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Tags: Hotel Deals / Expedia / Hotel News / → All Tags
Expedia's New Hotel Sale Won't Blow You Away, But You'll Find Deals
Expedia is certainly working hard to win us over. Last week, they dropped the cancellation fees for hotel reservations and today, they are launching their biggest hotel sale ever.
Expedia.com's massive sale offers discounts of up to 30% off its everyday rates at more than 5,000 hotels in more than 350 destinations worldwide.
We immediately began searching hotels in New York (there's 107 participating in the sale) and found the Hudson Hotel for $146 a night, if you book three nights. However, searching three weekends in June, the lowest rate we could find was closer to $186 a night.
Tags: Expedia / Hotel Booking Websites / → All Tags
Expedia Gets Rid of Cancellation Fees
Remember that time we booked a Seattle hotel through Expedia and then we got so sick we couldn't make the trip and had to cancel at the very last minute? And even though we had a doctor's note we still had to pay $135 for a hotel room that we never stayed in. (However, a sympathetic Expedia rep did feel sorry enough to throw us a $50 Expedia credit.)
Right, well: since we canceled the booking on the morning of the reservation, we were forced to eat the whole room rate — but if we'd canceled a little further in advance, we'd have at least gotten charged a standard $25.00 Expedia cancellation fee.
But! That fee is all gone now. Expedia announced today that they're totally getting rid of cancellation fees altogether. If we have to change or cancel our hotel for whatever reason, we won't get charged the $25 Expedia fee — we'll just be hit with whatever fee the hotel charges for changes or cancellations.
Will other third-party booking sites be following suit on this one? Yeah, probably.
Tags: Memorial Day Hotels / JDV Hotels / San Francisco Hotels / Personality Hotels / Expedia / → All Tags
Do It Up Tanner-Style in San Francisco For Memorial Day
If you're not so keen on doing a whole big family excursion full of face-painting, arts and crafts, cover bands and fireworks in the desert for Memorial Day, go for a Full House-style family time in the San Fran Bay Area — you know, you can picnic in Alamo Square just like the Tanner family during the show's opening credits. Hopefully you've got a little Michelle-looking family member to set the pie on the picnic blanket.
Rates in the Bay Area are pretty decent for Memorial Day weekend (Memorial Day is Monday, the 25th), especially since Expedia has compiled a nice little list of hotels that are all 40-ish percent off for the holiday weekend. Some of your best, most centrally-located deals are going to be at the JDV boutiques in the area: Hotel Rex is going for $114 on Friday and Saturday, and $104 on Sunday night with the Expedia sale. Hotel Adagio is going for $113, while you can get Personality Hotels' Hotel Union Square for $137 each night from Friday through Sunday nights (and they have free WiFi, just in case you don't get Monday off).
If you really want to score a major deal, the primarily-for-biz-travelers Sofitel San Francisco Bay is going for only $80, but it's located in Redwood City, which is smack in the middle between San Fran and San Jose. You might spend that extra savings on transportation, though — but that's a pretty posh property.
Check out the whole Expedia Memorial Day Sale here.
Tags: Adelaide Hotels / Expedia / Hotel Awards / Australia Hotels / → All Tags
Nobody's Heard Of Australia's Best Hotel
Expedia gave Australian hotel-goers a bit of a surprise this week when they announced that their top 1000 hotels list included an Adelaide hotel as the best Aussie representative.
The South Australian capital city doesn't get too much attention from either vacation or business travelers, but at least according to this survey it's got the best hotel in the whole country: the Majestic Roof Garden Hotel. The 120-room Majestic rated 24th best in the world, even though it's only been open for five years.
As you'd be guessing from the name, this place does have a pretty cool roof garden. It's also in a good location near the main shopping area of Rundle Mall, and since two thirds of its guests are business travelers, it's obviously well-placed for them as well.
And the big bonus is that you get the apparently best hotel in Australia for a pretty cheap rate. For example, they've got an autumn special (that's now in Australia) with a Deluxe King room plus breakfast for A$165 ($125) a night and there are last-minute rates around that are even cheaper.
[Photo: ellieannef]
Tags: Napa Valley Hotels / Hotel Deals / Expedia / Shell Hospitality / → All Tags
La Vita e Bella at Vino Bello Resort in Napa
Want to do wine country on the cheap? Expedia.com is offering a special package at the Vino Bello Resort in Napa with air and three nights’ accommodation starting at $674 per person, or just book the hotel room for $236 per night. The deal is advertised for a stay from May 25-29, but you can get room rates as low as $167 for a mid-week stay throughout May.
Tags: Expedia / Orbitz / → All Tags
Expedia Rocks The Fee-Cutting Style Orbitz Did First
In the wake of Orbitz' hotel fee cutting we reported yesterday, competitor Expedia has taken note of the extra wallet-thinning expenses and slashed the "taxes and fees" section on its own site. Ah, the sweet, sweet benefits of industry competition!
So from now on when booking a trip on Expedia, the price you're going to see on the first page you land on in your search results is going to be the true total rate. Click through to the next page and there won't be additional charges that take the fun out of a good deal. Expect to see major price drops — head over to the Hudson Crossing blog for more deets.
P.S. Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove for $199? Wow.
Tags: Expedia / Seattle Hotels / Hotel Booking Tips / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
Expedia Asks About Our Canceled Hotel Stay That We Had to Pay For
The other weekend we were all set for a trip to Seattle when a nasty sinus infection with a side of vertigo forced us to stay in bed. Meaning, unfortunately, that we could not fly to Seattle and therefore we could not check into our hotel.
