Expedia.co.uk > Reviews (66)

"Find what you want for less" is the claim laid down by Expedia.co.uk and I'm always up for a challenge.

(",) What is Expedia.co.uk (",)

Expedia.co.uk is a website used to book holidays, plan your travel, buy your tickets, choose a hotel, incorporate travel insurance and if your very lucky get a great last minute bargain. You essentially become your own travel agent.

Expedia.co.uk was launched in 1998 and since this time their website has become of the most used for booking holidays on the internet, giving websites like lastminute.com and Opodo.co.uk a good run for their money.

(",) How do you use Expedia (",)

By going to www.expedia.co.uk and within seconds (or minutes if your not on Broadband) you will become faced with a blue and yellow screen with a main task bar at the top of the page with various pieces of information. In the centre of the screen is what I call the Shortcut to sorting your holiday out and either side of the screen there will be tantalising deals to tempt you as well as the opportunity to sign up for regular newsletters and a travellers tool bar which contains links to currency converter's (very useful) and worldwide weather.

Along the top of the screen you will see - Home, Deals, Flights, Hotels, Cars, Holidays, Attractions & Services, insurance, Eurostar, Guides, Maps and Corporate Travel. All of which are designed to help you find that perfect holiday.

*Home* - This Tab brings you back to where you started and that is the main Expedia Screen

*Deals* -This tab gives you the latest deals on Offer

*Flights* - If you would prefer to just book a flight rather than a whole holiday, then this is the section for you,

*Hotels* - Got your flight but need a hotel to stay in? Click away this is the section you need. A lot of the hotels on Expedia do have virtual tours of everything, and whenever ive booked my hotel I have always done the virtual tour because it gives you an idea of what the hotel looks like, rather than a picture in a brochure which in reality turns out nothing like you thought.

This is the basis of the Expedia website, each tab is self-explanatory, everything is set out very clearly for users to navigate their way around the website itself with no fuss. So if you are not used to the Internet, do not panic, Expedia is very user friendly.

In comparison to Opodo.co.uk, which I also looked at when booking my latest Las Vegas, trip and I found Opodo to be unhelpful and confusing when planning my holiday. I couldn't choose my hotel as easily as I could with Expedia and found myself back on the same page I started on numerous times after navigating my way around. Once I finally did manage to piece my holiday together bit by bit, rather than all at once with Expedia and it was £300 more expensive on Opodo.

(",) Booking the holiday (",)

I have now used Expedia twice to book my holidays, one of them was my flight to Las Vegas to get married and thankfully that all went according got plan so ive used them a second time to book a return trip to Las Vegas on June 21st for a whole week.

As already mentioned, the best way to book a holiday is firstly to have some idea in mind as to where you would like to go, when you would like to go and how much you would ideally like to be paying. Depending on the time of year, the prices will vary. So, once you have the minor details all you need is the centre of the home page with every possible option available and then decide whether you want a flight, a hotel or both.

Once the decision has been made and the little dot appears in the relevant section, all you then need to do is type in the dates you wish to choose, there is even a little calendar to help you. For a flight and a hotel, you type in the airport you want to travel from, departure date and the time of day you would like to leave and then where you would like to go to, the date in which you fly home and again an idea of what time you would prefer. Once that is done you need to give Expedia an idea of which people are going, whether they are adults, children or both and then click search.

*** If your holiday destination is not available, Expedia will tell you within seconds and sometimes they do offer alternatives, but my advice is to double check that your destination is available before entering all the information. ***

If you have requested a flight and a hotel, all available options will appear on the next few pages. Then all that is left to do is decide which hotel you like the look of, and there is a chance to view the hotels before you select them and there may also be an opportunity to change your room style. Oh and also how much you are willing to pay, prices are shown per person in a purple box.

Once you've chosen your holiday you'll be offered a number of other options, such as travel insurance, the chance to book trips and/or car rental. All of which you can decide against. Just remember to re-calculate the cost of your trip at the bottom of the page.

So the holiday has been decided upon, what next? You need to pay.

(",) Paying for your holiday (",)

Once you have read your itinery, agreed to Expedia's terms and conditions, you are now able to decide upon any extras you may like, such as tickets to see any shows to and add them to your total.

In order to pay for your holiday, you will have to become a member of Expedia. They do not send you loads of spam emails unless you request information to be told about the latest offers, so if you don't want them, don't click for them. I paid for my latest holiday using my Visa card and I have had no problems whatsoever.

Once your holiday has been paid for, there is a chance to print off your itinery and any other available details to keep with you. I should explain that at this stage you do not print off any tickets, you are simply given a booking reference which you print off and take with you to your airport to hand in at check-in desk and they in return hand you your tickets.

It really is as simple as that and to date my last holiday went according to plan and we got to Las Vegas without any problems and we got home safely as well and my next holiday is less than thirteen days away!

(",) Personal opinion (",)

I really would recommend when booking your holiday that you have a look on Expedia.co.uk to check for that last minute bargain and it saves a lot of time and effort when going into a high street travel agent to book your holiday, everything is there for you on the screen. You are also able to log back into Expedia at any time to look at your itinery.

Expedia for me was really easy to use, I feel happy with the choices that I have made and I am even happier knowing that I have saved some money in the process.

One final recommendation is that when you do book your holiday; double-check that your passport will be valid. If you are going to the USA your passport has to be machine readable and valid for at least six months upon your return. SO always check the passport validations to be on the safe side.