Tag: Expedia

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Have You Booked Your Room for the Kentucky Derby Yet?

February 7, 2012 at 1:57 PM | by | Comments (0)

We know, we know. It's not even Valentine's Day and we're already talking about booking hotels for Kentucky Derby but the truth is, even though the big race is not until May 4, it's probably harder to book a last-minute room for the Derby, especially if you want to be in town, than it is to book a last-minute hotel for the Super Bowl. So if you're interested in going, we say book now.

So, what are the hotel options like right now? We hit up Expedia during the Derby weekend (Thursday, May 3-Sunday, May 6) and found a few budgety hotels like Days Inn and Ramada for under $280 a night. You might be saying "Ouch" right now and you might not be thrilled about staying on the outskirts of town but those are actually doable rates for the Derby.

Looking at the four and five-star hotels, we see that they are all sold-out. At least on Expedia. They may have availability if you book with the hotel directly or if you work with a travel agent. (See our tips for Super Bowl.) There are a few three-star hotels left like the Hyatt Place Louisville for $499 and the Holiday Inn Louisville in North Clarksville for $429 a night. The Galt House is available but at $1,500 a night. Yikes!

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Last-Minute Hotel Options for Super Bowl XLVI

January 27, 2012 at 3:05 PM | by | Comments (0)

All week long you've been on the fence about attending Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis on February 5, but now you have finally asked your parents for some extra cash cobbled enough money together to get yourself to the Big Game. Yet the question remains--where do you stay?

There are some options left in Indianapolis but remember, all the good hotels are sold-out so don't expect silk sheets and bubble bath butlers. And actually, a lot of the budget hotels are sold-out too. So you will have to make do with budgety leftovers out in the 'burbs. But the prices are still going to hurt your wallet.

Here's a couple of options with availability. These hotels and their room rates were accurate as of January 27, 2012 but they are definitely subject to change.

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Expedia Taking Hints from Facebook with Real-Time Booking Updates

November 8, 2011 at 2:00 PM | by | Comments (0)

We still aren't crazy about the new updates that Facebook put out the other month but we're slowly getting used to the real-time feed on the right-hand side that tells us what our "friends" are doing at that exact moment whether it be changing their work information, commenting on status updates, making new "friends" or uploading photos from their latest vacation.

And it looks like Expedia hopes we will like their real-time updates too.

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Don't Bother With The Club Hotel Singapore If You Like Hot Water

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 28 Ann Siang Road, Singapore, Singapore, 069708
October 24, 2011 at 3:38 PM | by | Comments (0)

Maybe we don't want to be part of this Club anymore

You know the feeling. You get off a long flight to a far-off country, reach your hotel, feel the relief flooding over you as the place seems nice, and you’re checked into a nice room, and then hit the shower in an attempt to slough off the jet lag.

Hopefully, though, you won’t know the feeling that came next for a friend of ours last night when he checked into the Club Hotel in Singapore: the water was lukewarm. And stayed lukewarm while he ran it in the hope that it would heat up. It didn’t – and it still wasn’t hot enough to shower in.

At about 7pm, he called down to reception to let them know the water wasn’t hot. For two hours, they tried to fix it, to no avail. At 9pm, they offered to move him to another room – which had the same problem. They tried another – ditto. The staff told him there was a problem with the water heating throughout the hotel. No sh*t Sherlock.

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The Expedia Rewards Program is Now Finally Legit

March 28, 2011 at 9:01 AM | by | Comments (0)

Well folks, the day has finally come-- Expedia has officially launched their new loyalty program--Expedia Rewards.

We explained a bit about how the program worked when it was still an invite-only/ beta sort of thing. And there's nothing really new to report. Expedia Rewards members will earn one Expedia point for every $1 spent on hotels, flights and activities booked through Expedia.

And remember, the more you book on Expedia at one time, i.e. hotel + flight + car rental the more points you can earn. Expedia explains:

As an example, if a customer books a package for two travelers featuring a roundtrip flight, four nights in a hotel and a rental car, that trip may cost$2,000. With Expedia Rewards, that would yield 6,000 points. Should the member book that same trip three times, they should have earned enough points to qualify for a free hotel night. Should they add an activity to each package booking, the accumulated points may earn them two free hotel nights. ”

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Expedia to Release an iPhone App (Or You Can Use Their Mobile Site Instead)

March 24, 2011 at 9:32 AM | by | Comment (1)

We've long expressed our dismay at hotel iPhone apps since they never seem to do much aside from letting you a book a room on your phone, as opposed to your computer or calling the hotel in person. But things have been looking up lately.

First, HotelTonight came on the scene offering a great way to get last-minute hotel rooms for a serious discount. And now, Expedia has a free iPhone and iPod app that will find you a hotel room within walking distance should you ever find yourself homeless for the night. The app will also include an interactive map, hotel ratings, reviews ported over from TripAdvisor, hotel photos, amenities and directions to the hotel.

