China’s market regulator has ordered Trip.com Group to surrender illegal gains and pay a fine totaling about 5.18 billion yuan after finding that the online travel company abused its market position in accommodation booking.
The State Administration for Market Regulation said the case covered conduct dating from 2020. Its decision describes a system of exclusive cooperation requirements, lowest-price restrictions and traffic-allocation measures that limited hotel operators’ ability to work freely with competing platforms.
The total comprises roughly 1.66 billion yuan in confiscated illegal gains and a penalty of about 3.52 billion yuan. The Associated Press reported that about 122 million yuan is also to be returned to hotel operators. The decision is one of the most consequential recent enforcement actions in China’s platform economy, where travel marketplaces sit between millions of consumers and a highly fragmented accommodation sector.
In a company statement, Trip.com said it sincerely accepted the penalty and would implement the required rectification measures. The group said its services remained available and that it would strengthen compliance and protect the rights of users and business partners.
The case matters beyond one company. Rules on exclusivity, price parity and search visibility determine how much bargaining room independent hotels retain and how easily rival booking services can compete. The regulator’s remedy therefore puts the focus on the commercial terms that shape online travel distribution rather than on the consumer-facing app alone.
Sources: State Administration for Market Regulation; Associated Press; Trip.com Group statement.
Image: Ctrip headquarters in Shanghai. Photograph by Shwangtianyuan via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
