Expedia has been tweaking its Expedia Rewards program throughout this year and has now launched exclusive Hotel Price Guarantee-program.
If you are Expedia Rewards member this hotel price guarantee applies to your reservation up until 11:59PM local time the day before arrival. Expedia will refund the difference or issue a credit, if you can find a lower price from any other US based website and fulfill the terms and conditions of the program that you can find at the end of this article.
This Hotel Price Guarantee is different from the Expedia’s Best Price Guarantee that it only refunds the price difference/rebooks you at the lower rate and you are not eligible for $50 coupon for future use.
I recently took advantage of the Expedia’s Best Price Guarantee successfully and you can read my experience of it here (competing rate was lower by 22 cents). I also managed to have a peek at Expedia’s confirmation of my reservation to the hotel that showed the price that the hotel got for my stay and Expedia’s margin. You can read it here.
Does this affect hotel chains own price guarantee programs?
Hotel chains have been aggressive trying to push more reservation through their own branded websites instead of third party ones such as Expedia, Booking.com etc and have introduced best price guarantee schemes that usually require you to report the lower price within 24 hours and go through number hoops to have successful claim.
We’ll see if they feel need to be competitive and match Expedia’s match period right up to the night before the stay.
Conclusion
The devil of this new Expedia’s hotel price guarantee is in the details. Most of the websites that I have used for claims have not been based in the United States that would be the requirement under the terms and conditions of this program.
Here are the terms and condition of this new Expedia Hotel Price Guarantee:
Hotel Price Guarantee
The Hotel Price Guarantee is available to Expedia Rewards members in good standing. In the unlikely event that you find a lower rate for a hotel you have booked on www.expedia.com or through the Expedia call center at 1-800-EXPEDIA, whether on Expedia or on another U.S.-based website, we will honor the lower price. Hotels booked as part of a package are not eligible for the Hotel Price Guarantee. The guarantee is subject to these terms and conditions.
Notifying Expedia of a Claim:
You may make a claim under the Hotel Price Guarantee from the time you book your standalone hotel on Expedia until 11:59 p.m. local time at the hotel’s location, the day prior to hotel check-in. To make a claim, please complete this form, select your qualifying itinerary, and provide details on the lower price found, including screen shots. The lower price must be available for booking at the time you contact us, as determined by Expedia Rewards.
Must be “Apples to Apples” Comparison:
The Hotel Price Guarantee is available only for exact itinerary matches, including property, room type, rate plan, applicable refund policy, and the exact same dates of travel as booked through Expedia. The comparison must be to the same product purchased standalone through another website (i.e., not part of a hotel + air travel package).
The Hotel Price Guarantee applies only to the cost of booked travel, as presented in the Expedia search results, without including any taxes and fees. The Hotel Price Guarantee is not available for bookings on websites where the property, itinerary, or similar booking details are unknown until after purchase. You must meet all requirements imposed on the lower price (if any), including, without limitation, residency, regional, and age-related requirements.
There is no limit on the number of Hotel Price Guarantee claims you may make per booking. However, any credit subsequent to the initial credit will be based on the amount of the previously credited price, not on the amount of the original price that you booked.
Comparison Rates Must Be Available to the General Public Online:
The Hotel Price Guarantee applies only to prices both advertised and available to the general public on a U.S.-based website. For example, this does not include rates offered on membership program websites; corporate discounts or rates; group, charter, rewards program, incentive, meeting, convention, consolidator, or interline prices; prices obtained via auction or similar process; or prices available only by using a coupon or other promotion not offered to the general public. The lower rate may not come from a website where you call to get the rate or from an e-mail that you received. The rate must be quoted and booked in U.S. dollars (and without reference to currency converters).
Verification of Claims:
All requests are subject to verification by Expedia. Expedia will not accept screenshots or other purported evidence of a lower price that cannot be independently confirmed by Expedia personnel. Nor will Expedia verify any request that it believes, in its sole discretion, is the result of a printing or other error or is made fraudulently or in bad faith. For verification of non-prepaid hotel bookings, the customer service representative will instruct you to mail a copy of your hotel receipt to Expedia within thirty (30) days after you have completed the hotel stay. Expedia will honor the lower price for verified requests. This may happen in one of several ways.
In some cases, it will take the form of a credit to the credit card used for booking. In other cases, it may be necessary for the travel specialist to cancel your booking and re-book your stay at the lower price. You will not be charged any change or cancellation fees in connection with the Hotel Price Guarantee. In all cases, the travel specialist will explain the process to you.
Changes:
Expedia reserves the right in its sole discretion to modify or discontinue the Hotel Price Guarantee or to restrict its availability to any person, at any time, for any or no reason, and without prior notice or liability to you. The terms that are in effect at the time of your claim will determine your eligibility under the Hotel Price Guarantee. The failure by Expedia to enforce any provision of these terms and conditions shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.