We tried to download the app today but it won't be available for a few more weeks. However, it will be free and it will support 20 currencies worldwide.

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We're Still Waiting on Expedia's New Loyalty Program

March 10, 2011 at 11:36 AM | by | Comments (0)

We've been anxiously awaiting the new loyalty program from Expedia, Expedia Rewards, but despite promising a March launch, the program is still in beta.

That means you can only join up by invitation, or as we told you the other month, by being a current Expedia member and a savvy website peruser (Go to the lower left corner.)

Still, we're a member of Expedia and we haven't got any notice yet about the loyalty program and in case you haven't checked the calendar today, it's March 10.

Now we see that Expedia Rewards website has said the official launch date is Spring. But it could be later. From the Expedia Rewards FAQ under "How Do I Join Expedia Rewards"?

Enrollment opens to all Expedia customers in March 2011 or such later date as determined by Expedia.

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Expedia (Soft) Launches Its New Loyalty Program, Fully Functioning By March

January 31, 2011 at 1:31 PM | by | Comments (0)

We’ve been getting antsy about Expedia’s forthcoming rewards program for a little while now. Why? Because since doing away with Thank You points on December 1, there hasn’t been any kind of loyalty program for us to link our bookings to, and two months without booking incentives is hard for us.

But it looks like the wait is over – Expedia is currently advertising a soft launch of its new rewards program, cleverly called Expedia rewards.

The deets are on the website here, but in a nutshell, you will earn one Expedia point for every $1 you spend on hotels, flights, packages and activities booked through Expedia. Cruises do not count, and car rentals only do so if they’re part of a package booked via the official “vacation packages” tab.

According to the T&Cs, there will also be opportunities to earn bonus points “from time to time”.

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Expedia Elite Plus Now Offering Free Hotel Room Upgrades

December 28, 2010 at 10:16 AM | by | Comments (3)

UPDATE: Sorry, we got too excited. Expedia Elite Plus is NOT the new Expedia loyalty program that will replace ThankYou points. This is an existing VIP program. Thanks to Gleff for pointing this out in comments. We'll update you when the new program is out.

After doing away with ThankYou Points a few months ago, Expedia is now offering its own hotel loyalty program called Expedia Elite Plus that offers members a sweet perk we could get into: free room upgrades.

To live up to the "Elite" in its name, membership is by invitation only; you must complete 15 stays or spend $10,000 through Expedia in a year and you'll automatically get entered into the program.

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Expedia to Launch Their Own Loyalty Program in Early 2011

November 1, 2010 at 12:55 PM | by | Comments (0)

We have a minor obsession over here at HotelChatter with hotel loyalty programs as we're always looking for ways to get the most out of our hotel stays. So we perked up when we got this email from Expedia about their own Expedia-branded loyalty program in early 2011.

Currently, Expedia is linked up with Citigroup's ThankYou network which allows you to earn ThankYou points for your bookings as well as use ThankYou points to make your bookings. (ThankYou points can also be used/earned for other things aside from travel.) But Expedia is terminating that relationship on December 1.

Fortunately, your hard-earned ThankYou points will still be valid after this date but you can only earn ThankYou points on Expedia until December 1st. If you have a Citigroup credit card, you can still use the ThankYou network on Expedia to earn points but instead of three points for every dollar, you will only get two.

Expedia is now promising to roll out their new program in early 2011 which has us excited but also a teensy bit concerned

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Expedia Gets in On The Blind Booking Game with 'Unpublished Rates'

August 3, 2010 at 2:37 PM | by | Comments (3)

We were trolling hotel booking sites today, as we usually do, and we came across something mighty exciting on Expedia.com--"Unpublished Rates", in other words--blind booking!

It looks like Expedia has finally caught up to Priceline, Hotwire, Quikbook and Travelocity in offering guests deals up to 55 percent off in exchange for not knowing what hotel they are paying for and not being able to cancel or change the reservation.

However, it looks like these deals aren't unique to Expedia as the results are powered in by Expedia's sister site, Hotwire. Still, we wanted to verify if what Expedia pulled up was the same as what Hotwire revealed.

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Expedia Launches 'LGBT-Welcoming' Hotel Search

May 20, 2010 at 3:07 PM | by | Comments (0)

Expedia has launched a new travel service today, specifically aimed at the gay and lesbian community. In partnership with the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association, Expedia now offers a "LGBT-welcoming” hotels option along with city and neighborhood guides for the gay scene.

Currently 500 gay-friendly hotels in North America and internationally are listed on Expedia here giving travelers a handy reference for planning their next trip. Interestingly, a lot of high-end luxury hotels are missing on this list. But maybe that's because they aren't so keen to partner with Expedia in general, not the just LGBT side of Expedia.

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