The 2010 Expedia Insiders’ Select hotel rankings provides Expedia customers with an annual list of the world’s best hotels rated for quality and value as determined mostly by traveler reviews. These are hotels that routinely exceed customer expectations – in their customer service, amenities, competitive pricing and more.
Now, I’ll admit that when I first saw the list, I was a bit puzzled (and you may be as well), but I spent some time talking to Janice Lichtenwaldt, the Expedia executive who oversees the list, and she explained exactly how the ranking works.
The way Expedia ranks the Insiders’ Select properties looks more at traveler reviews and value for money than anything else. Value for money is determined based upon the price and star rating of the hotel, then compared with the daily rate for other hotels in the vicinity. Honestly – this system makes perfect sense, and despite creating a rather odd looking list, I’m glad the focus is more on value and quality, than building a list that “looks cool”.
New for 2010 is the ability to search for Insiders’ Select hotels – when you browse hotel search results on Expedia, simply click the “Hotel Preferences” link, and check “Insiders’ Select” to find hotels that made the list.%Gallery-73514%
The roaming Gnome has found a new way to book hotels: Travelocity announced it will offer unpublished – or ‘opaque’ – hotel deals as part of their hotel offerings.
The concept is familiar: Find deeply discounted hotel rates based on preferred location, star-rating and amenities, but you won’t know the name of the hotel until you book. Here’s the twist: there’s no bidding, and you can see both the available hotels by name and the opaque hotels in one window.
The Top Secret Hotels tab above the general hotel listings will show users unpublished rates at participating hotels, if available. As of now, these opaque hotels include major U.S. cities, and popular cities in Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Mississauga), Mexico (Cancun, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta, Riveria Maya, San Jose Cabo), the Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Jamaica) and South America (Buenos Aires, San Jose, Sao Paolo).
Unlike Priceline and Hotwire, where users bid on a specific hotel, Travelocity’s opaque hotels are a set price but in some cases up to 45% off the regularly published hotel room rate. Choose the opaque option and you’ll be able to filter based on the hotel’s star rating and general location, and hotel amenities and user ratings, but you won’t know the name of the hotel until you book.
Of the big four OTA’s – Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline – Travelocity is the first to offer one search that pulls up general hotel results and opaque results in the same window. Why the change? It’s a new way to put the power of purchase in the consumers hands. I took the new site for a spin and here’s what I found:
My search included 3- to 5-star hotels in Boston for this weekend, March 27-28, between $50 and $200 night.
Travelocity returned six hotels – three in the downtown Boston area; three in neighboring suburbs. I choose the 4-star hotel located in Boston’s downtown/waterfront district, with a pool and free Internet access, a user rating of 4/5 and a lowest price per night of $105. My total came to $121.39 (nightly room rate plus taxes).On the next pages I can confirm the room, location and rate, and after putting in a credit card and securing the transaction, you’ll find out the name of the hotel.
As a comparison, I used the same specifications on Priceline and was returned one hotel that matched my needs for $189/night. Travelocity wouldn’t divulge the hotels they’re working with, but Lesley Harris, Vice President of Hotels at Travelocity, told me:
“Travelocity is responding to the needs of our customers, as well as our hotel partners. In today’s economy customers are searching for deals and hotels are looking for a way to drive bookings – Top Secret Hotels is able to accomplish both. We also know that a number of people who currently shop on our site end up going elsewhere simply to buy an opaque product, we now can save customers the hassle of going between sites by providing every type of shopper with what they need all in one place.”
The Travelocity star ratings are based on research from the Travelocity team which may include on-site inspections, post-trip customer feedback, and quality of amenities and staff, in accordance with industry standards. Travelocity sent me a copy of their rating system descriptions and it’s pretty standard:
5-star: Luxury properties that exhibit an exceptionally high degree of service and hospitality. 4-star: Superior properties with a high level of service and hospitality, as well as a wide variety of amenities and upscale facilities. 3-star: A high level of service with additional amenities, features, and facilities. 2-star: These properties meet a traveler’s basic needs for comfort and convenience while offering moderate aesthetic enhancements in the property grounds, room decor, and quality of furnishings. 1-star:These properties meet a budget-traveler’s basic needs for comfort and convenience. They tend to be located near major attractions or thoroughfares and provide clean guest rooms.
