r/travel • u/CicadaRadiant6486 • 1d ago

Expedia allows illegal air b&bs to operate

I just want to share my experience with using Expedia to book an air b&b in downtown Toronto, Ontario. 14 York street was the property. The property manager used a bait and switch tactic to relocate us to a different location. Expedia has all the documentation about this through their communication platform. We never checked in at the alternate location because it was not what we paid for. Totally unsafe and illegal too. Expedia would not refund us for the booking. I was able to successfully dispute the room charge with my credit card company after submitting proof. Six months later I get a bill from a collection agency on behalf of Expedia for the reservation. I later noticed several reviews on the property where people said the same happened to them, sending them to dirty, sketchy, sub par rental properties. The Expedia listing would not allow me to post my negative review. I trust no ratings on their web site now. I hope the $250 was worth it to Expedia. I will never use them again.

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9

u/no_sight 1d ago

There is a reason that like 25% of the posts of this sub are "don't use a 3rd party booking system"

3

u/No_Tumbleweed1877 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'm sure you already know that the debt is invalid. Clearly, since the service was not provided.

You can tell the collections agency that you dispute the debt in question and provide them with evidence that it is an invalid debt. My main thing would be getting it on record that they have been given this evidence, since is quite illegal for a creditor to report a debt they know to be invalid.

The federal laws that govern debt reporting would allow you to recover attorney costs if you had to engage one (you would probably want an attorney if you had an actual loss, like a loan falling through). Otherwise you can dispute an item on your report with the credit bureau itself without using an attorney.

3

u/SkepticScott137 1d ago

Why would you ever use a third party middleman to book anything? Did you think you were gaming the system because Expedia pretended to give you a “deal”? Deal directly with the lodging or airline, always.

1

u/dentalrestaurantMike 1d ago

It’s crazy how companies can let these kinds of things slip through the cracks, especially when it comes to safety and customer service. The bait-and-switch tactic is really deceptive, and it’s concerning that Expedia didn’t step up to address the issue after you raised it.

It’s a reminder to always trust reviews with caution, and maybe even avoid services that aren't taking customer safety seriously.