Booking or trips.com for booking hotels in China

Hi,

I’m currently in the process of booking my hotels.

I have a question about these two apps. I’m planning to use trips.com to book my trains (if I understood correctly, that’s the best way to do it).

Is there any advantage to booking hotels with trips.com, or can I keep using Booking? (I’m used to the interface.) My hidden question is whether it’ll work smoothly when I’m there (for new bookings or retrieving the ones I’ve already made).

Booking works really well in China, but Trip offers a lot more options, and they're cheaper. Personally, I only use Trip when I go there. The interface isn’t complicated at all.

Hi there,

Same for me—Trip for hotels, way more options and much better rates, especially with "early bird" deals. With bookings, you earn points that give you discounts later on. Customer service is great if there’s an issue.

For trains, the best thing to do is book directly on the official Chinese railways site, 12306. No fees, whereas you’ll pay them on every ticket with Trip. But if fees don’t bother you, Trip is also great for trains and provides really detailed info.

Okay, I'll use trip.com.

There's a 20% discount on the first booking when you create an account. Has anyone created multiple accounts to get the discount every time?

Otherwise, I'd like to book my trains with 12306.cn. Are there any specific things to know when using this site?

Otherwise, I’d be happy to book my trains with 12306.cn. Are there any specific things to know when using this site?

You’ll need to be patient with the identity verification process. Once that’s done, everything is simple and quick.