Originally Posted by
moondog
I was just trying to book some hotels for next week on Ctrip because I've gotten good results from them during the past 6 months on this front, but ran into a mild shocker that suggests a "ream the foreigner" plan may well be in the works.
On the English site, they are now tacking a "service charge" onto hotel bookings (seems to be around 15%, but I couldn't tell for sure because they quote it in straight up RMB). And, they also wanted a credit card guarantee for a 2p arrival (very un Ctrip style).
I tried a second time on the Chinese site, and didn't encounter either of these issues, but I decided to refrain from booking out of principle.
I ended up going with Agoda in order to book the exact same hotel that Ctrip was offering because I like Agoda.
I prepaid for the room (with Agoda), but when I showed up at the hotel, the check-in person had no clue who Agoda was, and was perplexed by the "English" description of my reserved room (I paid for a suite, but they had already sold all of them).
In the end, it was up to
me to sort things out with Agoda, which I have done. I was very angry at them because their China number showed up as "out of service" when we tried to call it 10 times during my 40 minute check-in process, but when I finally reached them via their New York number on my own, they demonstrated to me that they actually do care (i.e. going to battle against Ctrip is
BIG deal for them... mistakes are bound to happen).