Expedia and Booking.com are two of the most popular online travel agencies, offering a wide range of services including instant booking of hotel reservations, flights, rental cars, and vacation packages. With both sites providing similar offerings, it can be difficult to determine which is better suited for different traveller needs and preferences.
At first glance, booking.com is rated higher than Expedia, but this doesn’t really explain the differences between the two platforms, or what people like and dislike.
This comprehensive comparison of Expedia vs booking.com examines the key features, user experience, pricing, flexibility, customer service, and loyalty programmes of Expedia and Booking.com.
Overview of Platforms
Expedia
Expedia was founded in 1996 as part of Microsoft Corporation, becoming an independent company in 2001. Today, Expedia operates over 200 travel booking sites across 75 countries. The platform enables travellers to easily search and book flights with over 500 airlines, over 1 million hotels and other accommodations, rental cars, cruises, and vacation packages.
Expedia offers a one-stop shop for all travel needs, with the ability to bundle flight, hotel, car, and activity reservations into a complete trip. Users can book everything in one place instead of visiting multiple sites.
Key features include a price guarantee, free cancellation on hotel bookings, and a rewards programme. The Expedia Rewards programme allows members to earn points on bookings that can be redeemed for discounts or free travel.
Booking.com originated in Europe in 1996 as Bookings.nl, expanding globally as Booking.com in 2002. The website facilitates booking accommodation reservations with over 28 million listings across vacation rentals, homes, apartments, villas, hostels, B&Bs, and hotels.
With a sole focus on hotel bookings, Booking.com provides an extensive selection of properties worldwide including major chains and small independent hotels.
Additional services include car rentals, airport taxis, flights, and attractions. Notable features consist of free cancellation on most hotel rooms, customer service available 24/7 in over 40 languages, and a loyalty programme. The Genius programme offers discounts, upgrades, and other benefits to repeat Booking.com guests.
User Interface and Experience
Both platforms have been designed to be user friendly, but you may decide that you prefer Expedia vs booking.com or vice versa. It is worth trying both to see which one you prefer and which suits your needs better.
Expedia
Expedia’s website and mobile app feature a clean, modern design with easily navigable menus and search filters. The homepage allows travellers to directly search flights, hotels, flight+hotel deals, rental cars, and activities. Filters enable narrowing options by price, ratings, amenities, brand, and more.
The mobile app renders an identical interface and provides access to itineraries, easy check-in, and travel alerts. While convenient for basic bookings, the layout prioritises promotions over simplicity.
A lot of people have complained that the Expedia mobile app is prone to bugs and crashes a lot. They report frequent glitches and error messages, particularly related to user login. That said, most people find the app easy to use. Booking travel is described as easy, although not quite as easy as it is on the booking.com app.
The Booking.com interface is rated slightly higher by users compared to Expedia, with people rating the search functionality higher. It impresses with an intuitive, uncluttered layout focused on destination search.
Visitors can explore accommodation listings for a city or region without immediate pressure to book. Searches filter by property type, price, reviews, amenities, and more.
The mobile app mirrors the website for seamless planning and booking. The visually appealing design and intuitive menus create a user-friendly experience. Most users find the booking.com app simple to use and reliable, with many positive comments about navigation. Where the booking.com app scores most highly is with booking. Users rate it very highly and say it is easy to book travel on the app.
Pricing and Deals
Expedia
Expedia displays upfront pricing including taxes and charges for flights, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages. Hotel rates are competitive but sometimes higher than Booking.com. Members can access additional discounts through the loyalty programme and flash deals that offer extra percentage discounts on select hotels. Occasional coupons provide site-wide savings. Overall, Expedia offers affordable rates but inconsistent availability of the lowest prices.
Some users of Expedia have complained that hotel prices change after booking, so this is something to be aware of when using the platform.
Booking.com transparently exhibits full pricing rates on its website and app. Nightly rates on hotel bookings are frequently lower than Expedia along with greater availability of budget-friendly listings. Sitewide sales and coupons periodically offer percentage discounts, while flash deals provide significant savings on specific properties. Members also gain access to exclusive hotel pricing rates and deals such as free breakfast.
