trip com
Planning a trip? Trip.com is way more powerful than you think.
It’s not just another booking site—it’s a full-on travel machine with global reach, smart tech, and serious momentum behind it. Here's what makes Trip.com the go-to travel platform for millions, and why it keeps growing fast.
From Quiet Start to Global Heavyweight
Trip.com didn’t come out of nowhere, but it feels like it did. The name’s been around the block—used by multiple travel companies over the years. The real shift happened in 2017, when Ctrip, a Chinese travel giant, bought the Trip.com brand and used it to launch a global platform. That move instantly gave them an English-facing site with serious potential.
Ctrip itself started way back in 1999, went public in 2003, and later scooped up Skyscanner and Qunar. It rebranded to Trip.com Group in 2019. Think of Trip.com as the flagship international engine within that much larger machine.
The Platform Does (Almost) Everything
Trip.com isn’t just for flights and hotels—though those are core. It’s built as a one-stop shop for anything you’d need while traveling. Book a flight, reserve your hotel, rent a car, grab train tickets, schedule an airport transfer, and even lock in activities like Universal Studios tickets or a snorkeling tour in Phuket. It all runs through the same app or website.
Their flight coverage is huge: over 640 airlines, flying to thousands of destinations. Hotel listings? North of 1.5 million. You get real-time prices, reviews, and mobile deals layered on top.
And there’s smart stuff going on in the background—AI suggestions, curated itineraries, and even a chatbot called TripGen that handles support and gives travel advice in real time.
Train Tickets, Tours, and Some Clever Extras
This is where Trip.com separates itself from cookie-cutter booking platforms. It offers local rail tickets in countries like Germany, Korea, and Japan. That means if you're backpacking through Europe or Southeast Asia, you can sort out everything without switching platforms.
They also push hard into attractions and tours—over 300,000 options globally. So instead of juggling ten tabs comparing prices and locations, everything from museum passes to night safaris is under one roof.
Even niche things like eSIMs for mobile data are baked into the platform. That’s not a flashy feature, but it solves a real pain point for travelers.
Global Muscle, Local Feel
Trip.com operates in 24 languages, supports 35 currencies, and has users in over 200 countries. But it doesn’t feel generic. The app adjusts based on location and language. It offers local payment methods, real-time currency conversion, and customer service in the user’s language.
They’ve opened physical offices across Asia, Europe, and North America to support the backend. Over 2,900 affiliates help drive content, local recommendations, and booking services. That’s how they handle scale without feeling robotic.
The app’s slick, but the secret sauce is that blend of tech and localization.
Why It’s Winning in 2025
Trip.com is having a moment. In early 2025, the platform saw a 100% spike in inbound travel bookings, especially into China, after visa rules were relaxed. Travel from older age groups is way up too—fueled by better health access and a post-pandemic itch to move.
Investors are paying attention. Trip.com Group’s stock has gained 91% year-to-date. That’s wild for a travel company just a few years past global shutdowns. Analysts see the international platform (Trip.com itself) pulling in up to 20% of group revenue within a few years.
Part of this push comes from AI. Their chatbot doesn’t just answer questions—it boosts conversions by recommending itineraries, optimizing searches, and helping with rescheduling. Fewer abandoned carts, more bookings.
Beyond the Bookings: ESG and Smart Moves
Trip.com Group is doing more than selling vacations. They’re leaning into environmental goals and sustainable tourism. In 2024, they rolled out real-time carbon tracking for flights and trains. It’s not just a box-ticking feature—it’s designed to help travelers choose lower-impact options on the fly.
They’re also backing rural tourism in underdeveloped regions, especially across Asia. Think local homestays, eco-farms, and guided nature treks—stuff that brings money into communities off the tourist grid.
At the same time, the group is reshuffling its investments. It’s scaled back its stake in India’s MakeMyTrip, allowing MMT to buy shares back and operate with more independence. They’re still collaborating, but Trip.com Group is clearly choosing to refocus on core global offerings.
Built for Power Users and Casual Travelers
The Trip.com app isn’t just slick—it’s fast. Search results come back quickly, filters are actually useful, and booking takes minutes. The “price match guarantee” adds confidence. And Trip Coins—their reward system—pile up quickly and can be used on any type of booking.
New users often get deep discounts. Frequent travelers get tier-based perks like VIP lounge access and hotel upgrades. There are also regular flash sales, app-exclusive deals, and holiday bundles that actually save money instead of just looking clever.
And if something goes wrong? Customer support is available 24/7 in multiple languages. Not buried three clicks deep.
The Leadership Team Has a Long Game
Jane Sun, the CEO since 2016, has been a big part of the company’s international growth. She’s pushed for aggressive overseas expansion and higher investment in tech. She's also one of the few female CEOs of a major global tech brand—about half the company’s workforce is female, which is rare in tech or travel.
Behind her, the team includes execs with deep domain knowledge: former airline execs, rail specialists, tourism marketing veterans. They’re not just riding the AI wave—they’re building tools that actually work and launching products that fit real traveler behavior.
Trip.com vs Everyone Else
Compared to Booking.com or Agoda, Trip.com plays a different game. It’s building its own ecosystem—everything from flights to mobile data to local rail—to reduce friction at every step of the travel process. While Booking focuses on hotels, and Agoda chases low-cost Asia travel, Trip.com is chasing full-trip integration.
It’s also competing with metasearch platforms like Skyscanner—which, by the way, it owns. That means it can drive traffic both from direct search and its own content ecosystem. And with over 100 terabytes of user behavior data processed daily, the platform gets smarter over time.
Final Take
Trip.com isn’t perfect—no platform is—but it’s evolving faster than most of its rivals. It covers more ground, automates more of the annoying stuff, and gives travelers better control over how and when they spend.
It’s the kind of platform that rewards power users, but it’s simple enough for first-time travelers to use without getting overwhelmed. That balance is tough to hit. Trip.com nails it better than most.
If you’re booking a trip soon, this platform is absolutely worth trying—not just for cheap tickets, but for the entire experience before, during, and after the flight.
Post a Comment