Decoding the Truth: Is Trip.com Legit or a Scam?

According to recent reports, the travel industry is starting to fully recover after the major hit it took following the pandemic.

If you’re interested in booking a trip, you’ll find plenty of options online that offer reservations, whether they’re plane tickets or hotel rooms, including Trip.com.

So, is Trip.com legit?

In today’s guide, we’ll take a closer look at the company, what it offers, and what customers think of it!

What Is Trip.com?

Trip.com is one of the most popular online travel agencies in the world. The company specializes in all kinds of reservations for travel purposes, including hotels, flights, car rentals, train tickets, and more!

The company is currently operated by Travel Singapore Pte. Ltd, which is a licensed entity and a part of the Trip.com Group.

Despite being a reputable name in the industry, the current format Trip.com has only been around since 2017.

This makes it a relatively new company, especially when we compare it to market giants like Booking and Trivago.

However, the company has technically been around for longer than that, as it’s a rebrand of the Chinese company Ctrip.com International, Ltd. The original company was founded in June 1999 in Shanghai, China.

In fact, according to the company’s website, the parent company has been listed under the NASDAQ stock exchange since 2003.

Besides being one of the large companies out there, Trip.com is also a parent company to many successful entities in the industry. This includes Skyscanner, Travix, Qunar, and more.

How Does Trip.com Work?

The company has partnerships with a huge variety of hotels, airlines, travel agencies, and other travel-related services all over the world.

This allows the company to offer tickets and reservations for competitive prices.

One of the main secrets behind the company’s success is its huge database. The company has a network of around 1.4 million hotels from over 200 countries and regions around the world.

It also has over 2.0 million flight routes that connect over 5,000 destinations all over the world.

Additionally, the company has over 400 million users. To serve this huge number of customers, the company has over 45,100 employees worldwide.

Trip.com also has a mobile app available for both Android and iOS users. The app is fairly easy to use and offers all the features available on the main website.

Common Questions to Understand

If you’re interested in giving trip.com a try, you might be wondering about some aspects.

In this section, we’ll take a closer look at some of the most common questions that Trip.com users have:

Why is Trip.com So Cheap?

One of the primary benefits of using Trip.com is its highly affordable prices. In fact, booking through Trip.com is usually a lot cheaper than booking directly.

Trip.com actually achieves that by taking advantage of two aspects, which are discounts and commissions.

As a travel agent, Trip.com earns a commission for every successful booking through the website.

However, instead of taking the whole commission for itself, the company passes some of it to the customer.

This ends up lowering the prices significantly. While this means Trip.com doesn’t earn as much per person, it relies on having so many customers to cover these losses and still turns a profit.

The other trick up their sleeves is discounts. Unlike regular customers, travel agencies get a highly discounted price for flights and hotel accommodations.

This allows them to sell these tickets a lot cheaper than the airline or the hotel’s official prices.

Is Trip.com Good for Flights?

Trip.com is an excellent resource for flights for many reasons. For starters, the company has a far-reaching network that connects millions of flights all over the world.

This allows you to find information on almost all commercial flights across the globe.

Not only that, but you can also learn about the ticket prices and departure/arrival times. You can use this information to both compare and book the most suitable flight ticket for you.

In addition to offering flights for much cheaper than carriers, Trip.com also offers a huge range of payment methods. This makes Trip.com both a reliable and affordable travel agent for flights.

One thing you should keep in mind here is that cancellation through Trip.com can be somewhat tricky. Yet, this is the case with any bookings made through almost any third-party agent out there.

For that reason, if you’re still unsure about the flight ticket, it’s usually best that you avoid booking it, especially if it’s an expensive one.

Is Trip.com Legit?

The short answer to this question is yes. Trip.com is a perfectly legitimate business. Whether you’re using the company’s website or mobile app, they’re both safe and easy to use.

The company also provides plenty of guarantees and reasons to establish its legitimacy as one of the most successful and popular online travel agents in the world.

