AARP?Expedia offer hotels at lower cost. This is far from the experience we had on a trip out west. We booked a room in Vernal, UT (the Landmark Inn - an excellent hotel/motel) several weeks before our trip. Our credit card was charged 131.98 including tax for one night. When we arrived at the hotel their sign advertised rooms at $65 single. The account that we were handed by the hotel was for $92.96 including tax for the room. The charge from AARP/Expedia was $131.98. This is an upcharge of at least 43% by AARP/Expedia. All dealings with AAARP/Expedia are through India. We were told this was the "hotels fault".
We also had a need to cancel a hotel on the trip. We could not get AARP/Expedia to do anything as their "system was down" for 2 days. We contacted the hotel directly and they were more than helpful in cancelling the room, but we were told that they could not do anything about the $25 per night that AARP/Expedia would charge for the cancellation. Again all contact with AARP/Expedia on athis issue was through India, where we were again told that the problem was with the hotel. Since we stayed at this hotel at a later date and raised this issue directly with them, they showed us the cancelled credit card charges to show that they had not retained the $25.
We recommend that anyone booking travel steer weel clear of AARP/Expedia.