nexus30

The Chinese site also offers cash back if you link a Chinese bank account for some hotels, this money goes directly into your bank account from what I understand. However, the English one offers ctrip "credits", which I really haven't found a use for yet.

moondog

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).

jiejie

I like elong for China hotels, much more so than ctrip and definitely more than Agoda. Sinohotel, one of my previous favorites, was swallowed by elong a year or so ago and I wasn't fond of having 2 favorites reduce down to 1. Agoda's been descending into too many customer service problems reported the last 3 years; I've abandoned them except in selected situations for all Asia not just China.

Taiwaned

I was shocked today when I went to price out some tickets.

Due to this thread, I tried both the English and Chinese site.

Same dates, same flights - 700 RMB difference per ticket. English been more expensive.

Chinese - 1785 RMB
English - 2485 RMB

If it was 20-30 RMB difference, I wouldn't care but that is ridiculous. Hundred bucks USD more for service in English? I don't think so.

sniles

Is the 1785 including tax & fuel charges? For flights it looks like the Chinese website doesn't include these fees in the price until the payment page, while the English one shows it right from the flight options page.

BuildingMyBento

Solely regarding mainland hotels, why do you prefer elong over agoda?

jiejie

Reasons, in order:
1) Can book without prepayment required (unlike Agoda). Sometimes need a credit card guarantee but cancellable up to a reasonable time period.
2) Good selection of hotels including a database of more Chinese hotels and motel/hostel places than Agoda database. I tend to be a little more downmarket than the average FT'er.
3) Problems in real-time are dealt with promptly over phone. An example is showing up at a hotel only to find problems making staying there untenable; calling in resulted in instant cancellation, no penalty, no questions asked. Alternate suggestions for substitutes provided in real-time along with instant rebooking.
4) Never showed up and had any booking via elong "lost" or "not received."
5) Often elong all-in prices are better when same facility, same room types area available for head-to-head comparison. And often elong will show availability when Agoda and other booking engines show unavailable.

moondog

I just booked a flight using Ctrip's mobile app for the first time, and was shocked to discover just how bad it is:

-needed to enter the same information (e.g. name, phone number, bday) in three different places
-"select traveler" function repeatedly times out
-August and September are not acceptable credit card expiration months; I ended up going with October... and expect a phone call from them shortly (because my card expires in September)

I am going to uninstall it as soon as this ticket thing is settled. On a semi-related note, I bought a ticket for the same flight on their website last night, but received an email from them this morning advising me that it was sold out. (This isn't really a ctrip specific thing though; I've experienced the same on Elong/Travelzen.)

drzoidberg

First time ctrip user here; I happened to stumble across their webpage and was impressed/wary of their too good to be true pricing.

Are they safe to use? They quoted a price of 1800 RMB for a 3-person suite at the Sheraton Xi'an which seems incredible.

moondog

In spite of the fact that I often spar with ctrip they are one of the largest travel agencies in the world.

JPDM

They are the largest online travel agent in China which means one of the largest in the world. Mind you, if you use the other two, elong.net or travelzen.com, the pricing will be the same most of the time.

drzoidberg

Thanks for the reassurances, moondog and JPDM!