Expedia says no faxes involved in TechCrunch fiasco

Bizarre turn of events in the row between Expedia and technology blog TechCrunch as it is now claimed that the disputed faxes at the centre of the tale did not exist.

In the original scathing article about an Expedia booking on Valentine’s Day which went wrong, writer MG Siegler asserted – and lamented – that faxes were at the centre of the saga.

The controversial writer was unable to stay in his chosen hotel on arrival as the property failed to have any record of his booking.

Siegler slammed the OTA for its continued use of faxes, but Expedia hit back and claimed faxed confirmations were only used if a hotel requested such a service.

Nevertheless, Expedia launched an investigation “led at the highest level” following Siegler’s public outburst on TechCrunch.

Within days, Siegler received a full apology from Expedia, a full refund and a credit voucher with the agency. The writer posted the full response from Expedia on TechCrunch.

Bizarrely, it has since emerged that there was no connection between the hotel and Expedia, bookings being filtered through to the property via a third party connection.

“Despite reports to the contrary, a fax machine did not play any role in this situation,” an official says.

When pressed further about the fax element to the story, given that Siegler concentrated much of his original ire on the issue, an Expedia official says the following:

“I do not know how the fax component became a part of this story, but if MG Siegler heard from any party that faxes played a role in this issue, then that is not accurate.”

Siegler was contacted regarding this latest chapter but says he considers the issue closed after receiving the full apology from Expedia.