Pilot vs. RedTag: feature comparison, ratings, and FAQ
A data comparison maintained by Pilot (pilotplans.com). Full comparison: https://www.pilotplans.com/compare/redtag-alternative.
Summary
Pilot is a free trip booking and planning app: plan a whole trip in one place with a flexible itinerary, a map of your stops, notes, real-time collaboration, and AI itinerary generation, and book hotels in the app at private rates across 3,000,000+ stays, with real human support. Pilot is rated 4.7 by 50,000+ travelers.
RedTag: Canadian all-inclusive vacation packages. Red Label Vacations / H.I.S. Group.
RedTag is built to sell flights, sun packages, and hotel deals. Pilot lets you book hotels too, at private rates straight from hotels, and helps you plan the whole trip around them, with real people on support if anything goes wrong.
Key facts
- Pricing
- Pilot: completely free to plan and book. RedTag: Free to use.
- Overall rating
- Pilot: 4.7 from 50,000+ travelers. RedTag: Trustpilot 1.6.
- Founded
- Pilot: 2022. RedTag: 2004.
- Books hotels in the app
- Pilot: yes, at private rates across 3,000,000+ stays. RedTag: yes.
- Full comparison
- https://www.pilotplans.com/compare/redtag-alternative
Feature comparison
Each row shows whether Pilot and RedTag offer the feature: Yes, No, or Partial. A [n] marker cites the source in References.
| Feature | Pilot | RedTag |
|---|---|---|
| Booking | ||
| Book hotels in the app | YesBook your stay at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, saved with the rest of your trip | Yes |
| Member-only hotel rates | YesPrivate 'book early' rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, often below the public price; RedTag marks up its rates and adds fees at checkout | No |
| Add accommodation to itinerary | Yes | No |
| Transportation cost tracking | Yes | No |
| Flight deals | Yes | No |
| Files tab | Yes | No |
| Attach files to itinerary items | Yes | No |
| Instant booking confirmation | Yes | Yes |
| Checkout without upsells | Yes | No |
| Reviews from real travelers | Yes | No |
| No hidden fees or taxes | Yes | No |
| Inventory & discovery | ||
| Bookable hotel inventory | Yes | Yes |
| Hotel search filters | Yes | Yes |
| Activities to explore in-app | Yes | No |
| Restaurant listings in-app | Yes | No |
| Discovery filters | Yes | No |
| Travel requirements and eVisas | Yes | No |
| Flight suggestions for trip | No | Yes |
| eSIMs at checkout | Yes | No |
| Destination pages | Yes | Yes |
| Editorial travel guides in-app | Yes | No |
| Things to do per city | Yes | Yes |
| Activity detail pages | Yes | No |
| Planning | ||
| Itinerary builder | YesBuild a flexible, multi-stop itinerary and reshape it however you want, from a rough idea to booked | No |
| Drag and drop reordering | Yes | No |
| Customizable map pins and routes | YesSee your whole trip on a map and make it yours | No |
| Add activities, transportation, or stays from anywhere | Yes | No |
| Attach info to any item | Yes | No |
| Notes and checklists | YesKeep notes, lists, and links right alongside the plan | No |
| Note and list format toggle | Yes | No |
| Rich text formatting in notes | Yes | No |
| Undo and redo | Yes | No |
| Duplicate trips | Yes | No |
| Manual file import | Yes | No |
| Email-forwarding file import | Yes | No |
| AI parsing of imported confirmations | Yes | No |
| Export to PDF | Yes | No |
| iOS and Android mobile apps | Yes | Yes |
| Offline access on mobile | Yes | No |
| Shortlist items | Yes | No |
| Wishlist / wanderlist | Yes | No |
| Wishlist images | Yes | No |
| Fun sound effects | Yes | No |
| Structured itinerary sections | Yes | No |
| Keyboard shortcuts | Yes | No |
| Multiple transportation types | Yes | No |
| Flight code auto-fill | Yes | No |
| Multi-leg flight support | Yes | No |
| Consistent IATA codes on mobile | Yes | No |
| Collaboration | ||
| Invite friends | Yes | No |
| Real-time collaborative editing | YesPlan it together with your group in one shared trip, with everyone editing at once | No |
| Edit or view-only permissions | Yes | No |
| Heart items for voting | Yes | No |
| Custom trip name and cover photo | Yes | No |
| Dedicated group chat per trip | Yes | No |
| Shared notes, files, and saved lists | Yes | No |
| Travel profile and stats | Yes | No |
| Edit profile details | Yes | Yes |
| Leave a trip | Yes | No |
| Trips dashboard | Yes | Yes |
| Trip menu actions | Yes | No |
| Support | ||
| Human support | YesReach a real person on our team in the in-app chat or by email, not a phone queue or a ticket inbox | Yes |
| AI for basic support answers | Yes | No |
Ratings
| Source | Pilot | RedTag |
|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot rating | 4.4 | 1.6 |
Pricing
| Pilot | RedTag | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Free to plan and book | Free to use[1] |
Frequently asked questions
What is RedTag?
