Honest review

Is Orbitz legit?
Short answer: yes. It runs on Expedia.

Orbitz has an unusually credible origin story: it was launched in 2001 by a group of major US airlines as their own booking site. Since 2015 it has been owned by Expedia Group and runs on Expedia's platform. So the legitimacy question is easy: real rooms, real bookings, big-company support. The better question is whether Orbitz gets you a lower price than its sibling sites. Mostly it doesn't, because the inventory is shared. Here's the honest breakdown, including what happened to Orbitz Rewards.

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We have no affiliate relationship with Orbitz. This isn't a referral pitch. We lead with the lowest price we found, whoever lists it, and say whether it names your room.

The verdict, in plain terms

A legitimate brand with real history. Just know that you are effectively booking on Expedia.

Where Orbitz is genuinely fine

  • Founded by major US airlines; owned by Expedia Group since 2015
  • Same deep inventory and platform as Expedia
  • Member prices and package deals, like its siblings
  • Two decades of booking track record

Where you should be careful

  • Listed prices matched Expedia's at all 3,317 hotels in our study, so don't expect a hidden deal
  • The old Orbitz Rewards program is gone; loyalty perks have thinned
  • The cheapest rates are often prepaid and non-refundable
  • Changes and problems go through the OTA, not the hotel desk

Is Orbitz ever cheaper than Expedia?

Not in our data. Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, and Hotels.com all belong to Expedia Group and draw on the same supply. In the 14 snapshots of our hotel price study that recorded every site's price (September 25 to October 1, 2026), Orbitz.com and Expedia.com both appeared at 3,317 hotels in 348 cities, and their listed prices before tax were the same to the dollar at all 3,317. That is the signed-out price on Google Hotels for the same hotel and dates, not a room-by-room or member-price check. Hotels.com is the exception in the family: it was below Expedia.com at 641 of 3,542 shared hotels (and above it at 136), so it is the one sibling worth comparing. Across groups they split more than parity suggests: at the 245 hotels listing both Expedia and Booking.com in our September 25 snapshot, their lowest prices were within $2 a night at only 54%. The cheapest listing most often came from Super.com (1,239 hotels), which named the room at none, not from one household-name OTA undercutting another.

One more honest note: people sometimes remember Orbitz for Orbitz Rewards and its "Orbucks", which paid out unusually well on hotels. That program has been retired, so don't book on Orbitz today expecting the old deal. If price is what you care about, the lever isn't which big OTA you pick; it's comparing the all-in total across every class of site and timing the booking.

Before you book any OTA rate, check three things

  • 1. The all-in total. Compare the price after taxes and fees, not the headline nightly rate.
  • 2. The room type. Make sure it's the same room you'd book direct, not a smaller or "run of house" version.
  • 3. The cancellation terms. A small saving isn't worth it if your plans might change and the rate is non-refundable.

How to check the deal yourself

The honest way to know whether an Orbitz rate is a good deal is to compare the all-in total for the exact same room and dates against the hotel's own site and one or two other booking sites, and to read the cancellation terms alongside the price. Doing that by hand across five tabs is tedious, which is why most people trust the first number they see.

Underbook is a free browser extension that does that comparison for you while you shop. When you're looking at a hotel, it checks other booking sites for the same hotel and dates and shows the prices side by side (all-in when the sites report taxes and fees), so you can see whether anyone actually beats the rate in front of you. When the room names don't match, it says to check before booking instead of pretending. We earn nothing from Orbitz; we just show the cheapest rate we can find.

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Orbitz, common questions

Is Orbitz a scam?

No. It's a 20-plus-year-old brand owned by Expedia Group. Complaints you'll find online are the standard OTA class: refund friction on non-refundable rates, changes routed through the OTA instead of the hotel, and occasional check-in hiccups on third-party bookings. Terms and support friction, not fake reservations.

What happened to Orbitz Rewards and Orbucks?

The program was retired after Expedia Group consolidated its brands' loyalty efforts. Its One Key program centers on Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo. Practical takeaway: the loyalty case for picking Orbitz specifically is gone, so choose on interface preference, or better, on whichever site actually has the lowest all-in price for your room.

Is Orbitz the same as Expedia?

Effectively, yes. Same parent company, same platform, same inventory, almost always the same price for the same room. The brand and interface differ; the machinery underneath is shared.

Can I cancel an Orbitz booking?

It depends on the rate. Refundable rates cancel fine within their window; the cheapest rates are typically non-refundable. Cancellations run through Orbitz rather than the hotel. Read the specific rate's terms at checkout before paying.

Does Underbook get paid to recommend Orbitz?

No. We have no affiliate relationship with Orbitz. Underbook surfaces whichever site has the cheaper rate, says whether it names your room, and shows the lower price even when it earns nothing from it.

Orbitz and Expedia, side by side

Orbitz is one of the brands Expedia Group lists. In our price snapshots Orbitz showed the same price as Expedia.com at all 3,317 hotels that listed both, so in our data checking both gave one price: see which sites Expedia owns, and whether their prices match.

Other sites next to Expedia's price

Orbitz is not the only site that matched Expedia in our snapshots. CheapTickets, another Expedia Group site, showed the same price as Expedia.com at 3,510 of 3,514 hotels (Is CheapTickets legit?), and eDreams at 2,207 of 2,699 (Is eDreams legit?). PriceTravel did not: it showed Orbitz's price at only 48 of 272 hotels listing both, and where the two differed on the same tax footing it was lower at 138 and Orbitz at 39 (Is PriceTravel legit?). müvTravel (müv AI on Google Hotels), run by müv, Inc. of Massachusetts, which says it is not a travel agent, showed the same price as an Expedia Group site at 182 of the 338 hotels where one was listed (Is müvTravel legit?). ZenHotels, run by Leaside Services Limited of Cyprus, did the same at 54 of 94 and was never recorded as the lowest price (Is ZenHotels legit?).

Real prices, hotel by hotel

Every site's price at 5,814 hotels in 358 cities

From our price snapshots of September 25, 2026, September 28, 2026, September 29, 2026, September 30, 2026, October 1, 2026 and October 3, 2026: each hotel's page lists every booking site Google Hotels showed, the going rate, and whether the cheapest listing named a room, with a button to check today's price for your own dates.

Some hotels where Orbitz had the lowest price we found, 5% or more below the going rate (each page shows every site's price):

By region: United States · Europe · Canada, Latin America, Caribbean · Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa

Start with a city: New York · Las Vegas · Orlando · Chicago · London · Cancun · Los Angeles · Miami · Fort Lauderdale · Nashville · New Orleans · Paris · Punta Cana · San Francisco · Honolulu · Charleston · Key West · Washington DC · Boston · Atlanta · Scottsdale · Myrtle Beach · Austin

All 5,814 hotels by city

Don't guess whether it's a deal.

Underbook compares the price for your hotel and dates, all-in where the sites report taxes and fees, across booking sites, Orbitz included, so you can see whether anyone actually beats the rate in front of you. Free, and you always book where you choose.

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