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How to get a Refund from Expedia

Expedia Cancellation Policy: How to get a Refund from Expedia

Step-by-Step Guide to getting cancelling and getting a refund from Expedia

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These days, with the help of online travel agencies (OTA’s) like Expedia, Orbitz, and Priceline, the process of booking tickets and coming up with a vacation plan is not so complicated. With just a few clicks, you can easily book the vacation of your dreams.

But what happens if you have to cancel? How does that work? Can you still get a refund, or is your money lost forever? Many travelers are unsure of the specific rules and regulations regarding cancelations, changes, and refunds when booking with an online travel agent.

In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at the Expedia cancellation policy for all types of travel, including its terms and conditions, fees, and how to make changes or cancel your reservation. Whether you’re planning a trip or have already made a booking, this guide will help you navigate Expedia’s cancelation policy with ease.

Booking Travel with Expedia

For those of you who aren’t that familiar with Expedia, it’s an online travel agency used to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, vacation packages, and more.

Expedia provides travelers with a convenient way to find the best deals on flights, hotels, cruises, and vacation packages. With Expedia, you can quickly search and book travel, often at lower prices than when booking direct with the travel provider.

On top of that, you can earn Expedia Rewards points, buy travel insurance, and even spread your payments out over a longer time period with a payment plan. There are a lot of positives when booking with Expedia.

However, booking with any third-party site has its drawbacks, and Expedia’s cancellation policy is one of them. Not because of a policy Expedia created. Rather, canceling or making changes to any itinerary booked with a third party involves a lot of back and forth regarding who you have your booking relationship with.

Airlines and hotels, in particular, will tell you that they cannot help you with your reservation, cancellation, or refund. You will have to go back to the party that booked your travel.

Here’s a detailed guide on Expedia’s cancellation and refund policy for each type of travel you can book with them. This includes airfare, hotels, rental cars, cruises, and vacation packages.

Expedia Cancellation Policies

Expedia has different policies depending on the type of vacation service you get with them. Some require signing in to your account and canceling the service from there (hotels, flights, and rental cars) while others require getting in touch with someone from their customer service department (cruises and travel packages).

Expedia Flight Cancellation & Refund Policy

The cancellation process with a flight reservation with Expedia is very straightforward. Below I will walk you through the steps to process your Expedia flight cancellation along with screenshots.

How to Cancel a Flight You Booked with Expedia

1. Go to expedia.com on your web browser and sign in to your account. On you are signed in, select the Trips button at the top right corner of the page.

2. Click on the itinerary that contains the flight reservation you want to cancel from your list of upcoming trips.

3. Select the booking you want to cancel

4. Click Manage Booking.

5. Click Cancel Booking.

6. Review the refund details and the amount to be refunded. (In this example the flight is canceled within 24 hours of booking so a full refund will be applied).

After you select the “cancel my flight” button, you will receive a confirmation summary that will be sent to you via email.

Expedia Flight Cancellation within 24 hours of booking

If you cancel a flight booked through Expedia within 24 hours of booking that flight, you will be eligible to get a full refund. This is a rule mandated by the Department of Transportation.

Changing Flights

If you booked the wrong flight or decide to change flights, you may still end up getting charged by the airline. Airlines may also have other rules and restrictions in place, such as requiring you to book a new ticket on the same airline and paying the difference in ticket costs if the cost of the new flight is more expensive than that of the old one.

Many, but not all, airlines have made “no change fees” a part of their policy since COVID-19. However, the “no change policy” usually doesn’t apply to bargain fares, such as Basic Economy or Saver fares. They also typically apply to domestic travel only and not international travel.

Expedia Flight Refund: How Long Before Expedia Issues My Flight Refund?

Expedia tries to do its best to get any refund owed to you as soon as it can. Nevertheless, while they are the ones who process your cancellation, acting as the mediator between you and their travel partners (e.g. airlines, hotels, cruise ships), it’s still up to the travel partners to process your refund.

For flight cancellations, most refunds are issued within 3-6 weeks. Depending on the airline, however, some refunds may take longer, especially with the high volume of cancellations due to COVID-19.

However, if you cancel your flight within 24 hours, you will get your refund within 7 business days if paid by credit card, and within 20 days if paid by cash or check.

Are All Flights Reservations Subject to Refunds?

Even if you cancel your flight within 24 hours of buying it or even several days or weeks before your trip, some flights aren’t subject to refunds—even a partial one. Before you book the flight through Expedia, it’s best to check the terms and conditions of the itinerary so you can find out if it’s subject to a refund or not.

Some flights, though they aren’t subject to a refund, have other options so that, even if you cancel, you aren’t at a complete loss. Instead of getting a full or partial refund, you may be able to receive credit for a future flight from the same airline. If you have to cancel your flight, it’s best to cancel as soon as possible so you can still get a refund or travel credit.

For future trips, you may want to apply the “Free Cancellation” and “No change fee filters” when you’re looking to book flights, hotel accommodations, or other trip packages.

Expedia Hotel Cancellation & Refund Policy

The cancellation process with a hotel booking is very straightforward and very similar to canceling a flight with Expedia. Below I will walk you through the steps to cancel along with screenshots.

Steps to Cancel or Change an Expedia Hotel Booking

1. Go to expedia.com on your web browser and sign into your account. Then click on the trips button in the upper right-hand corner to find all of your open trips and bookings.

2. Select the trip you want to cancel or change

3. Go to the reservation details and click on the “Change or cancel hotel booking” button

expedia change or cancel button

4. In the “Manage Booking” section you will find 2 buttons. One to change your hotel booking and one to cancel the hotel booking. Either way, you will be directed to a chatbot to work with a virtual agent.

