Two government bodies have summoned major online travel platforms to address growing concerns over harmful competitive practices in the hotel booking industry.

On September 15, the State Administration for Market Regulation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, convened an administrative guidance meeting for the online hotel reservation platform sector. The session was designed to steer platform enterprises toward taking full responsibility for regulatory compliance while mitigating competitive risks that could undermine the tourism market's healthy development.

The meeting underscored that fair competition serves as the legal cornerstone of a market economy, and that compliant operations are vital to a company's long-term survival. While acknowledging the rapid growth of China's online hotel booking industry and its positive contributions to daily life and tourism consumption, officials stressed that competitive risks must not be overlooked. As key players in this ecosystem, online booking platforms are expected to adhere strictly to legal boundaries, uphold fair competition principles, and strengthen compliance management to foster standardized and sustainable industry growth.

During the session, participating platforms were instructed to rigorously follow provisions under the Anti-Monopoly Law, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the E-Commerce Law, and the Tourism Law. Companies were urged to learn from past cases, conduct self-inspections, and proactively address problematic practices such as exclusive cooperation agreements and "lowest price across the entire internet" promotional tactics, which have fueled excessive internal competition. They were also called upon to enhance their compliance awareness, reinforce operational and safety baselines, and establish robust long-term compliance mechanisms to help build a market environment characterized by quality service, fair pricing, and healthy rivalry.

Executives representing major platforms including Meituan, Douyin, JD.com, Ctrip, Tongcheng, and Fliggy attended the meeting, along with market regulation officials from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces. The collective gathering signals a unified push to protect consumer rights and promote mutually beneficial outcomes for all participants within the platform ecosystem.