Originally Posted by achlee

Understood, but what about the travel agent part? What qualifies as a travel agent? I understand that they can't since the bookings aren't verified immediately, it's not a comparable transaction. However, you could compare ctrip to an agency. Are you aware of anywhere that details what they define as a 'travel agency'?

FYI, Ctrip bills itself as an online travel agency, so in a way it's business model is not really that similar to an expedia.com or hotels.com as far as I am aware of. That's why all bookings are manually placed and later confirmed by their agents once you place an online order.