Hoteliers in China’s Yunnan Province have warned of possible collective antitrust complaints against online travel platforms over alleged unfair-competition practices.
China’s online travel platforms are facing the risk of collective antitrust complaints after industry operators in Yunnan Province reported concerns about alleged unfair-competition practices.
The Yunnan Province Tourism Guesthouse Industry Association said earlier this week it launched rights-protection work after receiving a series of complaints from member businesses regarding alleged conduct by certain online travel agency, or OTA, platforms. Trip.com, also known as Ctrip.com, China’s leading industry player, was among the platforms mentioned in the complaints.
The association said that, depending on the evidence gathered, it may represent affected members in submitting collective complaints to regulators, including the State Administration for Market Regulation and its provincial arm in Yunnan. It also said it has not ruled out the possibility of seeking judicial remedies.
According to the association’s public notice, the reported conduct includes OTA platforms “using their market dominance” to implement practices such as “choose-one-out-of-two” arrangements, unilateral commission increases, unequal transaction conditions and traffic restrictions.
The notice said these practices have harmed operators’ lawful interests and disrupted fair competition, affecting the healthy development of the local guesthouse sector.
It is understood that the conduct listed in the notice remains subject to verification. A commissioned law firm will summarize findings only after evidence has been examined and analyzed. It will assess whether the alleged conduct is factually supported and whether the conduct appears widespread among members submitting materials.
The association has begun collecting evidence from its members, including contract terms, back-end screenshots, recordings and penalty notices.
MLex was told that after the notice was published, businesses outside Yunnan Province also contacted the association, reporting similar issues and expressing interest in joining the initiative.
It is understood there has been no fixed deadline for the evidence-collection phase. The association will review the materials with its appointed law firm before deciding whether to move forward with collective complaints for remedies.
Recent regulatory actions provide industry context. In August, tourism platforms including Trip.com, Tongcheng Travel, Douyin, Meituan and Fliggy were summoned by Guizhou regulators over issues such as alleged exclusive dealing and technical interference in pricing.
In September, Trip.com was summoned by Zhengzhou regulators over what authorities called “unreasonable” platform practices related to an automated price-adjustment tool, which regulators said violated e-commerce and unfair-competition rules.
Source: MLex