Online reviews rate booking.com’s prices as better than Expedia. Users say they are more likely to get better discounts if they book a hotel, hire a car, or something similar on booking.com. For the most part, Booking.com edged out Expedia for the best prices found.
However, it is worth trying both sites to see what results you get when you want to book the best deals for travel, as discounts on future bookings change all the time and prices fluctuate according to supply and demand.
Booking Flexibility and Policies
Expedia
Expedia provides free cancellation on most hotel bookings when cancelled prior to the hotel’s cutoff time, typically 1-5 days before arrival. Changing an existing booking often incurs hefty change fees. The platform allows flexible booking in most cases without full prepayment or deposits. However, there are limitations when selecting non-refundable rates or special deals. Overall, Expedia offers reasonable but not industry-leading flexibility.
Booking.com impresses with highly flexible booking terms for hotel reservations, offering free cancellation on most properties up to 1 day before check-in. Date changes are also free and allowed until shortly before arrival. The website facilitates reservation adjustments and cancellations with minimal hassle. No prepayment or deposit is required at booking for most rates. For travellers who value convenience and changes, Booking.com provides superior flexibility over Expedia.
Customer Support
Expedia
Expedia provides customer support 24/7 via phone, email, and online chat. Feedback on wait times and resolution quality is mixed. The site features a customer service hub with FAQs and self-service tools. However, contacting an agent is often necessary for handling issues.
User reviews frequently cite frustrating experiences receiving unsatisfactory support. There are a lot of complaints related to email communication with support agents, with feedback overwhelmingly negative. This suggests that customer support could be improved for Expedia.
Overall, options are available but customer service delivery remains below competitors.
Booking.com offers 24/7 multi-lingual customer service via phone, email, WhatsApp, and live chat. Wait times are usually brief with knowledgeable, friendly assistance. The platform earns widespread praise for its exceptional customer support. Self-service support resources include detailed help articles and FAQs.
Booking.com outperforms Expedia for customer support, but it still has its fair share of negative comments related to things like email communication. This suggests that poor communication is an issue not specific to Expedia, and other online travel agents also have issues with poorly trained customer support agents.
Rewards and Loyalty Programmes
Expedia
Expedia Rewards offers members additional savings, elite benefits, and points earning for bookings. Silver, Gold, and Platinum status provide increasing rewards like priority customer service and late checkout. Members earn 10 points per $1 on hotels and 2 points per $1 on flights. Perks include exclusive prices, free upgrades, discounts, and point redemptions. However, elite status requires heavy spending and points have limited value compared to true frequent flyer programmes.
The Expedia One Key programme lets users earn cash for every dollar spent on eligible flights, hotels, car rentals and more. It aims to target those who travel more often and stay for longer, and is worth signing up for if you are a frequent traveller.
Booking.com’s Genius loyalty programme provides members access to discounts up to 15% lower than public rates. Additional perks involve early check-in, late checkout, room upgrades, and breakfast. To gain Genius status, travellers must book and review at least 10 eligible properties within 2 years. While the programme doesn’t offer traditional points and status tiers, Genius provides substantial savings for frequent Booking.com guests.
Conclusion
In Expedia vs booking.com, both Expedia and Booking.com enable convenient booking of hotels, flights, cars, and vacation packages online.
Expedia provides a familiar user interface optimised for package deals while Booking.com excels in accommodation search and pricing. For flexibility, customer service and rewards, Booking.com outpaces Expedia by a mile, with many reviews slating Expedia’s poor service, particularly via email. However, Expedia can serve simpler booking needs at a reasonable value. Other issues reported include prices changing after booking when using Expedia, so this is something to watch out for when booking travel on the site.
When comparing Expedia vs booking.com, understanding key differences in user experience, pricing, policies, and programmes assists travellers in choosing the ideal site based on individual preferences.
FAQs
Can online travel agents save me money?
Yes, online travel agents like Expedia and Booking.com can save money by aggregating prices across brands, securing bulk discounts, and offering exclusive deals not found on hotel or airline sites directly.
Are online travel agents safe to use?
Can I make changes to a booking made on Expedia?