China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) fined and confiscated 5.18 billion yuan (US$765 million) from Trip.com Group on Saturday, July 25, 2026. The regulator determined the world’s largest booking site abused its dominant market position through exclusive dealing and price restrictions imposed on hotel operators since 2020.
The penalty follows a months-long investigation launched in January into the company’s conduct within the domestic online hotel-booking market. According to the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), Trip.com utilized its platform rules, technology, and traffic-allocation algorithms to stifle competition and limit the autonomy of hotel partners.
SAMR’s Breakdown of Monopolistic Conduct
The regulator identified two primary methods Trip.com used to maintain its market grip. First, the company targeted special-tier
hotel partners, pushing them into exclusive cooperation agreements. In exchange for greater traffic exposure and platform benefits, these hotels were prohibited from cooperating with rival booking platforms.
Second, Trip.com demanded that gold-tier
and other hotel partners provide the lowest prices available across all online platforms. The company employed automated pricing tools and manual intervention to ensure its rates remained the lowest on the internet. If a cheaper rate appeared elsewhere, the platform reacted by reducing the hotel’s traffic or removing them from preferred listings.
To enforce these rules, the regulator found that Trip.com used technical means to monitor compliance and forced some operators to forgo operations on other competing platforms.
Financial Penalties and Revenue Impact
The total financial hit to Trip.com Group is structured as a combination of fines and the seizure of illegal gains. While some sources report the total as US$770 million, others cite the figure as US$765 million.
| Penalty Component | Amount (Yuan) | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Confiscated Illegal Gains | 1.66 billion yuan | Seized by SAMR |
| Administrative Fine | 3.52 billion yuan | 7.5 per cent of 2025 domestic sales |
| Refunds to Operators | 122 million yuan | Forcibly deducted security deposits |
The 3.52 billion yuan fine is specifically tied to the company’s 2025 domestic sales revenue, which totaled 46.958 billion yuan. Beyond the fines, SAMR ordered the immediate return of 122 million yuan in booking deposits that the company had withheld from hotel operators.
Trip.com’s Market Leverage and Response
The scale of the penalty reflects Trip.com’s massive footprint. The company, which operates brands including Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar, controls about 56 per cent of China’s online travel market. This dominance created a dependency where hotel operators relied heavily on the platform for visibility, giving Trip.com the leverage to block listings on competitors like Meituan, Douyin, or Alibaba’s Fliggy.
“We sincerely accept and will fully comply with it, and will strictly follow the regulator’s requirements to systematically implement each rectification measure, ensuring that all measures are carried out effectively.”
Trip.com Group, via CNA
In a separate WeChat post, the company stated it would use the penalty as an opportunity for deep reflection and self-transformation
, pledging to resolutely abandon inefficient, cutthroat competition.
Broader Regulatory Trends in China
This action is not an isolated event but part of a broader effort by Beijing to curb unfair competition and deflationary pressures caused by excessive price wars among internet platforms. The regulator’s focus on Trip.com follows a pattern of aggressive tech crackdowns that began in 2020, most notably with the record fine against Alibaba.
The pressure is mounting across the sector. Last year, local authorities summoned rivals including Meituan and ByteDance’s Douyin over similar antitrust concerns. This indicates a systemic shift where regulators are prioritizing the margins of smaller operators—such as hotels—over the growth strategies of dominant platforms.
By targeting the specific mechanisms of traffic allocation and “lowest-pricemandates, SAMR is effectively dismantling the
exclusive dealing” model that has defined the growth of China’s travel giants since Trip.com’s founding in 1999. The move forces a transition from a model of forced exclusivity to one of open cross-platform operation.
