China penalises Trip.com with US$770 million fine for online hotel-booking monopoly

AI Summary

China's antitrust regulator fined Trip.com $770 million for monopolistic practices in the online hotel-booking market. Trip.com was found to have used exclusive deals and pricing tactics to dominate hotel traffic.

China's antitrust regulator said that Trip.com used traffic allocation, platform rules and technology to secure exclusive deals with some hotels while pushing for the lowest prices.