Expedia

This is the go-to travel website, on which you can arrange your entire trip- from travel to accommodation. Expedia claims to “unlock the best possibilities for each individual traveler and each type of trip.”

Whether you are planning a family vacation, booking for business, or organizing the trip of a lifetime, this is the digital platform to explore and make the bookings.

Pros

• Offers added services like flights and car rentals booking
• Combination deals help you save money
• Interesting reward system
  

Cons

• Expensive
• Poor filter search system
• Limited reviews
• Focus on big hotel and resort chains
• Poor customer service
  

Other services

Expedia offers not only the listings of accommodation, but also flight and car rental services. This is its unique selling point, and also the prices of the aforementioned services are most of the times, cheaper than the other portals.

Combination deals

The website offers to its customers combination deals, that cover various parts of your travel together at a discounted price. The way this system works is really interesting- if you book a flight, you can grab the offer on car rental or accommodation for that trip at a later date. You are not required to need to decide and book it all at the same time. In some cases, this often leads to some really great deals.

Reward system

Every pound you spend on this digital travel platform earns you Expedia point. They can be either redeemed on further bookings or used for travel extras. Furthermore, for each of these memberships, the member gets enhances benefits like, free spa or drinks at the property.

The reward system is divided into two tiers and to qualify for these memberships, the trip amount should be minimum $25.

• Silver Membership- You get the silver membership after you have spent on 10 trip elements in a calendar year. The benefits include 10% extra Expedia points, exclusive travel offers and spa discounts and free drinks at selected hotels.
• Gold Membership- You get the gold membership after you have spent on 25 trip elements in a calendar year. The benefits include 30% extra Expedia points, free room upgrades and flexible check-ins and check-outs at the hotels.
  

Expensive

Even after applying the promo codes or availing the other membership benefits, the base level pricing on Expedia is not the best. As compared to other options of travel sites, this turns out to be comparatively, expensive. And so, not preferred by frequent travellers.

Limited reviews

The reviews found on the website aren’t as extensive as they are on other websites. Only the popular hotels or resorts seem to have many substantial ones.

Less variety of accommodation

The focus of Expedia seems to be primarily on bigger chains of hotels and resorts. Other kinds of properties like, apartments, boat houses, B&Bs etc have not been included. Thus, there is a very limited range of the accommodations.

Poor filter system

The filter system isn’t efficient and again, only highlights the famous names of hotels and resorts. No matter what budget you set, the tool isn’t able to find the properties in cognizance with your preferences.

Bad customer service

Having waited for hours on the telephone, the customers complained of not being connected to an executive. Therefore, many a times the traveller’s problems remain unsolved.