5. The virtual agent will communicate with you in a chat box and help you make the change or cancellation. If you have a non-refundable hotel booking, this is when you will find out you cannot cancel. If the reservation is fully refundable they will finalize the cancellation.

Expedia Hotel Cancellations: The Fine Print

Most of the time, whether or not you can get a refund for a canceled hotel room depends on the rules and restrictions of the hotel. This may also depend on the specific room or type of room you booked. Before booking, it’s always best to read the fine print of your bookings and itinerary and know if your rate is refundable or non-refundable.

Non-refundable hotel bookings

One of the biggest problems you can run into when trying to cancel a hotel reservation is if you booked a non-refundable room rate. In an effort to show the lowest price first, Expedia will default to the non-refundable room reservation. If you’re not paying attention, you can book a non-refundable room reservation and not even know it. (Trust me, I have done it before…)

Non-refundable rates are the default on Expedia
Hotel cancellation policy pop-up

If you accidentally (or intentionally) book a non-refundable room reservation, don’t plan on getting a refund. Hotels are very strict on this policy and very rarely will they even consider the option of a refund when you have a non-refundable reservation.

Will I Get Charged for Canceling or Changing a Hotel Room?

Expedia will not charge you any money for changing or canceling a hotel room. Some hotels, however, may do so, depending on their rules and regulations. Some hotels might charge a fee for changing or canceling your booking any time between the moment you booked it to within 48 hours of checking in. If you know you plan to cancel, it’s best to act as soon as possible, so you don’t have to pay for all those extra fees.

While most hotels will allow you to change several things free of charge, some changes, including the type of room, the new date of stay, the number of guests, and even check-in and check-out dates, may end up with the hotel charging you additional fees.

Expedia Rental Car Cancellation & Refund Policy

The process for canceling rental car reservations is similar to canceling a flight or hotel. You will log into your account, go to “my trips” and manage it from there. Below are the steps you need to follow.

How to Cancel a Rental Car on Expedia

  1. Go to expedia.com on your web browser.
  2. Sign in to your account.
  3. On the menu, click on My Trips.
  4. Click on the travel itinerary with the car reservation you wish to cancel.
  5. Click Manage Booking.
  6. Click Cancel this Car.

Canceling Your Car Reservation Any Time

Unlike flights and hotel room reservations, most rental car reservations allow you to cancel at any time, and they won’t charge you an extra fee or enforce some sort of penalty. However, if you need to make some changes to the car reservation you booked, you will not be able to do so. Instead, you can cancel it and book a new reservation.

Expedia Vacation Package Cancellation Policy

In order to cancel an entire vacation package, you will need to contact the customer service department directly at 1-800-551-2534. These trips cannot be canceled online. For canceling or changing individual parts of your vacation, see the sections above.

Expedia will not charge a fee to cancel a hotel, rental car, or activity as part of a vacation package. However, the companies that provide these services may charge you fees to change or cancel them, as per their rules and restrictions (which you can read in your itinerary). These fees are applied on a per-item basis, rather than on the whole general itinerary, so keep that in mind.

Expedia Cruise Cancellation and Refund Policy

Canceling a cruise booked with Expedia is a little more complicated than a flight, hotel, or rental car booking, so you cannot cancel online like you can with those bookings.

If you want to cancel an Expedia cruise, you will have to call the cruise division’s customer support department. Their phone number is 1-888-249-3978. You may also want to contact the specific cruise line that you’re booked with directly since it is ultimately their cancelation policy that will drive the decisions.

When you cancel a cruise, you may have to pay fees for canceling, depending on how far in advance you cancel, what kind of reservation you have, and which cruise line you booked with. You can check the specific cruise lines’ cancellation policies in your itinerary on Expedia.com.

Here is a summary (with links) of the cancellation policies for all of the cruise lines that work with Expedia:

AmaWaterways

Avalon Waterways

Azamara

Carnival Cruise Lines

Celebrity Cruises

Costa Cruise Lines

Crystal Cruises

Cunard

Disney Cruise Line

Emerald Waterways

Holland America Line

MSC Cruises

Norwegian Cruise Line

Oceania Cruises

Princess Cruises

Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Royal Caribbean International

Scenic

Seabourn Cruise Line

Silversea Cruises

Uniworld River Cruises

Viking Ocean Cruises

Viking River Cruises

Summing Up: Expedia’s Cancellation and Refund Policies

When it comes to canceling or changing trips, Expedia’s policies are pretty straightforward. It’s easy to book with them, and it’s also easy to cancel in case you can’t push through with your trip. If you have an account, you can navigate to the itineraries you’ve booked and change or cancel them accordingly. If all else fails, contact their customer service to have things straightened out.

Frequently Asked Questions

If I have an Expedia vacation package, can I cancel the whole thing and get a refund?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. If you booked a vacation package, canceling the whole package requires canceling your flight and hotel reservation and everything else you booked separately.

How Can I Cancel or Change my booking if I don’t have an Expedia account?

If you don’t have an account, you can use the itinerary or confirmation number in your order. You will find this in the email you received when you booked your trip.

Can an Expedia unpublished hotel reservation be canceled?

No, “Unpublished Rate” hotel rooms can never be changed or canceled.

How long does it take to receive my refund from Expedia?

For hotel accommodations, car rentals, and activities, it may take up to 48 hours to receive your refund. If the hotel is the one that processed the charge, the refund timeline is up to them.
For complete vacation packages, since you need to cancel each item separately, each part of the vacation package is also processed separately. Expect the refund to take a little longer than usual.

Can I cancel with the airline, hotel, or rental car company directly?

No. When you book travel with Expedia, you will have to work with them throughout the process including changes and cancellations. The travel provider will just refer you back to Expedia.

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