Assessing Expedia's Distribution Intermediary Webpage

This paper assesses the distribution intermediary webpage of Expedia, a leading online travel agency. It discusses the reason for choosing the site, ease of navigation, benefits of using the site, challenges encountered, comparison of experience using two devices, and a call to action.

Case Study 1

Introduction
This paper mainly assesses the distribution intermediary webpage of a leading online travel
agency, namely Expedia. The paper consists of several sections: 1) the reason for choosing
the site, 2) the ease of navigation, 3) benefits of using the site, 4) challenges encountered
during the visit, 5) Comparison of experience using two devices, and 6) a call to action.
Finally, it further draws the conclusion.
Reason of Choosing Expedia
Expedia is one of the world's leading full-service online travel agencies (OTA) that offers a
wide selection of services including hotels, flights, rental cars, vacation packages, rail,
activities, attractions, and cruises. Expedia is a company that has received many awards,
which will help increase consumer confidence towards Expedia and choose them when
booking. For example, They have been honoured by World Travel Awards as the World's
Leading Online Travel Agency. In 2012, Expedia was one of the Most Admired Companies
nominated by Fortune, ranking the top 5 four times in the Internet Service & Retailing
industry. Moreover, Consumers today look for ethical companies when they use any services.
According to the Human Right Campaign, Expedia is one of the “Best Places to Work for
LGBT Equality”, where they received a 100% score on the Corporate Equality Index in 2017
(Expedia Newsroom, n.d.) (Link: https://newsroom.expedia.com/awards). Therefore, based
on their high reputation in the industry and their ethics, I have chosen Expedia.
Ease of Navigation
Overall, the site is easy to navigate. The search box is on the top of the page so that users can
see and use it immediately when they visit the website. There are several categories in the
search box, including stays, flights, cars, vacation packages, things to do (attractions), and
cruises. When searching for hotels, there are options to add a flight and/or a car rental
(Expedia, n.d.) (Link: https://www.expedia.ca/), which makes the searching process much

more convenient. The site then will show the results in a form of list along with the price with
and without taxes and fees, level of reviews, number of reviews, pictures, the number of
offers remaining, and if that is refundable or travellers can pay at the hotel (Link:
https://www.expedia.ca/Hotel-Search?adults=2&d1=2021-11-27&d2=2021-11-28&destinatio
n=Vancouver%20%28and%20vicinity%29%2C%20British%20Columbia%2C%20Canada&e
ndDate=2021-11-28&latLong=49.28313%2C-123.11903&regionId=178315&rooms=1&sem
dtl=&sort=RECOMMENDED&startDate=2021-11-27&theme=&useRewards=false&userInt
ent=). The website is well-organized and concise since users can search for what they need
easily without moving around multiple different pages.
Benefits of Using Expedia
Customers can participate in the Expedia Reward Program. Members can earn Reward points
by booking and completing trips through Expedia website. Points can also be earned by other
individuals who have booked the trip using your account, even if they are not the owner of
the account. Also, Expedia sometimes offers opportunities for members to earn extra bonus
Reward Points from time to time. Those Reward points are redeemable that may cover partial
or full cost of the booking. The three elite statuses in Expedia Reward Program include Blue,
Silver, and Gold. Every member enters the program with Blue status and higher status will
have more benefits. Silver members will earn 10% more on all base points earned, receive
exclusive hotel amenities and priority customer service. For Gold members, they will receive
a 30% bonus on the base points, VIP hotel upgrades, and 24/7 express customer service and
exclusive special offers, on top of the silver members’ benefits (Expedia, 2021) (Link:
https://www.expedia.ca/loyaltyrewards/pages/info-rewards/expediarewards/terms.htm)
Expedia also offers promotional coupons on their travel deals page. Besides the financial
benefits, Expedia has their own virtual agent (the chatbox) to answer users’ inquiries

regarding the booking or other questions (Expedia, n.d.) (Link:
https://www.expedia.ca/service/#/articles/488/53/14784).
Challenges
One of the challenges I have encountered is that the currency shown is based on which region
you choose. For example, if you indicate your region is Canada, it brings you to the Canadian
site and displays everything in CAD. In other words, users are not able to choose Canada for
the region but with a different currency (Expedia, n.d. ) (Link: https://www.expedia.com).
However, overall I did not experience any challenges when exploring the Expedia site.
Comparison of experience using two devices
The website is viewable and accessible by using both laptop and cellphone. There are no big
differences for the website between the two types of devices. One difference is the location of
sort and filter. When I was searching for hotels, the laptops displayed the filter options on the
left together with the search results which was more convenient, while on the phone, a new
window popped up taking up the entire screen.
Link to Book
You can find Last-Minute Deals and book the hotels at
https://www.expedia.ca/lastminutedeals. The discounts usually range from 10% off to 40%
off (Expedia, n.d.). The promotions can be the motivation to start the journey.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the webpage of Expedia is excellent. The site is easy to navigate due to its
well-organized design and layout, enabling users to search for their services effortlessly.
Expedia's reward program with three tiers allows members to earn and redeem points in
different ways. The benefits offered for different tiers are tailored to their target customers.
On the other hand, the unchangeable currency in search results as it follows the region that
users have indicated may cause an inconvenience for users when they are using the website,

given that foreigners or non-residents in Canada may not be familiar with the Canadian
currency. In addition, a cell phone and laptop were used to assess the webpage and it is found
that there is only minor difference on the illustration besides the location of sort and filter.
Overall, Expedia’s webpage is user-friendly and reaches a satisfactory level and beyond.

References
Expedia (April 19, 2021). Expedia Rewards Terms and Conditions. Retrieved from
https://www.expedia.ca/loyaltyrewards/pages/info-rewards/expediarewards/terms.htm
Expedia Newsroom (n.d.). Awards. Retrieved from https://newsroom.expedia.com/awards
Expedia (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.expedia.ca/
Expedia Hotel Search (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.expedia.ca/Hotel-Search?adults=2&d1=2021-11-27&d2=2021-11-28&destinatio
n=Vancouver%20%28and%20vicinity%29%2C%20British%20Columbia%2C%20Canada&e
ndDate=2021-11-28&latLong=49.28313%2C-123.11903&regionId=178315&rooms=1&sem
dtl=&sort=RECOMMENDED&startDate=2021-11-27&theme=&useRewards=false&userInt
ent=
Expedia (n.d.) Customer Service. Retrieved from
https://www.expedia.ca/service/#/articles/488/53/14784
Expedia (n.d.) Last-Minute Deals. Retrieved from https://www.expedia.ca/lastminutedeals