While there are various reasons to find Trip.com legit, here are some of the major reasons users trust this company:

Has Been Around for a Long Time

In total, Trip.com has over two decades of experience as a travel agent website.

Throughout the years, the company served hundreds of thousands of customers. This means that it established itself as one of the authority figures in the business.

Plenty of Positive Reviews

Although we’re going to take a closer look at the company’s record and reviews later on, it’s fair to say that the company’s ratings are fairly positive.

Many satisfied clients shared their pleasant experiences while booking flights through the platform. These include good prices, ease of use, and much more!

Publish Its Registration and Accreditation

Registration information is one of the main ways to establish legitimacy as an online travel agent. Trip.com publishes this data publicly, as its registration number is 201613701E.

The company also published its license number, which is 02943 under the Travel Agents Act of Singapore.

Publicly-Traded Company

Trip.com launched its initial public offering (IPO) in April 2021 in Hong Kong. To go public, companies must submit multiple documents to various financial institutions.

These include information about the company’s assets, a clear business plan, and other guarantees of the company’s financial stability.

For that reason, many people regard a successful IPO as a testimony of legitimacy, which applies to Trip.com.

Is Trip.com Reliable?

Trip.com is a highly reliable online travel agency. One of the best ways to assess a travel agency’s reliability is by the quality and quantity of services it offers.

Here are some of the reasons we find Trip.com reliable.

• Wide Variety of Travel Services: While some companies specialize in hotel booking or flight tickets alone, Trip.com does it all. You can use the website to browse through a wide range of items, such as flights, accommodations, train tickets, tours, and more!
• Competitive Pricing: The main reason to use online travel agents is to get a better price for your travel ticket/accommodation, and Trip.com does that perfectly. Not only that, but you can also use features like price alerts to keep track of the items you’re interested in.
• User-Friendly Platforms: Whether you’re browsing Trip.com through the website or through the mobile app, you’ll find no trouble booking your travel. Additionally, you can easily compare prices and find plenty of information about the items you’re looking for. This includes dates, destinations, amenities, special features, and much more!

Is Trip.com Safe?

Trip.com has a long-standing reputation for being an excellent website when it comes to safety. This includes both scam protection and cybersecurity.

For starters, the company is one of the oldest online travel agents in the world, and over the years, there wasn’t any news of major scandals about scams or foul play by the company.

The company posts and updates its legal information on the official website. The company’s terms and conditions are also fairly similar to other reputable online travel agencies.

In addition to that, the website features an SSL certificate and other advanced features to ensure the safety of customer payments and billing information on its database.

What Are Users Saying About Trip.com?

Although Trip.com has been in business for many years, it debuted as an online booking agency in 2017. This makes it a relatively new company with a limited number of reviews and user experiences.

However, you can still find reviews of the company on multiple websites, especially TrustPilot and TripAdvisor.

Here’s a quick look at some of the aspects that they liked about the company:

What Trustpilot Reviewers Liked About Trip.com

As of June 2023, Trip.com has an average rating of 4.0 based on over 44,000 reviews. Here’s a quick look at what reviewers on the website liked:

• Cheap Prices: Although users enjoyed various aspects of using Trip.com, the affordability of the tickets was the thing they liked the most, which makes it an excellent choice for anyone who wants to enjoy a trip without breaking the bank.
• Availability and Variety: Many users also noted that Trip.com sometimes offers tickets and hotel rooms that aren’t available on competitor websites. This makes it a perfect choice if you’re targeting accommodation at a particular hotel.
• Ease of Use: Another positive remark that many people left was about the user interface. Users found both the website and the app incredibly easy to use.

What TripAdvisor Reviews Liked About Trip.com

Reviewers on TripAdvisor share many positive experiences similar to the ones we discussed about TrustPilot. Here’s a quick look at them:

• Booking is Easy: The main theme here is how easy it is to book flights and trips through the website and the app. Customers and travelers also praised the affordability of the platform.
• Up-to-Date Information: Users also liked that flight information is always up to date. This allowed them to compare prices with other platforms to pick the best options for them.

