Guide to Booking a Holiday with Expedia

Booking a holiday online has never been easier. By using Expedia, you can find the best deals around at the best prices, and book a holiday that suits you. The site takes care of everything, and this guide will show you just how easy it all is.

Two Choices

Expedia gives you two main choices when booking a holiday. You can either select a Tour Operator Holiday, where everything is pre-organised for you, or choose to Create Your Own Package, which enables you to tailor make your own holiday by deciding what hotel, flights and locations you want to book.

On the Holiday Packages page select which type of holiday you want. Both choices offer superb deals for hundreds of destinations, and really, all it comes down to is which style of holiday you prefer.

Tour Operator Holiday

Customers who select a Tour Operator Holiday need to fill in an online form with their preferred travel dates, locations and (optional) room preferences. Once you have done this and clicked Search, Expedia will collect your results on a new page in order of region. When you pick a region that suits you, click on it and you will be asked to select a nearby hotel.

The hotels on Expedia are listed along with a star-rating, price and info box which should tell you everything you need to know about the resort. When you’ve decided on a hotel, click on Choose and continue to select one of its offers. These can differ slightly in price, date and duration, and there is often a wide-variety available. After picking an offer, select the green Book this trip now button to confirm your order and enter your payment/contact details. You will receive a booking confirmation by email shortly after completing the transaction.

Create Your Own Package

Selecting this option also presents you with a simple online form to enter your desired travel dates and destinations. Expedia’s intelligent search facility will allow you to narrow down where you want travel, even if you don’t know the exact airport name. As long as you know the area, you can just enter a keyword (Tuscany, for example), and let Expedia do the rest.

Once you’ve done this, you’re ready to plan your holiday in more detail. The Create your trip page allows you to select which area you want to stay in (and every area is covered!), and then provides you with a list of relevant resorts. From here, you can tailor-make your trip by changing flight times and dates to coincide with room availability. As with all of Expedia’s hotel listings, there are links providing you with facts, location guides and resort reviews. All you need to do is decide which hotel you like best, click on Choose and continue and review your trip details.

At this stage, the booking process allows you to add a number of extras such as sightseeing tours, car hire and restaurant bookings to your trip. You do not have to select any of these, but they do offer some great deals. When done, click the Continue booking this trip, sign-in to Expedia and complete the Who will be travelling on this trip? form, which requests your flight details and any other preferences you may wish to inform the hotel of. Finally, click on Proceed to booking and enter your payment details.

Top Tip

Remember to make use of Expedia’s customer reviews when booking hotels. There are few better ways of getting a well-rounded opinion on a resort before booking it!