China’s top market regulator has imposed penalties totaling approximately 5.18 billion yuan (US$765 million) on online travel giant Trip.com Group, concluding that the company abused its dominant position in the country’s online hotel booking market in violation of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law.
The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced on July 25 that the penalties include the confiscation of 1.658 billion yuan in alleged illegal gains and a 3.521 billion yuan fine. Regulators also ordered the company to return approximately 122 million yuan that had been withheld from hotel operators and to implement a series of compliance and corrective measures.
According to Wency Chen of the South China Morning Post, the sanctions conclude a regulatory investigation that lasted roughly six months after authorities opened a formal antitrust probe into Trip.com in January. The publication reported that the company was found to have abused its dominant market position through a combination of platform rules, traffic-allocation mechanisms and technological tools.
SAMR said its investigation found that, beginning in 2020, Trip.com required certain hotel partners to enter exclusive cooperation agreements and imposed conditions that limited their ability to work with rival booking platforms.
Authorities also alleged that some hotels operating across multiple platforms were required to ensure that Trip.com’s platform consistently offered the lowest available online room rates. According to the regulator, these practices reduced competition among booking platforms, constrained hotels’ pricing autonomy and ultimately harmed consumers.
The regulator concluded that the conduct violated China’s Anti-Monopoly Law by eliminating or restricting market competition within the country’s online hotel reservation services sector.
Trip.com said it accepts the regulator’s decision and will fully implement the required corrective measures.
In a statement cited by multiple news organizations, the company said it would carry out the rectification plan, strengthen compliance efforts and promote fair competition across its businesses.
Trip.com operates several major travel brands, including Trip.com, Ctrip, Qunar and Skyscanner, making it China’s largest online travel services provider.
According to the South China Morning Post, regulators launched the investigation in January after a preliminary review concluded there were grounds to examine whether Trip.com had engaged in monopolistic conduct. The publication previously reported that the inquiry formed part of China’s increasingly routine oversight of major digital platform companies rather than an isolated enforcement action.
Related: China Nears Decision in Antitrust Case Against Trip.com
Chinese authorities have steadily expanded enforcement of competition law across the technology sector in recent years, targeting practices such as exclusive dealing, restrictions on merchants using competing platforms and other conduct viewed as limiting market competition.
The Anti-Monopoly Law authorizes regulators to confiscate unlawful gains and impose fines of up to 10% of a company’s previous year’s sales revenue for serious violations. Reuters reported when the investigation was announced that Trip.com could face penalties within that statutory range if regulators determined the company had abused a dominant market position.
Competition concerns surrounding digital platforms have increasingly centered on whether dominant companies use algorithms, contractual restrictions or preferential ranking systems to reinforce market power.
In Trip.com’s case, regulators said the company’s traffic-allocation mechanisms, platform rules and technical capabilities enabled it to pressure some hotel operators into exclusive arrangements while limiting their flexibility to compete across multiple booking services. Authorities argued that such conduct weakened competition between online travel platforms and reduced hotels’ ability to independently determine pricing.
According to South China Morning Post, the fine alone represents 7.5% of Trip.com’s 2025 domestic sales revenue, while the overall financial penalty combines both the administrative fine and confiscated gains. The publication also reported that Trip.com generated 62.4 billion yuan in revenue during 2025.
Source: SCMP
