Agoda has succeeded in providing a bunch of nonsensical "benefits" of questionable value, whereas Trip.com has proven it's the superior OTA. Pick Trip.com over Agoda.

I will skip the top Agoda tier of VIP Platinum and Trip.com's Black Diamond. If Agoda VIP Platinum does not even come close to Trip.com's Diamond+, why bother with Agoda?

As a Agoda VIP Platinum and Trip.com Diamond+ I will show you from the table below how Trip.com is significantly cheaper than Agoda when you go high-roller at a USD $2K+ villa. For those thinking in USD, it's:

  • Over USD $500 cheaper on Trip.com without breakfast
  • Over USD $400 cheaper on Trip.com with breakfast.
OTA Public price +breakfast Member price +breakfast
Agoda - $21,380 $21,380 $21,380
Trip.com $19,406 $21,422 $17,138 $17,868
Agoda vs Trip.com Difference - -$421 $4,236 $3,5122

Agoda is $42 less than Trip.com publicly, but as you get back over 1000 Trip Coins by signing up as a Trip.com Silver member, Trip.com is now about ~$40 less than Agoda!

The Trip.com member price with or without breakfast beats Agoda in both cases. The Trip.com price is a 20%+ difference!

In the sample above, I've used the HKD-based (Hong Kong Dollar) pricing here as the OTA's Billing country can both be Hong Kong for these 2 OTAs. If the Billing country is not the same, the prices displayed could be different because of how the OTA handles the currency. Even as a consumer, if your credit card is not HKD, there would be FCC (Foreign Currency Transaction Charges) or CBF (Cross Border Fee); more on that in a separate post. This warrants a separate post .....

What does AgodaVIP offer?

If you believe the table below, sorry, you're a sucker. Listed are meaningless benefits which I explained in detail at my Agoda VIP loyalty program review.

Trip.com is generally better than Agoda

You can judge for yourself with your own search results across various hotels and countries, but I think you will find similar results to what I have found. Trip.com is better most of the time.

Appendix

Trip.com prices not signed in:

Trip.com signed in as Diamond+ member:

Agoda prices without sign in:

Agoda signed in as Platinum:

I get $77 cash back, but that's under 0.4% cash back of HKD $21,377.