Overall, an interesting concept from Travelocity. As someone who books hotels frequently, it’s nice to have the option to choose from the exact hotel property, or just press your luck with the hotel price without having to bid. Just remember: Top Secret Hotel reservations are non-changeable, non-refundable and non-transferable. Your credit card will be charged in full at the time of booking. If you’re headed to a new city or destination, I highly recommend you book with a hotel you know, or a brand you’re comfortable with. For those frequent visitors to a repeat destination, it’s worth pressing your luck for a discounted rate.
This week, Expedia released a renewed iPhone application designed to be a link between your phone and your Expedia reservations.
The app is called TripAssist, and it provides one-stop-shopping for anything Expedia related. Once you link the app to your Expedia account, you get instant access to current and past itineraries.
One of the cooler features inside TripAssist is the flight status tool. Not only can you set up flight status notifications, the app also displays seat maps from SeatGuru, along with information about available power ports and whether or not you can expect to be fed.
The flight notification tool sends alerts by text message or email, bypassing the (often useless) Apple push notification system.
The “shop” portion of TripAssist does not actually allow you to book trips directly inside the application – it merely links to mobile versions of Expedia pages.
All in all, a pretty solid application. The lack of in-app bookings is a tad disappointing, but the itinerary management, seat maps and flight status features really make up for this. There are of course alternatives to managing your itineraries (TripIt and TripDeck), but Expedia customers can really benefit from having everything in one place.
A new search tool from Expedia and Hotels.com makes it easier for consumers to find hotels that offer accommodations for disabled travelers. The search function will allow travelers to filter results to only show those hotels with accessibility equipment for the deaf, handicap-accessible bathrooms, Braille or raised signage, a roll-in shower and more. Once a hotel is located, a customer can request one or more of the specific accessibility features on Expedia.com’s online Reservation Page.
I did a quick search for hotels in Miami with accessibility features on Hotels.com and Expedia.com. The results were plentiful, and included properties that range in price and star-rating. The Fontainebleau Miami Beach, for example, offers rooms equipped with accessibility equipment for the deaf, raised signage, handicapped parking, and rooms with roll-in showers. The Marriott Miami Biscayne Beach offers similar options, as do the 62 other hotels that came up after I filtered my search. However, all these hotels note that amenities may be available only in some rooms and some amenities may incur additional fees, so it’s best to double check with your Expedia or Hotels.com customer service rep about any additional fees before booking.
To ensure the hotel is absolutely accessible for the needs of the traveler, Expedia.com and Hotels.com customer service team will review the traveler’s request for the hotel booking and contact the hotel to verify the specific needs of the traveler are met. Expedia or Hotels.com will follow up with call to the consumer to confirm the reservation or aid in booking another hotel.
According to HotelMarketing.com, Expedia.com offers more than 15,000 hotels that publish accessibility options.
AT&T and Expedia are partnering to provide travelers with easier access to hotels and destination information. The new agreement allows travelers to check hotel rates, room availability and book rooms on AT&T Interactive’s YELLOWPAGES.COM and YP.COM. The platform will be co-branded with Hotels.com, a subsidiary of Expedia.com.
HotelMarketing.com reported the new this morning, but no word on when the new hotel booking functionality will be launched. Once it’s launched, users can search hotels, find the best rates, book rooms and get destination information including downloadable maps, nearby restaurants and bars, and local tourist attractions.
“Our agreement with Expedia creates a natural extension to the travel and hotel information already available on YELLOWPAGES.COM and YP.COM – enhancing the local search experience for those who visit our sites,” said Mike Fordyce, senior vice president of Business Development for AT&T Interactive. “Adding the ability to check for hotel availability and book rooms increases user engagement, giving our advertisers the opportunity to gain exposure among a growing audience who is turning to the Internet for travel information.”%Gallery-84586%