Expedia customer says hotel requested cancellation because rate was too 'low'
A traveler said she received an unexpected request from a hotel after booking a room through Expedia.
After finding a special deal on the travel site and receiving confirmation of the purchase, the woman received a message from the hotel, she wrote on the sub-thread r/travel.
The woman said hotel officials requested that she cancel the room.
"Basically made [a] booking of special deal on Expedia and got confirmation. Few days later I got a message from the hotel via Expedia messaging asking me to cancel because the rate is low for them!!," she wrote.
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"I contacted Expedia and the agent said the booking is confirmed and the hotel should honor the booking as long as I don’t cancel."
The woman said that after she spoke with a representative at Expedia, she contacted the hotel.
"I contacted the hotel updating them with Expedia response but they got mad and threatened me if I don’t cancel then they will not accommodate me," she wrote on Reddit.
Expedia has been in contact with the Reddit user, according to a comment in the thread.
"We want our travelers to have a positive experience when they book with us and do our best to support them through unexpected issues. Hotels are expected to honor bookings unless force majeure occurs, in which case our Relocation team will assist," an Expedia spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
"If a hotel asks a traveler to cancel due to the booking rate, they should contact Expedia support via our 24/7 Virtual Agent on our site or app. If a partner consistently provides a poor traveler experience, we investigate and address the issue directly. However, in this situation, we lacked the necessary hotel information for our usual follow-up."
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The traveler on Reddit asked other users if they had ever encountered something similar and requested advice.
"Don’t cancel. If you cancel, the hotel isn’t liable for anything and you could get penalties from Expedia. If they cancel, you’re not liable for penalties, they are," one Redditor commented.
Many users told the woman she shouldn't risk taking the long trip, since the location of the hotel was in the Middle East, in case she would be denied check-in.
"[You] don't want to turn up at a hotel in a foreign country and find that they don't have a room. Being in the right doesn't help in those circumstances," one person wrote.
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"This hotel has been very explicit that they do not want you staying. That's the end of the relationship. Focusing on whether they SHOULD honor the agreement is irrelevant. You have no practical recourse to force this agreement, so you should take your money and rebook somewhere else," another user said.
Another user shared a similar encounter, but with a different travel agency.
"I had a similar experience where the owners tried canceling a very cheap booking I had made far ahead of time because 'I hadn't pre-paid,' which I absolutely had. I replied with the receipt and told them as much, and they didn't argue more," the person wrote.
"Arriving at the hotel there were only frowns and bad atmosphere, eventually the owner came and demanded extra payment to allow us to stay (an extra 200% over what we had already paid). LOTS of arguing, calling local friends to speak in the local language, and fighting before he allowed us to stay (without breakfast which was supposed to be included)," the comment continued.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Reddit user for comment.