Amy, heads up - your first link is broken.

Wow, what a nightmare. I haven't ever used any of the online sites for booking my travel, and now I never will.

The first link should be:

http://playazone.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/expedia-bad-for-the-traveler-bad-for-the-hotel/

It sounds like the internal problem at Expedia is the small hotel division doesn't have access to the people and tools that the chain division has.

I never used Expedia. Now I never will.

Amy. I seem to remember that you had said you had luck with bookingbuddy.com. That still the case?

I always have and always will go with whatever site gets me the cheapest travel deal. I check about 15 sites every time I get a hotel or flight. If the hotel doesn't like working with expedia, they don't have to.

Let me tell you a story momof4, of a mom of 5 and her husband who paid expedia $20 a head for an airport to hotel shuttle ride that the shuttle company charged $7 a head, and kid under three rode for free.

They paid $280 round trip for a "deal" when if they had paid "full price" it would have cost them $70.

I always call the companies in question let them know what travel sites are offering their rooms for and see if they will beat/match it.

After all if you pay them $100 for a room they sure as hell aint paying the hotel more than $70 in return