There might be an "advantage" to using Expedia when you an get a room cheaper than the hotel is offering or when the hotel itself indicates a sold out situation but re-sellers such as Expedia still have rooms available.

The fact that you've always gotten the room cheaper directly through the hotel, Mikesmom, doesn't necessarily apply to everyone. And some people just don't wish to do any research, go to various individual websites, etc., and are willing to pay for that.

If Expedia didn't seem "advantageous" to someone (including those hotels which are desperately trying to market their room inventory) then it obviously wouldn't exist.

<b>easytraveler</b>,

You are going way too deep into this.

A travel agency, in this case EXPEDIA, took a reservation for 7 nights for a family of four at a hotel of their choice.

The same travel agency, in this case EXPEDIA, booked 2 nights for a family of four at a hotel of their choice.

Until the 7 nights booking is verified by the hotel, whether in advance or during check in, the responsibility for any mistakes falls on the travel agent, and once again, it's EXPEDIA.

Period!

easytraveler, the only thing wrong with your long post is that you say &quot;until we know who made the mistake. . .&quot; Way back in the original poster's second post she said she talked with Expedia and they ADMITTED they made the mistake. Simple. Sherlock has closed the case.

I hate to be hair-splitting, but the OP's original post said:

&quot;Three hours of time on hold/talking to Expedia Customer SErvice I have learned the following:

1. They made a mistake and booked us for 2 nights instead of 7.&quot;

This statement could be read either as a CONCLUSION on the part of the OP

or

an admission by Expedia.

The statement does NOT say: &quot;Expedia admitted that they made a mistake...&quot;

As for legal beagles or legal hounds, since no one has come forward to state any legal opinion, here's my unsolicited one: :)

The frequent third-party relationship in today's world can take many forms.

My understanding of that middle man is:
a) A reseller is exactly as the name implies, the middle man BUYS a block of the products (in this case, hotel rooms) and resells them. He becomes the OWNER of the products and has far more control over how he wants to resell the products.

A reeseller can also add things to the original product and then become a &quot;VAR&quot;, a value-added reseller.

b) An agent, on the other hand, doesn't have control over key elements, such as the price. If you put up your house for sale, the agent doesn't buy it, doesn't set the price (may suggest a price, but you are theone who decides).

c) Other relationships are distributor, sales representative, etc.

The way things have been set up, my suspicions is that Expedia does NOT buy blocks of rooms in each hotel that it lists. I suspect they only list the rooms at a price that the individual hotels set. That's why, if you use the &quot;universal&quot; search tool on tripadvisor, you will find pretty much the same price whether it's on Expedia, Orbitz, or Travelocity.

Sorry, I've got to go. This is an interesting discussion.

<b>easytraveler</b>,

You really don't know understand how the travel reservation system works, so you first post stating that the hotel is somewhat responsible was totally wrong and let's just leave it at that. :-)

Last week I checked expedia for availablity for a hotel in NYC tha that been recommended on this board. It was full, but expedia recommended 5 hotels that had rooms - 2 of those were WooGo properties! That was the end of expedia for me!

Well, easytraveler, if we are splitting hairs as you suggest, then please re read my last post when I clearly said &quot;in the original poster's SECOND post&quot; -- I was not talking about her first post.

Here is a direct copy from that SECOND post --&quot;I finally (after a total of close to 4 hours on the phone) got to speak to a supervisor. I do have record / receipt showing that I paid for 7 nights - had names / dates - so they admitted that they made a mistake.&quot;

So all hairs have been split now. LOL

AAFrequentFlyer: You consistently and categorically state that I am wrong without giving any reasons, whereas I have tried to furnish the legal basis for my statements.

Now you say that I don't understand the hotel reservation system and that makes me wrong (again!). Why don't you explain the hotel reservation system to me so that I can understand why I am wrong? I'd like to understand, truly I do. It will be interesting to understand why the hotel reservation system falls out of general contract law.

As I've tried to say, use of a middle man does not let the principal go scot free.

If your microwave explodes, do you go after Costco for selling it to you or after Amana for making the microwave? Or both?

If a dog is being doggie-walked by a dogsitter and the dog bites you, by your logic, you can only go after the dogsitter, not the dog owner.

All I'm trying to say here is that in this case if people are injured by a middle man, such as Expedia, they should not rule out going after the principal, the hotel.

Why limit yourself? Particularly if the middle man is not offering any relief?

I ask this question, not out of aggressiveness, but just as a matter of curiosity as to why the travel industry should/is going by different rules than the rest of US society.

Anyhow, AA, I'm in your (the consumer's) corner. The next time you get bumped from a flight, don't just go after the travel agent who booked the flight for you, go after the airline! :)

OUCH! I just booked a hotel with Expedia. Stay tuned :)

Well, just to set the record straight here...
There are 2 different kinds of rates available through online 'agencies'.
The first is merchant content. All the big names have merchant content. They have an agreed allocation of rooms at a hotel. These rooms are sold to the agency for a predetermined price, say 100.00. The online agency marks the price up and uses revenue stratigies to optimize revenues, mush like airlines. Part of the strategy is making sure they compete with the rates listed by competition. The online agencies also have auditors that make sure lower rates are not offered at the hotel website. You can call and get a better rate but generally they catch hotels that undercut... the rate may be the same though, without all the restrictions.
I quickly found this article that may explain a little:
http://www.btnmag.com/businesstravel..._id=1000461655
The other content offered on agency websites is INTERACTIVE with the hotel central reservation system.
These rates generally do not have the Best Buy or Good Deal flag and do not require prepayment though you may be charged a booking fee by the agency.
These rates are often the same, or higher than rates offered on the hotel website.
In the industry, the first rate is called MERCHANT, the second is called PUBLISHED.

PS... most of the merchant content can be released at a predetermined date. For example, if the blocks of 10 rooms at a hotel have not sold by 48 hours prior to check in, the rooms are released for the hotel to sell.
Having work on technical problems related to merchant bookings, I say that your problem is quite rare and probably occurred due to human error, outside the technology.
Possibly you confirmed this over the phone?
For my company this sort of thing can only be due to human error eithor on the part of live agent, the hotel or even the traveler. It could also happen when there is a problem with a system as your reservation is being processed.
Doesn't help or make it right, but it is a rare thing.

With the booking websites, one thing to know is to confirm. Reservations are made on Expedia's website - many people assume they automatically get transfered to hotels - not so!!

Once I had a problem - reserved 2 rooms in a hotel, but the hotel received only 1 - few minutes on the phone with Expedia, an hour later another call to the hotel - the problem solved! I really liked how Expedia handled this.

Imagine what would happen if I won't call the hotel to confirm!

Expedia rep said they are sending faxes to the small hotels. One of my faxes didn't go through, or was ignored, or...

Anyway, I know and advise everybody to confirm and re-confirm all reservations. These days, most places have 800 phone number.

Excuse me Missypie, but what is a WooGo property? Something bad?

Why in the name of all that is holy did it take the original poster 4 hours on the phone with Expedia before she was able to access a supervisor? They should have had a supervisor help her much sooner than that. The customer service issue will prevent me from using them.

Quite a few months ago, someone who posts here rented a room (or vacation apartment?) in NYC run by the WooGo company. It was the ultimate room from hell and I think upon further investigation, the poster found out that they were illegally renting hotel-type accomodations in regular apartment buildngs. The poster has gone on a crusade to put Woogo out of business...and to get Expedia to stop listing their properties. If you do a search, I'm sure you can find the posts.