China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said on July 25 that it had confiscated illegal gains and imposed a total penalty of 5.2 billion yuan (US$770 million) on Trip.com Group, the country’s largest online travel platform.

The company owns Skyscanner, Ctrip, and Qunar.

Regulators said Trip.com had abused its dominant position in China’s domestic online hotel booking market and ordered the group to return 122 million yuan (US$18 million) in booking deposits to hotel operators.

The watchdog said Trip.com used traffic allocation mechanisms, platform rules, and technical measures to secure exclusive deals with some hotels.

The penalty followed a January 2026 probe launched under China’s Anti-Monopoly Law into suspected abuse of market dominance.

The decision is part of Beijing’s broader antitrust push against platform exclusivity, following earlier action against Alibaba and Chinese food delivery giant Meituan.

🔗 Source: Reuters

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