With a doctor's note in hand, we were able to cancel our Virgin America flight without any cancellation fees. However when we called Expedia, we were beyond the cancellation period and thus forced to eat the hotel rate ourselves. We pleaded with the Expedia reservations agent about our vertigo and promised to fax/scan/mail the doctor's note but she told us the contract was binding and there was nothing she could do.
She did, however, give us a $50 Expedia credit to use towards our next booking. Since we initially paid $185, all in all, we were out $135. It sucked but that's what we get for having crappy sinuses we guess.
Tags: Sheraton Hotels / San Diego Hotels / Concierges / Expedia / → All Tags
Sheraton San Diego Launches Super-Concierge Service
Nothing’s worse than a front desk staffer — or worse, a concierge — who’s not helpful or even very knowledgeable. (Well, OK, plenty of hotel crimes are worse, but it’s a bummer just the same.)
Guests at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina needn’t worry over such a fate. The hotel recently inaugurated the Expedia Local Expert program, an upgraded concierge service that gives guests direct access to tickets to 90-plus activities, attractions, tours, dinner reservations, and more in the area. It’s the first ELE desk for both San Diego and the Sheraton brand, though the program is already in place in many high-end hotels and resorts in Hawaii, Orlando, Mexico, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.
Tags: International Hotel WiFi / WiFi Hell / Expedia / → All Tags
In Solidarity with Expedia for Free Wi-Fi For All
Expedia totally has our back: Like us, they’ve started railing against hotels to offer free Wi-Fi. After a study that examined its top destinations for UK travelers, the booking site concluded that budget hotels are more likely to offer free Wi-Fi than expensive ones.
The good news for those of us on this side of the pond is that U.S. rates were found to be cheaper here (but mark our words, we won’t rest until it’s FREE everywhere!). The lowest rates Expedia found were in Florida, where average rates are reportedly just over $1 an hour. In New York, rates average around $3 an hour. Of course, those are just averages, meaning plenty of places still rate gouge with the best of ’em.
But that’s nothing compared to Venice, the city with the most expensive rates (at least among the destinations Expedia examined), averaging roughly $9.50 an hour. More offensive rates: around $8 an hour in Madrid and $7.50 in Paris.
The take-away tip? Look for hotels with lower star ratings, which are more likely to offer free Wi-Fi. (Five-star hotels are the worst, charging up to $27 an hour for the basic right of Internet access.)
In the words of Alison Couper, communications director for Expedia: "In the 21st century, getting online while you travel should be simple and cost effective — instead it seems it is confusing and overpriced.”
Amen, sister.
Tags: HotelChatter Reader Deals / Thanksgiving Hotels / Expedia / Priceline / Quikbook / → All Tags
The Days Before Thanksgiving for Under $200 in New York
The Days Before Thanksgiving in NYC
$195 or less
Yesterday we rounded up some hotel choices to watch the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. But as it turns out, we need a place to crash three days before Turkey Day. (Turns out our relatives won't be around to host us in Jersey.) And since we're all about finding deals, we searched a few different places to see what we could find. This is what we came up with:
Expedia
· The Paramount Hotel: $129. Sure this is a ghost of Ian Schrager's boutique hotel heydey but it did get a redesign and rooms are going for $129 a night. One thing to note: availability of renovated rooms is limited so Expedia might be selling off the older ones. Renovated rooms were for sale on Paramount's website at $209 a night. A further price "chop" was found on Priceline for $124.
Priceline
· Four Points by Sheraton Soho: $195 This hotel just opened in the beginning of September and was asking for rates around the $400 mark. But now you can get a double bed, free internet and flat screen TV for under $200.
Quikbook
· Thompson LES: $170. Quikbook has fast become our go-to site for Thompson Hotel bookings. The site is offering room stays at the newest Thompson property for $170 a night until November 30th. It was a no-brainer, we booked it.
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[Photo: Vicki's Nature]
Tags: Jock Jam Hotels / Expedia / Hotel Deals / NFL Hotels / → All Tags
NFL QBs Shill for Expedia's "Go Like Pro" Promotion
Expedia has launched a new promotion for all gridiron fans. Called Go Like Pro, the includes hotel and travel deals for all 32 NFL cities, as well as Honolulu, where the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl will take place.
Expedia even got NFL quarterbacks to divulge their personal travel picks for visitors contemplating a NFL getaway.
For San Francisco, home of the 49ers, Seattle Seahawk's Matt Hasselback had this to say:
"An afternoon watching the sea lions at Pier 39; walking Lombard's alternative--the crooked Vermont Street; views of the Golden Gate Bridge from China Beach."
Um. Ok. Next? That would be the Washington Redskins' Jason Campbell who recommends:
"Pizza and a movie at the Parkway Speakeasy; picking up fresh produce at the Oakland Farmer's Market; a walk, jog, or stroll through Golden Gate Park."
Hmm, better. Some of the hotel+air deals we saw for San Fran? The newly renovated W Hotel for three nights plus airfare starting at $516. And if you're a Seahawks or Redskins fan then you'll be happy to know Expedia is sponsoring both teams this season.
Tags: Hotel Deals / Mexico Hotels / Expedia / All-Inclusive Hotels / Labor Day Hotels / → All Tags
Labor Day Hotels :: Half-Off in Mexico and the Caribbean Through Expedia
Those crazy folks in the advertising world are rolling out their back-to-school and end of summer specials -- don't they know summer is still in full swing?
Expedia is taking advantage of the apparent change of seasons by reminding us that there are still great summer deals to be had -- all-inclusive resorts in Mexico, and the Dominican Republic, no less.
Book four nights or more at AI resorts and get the whole schmear at half off. (Hence Expedia's tag of "Half Off Summer Sale.") Throw in the airfare and you've got a relatively inexpensive vacation.
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