BEIJING, July 25 (Reuters) – China’s market regulator said on Saturday it had fined and confiscated a total of 5.2 billion yuan ($770 million) from Trip.com Group for abusing its dominant position in the domestic online hotel-booking market.
China’s largest online travel platform, Trip.com used traffic-allocation mechanisms, platform rules and technical measures to strike exclusive deals with some hotels as it sought to offer the lowest prices, the regulator said.
The State Administration for Market Regulation confiscated 1.66 billion yuan in illegal gains and imposed a fine of 3.52 billion yuan.
It also ordered Trip.com to refund booking deposits of 122 million yuan that it said the company had forcibly withheld from hotel operators.
The practices harmed competition and consumers by restricting hotels’ ability to operate across platforms and set their own prices, the agency added in a statement on its website.
China began an antitrust investigation in January following complaints that Trip.com had imposed unfair terms on hotels and manipulated pricing through technical means.
The penalty comes as Beijing moves to curb unfair competition among internet platforms and excessive price competition that authorities say has hurt businesses and fuelled deflationary pressures.
($1=6.7719 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Sophie Yu and Casey Hall; Editing by Tom Hogue and Clarence Fernandez)
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