Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity Kiss My Left Nut Sack!!!

[Amber Lamps]

So I'm searching for a hotel and rental car for my upcoming trip to Daytona. I search all of the different "discount" travel sites and finally decide on a hotel from Expedia. I call them up to make the arrangements for the room and a full size pick-up to drive down there. Well, the girl wanted me to pay for the entire week up front, which was fine but something made me hesitate and I didn't book it...

THANK GOD!!!! On a whim, I called the hotel directly. Got them to waive the $20/day pet fee (bringing the dog), got them to upgrade the room (double-kitchenette) AND got them to kick me a price $10 less a night than Expedia was offering for the smaller room. Not to mention that with a small amount of research, I found a coupon code that got the rep from Avis to kick me a full size pick-up with unlimited miles for $212 out the door for eight days!!! Total cost for vacation...$850, not bad IMHO!

Quite frankly all of those sites look exactly the same to me now and they want the money up front. Avis, didn't even take a credit card number and the hotel doesn't charge your card until you check in/out. Plus, they all make such a big deal about their cancellation policy but the hotel lets you cancel without penalty up to 24 hours before your check in time without penalty.

[marko138]

Right on, brother. Good work.

[shmike]

Those sites are great to get a baseline price.

You can often get a better rate on your own but at least that way you know where to start.

I'd be surprised if they'd let you cancel a week long reservation 24 hours before bike week with no penalty.

[fasternyou929]

For year's I've been using Travelocity to find the cheapest airfare, hotel, and rental car, then going directly to the company that offered the lowest rates. You actually pay a convenience fee (ala Ticketmaster) for using any of the fare search engines so the airline's website is a few dollars less 95% of the time.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by shmike

Those sites are great to get a baseline price.

You can often get a better rate on your own but at least that way you know where to start.

I'd be surprised if they'd let you cancel a week long reservation 24 hours before bike week with no penalty.

I'm an idiot!! It's 72 hours prior to the reservation, sorry for the wrong info. I was going off the top of my head.

[Gas Man]

I'll have to remember this.

[karl_1052]

Originally Posted by Gas Man

I'll have to remember this.

What? That Tigger has two nutsacks?

[Captain Morgan]

Originally Posted by shmike

Those sites are great to get a baseline price.

You can often get a better rate on your own but at least that way you know where to start.

I'd be surprised if they'd let you cancel a week long reservation 24 hours before bike week with no penalty.

Originally Posted by TIGGER

I'm an idiot!! It's 72 hours prior to the reservation, sorry for the wrong info. I was going off the top of my head.

Either way, I bet it really wouldn't matter. Somebody will stumble into the hotel wanting a room and the hotel would make more money due to the difficulty of getting rooms by that time. Plus, a lot of hotels will overbook by a certain %, expecting a few cancellations.

[marko138]

Originally Posted by Captain Morgan

Either way, I bet it really wouldn't matter. Somebody will stumble into the hotel wanting a room and the hotel would make more money due to the difficulty of getting rooms by that time. Plus, a lot of hotels will overbook by a certain %, expecting a few cancellations.

What happens if no one cancels?

[fasternyou929]

Originally Posted by marko138

What happens if no one cancels?

Better hope you're not the last arrival! Been on the receiving end of that once and nearly had a public meltdown. I was there for a huge sports & fitness show, which meant all the local hotels were gonna be booked!