It's likely that you've come across Trip.com if you've ever found yourself searching the internet for the best offers on lodging, airfare, and other travel-related services.
However, what is it actually and how does it function?
Once you finish reading this, you'll know exactly what Trip.com is about.
What Is Trip.com?
Trip.com is an online travel agency that allows users to search, compare, and book various travel-related services, including flights, hotels, cars, trains, attractions, tours, vacation packages, and more.
It basically acts as a one-stop shop for all of your travel requirements, combining a wide range of options from many suppliers onto a single, easy-to-use interface that you can book through them directly.
But Trip.com is more than just a website for bookings.
It also serves as a thorough travel search engine, enabling users to look up, evaluate, and focus their search results according to criteria like location, dates, budget, best option, and much more.
Additionally, it gives you comprehensive details on the services it offers, including pictures, descriptions, facilities, seat maps, the surrounding neighborhood, and much more.
Additionally, users can submit their first-hand experiences and opinions about the hotels, activities, or other travel services they have purchased using Trip.com's review system.
This enables those who are thinking about these possibilities to make well-informed choices.
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How Does Use Trip.com Works?
Trip.com acts as a go-between for customers and travel service providers, including hotels, airlines, rental car companies, and other companies that deal with travel, making the booking and transaction process easier.
It functions as a third-party platform that links people with different travel possibilities; it does not directly own or run these services.
Here’s a detailed overview of how Trip.com works:
Travel Service Provider List or Partner with Trip.com: Travel service providers, such as airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies, list or partner with Trip.com to make their services available on the platform.
Integration: Trip.com integrates with its partner travel service providers to access their inventory in real-time.
User Search For Travel Services: Users visit the Trip.com website or mobile app and search for hotels, flights, or other services by entering their travel details, such as destination, dates, and any other relevant preferences.
Trip.com Aggregates & Present Information: Trip.com retrieves and aggregates relevant information from its partner providers based on the user’s search criteria. This includes details about available flights, hotels, rental cars, and other travel services.
Compare and Sort Results: Users can then compare different travel options and use filters to sort results based on their preferences, such as price range, star rating, and more.
Booking: Once the user finds a suitable option, they can proceed to the booking, where they will be required to provide necessary information for the booking, such as first name, last time, phone number, passport number (in case of flights), and other relevant details.
Payment: Afterwards, users are required to enter their payment details. Being an intermediary, Trip.com facilitates the transaction between the user and the service provider (airline, hotel, etc.).
Confirmation Details: Once the payment is successful, Trip.com generates a booking confirmation, which is sent to the user via email and also accessible through the user’s account on the platform. This includes booking reference numbers, itinerary information, and other relevant details.
Trip.com Notifies or Makes Reservation: Trip.com notifies the respective service providers of the bookings made through its platform. For instance, the property owner receives a notification of your booking through their account registered on Trip.com. However, in some cases, particularly with flights, Trip.com directly reserves the services on behalf of the user with its partner service providers.
User Provides Their Confirmation Details: When checking in at a hotel, boarding a flight, or picking up a rental car, users are required to provide the confirmation details provided by Trip.com.
In Case of Successful Booking:
After the travel is completed, users can leave reviews and ratings for the services they used.
Trip.com receives its commission and fees from travel service providers for the exposure and customer acquisition facilitated by Trip.com’s extensive user base.
In Case Something Goes Wrong: Users can reach out to Trip.com’s customer support for assistance. They are responsible for resolving any issue that may arise between the user and service provider.
Should You Book Through Trip.com or Directly?
There is almost never a reason to book through Trip.com if the price difference is the same or slightly cheaper.
However, if the price difference between booking through Trip.com and directly is significant then it mostly comes down to personal comfort.
Is Trip.com Legit?
Trip.com is legit as it is owned by Trip Group, the world’s leading online travel company. However, booking through Trip.com carries greater risks of issues than booking directly since it acts as an intermediary between the customer and the travel provider.
Basically, Trip.com solely acts as an intermediary between the traveler (you) and the hotel, airline, car rental companies, and other travel services.