Originally Posted by
Schweden
I probably need to use Ctrip for a few bookings as I am forced to buy those 50 RMB hotel vouchers when purchasing train tickets. Are there any major advantages to using eLong over Ctrip? Do they not charge a foreign transaction fee?
As well, how can I book directly from local hotels without resorting to a phone reservation? It seems that most of the hotels that I'm interested in don't maintain any websites at all. And lastly, it seems that you guys are saying Ctrip prices are normally better than booking directly, right?
1. In most cases, it's possible to opt out of ctrip vouchers
2. The vouchers are usually pretty hard to use, to the extent that having doesn't give me much incentive to book with ctrip
3. That having been said, ctrip remains my channel of choice for hotel bookings (I am willing to tolerate their trickery because their rates are usually quite good)
-I usually avail of "pay at the hotel" rates, so the 3% cc surcharge is not really an issue
4. I prefer to book directly at hotels I know, but I've found that most (Chinese chains) are simply unable to match online prices unless you buy their platinum cards
-while this might seem illogical (I.e. why encourage customers to 网购?), ensuring that front line employees have no control over pricing is a critical element in the business model