Misleading site & false advertising
Edit: changing my review & stars to reflect Expedia's response. Per Expedia's response, I ended up in contact with agent Allen T. After reiterating the situation and offering to send screenshots proving that the mobile website did not list the hotel's check-in time anywhere until after payment, Allen was able to procure a refund waiver. I have no idea if the hotel ever received money considering that the cancellation occurred so shortly after booking; it's unclear if this refund is coming directly from Expedia, or if the hotel finally accepted the refund request. Either way, I am impressed at how quickly this was dealt with. Original: Absolutely terrible company. Our flight was originally scheduled to depart at 8:30pm. After being on the plane and in queue on the runway for a few hours, we were told that we must return to the gate since the flight would be delayed until the next day due to bad weather. Not wanting to sleep at the airport, I specifically Googled for "hotels near me with late night check-ins". Expedia explicitly advertised a select hotel with seemingly wide-open check-in times (i.e, no check-in time was indicated on the mobile site, nor was the check-in time indicated anywhere under the special check-in instructions). It was only AFTER I made payment that the email confirmation and mobile site both displayed a check-in time of 3pm. I called the hotel, and they confirmed that it would not be possible for us to check-in overnight. An expedia agent claims to have made a refund request to the hotel which the hotel apparently denied, yet, my understanding is that the payment goes to expedia prior to check-in, and it is only AT check-in time that expedia authorizes the hotel to charge their virtual card. Bear in mind that the hotel booking and cancellation occurred within a small window from 1am-2am, well before the actual check-in time of 3pm. None of this would have happened if the check-in time was displayed before payment.