Travelocity is going one better than their original guarantee of making everything right with your trip. They are now willing to refund the difference between your booked rate and any lower rate on the internet for that property/those dates. Currently they are trying to move your business to their site by offering a $50 refund until the end of the year if you do find a better rate.

Their new guarantee does put the responsibility on you, the customer, to find the lower rate on your hotel for the dates you have reserved through Travelocity. It doesn’t make any difference on which site you find the lower rate, unlike Expedia’s and Orbitz’ guarantees, which is limited to better rates on their sites and only if you find it within 24 hours of your booking. Yapta is your best friend with this guarantee. Enter your hotel and dates, sign up for an alert if the price decreases and then notify Travelocity. It removes all the work and facilitates your refund if you act on it.

Customer service does make a difference to the consumer. This new Travelocity Guarantee makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about them. Here’s hoping it is a positive gamble for them and it starts a challenge to other online hotel booking agencies. It is questionable how many consumers will work to stay on top of their hotel rates to even be able to make a claim. The numbers may be so low that the gamble is low in cost and huge in positive PR. If only more airlines would behave like jetBlue and Travelocity. We would all travel as much happier campers with such transparency on rates and reservations.