Orbitz and Cheaptickets for hotel bookings...are they reliable ?

[desafinado74]

Hello everyone,
Has anyone here used Orbitz and Cheaptickets for hotel bookings ?
Their prices are cheaper than Booking.com and many other popular hotel booking sites.
Are they reliable and reputable ?
What are peoples' experiences with them ?

 

[jbman]

Used Orbitz heaps of times. Just note the prices don't show taxes until the end at the checkout

 

[perthjay85]

I often find checking ozbargain is the best thing to do for reviews.

cheaptickets:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/cheaptickets

Orbitz:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/orbitz

They both seem to have a pretty good rating and there are plenty of people on there that complain, so if they are unreliable you will hear about it.

 

[desafinado74]

Thanks for the replies ! I just realised that the prices are quoted in USD $ ! No wonder they look cheaper , oopps

 

[perthjay85]

Thanks for the replies ! I just realised that the prices are quoted in USD $ ! No wonder they look cheaper , oopps

From what I have read, cheaptickets nearly always have sales listed on their homepage.
For example I just saw code: FEELINHOT18 for 18% off, but this wouldn't apply to all hotels.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hello everyone,
Has anyone here used Orbitz and Cheaptickets for hotel bookings ?
Their prices are cheaper than Booking.com and many other popular hotel booking sites.
Are they reliable and reputable ?
What are peoples' experiences with them ?

Are they reputable? Expedia owns orbitz and cheaptickets... along with hotwire, travelocity, trivago, hotels. com and wotif (and many more!)

So if you have used any of those sites you have used the same company.

As perthjay points out, both orbitz and cheaptickets have discount codes available on their home page which you can apply to eligible hotels on the checkout page. The coupon almost always only applies to independent hotels (ie, excludes chains).

I find the discount codes often make orbitz and cheaptickets cheaper than agoda/booking. com... but you need to shop around.

Using hotelscombined rather than trivago will help find the cheapest prices because hotelscombined is not owned by expedia. Or at least doesn't appear to be... yet!

Clicking a price on hotelscombined, even for an hotel offered by orbitz, can lead to cheaper prices than going straight to orbitz or cheaptickets without going through hotels combined. And you can even then stack the discount code. (Example, hotel $90 through orbitz direct, but same room $81 through orbitz going via hotelscombined)

 

[dajop]

Are they reputable? Expedia owns orbitz and cheaptickets... along with hotwire, travelocity, trivago, hotels.com and wotif (and many more!)

So if you have used any of those sites you have used the same company)

And if you don't use one of their sites, chances are that the site you are using is owned by priceline (priceline.com, booking.com, agoda, kayak, cheapflights).

 

[desafinado74]

Wow, thanks everyone for the helpful replies ! Good to know that these 2 websites are fine.

 

[Tiki]

I booked most of the Africa hotels for the April & May trip using 15% codes on Orbitz in Jan/Feb. Everything went well, no problems but a couple times I had to tell the receptionist to "Look in the Expedia folder" as they come through via Expedia so some hotels print the bookings and save them there. Orbitz isn't as well known.

 

[Skrambled]

Used Cheaptickets dozens of times - always have a 16-18% discount so are usually the best price (compare with Hotelscombined first). The bookings show up at the hotel as Expedia.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Has anyone here used Orbitz and Cheaptickets for hotel bookings ?

Orbitz is the main site I use to book hotels, supplemented by CheapTickets (which is part of the Orbitz group and very similar though not identical).

Are they reliable and reputable ?

Orbitz was founded by Continental, Delta, Northwest, United and later AA, over 17 years ago. It has a role in the quite interesting history of online travel, and was acquired by Expedia in 2015 for over $1 billion. It's no small thing.

Big doesn't mean perfect, but it's not a dodgy little operation that's going to disappear overnight after you make a booking.

What are peoples' experiences with them ?

I've made plenty of bookings through Orbitz and CheapTickets (and the now defunct HotelClub, which was another brand operated by the group). No issues with bookings (or refunds from cancelled bookings), as long as you're aware that the hotel will see it under Expedia rather than Orbitz.

Someone I know did have to do a chargeback against them recently, but that person still uses Orbitz.

There's also Orbitz Rewards and Orbucks, which add a bit more value. Orbucks are earned and can be redeemed instantly, and it's not remotely hard to make Platinum (12+ nights). I've stayed in a few VIP hotels and gotten some benefits like wine, free wifi, late checkout and/or the occasional upgrade. VIP hotels shouldn't be a driver, however.

Thanks for the replies ! I just realised that the prices are quoted in USD $ ! No wonder they look cheaper , oopps

Orbitz and CheapTickets more or less constantly offer 15-18% discount codes, which usually makes their prices cheaper even after conversion to AUD. I don't bother doing price comparisons most of the time as long as there is a code.

However, codes can only be used twice per registered account per promo period, and recently they've cycled some 10% codes in the mix as well as making the periods between codes longer.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Using hotelscombined rather than trivago will help find the cheapest prices because hotelscombined is not owned by expedia. Or at least doesn't appear to be... yet!

HotelsCombined has joined Team Booking (under the Kayak unit):-

Booking Holdings Buys HotelsCombined as Kayak Expands Into Asia Pacific - Skift

Analysts Are Puzzled Why Booking Holdings Acquired HotelsCombined - Skift