Chinese authorities announced Saturday that they have levied penalties totaling nearly 5.2 billion yuan — roughly $765 million — against Trip.com Group, the company behind China’s biggest online travel platform, citing violations of competition laws.
Trip.com, the parent company of well-known brands including Ctrip and Skyscanner, was found to have stifled market competition by forming exclusive agreements with select hotels and steering more website traffic toward those preferred partners, according to China’s State Administration for Market Regulation.
The regulator said the company went further by barring certain hotels from working with rival booking platforms and pressuring hotel operators who listed on multiple sites to guarantee that Trip.com always offered the lowest available rates online.
Authorities determined that Trip.com had been exploiting its dominant position in the travel marketplace going back to at least 2020, when the investigation’s scope begins.
The probe, which was officially launched in January, resulted in regulators seizing more than 1.6 billion yuan (approximately $245 million) in what they called “illegal gains,” while also imposing a separate fine exceeding 3.5 billion yuan (around $520 million).
In addition, Trip.com was ordered to return roughly 122 million yuan — about $18 million — that it had been withholding from hotel operators.
The regulator’s statement declared that the company’s conduct had “eliminated and restricted market competition, constrained hotel operators from conducting cross-platform business, infringed upon hotel operators’ right to set their own prices and harmed consumer interests.”
Trip.com responded Saturday with a statement acknowledging the ruling, saying it “sincerely accepts and will resolutely comply” with all penalties handed down. The company added that it would “systematically implement the rectification measures item-by-item and ensure their full execution.”
