Orbitz drops hotel change/cancellation fees

I can’t wait to tell my uncle that Orbitz has dropped its fees for changes and cancellations on hotel bookings. He’s previously remarked about the difficulty of booking with Orbitz because of those  fees, but there’s no need to worry about them anymore. The fees ($25) will no longer be charged . But if you are changing or canceling a hotel reservation, take note of non-refundable rates or fees that the actual hotel still might charge.

Since June, Orbitz also has dropped airline-booking fees and hotel-booking fees. The only fees that Orbitz still charges are for canceling cruise bookings (up to $75) and canceling flights ($30).

The changes are good for cash-strapped consumers who are hunting for online travel bargains. It gives them more flexibility. It’s also worth noting that Expedia dropped nearly all its fees for changes and cancellations for hotels, cruises, cars and many vacation packages on May 27 (with a few exceptions).

What about Travelocity?  It still charges $25 to cancel or change reservations for pre-paid hotels, but there’s no fee for “post-paid” hotels, a spokeswoman said.

— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

Image: Orbitz logo. Credit: Orbitz

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 12:05 pm by Jen Leo and is filed under Business Travel, Deals, Hotels, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.