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. :idk:

[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]

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. :idk:

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]

I'll have to remember this.

What? That Tigger has two nutsacks?:?:

[Captain Morgan]

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. :idk:

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]

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]

What happens if no one cancels?

Better hope you're not the last arrival! :lol: 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!

[marko138]

Better hope you're not the last arrival! :lol: 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!
Damn, that would really suck. Do they offer any kind of compensation?

[Amber Lamps]

Better hope you're not the last arrival! :lol: 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!

Really? I've never had that happen. The thing is that most of these hotels are in corporate groups and most likely can find you another room.

[fasternyou929]

Damn, that would really suck. Do they offer any kind of compensation?Normally they would offer an upgrade or a free stay with another hotel, but absolutely everything was booked. We ended up having to go to another hotel outside the city and pay an astronomical rate. But the hotel that shafted us assured we wouldn't be charged a cancellation fee. :lol:

Really? I've never had that happen. The thing is that most of these hotels are in corporate groups and most likely can find you another room.

They normally would, but nothing was available. According to the people working the desk, it's a rare occurrance but it was just our lucky day.