Ninjastic
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Re: Expedia Starts Accepting Bitcoin for Hotel Bookings
by
cosmicapex
on 13/06/2014, 06:53:50 UTC
Quote from: ABitNut on June 13, 2014, 03:41:25 AM
Quote from: Kluge on June 13, 2014, 03:05:54 AM
Quote from: MysticalPotato on June 12, 2014, 07:39:39 AM
Quote from: d2dtk on June 11, 2014, 09:44:09 PM
Expedia, the big online travel site, announced on Wednesday it will begin accepting bitcoin for hotel bookings through its website.

Thus it is becoming the first major travel-agency to take the digital currency.

If the reception is good, the company said it expects to bring bitcoin to its other service lines as well.

Quote
Expedia is the latest big-name retailer to embrace bitcoin. Overstock.com started accepting it in January, and the Chicago Sun-Times began accepting it in April. Dish Network announced in May that it would start accepting bitcoin. There are other travel-related services out there that take bitcoin, some smaller individual travel agencies and 9Flats, an online apartment rental site. CheapAir.com began accepting it in November. But none have the size or exposure of Expedia, which bills itself as the world’s largest full-service travel site.

Don't tell me this isn't great news!  Grin  Grin  Grin

Unfortunately, it isn't.
Walk-in rates at hotels and direct airline and vehicle bookings are almost always cheaper than booking through sites like Expedia.
Frequent travelers rarely use Expedia. In fact, first-time users are usually crestfallen once they see the prices when checking in at hotels.
There is a reason why Expedia, Orbitz, Agoda, etc are all struggling - they do not have the volume to negotiate larger deals within the very fragmented travel and tourism industries.
This is against my pre-conceived notion, so I'll give it a try. I have a particular hotel in the middle of nowhere I'm interested in. It's $90/night (after taxes/fees) online booking a bit over a month in advance. There's nothing I know of going on there on the date I've planned, so I'll try getting a room later at night on the day we go there to see what kind of deal they can do. If I can come in at <$75 for the room, I'll become a true walk-in believer.

There's a good bit of irony here since I would've booked through Expedia before reading this. Grin

I'd be interested in your findings. I believe hotels have a special "rack rate" for walk ins. And it's higher than pre-booking.

I did find that a local travel agent (small business) consistently gets me rates equal to or lower than expedia and agoda.

Third party booking sites are almost always cheaper.

Frequent flyers don't use them because they don't get you elite status and it doesn't earn miles.