China fines Trip.com $765 million for forcing hotels into exclusive deals and controlling their prices

China's State Administration for Market Regulation fined Trip.com Group approximately $770 million for abusing its dominant position in the domestic online hotel-booking market. The regulator concluded that the platform utilized traffic allocation algorithms, technology, and platform rules to force hotel operators into exclusive deals. These actions restricted hotels from listing on competing services and allowed Trip.com to control pricing. The total penalty, including confiscated funds, amounted to 5.2 billion yuan as of Saturday.