Travelocity Price Guarantee: Don’t Expect a Refund
For nearly a year, Orbitz has been advertising “Orbitz Price Assurance” that guarantees airline ticket purchasers an automatic refund if someone else books the exact same flights on Orbitz as you did, but for less money.
Not to be outdone, Travelocity has just introduced “Travelocity PriceGuardian” which applies to airfare and hotel packages, not just to airfare as the Orbitz plan originally did. [Since Travelocity added air/hotel packages, Orbitz added hotels to its guarantee.] The Travelocity plan promises to refund the difference if another Travelocity customer books the same package at a lower price.
On the face of it, you might say what a good idea. But stop and think about it (and read the terms and conditions).
*MOUSE PRINT:
If another Travelocity.com customer books the same Flight+Hotel Vacation Package that you booked, meaning their Vacation Package contains the same flight and hotel combination (the same dates/times of travel, on the same airline/s, with the same flight numbers, for the same passenger type, itinerary, cabin, and subject to the same fare refundability, or other restrictions, and the same hotel and room type), and the price they pay is at least $10 lower than the price you booked, then Travelocity will refund the difference to you, up to a maximum of $500 per package.
What are the odds that ANYONE will book the exact same flights as you in both directions (same dates, same class) using Travelocity, and stay at the exact same hotel as you in the same priced room for the same number of nights? Slim and none.
Of course, the benefit is free, and should someone else meet these requirements and pay less (but not by using a coupon or other special offer), then you will automatically get a refund to your credit card.
Seems fair since all those types of combinations could change the price you pay for your vacation.
Comment by Peter — May 18, 2009 @ 6:50 amSeems fair to mee too. What’s the big whoop?
Comment by Shawn — May 18, 2009 @ 12:24 pmIt’s not a question of whether or not it is fair, the question is is Travelocity making any kind of an offer at all. No, they are not offering a single thing. Edgar says the odds of collecting are somewhere between slim and none. I don’t think they are even that high.
Edgar replies: Thanks, John. In essence, it is an illusory guarantee.
Comment by John P. — May 18, 2009 @ 4:21 pmLike has been commented, what are the chances of all the conditions being met? And, more importantly, how would/could you ever find out if they were met? You would have to ask everybody on your flight, what their itinerary was. Fat chance of anybody volunteering that kind of information to a stranger on an airplane.
Edgar replies: Bob, the refund is automatic. They track all reservation sales, supposedly.
Comment by Bob — May 18, 2009 @ 4:27 pmProofs of folks getting these automatic refunds are out there, though, few and far between. Anyone not associated with or paid by these online travel agencies wants to share their refund success?
Comment by MouseClicker — May 18, 2009 @ 10:14 pmJust as dumb as when some nitwit company advertises “If we don’t beat their price by 15% you get it free!”
Comment by rick — May 27, 2009 @ 2:41 pmI purchased on Travelocity and then went to Expedia a week later to check prices there to see if the trip had gotten any cheaper . Expedia had my exact same trip and itinerary for $50 cheaper per person. I immediately let Travelocity know that the trip price had gone down on expedia.com. They waited FOUR DAYS to get back to me and tell me that they couldn’t find that price on expeia.com. WELL OF COURSE NOT! After 4 days the price had changed again. I would have gladly taken screen shots or anything else of the expedia site if I had known it was going to take FOUR days for them to research it. What a joke. That’s ridiculous.
Comment by Amanda — January 18, 2010 @ 6:29 amTravelocity “price gaurantee” is a joke!! Literally 3 minutes after I had booked my 6 tickets to Aruba on Travelocity, Travelocity’s price dropped $70 bucks a ticket! YES..would save us a total of $420! That’s alot! OK..OK..I thought?? I’m all set…because Travelocity gaurantee’s this ! Well, I did everything they required me to do including to fill out that form they have….anyway, that lower price stayed that lower price for approx. the next 12 hours! I figuring that I’m all set because Travelocity MUST have some type of tracking system in order to back their gaurantee. Finally, 4 days later, someone from freakin’ INDIA called us back and argued us on the phone for almost 1 1/2 hrs. telling us that we did not qualify or meet the requiremets??? WHAt?? It was the same exact flight itinerary!!!…Same exact class!! Same exact seats!!… Same everything!! It has made me nuts!! I even asked how they VERIFY anything??…and the broken english guy from INDIA told me that it was another dept. that verifies…but he couldn’t give me the number of that dept. when I asked for it!! UUUGGHH!! Anyhoo….we are currently in contact with the BBB and they are in the process of contacting someone for us. There have been 226 complaints to the BBB on Travelocity “price gaurantee” and the BBB has satisfied / rectified 180 of them. Travelocity is a partner with BBB. We will see what happens. WHY ME!!
Edgar replies: Sean, I feel your pain… but if you had kept a screen capture of the lower price, you would have had proof that it really existed. I think they may even suggest you save a copy. A friend recently triggered their price guarantee and he got back close to $200.
Comment by Sean — February 16, 2010 @ 3:55 pmI just recently had a real life experience with the Travelocity “Price Guarantee”. Better come with an army of lawyers if you want a refund of the difference!
Comment by Joe S — February 22, 2010 @ 11:43 amI booked a roundtrip air and hotel package for my daughter on January 21, 2010 at a price of $1420.77 for travel to commence on June 5, 2010. On February 16, 2010 I returned to the Travelocity website to check recent prices and found that the identical (I repeat, IDENTICAL)trip was now selling for only $1308.73. I figured this was a slam-dunk case for their “Price Guarantee”, but to my surprise it wasn’t! It seems that in the fine print they have numerous dates and conditions that your trip must fit within, so be forewarned to read ALL their fine print prior to feeling warm and fuzzy about the trip you just booked. Even having the fine print in front of you may not fully explain their denial for refund!