Trip.com Review: The HK$80 New-Member Codes, Compensation Fund Cover and the Real Value of Trip Coins

Trip.com is the international platform of the group behind Ctrip, allowing one account to book flights, hotels, trains, car hire and attraction tickets. The website is operated by Trip.com Travel Singapore Pte. Ltd., which holds Singapore travel agent licence 02943; services booked on hk.trip.com are provided by its affiliate in Tsim Sha Tsui, Ctrip.com (Hong Kong) Limited, which holds travel agent licence 352367 issued by the Travel Industry Authority.

The terms were updated on 25 August 2026, and Hong Kong bookings are governed by Hong Kong law. Trip.com acts as an agent, with airlines, hotels and rail companies supplying the services, so each booking is subject to both the platform's terms and the supplier's terms. Enquiries and complaints can be raised through the customer service hotline or the online service chat on hk.trip.com.

The Travel Industry Compensation Fund is administered by the Travel Industry Authority. If a licensed travel agent closes, outbound travellers may claim an ex gratia payment of 90% of the outbound fare lost. An outbound traveller, however, must have bought at least two of the following services from a licensed travel agent: transport from Hong Kong, accommodation outside Hong Kong, or arrangements for an activity outside Hong Kong. Flights alone or hotels alone fall outside the protection.

Trip.com's Hong Kong terms state that when several related outbound services are bought for the same trip, the customer should inform Trip.com so that the services can be combined into an outbound package and the levy paid, bringing the booking under the Fund's protection. Where flights and hotels are booked separately, it is therefore advisable to request the combination and to keep a receipt showing the Travel Industry Authority levy.

On registering a new account through our invitation link, Trip.com issues HK$80 of exclusive hotel and flight promo codes, held under Account > Promo Codes. Each code's details page sets out its discount, minimum payment and expiry; different invitees may receive different codes, so the details page is authoritative. The codes may be used only on Trip.com and cannot be transferred, exchanged for cash or combined with another Trip.com code, and the system applies the most valuable one at checkout. The invitation page also mentions new-user welcome benefits of up to HK$1,600 without itemising them; the account shows what actually applies.

The account must be newly registered through the invitation link. Only one account may be registered per phone or computer, and invitations involving accounts that share an email address, IP address or device may be treated as suspicious activity and not processed. Disclosure: this invitation link is our own, and Trip.com also credits us Trip Coins once your first qualifying hotel or flight trip is completed.

Suppose a Tokyo hotel is booked for four nights at HK$950 a night and paid in advance, a total of HK$3,800. If the code's minimum payment is met, the HK$80 code reduces the total to HK$3,720. On that amount, a Silver member earns about 237 Trip Coins, worth roughly US$2.37 (about HK$18.6 at the European Central Bank rate of 23 October 2026), credited two to six weeks after the stay.

Together this comes to about HK$99, or roughly 2.6% of the room cost. The rebate is not enough to alter the choice: if another route costs HK$100 more but allows free cancellation, the latter is usually the sounder option. Completing the first booking brings Gold status, which earns 20% more Trip Coins on later bookings.

Trip Coins are Trip.com's loyalty points: 100 are worth about US$1, and their value is not pegged to any currency. Hotels earn 50 coins for every US$100 paid, flights 20 and flight-plus-hotel bookings 35, all calculated on the amount paid after promo codes. Free and promotional bookings, flights booked by telephone through customer service and bookings made on partner websites earn none. Hotel coins are credited two to six weeks after the stay; flight coins are generally credited shortly after ticketing.

Members start at Silver: one eligible booking brings Gold (20% more), three further bookings within the validity period bring Platinum (50% more), and eight bookings totalling at least US$1,000 bring Diamond (double). Trip Coins may be used only on prepaid bookings, coins from bookings are valid for 18 months, and the email address must be verified before redemption; if a booking is cancelled in full, the coins issued are deducted.

Trip.com calculates exchange rates in real time and charges the amount shown on the payment page. When paying in a foreign currency, the card issuer may convert at its own rate and charge an overseas transaction fee; when paying at the hotel, the rate may move between booking and payment, and Trip.com accepts no responsibility for either difference.

The more prudent approach is to compare the totals in Hong Kong dollars and in the local currency on the payment page and to confirm the overseas transaction fee on the card used. Paying in advance in Hong Kong dollars fixes the amount at the time of booking and makes it easier to check against the code's minimum payment.

Trip.com's terms state plainly that cheaper flights and rooms may be non-changeable and non-refundable, and that the change and cancellation rules displayed during booking form part of the contract. Hotel bookings are also subject to the hotel's own terms, and where the two are inconsistent, Trip.com's terms apply.

Refunds are generally returned to the original payment method, with timing determined by the card issuer. If Trip.com cancels a booking because of a breach of its terms or suspected fraud, no refund may be due. As the code is worth only HK$80, the cancellation deadline should be checked against the itinerary before booking, rather than judging by the discounted price alone.

On 24 October 2026 the Trip.com app was rated 4.7 from about 75,000 ratings on the Hong Kong App Store and 4.6 from 24,000 ratings on the UK App Store. Overall, most users complete their bookings without difficulty.

Complaints centre on the following areas: refund requests refused or handled slowly, customer service replies that read as templates, property listings omitting important details such as the absence of a lift or parking, prices changing between visits, and duplicate payments made when it was unclear whether a booking had gone through. The developer's replies are mostly general apologies directing users to a support email, so keeping booking confirmations and payment records is important.

Open our invitation link on the phone or computer that will be used for booking, register a new account and verify the email address. Then review the minimum payment, eligible bookings and expiry of each code under Account > Promo Codes, choose a prepaid hotel or flight that meets the conditions, and confirm before paying that the final total reflects the discount.

If no codes appear, Trip.com's guidance is to check that the account was registered through the invitation link, to confirm that the correct account is signed in (signing out and entering through the link again if not), and then to open the link once more to see whether the codes have been issued.

It suits Hong Kong residents who are new to Trip.com, already have travel plans, and are prepared to compare the total price, cancellation terms and scope of protection before paying; travellers planning a flight-plus-hotel purchase can also secure the protection of the Travel Industry Compensation Fund.

Readers who already hold a Trip.com account, who need only a flight and find the airline's own price similar, or who could use the code only by accepting a non-refundable rate, need not change their arrangements for HK$80.