Originally Posted by
moondog
I tend to lean towards Ctrip for hotels because of their negotiating power with individual properties (and not just in China). When it comes to flights, while Google Flights is great, it doesn't always provide the most comprehensive information, and I've found Ctrip to be reliable, especially for domestic flights within China or departing from there.
I still check multiple sources. Trip/Ctrip is weak where Chinese tourists don't go / can't go, for example ctrip's prices for Honolulu hotels and rental cars are higher than American competitors. Also for flights, especially now when creative routing is needed, searching multiple sites is required. Again, for my upcoming flight to Honolulu, I put together SHA-HND / HND-HNL on two separate tickets. Ctrip didn't offer many out-of-the-box solutions. But to be fair, neither did Expedia or other competitors.
Something else to watch out for is that ctrip now offers tickets from sellers other than ctrip itself. This is like the taobao model where there are other sellers, including the airline's official shops (like tmall). I haven't run into any issues but just flagging it.
One of the biggest advantages I've found with Ctrip is their customer service. Dealing with airlines directly can be challenging, especially when it comes to reaching them. With Ctrip, it's far easier to resolve issues or make changes to bookings. Some may argue that adding a middleman is always bad, but my experience has been that it's okay if it results in greater efficiency overall.
One thing that Ctrip doesn't have is the no-hassle 24-hour cancellation of flights, even for non-refundable tickets. I find that to be a useful feature when using American apps like Expedia.
But you are right in that in China, it's still very easy to get a human on the phone with almost no wait. This applies to Chinese companies. Different story when I tried calling Royal Caribbean for my upcoming cruises out of Shanghai, and was hung up on by the system after waiting 20 minutes.
I trust that 90% of you guys understand the "GBU" reference.
God Bless You? Global Business Unit?