Its Always the Fine Print

I booked an airline/hotel package this morning for a June conference in the Big Apple (NYC).  Checked Expedia and Travelocity and found identical flights and an identical hotel. Expedia was $743 and Travelocity was $734, a $9 difference.  (And, by the way, an amazing deal - far better than I could have gotten had I booked airfare and hotel separately.)  So did I go with Travelocity?  Not so fast.  I checked the change and cancellation rules on both sites and, to my surprise, they were substantially different!  To cancel my package with Travelocity was going to cost a minumum of $345 and could go up  from there depending on when I cancelled, while at Expedia, the cancelation fee was $100 as long as it was done 24 hours prior to departure!  So, Expedia won. 

But wait, there's more.  Expedia offered an insurance plan, for $35, that would allow one change or cancellation without further penalty.  But in digging deeper, there was a caveat that any airfare involved would not be refunded but be fully credited again a future flight on the same airline.  I concluded that the $100 cancellation fee with full refund of the package was actually the better deal in this instance. In either case, the Expedia deal was clearly better than Travelocity.  That doesn't mean it was be the same next time I (or you) book a trip.  Always check the "fine print" and go with what you think is the better deal in your circumstances.