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Travel · head to head

Expedia vs ThinkReservations

Expedia logo

Expedia

Travel

Travel booking marketplace and package deal platform, part of Expedia Group, earning commission from hotels and margin on bundled packages

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ThinkReservations logo

ThinkReservations

Travel

Property management and booking system for North American inns, B&Bs and small hotels

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Expedia has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Expedia package deal pricing is not transparent, since Expedia negotiates bundled rates with airlines and hotels and adds its own margin, making it difficult for a traveller to verify whether a bundle is actually cheaper than booking the same components separately.; ThinkReservations no pricing is published anywhere, so you cannot compare it against Cloudbeds or Little Hotelier without first sitting through a sales call and extracting a quote.
  • They diverge on capability: Expedia covers Flight and hotel packages, ThinkReservations covers Reservation calendar.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Expedia and ThinkReservations actually diverge.

Attributes where Expedia and ThinkReservations differ
AttributeExpediaThinkReservations
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelFree for travellers, commission and package marginquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsiOS, Android, WebWeb

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Travel).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Expedia

  • Flight and hotel packages
  • One Key rewards
  • Car rental and cruises
  • Price tracking
  • Vrbo integration
  • Trip planning tools

Only in ThinkReservations

  • Reservation calendar
  • Direct booking engine
  • Channel management
  • Integrated payments
  • Yield rules
  • Reporting

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Expedia

  • A traveller wanting to book a flight and hotel together as a single package transactionnot ThinkReservations
  • Someone who books frequently across Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo and wants One Key rewards to accumulate across all threenot ThinkReservations
  • A traveller wanting price tracking and alerts on a specific route before bookingnot ThinkReservations
  • Someone comparing a bundled package price against booking the flight and hotel separately to check for genuine savingsnot ThinkReservations

ThinkReservations

  • A fourteen room inn moving off a spreadsheet and a phone diary that needs breakfast counts and minimum stay rules handled nativelynot Expedia
  • A B&B selling gift certificates and packages that wants them redeemable in the same system that takes the bookingnot Expedia
  • An owner of three small New England properties wanting one login and consolidated occupancy reportingnot Expedia
  • A campground or cabin operator needing nightly and multi-night rules plus OTA distribution without buying a separate channel managernot Expedia

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Expedia

  • Package deal pricing is not transparent, since Expedia negotiates bundled rates with airlines and hotels and adds its own margin, making it difficult for a traveller to verify whether a bundle is actually cheaper than booking the same components separately.
  • Hotel commission, typically in a 15 to 25 percent range similar to other online travel agencies, is built invisibly into displayed rates, so the same room can sometimes be found cheaper booking directly with the hotel.
  • Cancellation and change policies for package bookings can be more restrictive than booking each component separately, since changing one part of a bundle can affect the priced discount on the rest.
  • Customer service for package booking issues can require coordinating between Expedia and multiple underlying suppliers, airline and hotel, which adds complexity compared with a single-component booking.
  • One Key reward point value and redemption rules have changed as Expedia Group consolidated its previously separate loyalty programmes, so points earned under older programme structures required migration and are not always a like-for-like conversion.

ThinkReservations

  • No pricing is published anywhere, so you cannot compare it against Cloudbeds or Little Hotelier without first sitting through a sales call and extracting a quote.
  • The product is built for North American operations, so European tax handling, guest registration requirements and local OTA mix are not supported and it is effectively unsellable outside the region.
  • There is no revenue management or dynamic pricing, so rates rely on manual seasonal and day of week rules that go stale unless someone actively maintains them.
  • Payment processing is bundled, which is convenient but means the effective card rate is negotiated inside a software deal rather than shopped separately, and operators rarely check it against a standalone merchant account.
  • There is no native point of sale, spa or restaurant module, so an inn with a dining room runs a second system and reconciles revenue by hand.

Pricing, plan by plan

Expedia

Free
  • ExpediaFree
    • Free to search and book for travellers, no subscription or platform fee charged to the guest
    • Hotel commission typically in a 15 to 25 percent range, built invisibly into the displayed rate
    • Package deals add a further margin on top of negotiated bundled airline and hotel rates

ThinkReservations

On request
  • ThinkReservations$undefined/month
    • Property management system
    • Direct booking engine
    • Channel management to major OTAs

Which should you pick?

Choose Expedia if

  • You need flight and hotel packages.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want one key rewards.
Expedia review

Choose ThinkReservations if

  • You need reservation calendar.
  • You also want direct booking engine.
ThinkReservations review

Questions people ask

Is Expedia or ThinkReservations better?
Neither clearly leads. Expedia starts at Free and ThinkReservations at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Expedia or ThinkReservations?
Expedia has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Expedia and On request for ThinkReservations.
Does Expedia or ThinkReservations run on more platforms?
Expedia runs on iOS, Android, Web. ThinkReservations runs on Web.
Can I use Expedia for free?
Yes. Expedia has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ThinkReservations starts at On request.
What is Expedia best used for?
Expedia is most often used for a traveller wanting to book a flight and hotel together as a single package transaction, someone who books frequently across expedia, hotels.com and vrbo and wants one key rewards to accumulate across all three, a traveller wanting price tracking and alerts on a specific route before booking, someone comparing a bundled package price against booking the flight and hotel separately to check for genuine savings. Of those, a traveller wanting to book a flight and hotel together as a single package transaction and someone who books frequently across expedia, hotels.com and vrbo and wants one key rewards to accumulate across all three are not what ThinkReservations is typically brought in for.
What can Expedia do that ThinkReservations cannot?
Expedia covers Flight and hotel packages, One Key rewards, Car rental and cruises, Price tracking. ThinkReservations covers Reservation calendar, Direct booking engine, Channel management, Integrated payments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Expedia: Is Expedia free to use?

Yes, for travellers there is no subscription or booking fee charged directly. Expedia earns money through hotel commission and margin built into package deals.

ThinkReservations: How much does ThinkReservations cost?

It is not published. Pricing is quoted per property, generally scaled by room count, after a sales conversation.

Expedia: Is a flight and hotel package actually cheaper than booking separately?

Sometimes, but not reliably, since package pricing includes a margin on top of negotiated bundled rates; a traveller who wants to verify needs to price both approaches independently.

ThinkReservations: Is the channel manager an extra subscription?

No. OTA connectivity is part of the platform rather than a separately priced module, which is the main saving against a PMS plus channel manager pairing.

Expedia: What is One Key?

A loyalty rewards programme shared across Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo, allowing points earned on one brand to be used across the others.

ThinkReservations: Does it work outside the United States?

In practice no. Tax, payments and support are built around North America.

ThinkReservations: Can it handle more than one property?

Yes, small portfolios are supported, but it is designed for a handful of properties rather than dozens.

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