Ctrip is getting pricier
 

We have been very loyal to Ctrip for the past 4 years.

As others have mentioned, they have superior service and when plans unravel, they are amazing at finding fixes.

However the past few days, I have been pricing all the tickets I am going to need to purchase in the next few months.

elong is easily 150-300 rmb cheaper per ticket than ctrip on the same itinerary.

It wasn't like this before. They have been fairly competitive.

If the pricing was just a few rmb difference, ctrip gets my business but in calculating the savings, its more than 2000 rmb difference. (28 segments, international and domestic)

Has anybody else noticed this?

I have said this for a long time. All travel agents have a surcharge compared to booking at the airline directly; ctrip's is in most cases the highest and between 30 and 200 CNY for domestic tickets. International tickets can be way more expensive.

I book at ctrip for two reasons:
- I don't pay for the ticket anyway, so I simply don't care and opt for the comfort
- My private itinerary is likely to be changed a couple of times and I don't want any hassle but do it with their app or quickly on the phone.

For all other trips, particularly those that are private and unlikely to change, the booking sites of MU/FM, CZ, CA are good enough and significantly cheaper.

Being based in Shanghai results in around 90% of my flights with MU/FM. Rebooking and switching carrier was never an issue.

Recently, while changing domestic flights (2x in a row) , I've noticed that Ctrip now tries to cancel and re-book instead when changing between MU - FM :eek:

First time I managed to insist it's one airline with a lengthy discussion on the phone.
Second time there was no time to discuss, so I just accepted the cancelation fee (rmb37) and allowed the agent to book a new ticket at the same price.

It gave me the feeling that indeed Ctrip is focusing on maximizing revenue when they can.

But until your posting, I wasn't aware they also increased ticket prices.

My colleagues in Shanghai currently use Qunar as a starting point for their bookings, and they are almost always able to beat ctrip (sometimes by y30 and sometimes by y200). But, there is often some sort of mandatory travel insurance tacked on, and the companies selling the tickets are almost always really small (i.e. there is no way in hell that you can call them at 9p and expect to be rebooked on a different carrier). That having been said, if the price difference really is y350, I will consider ditching those guys.

I'm not sure this is anything recent. Over a number of years, for every domestic trip I've compared ctrip to elong to travelzen and about 20% of the time, have found inequalities in pricing. Usually ctrip is on the high side but not always. I think sometimes it means either they haven't been as quick to post the discounts as elong and travelzen; other times they are quicker to raise prices as demand/supply balance changes for a given day or specific flight, and the other two are slower. I'm not sure there are enough data points yet to draw a conclusion, but we can all stay vigilant and use this thread to compare notes and spot any trends in pricing. Change fee/rebooking policies are a different animal and it wouldn't surprise me if all the companies are in the process of maximizing revenue from these sorts of things.

my experience with these sites
 

For air travel I have not seen much of a difference between elong and ctrip. qunar often has a lower price but they come back too often the next day and say sold out- fare no longer available so I have stopped using them.

I find a bigger difference on hotels among these websites. Ctrip's English site will not offer certain hotels which they have on the Chinese site stating there is a restriction that they cannot accept foreign guests. I have booked these same hotels on elong and no problem arriving foreign passport in hand. Pricing is generally though not always the same between the sites. Sometimes one site or the other has a special price so it pays to check.

I have had good luck with elong.net on Chinese hotels. I used to use sinohotel.com a lot until elong acquired them and folded in their operations. I find they often have a bunch of cheaper and chain options that ctrip doesn't have. I've yet to encounter the No Foreigners Welcome notice.

Prices can vary
 

-C-trip is higher than the english air china booking sute by 50-200 rmb per ticket, & if one uses a no foreign fee credit card then you also save the 3%. But i do use C-trip for the domestic in-country flights on other airlines for last minute flight service.

-The one day, (no-shopping) english guided tours can be a deal, just say NO to the add ons when on the tour.