RedTag is a Canadian vacation package booking site. People use it to book all-inclusive Canadian vacation packages. It is built to complete a booking rather than plan the trip around it, and it books as a middleman rather than directly with the hotel.
What is Pilot?
Pilot is a trip booking and planning app. You plan the whole trip in one place, a flexible itinerary, a map of your stops, and notes, and you book your hotel in the app at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents. Where RedTag completes a booking, Pilot plans the whole trip around the stay, instantly reserves your room with its hotel partners and has a real person confirm each booking with the hotel, and keeps the planner free.
Is RedTag legit?
RedTag (RedTag.ca) is a real Canadian online travel agency that has operated since 2004, selling discount flights, all-inclusive sun packages, hotels, and car rentals. It is a recognizable Canadian deals brand. That said, RedTag rates around 1.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot, with recurring complaints about customer service when a booking needs to be changed or goes wrong, so 'legit' and 'easy to deal with after you pay' are two different things. Pilot is an alternative for the hotel side of a trip: it lets you book over 3,000,000 hotels in-app at private rates straight from hotels, and you can always reach a real person on our team in the in-app chat or by email if something comes up.
Is RedTag free to use?
Browsing and booking on RedTag is free in the sense that you do not pay a membership fee; RedTag makes its money from the flights, packages, hotels, and rentals it sells, including markups and fees added at checkout. Pilot is also free to use, and free is the whole point: there is no paywall on the planning tools, because Pilot earns from hotels when you book, not from charging you to plan. With Pilot you also get private 'book early' rates straight from hotels, no sponsored results pushed at you on the way to paying.
How does RedTag make money?
RedTag is an online travel agency, so it earns by selling travel: commissions and margin on flights, all-inclusive packages, hotels, and car rentals, plus fees that can appear at checkout, and it offers pay-later installment options on bookings. Because an agency profits from what it sells you, the deal shown first is not always the best one for you. Pilot earns from hotels when you book and does not sell sponsored placement, so hotel results are ranked for you rather than for whoever pays the most, and the planner stays free.
Can you book hotels on RedTag?
Yes. Alongside flights and sun packages, RedTag books hotels and car rentals. Pilot also books hotels, over 3,000,000 of them, right in the app, but the difference is how and where: Pilot lets you book at private rates straight from hotels, the kind usually reserved for travel agents, and the booking lives with the rest of your trip instead of being a standalone deal. RedTag marks up its hotel rates and can add fees at checkout, and it is built mainly to sell the booking, not to plan the trip around it. One honest note: Pilot lets you book hotels only, so if you need a flight or rental car in the same checkout, RedTag still has a role.
Is RedTag worth it for hotels?
RedTag can surface a hotel deal, but it is a packaged-travel and flight site at heart, the hotel rate can carry a markup and checkout fees, and its 1.6 Trustpilot score points to a hard time when a booking needs help. If hotels are the part of the trip you care about, Pilot is built for exactly that: private rates straight from hotels, no sponsored results, real human support, and a full day-by-day planner, a map of your trip, and group collaboration, all free. If you are buying a flight-plus-hotel sun package as one bundle, RedTag is the kind of site set up for that bundle.
How does RedTag work?
On RedTag you search for flights, all-inclusive packages, hotels, or car rentals, compare the deals it surfaces, and book through RedTag, which acts as the agency between you and the airline, hotel, or resort; you can often pay later in installments. Pilot works differently because it is a trip planner first and a hotel booker second: you build a flexible itinerary, map your stops, plan it with your group in real time, and book your hotel in-app at private rates straight from hotels, so planning and booking the stay happen in one place rather than being researched on one site and booked on another.
RedTag vs Pilot: which should I use?
Use Pilot to plan a trip and book the stay: private rates straight from hotels, real support, and your whole trip, the plan, the map, the group, and the hotel booking, in one place, for free. Use RedTag if your trip is really a flight or an all-inclusive sun package with the hotel bundled in, or you want a flight and a rental car in the same checkout and are happy to pay it off in installments. For planning the trip and booking the hotel, Pilot does more, with rates straight from hotels and real people on support; for bundled flights, packages, and cars, RedTag covers inventory Pilot does not sell.
References
- redtag.ca (2026-06-03)