Why Are People Worried About Using Trip.com?

Despite the positive reviews, Trip.com is not perfect and has plenty of issues with its services.

In this section, we’ll take a closer look at the most recurring issues that customers reported on popular review websites.

What Trustpilot Reviewers Worried About

While most trips on the website are smooth, TrustPilot users warned about some issues they encountered:

Problematic Cancellation

One of the most common issues that Trip.com users reported is cancellation issues. Most reviews mention that flights and reservations on trip.com are usually smooth.

However, if you need to cancel your flight, or there’s a delay to your flight, you may have a hard time getting your money back.

Delayed Confirmation

Another problem that the users discussed is the confirmation of hotel booking. Many customers had to wait long hours in lobbies before checking in until the confirmation arrived from Trip.com.

What TripAdvisor Reviewers Worried About

Negative experiences on TripAdvisor are fairly similar to the ones we discussed in TrustPilot. These mainly include:

• Cancellation Refund Issues: The most recurring issue is problematic cancellation and long delay before Trip.com issues a refund.
• Reservation Conflicts: We also noticed that many customers complained about incorrect reservation details, which can cause a lot of inconvenience after long flights.

However, you should know that these issues are common among all online travel agencies, even the reputable ones.

Trip.com Quality & Guarantees

Trip.com offers a variety of quality services and guarantees to its clients. One of the most common examples is their extensive 24/7 customer support system.

Additionally, the company promises multiple guarantees to ensure proper compensation for dissatisfied clients, these include up to 3x compensation for conflicted room reservations or no rooms on arrival

You can find out more about the guarantees that the company offers by checking Trip.com’s Customer Service Section.

Trip.com Customer Service

Trip.com has a huge network that includes hundreds of millions of users. One of the things that shows that the company takes its customer satisfaction seriously is the company’s customer support department.

What Customer Service Options Are Available?

You can contact the company’s customer support department by phone, chat, and email.

According to Trip.com, the company has 8 customer service centers around the world with teams that speak over 19 different languages!

The customer support team is available 24/7 and offers quick replies, especially if you contact them through phone or chat. However, the experience with customer service agents can be a hit or miss.

Conclusion: Is Trip.com Legit?

All in all, it’s fair to say that Trip.com is a legitimate website that provides a proper travel booking experience.

The company is part of a large enterprise that has been in the online booking industry for many years.

The company has its registration numbers and license numbers available on the website, which greatly improves its trustworthiness.

It also provides real services with competitive prices and plenty of great features to make the booking process easy for everyone.

With that being said, like other third-party booking websites, the company has some issues with confirmation and cancellation.

However, it’s nothing too serious and fairly similar to issues we found with the most legitimate businesses in the travel industry.

If you want to book a flight, hotel room, or train ticket, Trip.com should be a good option to consider.

Similar Gigs to Research

Now that you know more about trip.com, here’s a closer look at some other websites that offer similar services and what others think of them:

• Is Booking.com Legit?: Booking.com is one of the largest online travel agencies in the world. The company offers information about hotels, flights, car rentals, and other travel-related services for millions of customers.
• Is Traveluro Legit?: Traveluro is a company that specializes in hotel booking. Since it was recently established in 2015, many people are curious about whether its services are reliable. Check out this guide to find out more about it.
• Is SnapTravel Legit?: Despite also being a relatively new company, SnapTravel made a name for itself as one of the best newcomers in the online hotel reservation industry.

Wrapping Up

This marks the end of today’s guide that walks you through everything you need to know about Trip.com.

As you can see, Trip.com is a well-established business that many users find legitimate and reliable. However, it’s not for everyone.

If you don’t find the Chinese-owned website reliable, you can check out any of the alternatives we have above!

Also, if you’re booking a room or a flight with a decent chance of cancellation issues, you should consider other options with better cancellation policies.