Month: November 2005

If you take some time to read the many posts on Flyertalk about the Expedia “deal” on hotels in Japan, it becomes crystal clear how poorly run the company must be. The reps who work for Hilton and Expedia have clearly not been informed of how to respond to the overwhelming number of requests pouring in, nor do they have any idea of what to do or what the official policy is. Expedia’s failure to react initially created a gigantic snowball effect that led the situation to implode.

The latest of note is that Expedia now plans to cancel all reservations outright. Travelers who already completed the arrangements will be screwed. Individuals who had Expedia confirmed their reservations many times over will be told to bug off.

Is any of this right? Taking advantage of the initial deal is a grey area. The deal itself may or may not be legitimate. Had Expedia contacted everyone who booked the rate quickly notifying them of the mistake and indicated that they may not honor the reservations, many people, myself included, would have appreciated the candidness and let the situation go. The confusion because Expedia knowingly confirmed the mistaken rates, and now is trying to figure out how to get out of the situation, leads everyone with hard feelings.

This reminds me of why it is best to make arrangements directly with the service providers. Third parties only add another layer for error, and so far as I can see don’t deliver any significant value. This has become especially true in the age of relatively transparent Internet pricing, where I can quickly compare multiple vendors of the same product with similar service profiles.

In any case, Expedia has yet to contact me about my trip. The longer they wait, the better off I am.

So the saga with Expedia over the incredible deal on a hotel room continues. From Sunday through Wednesday, Expedia customer service representatives (CSRs) were indicating there was a mistake and confirming reservations. So it was a curious turn of events yesterday evening when Expedia began cancelling reservations and sending a note telling the holders of reservations that they must rebook at the regular rate. The confusion mounted when Expedia indicated they would honor bookings for November, for those booked as part of a package deal (air+hotel), and for some people who didn’t appear to fit any particular profile but not others.

The concern and anger toward Expedia mounted. The most confusing aspect? How can you unilaterally confirm, then cancel, so many reservations without any sense of consistency. Threats of lawsuits and more confusion around who was forcing the cancellations, Hilton or Expedia, swarmed around the conversations. Reporters became curious about the story for their travel sections. A case study in how to create a PR disaster was looming.

What happens next? I don’t know.

But the saga continues here.