damages. I've seen this authorization be anywhere from the amount of one night plus taxes to a flat rate anywhere between $50 and $300. I suggest that you call the hotel to ask them if they will put an authorization on your card or you may find that you don't have enough money for things like food.

That way you will have a better idea of how much you will have available so you don't find yourself in trouble. I've seen it take as many as ten business days for these authorizations to fall off, and the hotel has no control over it. Usually the release will fall off automatically after a preset time from your bank.

[BroSCFischer]

violavampyr,

If the room is paid for already, the hotel may request a CC for incidentals, or they may ask for a cash deposit (we do on occasion, usually for cash paying guests with pets). At the very least what they will do is require that they be able to photocopy a state issued photo ID. Call the hotel in advance (generally best to do before you book the room) to find out what their policy is.

SC

[Captain Trips]

I must admit - I use those sites myself. But only to find what's available to me when I'm putting together a package. I've compared what they charge vs. what I would pay by going to the hotel/airline/rental sites directly - and there's no savings. So I book direct. (I have to admit, it's mostly due to stories I've read here. I have gotten better service when I book direct.)