Trip.com China fine reaches $765 million over monopoly allegations
China’s market regulator says Trip.com abused its dominant position by pressuring hotels and limiting competition on travel platforms.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
China has imposed a Trip.com China fine of nearly 5.2 billion yuan, or $765 million, after finding that the online travel group abused its market power. The penalty matters for hotels and travelers because regulators said the company’s practices limited competition and affected pricing across online booking platforms.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said Saturday that Trip.com Group, operator of Ctrip, Skyscanner and other brands, used its position as the country’s largest online travel platform to restrict rivals. The regulator said the company’s conduct had been under investigation since January.
According to the regulator, Trip.com entered exclusive arrangements with some hotels and gave them priority traffic on its platform. It also said the company barred some hotels from working with competing platforms.
The agency said Trip.com required some hotel operators that sold rooms on multiple sites to make sure Trip.com’s platform had the lowest online rates. Regulators said those practices had taken place since as early as 2020.
What did China accuse Trip.com of doing?
The regulator accused Trip.com of using its dominant position to restrict hotel operators’ ability to do business across platforms and set their own prices. In online travel, platform rules can affect which rooms customers see, what prices hotels can offer elsewhere and how much choice rival services can provide.
The penalties include the confiscation of more than 1.6 billion yuan, or $245 million, that the regulator described as illegal gains. The agency also imposed a fine of more than 3.5 billion yuan, or $520 million.
Trip.com was also told to return about 122 million yuan, or $18 million, that the regulator said it had withheld from hotel operators. The order adds a direct remedy for businesses that regulators said were affected by the company’s conduct.
In its statement, the State Administration for Market Regulation said Trip.com’s behavior had “eliminated and restricted market competition,” limited hotels’ cross-platform business, interfered with hotel operators’ pricing rights and harmed consumers.
Trip.com acknowledged the decision Saturday. The company said it “sincerely accepts and will resolutely comply” with the penalties.
The group also said it would carry out corrective measures one by one and ensure they are fully implemented. The statement did not dispute the regulator’s findings in the information released Saturday.
The case adds to China’s antitrust scrutiny of major digital platforms, with regulators focusing on how dominant companies use access, ranking and pricing rules to shape markets. In Trip.com’s case, the regulator said the alleged conduct centered on hotel partnerships, preferential platform traffic and restrictions on hotels that also used rival booking services.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.