A Costly Trip: Lessons From China's RMB 5.2 Billion Trip.com Decisions

On 25 July 2026, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) found that Trip.com had abused its dominant position by imposing exclusivity and price parity requirements on hotels through algorithms, automated price adjustment tools and other platform rules. In its first significant action against a tech company since the Alibaba and Meituan cases in 2021, SAMR demonstrates its willingness to investigate the complex technical systems underlying commercial arrangements.

SAMR also repeatedly linked Trip.com’s conduct to a “race to the bottom” and “involutionary competition” (内卷or “nèijuǎn” in Mandarin), which it views as disrupting market order, suppressing innovation and undermining a healthy industry ecosystem. For the first time in a platform case, SAMR combined a cease-and-desist order, confiscation of illegal gains and a record fine of 7.5% of Trip.com’s China turnover. Together, the remedies totalled RMB 5.2 billion (~US$770 million).