-The Package air/hotel deals can be ok, if you pick your flights & hotels, they are cheaper on the chinese site vs the english site. But, do not expect hotel rewards or stay night credits with a ctrip hotel booking. They will give you some status benefits such as free internet at the hotel, and also 50% milage benefits with some partner airline programs such as *A depending on fare class.

Out of China, & if in Asia, i use Orbitz for hotel 'deals'

What types of hotels generally don't permit foreigners to stay?

I've stayed in basically every type of lodging save for the "5 stars and up," only getting refused once, and that was after spending one night. Their scanner didn't work (to copy my passport), and the proprietor felt bad, so he washed shirts.

I'm not doubting their existence, as a bunch of the places I crawled into likely never had a foreigner to accommodate before, but that has made things somewhat interesting- for instance, one of the places had my name as "Passport Center," because no one knew English. Might've been Liaobu or Humen in Dongguan.

When I reviewed this thread today, it occurred to me that I don't think ctrip makes a substantial profit on airplane tickets (this is based on past conversations with its founder plus common sense). Whether they sell you a 8折 or a 4折 fare, the airline still gets to keep almost all of the money, and you get the benefits that are included in the fare purchased (e.g. the former can usually be changed once for free). Perhaps their search algorithms suck or they are simply playing conservative ball to guard against price spikes between booking and ticket issuance, but I don't believe there is any real conspiracy going on.

When we booked hotels in Beijing with Ctrip, the Chinese and English sites did have different selection and price however there was some really good reasons.

We went with the Chinese site because it was cheaper but the room we got was BELOW ground and had NO windows. Not a single one. It was section of rooms that separated the laundry facility and the kitchen. All the rooms were for Chinese only.

We asked why and the desk said "Foreigners complain too much with the rooms downstairs!"

Really dark and did not have to worry about the sunlight filtering in the morning. Wouldn't ask for the room again though. It felt a tad claustrophobic.

I use the english site and for many properties it's still much cheaper than the alternatives.

The notice is on Ctrip's Chinese ipad site. I'll give you an actual example of what we found. We used an ipad accessing ctrip's Chinese site looking for the Transportation hotel (Jiaotong) next to the bus station in Turpan. The Chinese site on ipad says they do not accept foreign guests. Ctrip's English site simply does not list the hotel at all. We made the reservation through elong and had no problem with police registration though it took 30 minutes to check three of us in.

I was not saying that the hotel does not accept foreigners, only that ctrip says they don't.

And a big thank you to jieijie for inspiring us to make this trip, every part of the 8 days we were Xinjiang were a total trip! So many things I will never forget....

The no windows to the outside-room is contagious in the mainland. Home Inns have them, and random, non-chain Chinese hotels do too. One place I stayed at in Ürümqi had one translucent window looking over another room, and another window was just a sliver of space with an orange light.

The price could be slightly less, but I'm still holding out for non-smoking rooms that don't come with ashtrays.

Since the highest surchage is, in my experience, on full fare F tickets (on some routes over 1000 CNY!) and also notable on full Y/W, I highly doubt that. Furthmore, it's also possible to compare booking classes of discounted tickets - you'll also see it's more expensive than on the airline's site.

It's a mark up or simply a fee that isn't explicitly mentioned like it is common at European online flight reservation sites.

I don't see how any price variations within fare classes are possible since they are all mapped to specific percent discounts.

I found tickets on Taobao are almost always the cheapest.
Of course it is a bit difficult for foreigners to use, being in Chinese and with its Alipay system. However those been in China for long enough should be able to cope with it...

So I went to book a couple of tickets last night.

Did all the searching and booking and in the final stage of payment, ctrip website crashed and requested I contact them by telephone.

When I called them, they said sorry the website is temporarily down. You can book the tickets by phone.

I went to book the tickets and they said there will be a telephone service charge. I refused to pay the telephone service fee. Tried explaining that I wouldn't have to pay the fee if their website was working.

Ended up purchasing the exact same ticket via elong. Same price. Same dates. Same flight. Less hassle.

Really starting to think that ctrip is becoming too big and losing its customer service skills.

Some really good rates to be found for hotels in Japan. Just found a rate for a Saturday in December at a Tokyo Disney Resort Official Hotel that's more than half off the price I could find on any other site.

