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Expedia vs Travelport Smartpoint

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
Travelport Smartpoint logo

Travelport Smartpoint

Travel

Travelport GDS booking desktop for travel agents, now on version 12

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.; Travelport Smartpoint travelport retires older Smartpoint versions on its own schedule, and agencies that do not track release notes can lose sign-on access to Travelport+ or Apollo with little warning.
  • They diverge on capability: Expedia covers Flight and hotel packages, Travelport Smartpoint covers Graphical and cryptic modes.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Expedia and Travelport Smartpoint actually diverge.

Attributes where Expedia and Travelport Smartpoint differ
AttributeExpediaTravelport Smartpoint
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelFree for travellers, commission and package marginquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsiOS, Android, WebWindows, Web

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 Travelport Smartpoint

  • Graphical and cryptic modes
  • Multi-GDS content
  • Smartpoint Cloud
  • Automation scripting
  • Marketplace distribution
  • Queue and PNR management

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

Travelport Smartpoint

  • A retail agency already on a Travelport segment agreement needing the current supported desktop versionnot Expedia
  • A TMC running mixed cryptic and graphical booking teams on one workspacenot Expedia
  • An agency migrating from an older Smartpoint build after Travelport retired 8.1 to 9.1not Expedia
  • A consolidator wanting Apollo, Galileo or Worldspan content behind a single agent interfacenot 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.

Travelport Smartpoint

  • Travelport retires older Smartpoint versions on its own schedule, and agencies that do not track release notes can lose sign-on access to Travelport+ or Apollo with little warning.
  • Pricing is never published and is folded into a segment incentive agreement, so two agencies of similar size can be paying materially different effective rates with no way to compare.
  • Cryptic command knowledge is still needed for a meaningful share of servicing tasks, so a newly hired agent takes months to reach full productivity.
  • It is a Windows-weighted desktop product, and agencies wanting fully remote or Mac-based teams need Smartpoint Cloud or virtual desktop infrastructure to compensate.
  • Switching to Sabre or Amadeus means retraining staff on a different command language and renegotiating a separate incentive deal, which locks agencies into their existing GDS relationship longer than pure product quality would justify.

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

Travelport Smartpoint

On request
  • Travelport Smartpoint$undefined/year
    • Usually bundled into a GDS segment agreement
    • Distribution and version entitlement managed per country via the Marketplace
    • Segment incentive payments to the agency

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 Travelport Smartpoint if

  • You need graphical and cryptic modes.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want multi-gds content.
Travelport Smartpoint review

Questions people ask

Is Expedia or Travelport Smartpoint better?
Neither clearly leads. Expedia starts at Free and Travelport Smartpoint at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Expedia or Travelport Smartpoint?
Expedia has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Expedia and On request for Travelport Smartpoint.
Does Expedia or Travelport Smartpoint run on more platforms?
Expedia runs on iOS, Android, Web. Travelport Smartpoint runs on Windows, Web.
Can I use Expedia for free?
Yes. Expedia has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Travelport Smartpoint 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 Travelport Smartpoint is typically brought in for.
What can Expedia do that Travelport Smartpoint cannot?
Expedia covers Flight and hotel packages, One Key rewards, Car rental and cruises, Price tracking. Travelport Smartpoint covers Graphical and cryptic modes, Multi-GDS content, Smartpoint Cloud, Automation scripting.

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.

Travelport Smartpoint: Do we pay a separate licence fee for Smartpoint?

Usually not directly. It is typically bundled into a GDS segment agreement in which Travelport pays incentives per booked segment.

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.

Travelport Smartpoint: What happened to older Smartpoint versions?

Travelport retired versions 8.1 through 9.1 as of 30 April 2026; agencies must be on Smartpoint 12.0 to keep signing on to Travelport+ or Apollo.

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.

Travelport Smartpoint: Is there a browser version?

Yes, Smartpoint Cloud runs in a browser for agents without a managed Windows desktop.

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