1. I also can't really complain about them. Things were definitely better for us travelers before they became a monopoly, but they continue to deliver good deals and retain a --better than most Asian airlines-- customer service infrastructure (low bar). Furthermore, wrt flights within China, it's not so much about good deals as it is them being the only viable option in many cases (I suppose this tracks back to the monopoly point).
2. I won't be around this weekend, but I sent you a PM, and you're welcome to contact me directly anytime. Safe travels!

HK banks love to impose a 1% fee for foreign merchants transacting in HKD for HKD cards. Trip.com luckily posts as a HK merchant.

Looking for hotels at the moment. I think it's pretty common knowledge that websites like Agoda/Booking/Expedia change prices depending on how you land on their site.

If I go through Google Maps on Private Browser then I tend to see the "best" prices.

I use a cashback website - if I click through the cashback website then the prices are always much higher - with the difference more than the offered cashback.

Another vote for Trip.com - doesn't seem like they play this kind of game and the cashback offered doesn't rely on an inflated price like the rest.

With trip.com it mostly depends on the country/language (both are sometimes important, sometimes only the country, at other times only the language).

Currently it seems to be the case, that the marketing budget goes with Dutch / Nederlands as a language.

The App is most of times cheaper than using the website.