BE VERY WARE of cTrip when an airline cancels a flight
 

If the airline decides to cancel a flight - then they will not find you a reasonable alternative at the same price.

I was offered a flight 5 hours earlier (not realistic given a meeting schedule)or one day later - when Juneayo decided to cancel 5 days in advance - clearly because of very light bookings.

There was an alternative flight with Air China 30 minutes later than the original booking - which was wide open. They would only offer the airlines preferred alternatives - despite some polite but strong persuasion..

I just took the case to my credit card company and they sorted it - but serious hassle and potentially costly unless you have low cost local phone calls and ready internet access.

While I don't know exactly what flight you booked, I only tend to end up on Juneyao between SHA and PEK because they tend to be dirt cheap (but, still provide a comfortable experience... when they fly). The reason they are dirt cheap on this route is presumably because their single flight has rather undesirable time slots (outbound gets in really late and return leaves at 630a). CA and MU often come close to matching them on similar flights, but not always.

In any event, in your case, rebooking seems to have been done at the airline's discretion (i.e. they buy you a new ticket). While I would expect Ctrip or any TA for that matter to exert a reasonable amount of pressure on them to make things right, relevant laws provide the airlines with a considerable amount of latitude and I would NOT expect my TA to shoulder a hefty fare difference on their own.

I have not used ctrip in a while. do they still charge an extra 3% or so for foreign credit card? They used to and so did elong which is why I have been dealing with travelzen.com. Have not checked recently if they dropped this charge.
I have found that dealing with the airlines' english websites to be a big time waster and usually just call them (for international flights)

Yes they charge 3%
 

And my credit card also charges a 3% currency loading.

I have no idea how bad Chinese Law is in terms of consumer protection but under European jurisdiction this behaviour would cost the airline a fortune. I'm pretty confident that my UK credit card company will be liable for the difference.

Ultimately Ctrip as agent is earning a commission and has to take liability - when the real world arrives.

This was the e-mail explanation I got when asking for a formal communication for Insurance company purposes.

Withregard to your flight booking(order 680274937, Shanghai- Macau), the flight was cancelled by the airlines and they informed us you need to try at the airport to change to NX109 but they could not guarantee it. Ctrip is not responsible for any outstanding cost caused by flight change or cancellation. If you are willing to try to change flight at the airport, please inform us as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced.

Why should I have to bear a difference that heads to doubling my hotel and flight costs for the two of us from US$500 each to US$800 each - because the airline cant fill enough seats to make the flight it has contracted with me viable. You gamble in the casinos in Macau not on the flights??

The trip is no longer viable to me at that arbitrarily increased rate the day before departure.

It is an issue with the airline not the travel agent. Flights changes and cancelled flights happen all the time all over the world.

I have mentioned this on other threads but with Junyao and Spring Airlines, I have thus far purchased tickets on them 3 times.

Never have flown with then as of yet.

Each time, they have cancelled the flight. 30 days prior, 7 days prior and 2 days prior.

Each time ctrip booked me on standby with MU or CA because there was no other flights available at no cost to me.

Not a ctrip issue as much as an airline issue.

@modo: it's worth pressing ctrip a little to get confirmed on the nx flight but if that fails sha-hkg is a wonderful use of ba points (I often hope that spring is sold out so I can justify the luxury of ka).

Sorry it is a ctrip issue.

If I book with the airline then it is the airlines issue.

But ctrip are supposed to be a reputable agent - believe me I'm not going to let go of this "bone" on any forum or with any credit card company or travel insurer until ctrip change their policy. cTrip are a commission agent they must accept they not the airline have entered in to a contract. The airline cannot be allowed to pass its contracted liabilities on to the contracted passenger either directly or indirectly if it chooses to cancel to reduce its losses on an underbooked flight. For F...'s sake that is effectively operating each flight as a separate limited liability corporation and filing bankruptcy if they can't foresee a return on the flight!!!

To be clear I can afford the financial costs easily and without doing a DYKWIA I can kick butt. But my issue is that the average traveller is going to suffer severe distress and not know how to handle this kind of arbitrary behaviour.

