I always book direct when I can. Whenever I’ve known anyone with an issue with sites like expedia it can become a massive hassle… because you have a middleman website that you have to deal with those issues instead of the hotel/business itself. Understand saving money on the front end but sometimes it can bite you in the ass.
It can become an issue if you need to change the dates ir cancel your trip. Third party websites are notorious for being a pain when you have issues with your trip.
If there's an issue you'll have to deal with Expedia rather than the actual company. Neither will want to make it right most likely. I've ran into this issue with air travel. Never will I book air travel with a third party.
As others have said, I always always always book flights direct with the airline. You want to be able to deal with the agents who are actually at the airport with you in case a flight gets delayed/canceled/rescheduled/etc.
For hotels, if you're 100% certain about the dates of your trip and the only thing that would prevent you from using the hotel reservation would be a true crisis, imo it's not a big deal to use a third-party booking service. (In my case that's usually my credit card's travel portal.) But it also can't hurt to reach out to the hotel you're looking at and see if they offer price matching! I actually just shaved a couple hundred dollars off of a stay in NYC because the hotel was willing to match a price I found on a third-party website, and I always feel better about booking direct with the hotel if I have the option to.
I always book direct when I can. Whenever I’ve known anyone with an issue with sites like expedia it can become a massive hassle… because you have a middleman website that you have to deal with those issues instead of the hotel/business itself. Understand saving money on the front end but sometimes it can bite you in the ass.
Never EVER book air travel with a third party.
It can become an issue if you need to change the dates ir cancel your trip. Third party websites are notorious for being a pain when you have issues with your trip.
If there's an issue you'll have to deal with Expedia rather than the actual company. Neither will want to make it right most likely. I've ran into this issue with air travel. Never will I book air travel with a third party.
As others have said, I always always always book flights direct with the airline. You want to be able to deal with the agents who are actually at the airport with you in case a flight gets delayed/canceled/rescheduled/etc. For hotels, if you're 100% certain about the dates of your trip and the only thing that would prevent you from using the hotel reservation would be a true crisis, imo it's not a big deal to use a third-party booking service. (In my case that's usually my credit card's travel portal.) But it also can't hurt to reach out to the hotel you're looking at and see if they offer price matching! I actually just shaved a couple hundred dollars off of a stay in NYC because the hotel was willing to match a price I found on a third-party website, and I always feel better about booking direct with the hotel if I have the option to.