Trip.com targeted by class action after China antitrust probe

17% plunge prompts US class action

Trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel agency, is now the target of a US class action. Shareholder rights firm Hagens Berman is seeking to represent holders of American Depositary Shares (ADSs) who acquired stock between 30 April 2024 and 13 January 2026. The move follows a 17% drop on 14 January 2026, when the group disclosed it was under investigation by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) under the country’s Anti‑Monopoly Law. According to the complaint, the company understated regulatory risks linked to certain practices in its hotels business, erasing more than $8 billion in market value in a single session.

In the aftermath, other firms issued investor notices regarding securities actions concerning Trip.com. Their communications cite the same reference period — 30 April 2024 to 13 January 2026 — and a deadline of 11 May 2026 for investors wishing to join these actions. At least seven US law firms have, at this stage, published notices or communicated about securities lawsuits related to Trip.com.

At the centre of the scrutiny is an algorithmic price‑adjustment tool that Trip.com recently deployed. The tool is said to automatically lower a hotel’s price on the platform when it detects a cheaper rate elsewhere. Press reports and accounts from hotel partners allege the mechanism may have forced participation in promotions, undercut rivals’ prices and reduced visibility — even delisting — for properties that did not match those rates, factors now under the regulator’s microscope as potential abuse of a dominant position.

Restoring hotels’ pricing autonomy

For the plaintiffs, the action is driven less by the alleged anti‑competitive nature of the practices than by what was communicated to the market. The filing argues that Trip.com had presented its AI approach as a cornerstone while assuring the effectiveness of its disclosure controls, even as red flags over partners’ pricing autonomy were emerging as early as November 2025, according to Hagens Berman. For its part, Trip.com “believes these allegations are without merit and intends to defend itself vigorously, while remaining focused on its operations and stakeholders”.

The company has confirmed it received a notice of investigation from SAMR, reiterated that it is cooperating “actively and transparently”, and said operations were normal at the time of the announcement. “We are building a scalable AI infrastructure to enhance partner efficiency, improve visibility and break down barriers, enabling the industry to deliver better content and reach more customers,” explained Cindy Wang, chief financial officer of Trip.com, in a Q&A session following the company’s fourth‑quarter results on 25 February 2026. “And we believe that a collaborative and fair ecosystem is critical to the long-term development of the travel industry.”

The firm also notes that Trip.com planned to disable its AI hotel price‑adjustment tool on 10 March in a bid, Pandaily reported, “to curb price wars and restore pricing autonomy for hotel partners.”