China fined Ctrip ¥5.2 billion for forcing hotels to choose — the first OTA antitrust case

On July 25, 2026, China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) fined Trip.com Group (Ctrip) a combined ¥5.179 billion for abusing its dominance in China's online hotel booking market. The penalty included the forfeiture of ¥1.658 billion in illegal gains, a fine of ¥3.521 billion (7.5% of Ctrip's 2025 domestic revenue of ¥46.958 billion), and the return of ¥122 million in order deposits.

The SAMR found that Ctrip had engaged in two anticompetitive practices since 2020. First, it required 'special-tier' hotels to sign exclusive agreements barring them from listing on competing platforms, enforced through traffic throttling, delisting and removal of benefits. Second, it forced 'gold-tier' and unrated hotels to offer the lowest prices exclusively on Ctrip, using automated monitoring to detect violations and penalising non-compliant hotels with lower search rankings and forfeited deposits. The case was the first antitrust action against an online travel agency in China.

Ctrip responded by saying it 'sincerely accepts and firmly complies' with the decision, pledging to implement a full rectification and publish the measures publicly.

SAMR fined Ctrip ¥5.179 billion, forfeiting ¥1.658 billion gains and adding ¥3.521 billion fine, to deter platform coercion.

Ctrip's dominance in online hotel bookings led it to pressure hotel partners into exclusivity, violating the Antimonopoly Law and inviting a record penalty

The fine — 7.5% of domestic revenue — was calibrated to be painful enough to deter the practice across the entire platform economy

A dominant platform that uses its market power to enforce exclusivity on its own partners is not just aggressive — it is illegal, and the fine will be large enough to hurt