What makes Ctrip so strong?

Where does the 30% profit come from? Let me give you a down-to-earth analogy.

An upgraded version of cafeteria meal tickets

In the past, state-owned enterprises had cafeterias and issued meal tickets or subsidy vouchers, which could only be used in the company's cafeteria. This was a disguised form of employee benefits and wasn't counted as part of the salary. Nowadays, some companies have turned travel into this kind of targeted benefit—giving you Ctrip points under the guise of encouraging employees to rest and build corporate culture, but in reality, it's a disguised allowance. However, the accounting is done through travel platform partnerships, and invoices can be issued under categories like meetings, training, or inspections. For the company, it's a cost expense, while for individuals, it's a tax-free hidden benefit.

Bound point cards in games

If you've played games, you know that bound point cards are common—they can only be used to buy specific items and can't be converted into cash. The game developers use this method to encourage spending without disrupting the external economic system. Ctrip points are similar to bound cards: the company gives you points that can only be spent on Ctrip for flights, hotels, or travel. You can't cash them out directly, but travel is something almost everyone needs, so it's like giving you an allowance with a designated purpose. For the company, partnering with big platforms like Ctrip reduces financial compliance risks and allows them to secure corporate agreement prices and centralized invoicing convenience.

Supermarket gift cards, but with restrictions

In the past, companies gave out supermarket gift cards during holidays, but after stricter regulations, they shifted to targeted spending limits on partnered platforms. For example, after signing a travel agreement with Ctrip, the company deposits money into a travel account, and employees use the balance to book trips. Ctrip then issues unified invoices for travel or meeting expenses. This makes accounting easier for the company, employees enjoy the benefits, and there's still room for flexible operations, like overbilling or switching reimbursement categories.

Why is it hard not to make money in this industry if you have the right connections? Because there are a few key points:

Locked-in suppliers: Companies tie their travel systems and benefit distribution to platforms like Ctrip, which offer rebates, discounts, and service fee support. Whoever becomes the company's contracted supplier gets a stable piece of the business.
Invoice flexibility: Large-scale centralized spending allows for flexible invoice categories like training, meetings, or accommodations, making it easier for companies to adjust cost structures.
Point accumulation and liquidation: Although points can't technically be cashed out, in practice, there may be channels for point resale or using points to arrange travel for connections, clients, or superiors as a form of networking.

Summary

It's like companies issuing internal vouchers designated for travel—easy to invoice, benefits are discreet, and the platform, company, and employees all win. But the key is becoming the company's partner and managing point distribution, which requires connections and channels to enter.

What many people overlook is that corporate travel is a massive, stable cash flow entry point. Platforms compete for corporate agreements not just to earn money from travel services but to dominate the corporate spending gateway, from which financial services, reimbursements, and bulk procurement can generate additional revenue.

So what we see is:

The core landscape of the online travel OTA market is actually the absolute dominance of the Ctrip group.

We can compare this landscape to:

A martial arts world with one leader, two wings, and many disguises

The Ctrip group is the martial arts alliance leader + master of disguise

Ctrip: The leader itself, targeting mid-to-high-end and business travel markets with a formal image. It's the one directly signing strategic agreements with major enterprises, especially state-owned ones.
Qunar: The aggressive vanguard under the leader. It targets price-sensitive users with cheaper labels to grab market share, but its backend resources and inventory are often shared with Ctrip. Think of it as the leader using another face to capture the low-end market.
Tongcheng Travel: Local factions in which the leader holds shares or has close partnerships. It specializes in transportation tickets and lower-tier markets, forming a key part of the leader's ecosystem.
eLong and others: Once independent factions, now absorbed under the leader's banner, focusing on hotel bookings.

Essentially, many of the apps you see are the same group wearing different outfits, using different pricing strategies and marketing tactics to cover almost all customer segments—from high-end to low-end, business to leisure. This gives the Ctrip group tremendous bargaining power and data integration advantages in corporate procurement negotiations.

Where are the competitors?

Fliggy: The platform prince

Backed by Alibaba, it's an extension of the e-commerce ecosystem. Its model is more platform-like, allowing airlines, hotel groups, and travel agencies to open their own stores. Its advantage lies in Alipay's payment ecosystem and traffic. In the corporate market, it relies on Alibaba Business Travel to compete directly with Ctrip in the business travel sector.

Meituan: The king of local dominance

Meituan's strength lies in local life and lower-tier markets. Its hotel and travel business grew out of local accommodations and nearby trips. For many small businesses and individual users, booking a hotel is as simple as opening Meituan. It's using high-frequency services to disrupt low-frequency ones, posing a huge challenge to traditional OTAs.

Douyin or Xiaohongshu: The disruptive newcomers

They're not traditional OTAs but new models combining travel content and transactions. They're redefining how people discover travel destinations and make bookings. Although they currently offer almost no corporate services, they profoundly influence the source of consumer decisions, making them upstream disruptors that all traditional OTAs must watch out for.

What does this mean for the corporate hidden benefits model?

Higher concentration, stronger bargaining power: When companies, especially large state-owned enterprises, choose travel service providers, they find the market dominated by just a few players. The Ctrip group, with its comprehensive product lines and service networks, can often provide one-stop solutions—flights, hotels, train tickets, benefit points, centralized invoicing, and data analysis reports—greatly meeting the needs of companies, particularly large ones with strict compliance and process requirements.
The disguise strategy reflects business acumen: This doesn't mean monopoly is bad; from a business perspective, it's successful. It shows the shrewdness of their market strategy. By covering different demographics with different brands, they avoid brand confusion while maximizing market share. For corporate clients, they might officially sign with Ctrip Business Travel, but employees could be redirected to Qunar for cheaper flights or Tongcheng for train tickets, with profits and data ultimately flowing to the same group.
Stability and risk: For companies and individuals relying on this model, partnering with the Ctrip group means a stable, reliable service network. But it also creates dependency. If the rules or partnerships of this main channel change, the impact could be significant.

Summary

$Trip.com(TCOM.US) is essentially playing a game built on an oligopolistic, mature market. Through its core + disguise strategy, Ctrip has almost constructed a nationwide travel network, leveraging this advantage to become the pipeline for corporate travel and benefit distribution.

In this pipeline, funds circulate as points, invoices are issued compliantly, and benefits are distributed discreetly, forming a stable, multi-party ecosystem where everyone benefits.

So, the core of this business has shifted from being able to do travel to being recognized by large enterprises as a compliant, stable pipeline for fund and benefit circulation. This is precisely the highest barrier the Ctrip group has built over the past two decades.

$Trip.com(TCOM.US)