Take a look at EC261. I'm certainly no apologist for European regulation in any sector - but in this instance EC 261 would very sensibly grant a passenger travelling in Europe and probably on any European airline anywhere in the world the protection of a rebooking on the next available (and no cheating, available means available not airline preferred available) flight and a hefty chunk of cash compensation, plus as relevant to the time delay sustenance and reasonable quality hotel accommodation.

In these circumstances Chinese airlines as you have referenced would have to cease issuing fantasy schedules.

Just used 30K on a weekend in BKK with the missus and am running low. And I value 100K BA Avios at US$150 minimum the way I deploy them. So why should I subsidise NASDAQ listed ctrip who dwarf probably even Expedia (research needed by me I concede) something exceeding US$300 per pax of opportunity costs?? (see ferry cost below and ignoring the value of my time)

Returning home to Macau via HK more than doubles my journey time. And costs another US$30 each for the ferry.

ctrip today are offering the proferred China Eastern flight at 1258 Rmb and the Air China/Air Macau flight I have demanded at 358Rmn - both plus tax.

Is that case closed - ctrip is not fit for purpose?

At the risk of beating a dead horse, that's not ythe way the law of the land sees things. Furthermore were it not for these "bad" laws it's questionable whether spring or juneyao would exist in the first place. Before they came on the scene $600 fares to hk and Japan were the norm.

This is taking the thread OT, but I don't think that's what EU261 does. You would be offered compensation, as well as getting you to your destination, but I don't think the airline is obligated to get you on the next departing flight from any airline. I may be wrong, and happy to be corrected, but not sure your interpretation is entirely correct.

To go back on-topic, I agree this is incredibly frustrating, and I would be furious. However, again, I'm not sure local regulations are on your side. Perhaps they should be, although as mentioned, that might actually drive the LCC competitors under...which would be self-defeating.

tb

I'm currently posting from a Super 8 in Shanghai, which I booked via Ctrip. I also stayed at a 168 last November using Ctrip.

In both cases, the Ctrip rate was cheaper than the rate afforded to the highest level VIP cards that these chains offer (you need to pay around Y200 for the cards).

On a semi-related note, I booked a plane ticket on Travelzen yesterday because Ctrip's website was being annoying. While they don't tack on a fee for using foreign credit cards, their exchange rate between CNY and HKD was about 3% higher than spot.

just booked a flight from NKG-CSX on 1/30, flight on ctrip was 760RMB, i bought direct from the Shenzhen airlines for 720RMB. 40RMB difference not a huge deal.

annoying thing about booking from the airline directly though- had to use a Chinese credit card, didnt accept foreign cards or chines ATM cards.

i just updated my ctrip iphone app, and one of the specified changes is that they're no longer charging the extra 3% for foreign credit cards.

Just give it time, and they'll start charging it again (it's been on and off for as long as I can remember... I gather they get a ton of charge backs).

qunar.com is fake. My friend booked a hotel reservation using this website. As it turned out, the reason why the hotel reservation was so cheap was that because it was free in the first place. When he checked in at the Holiday Inn, he was asked if he was travelling with the member. My friend did not know what member the front desk was talking about. He later found out that an IHG member booked the reservation using his points then added my friend's name in the reservation, while my friend paid qunar for the booking. The whole reservation was bogus. My friend ended up paying for his room because the hotel would not accept his reservation. Apparently, this has been going on a while. Who knows, they could be doing the same thing with airline reservation.

Qunar is an aggregator, and one with very open listing policies. If you know what you're doing, you can use it to find very good deals, but the learning curve is a bit steep.

So, it's only applicable if you use the app to purchase the ticket, if you buy it off their website or use their phone service, they still charge the 3% fee.

I haven't been charged the fee for any website bookings so far this year (I use the Chinese site, but I'm not sure if this matters).

I have found some good deals on Qunar, in some cases even better than Taobao. But of course as all things in China, you need to be careful, especially on Qunar, since it's essentially a search engine.
Also it helps if you understand Chinese:p