Skift Daily Briefing

Trip.com Just Took a $770 Million Hit and It's Changing the Rules for Hotels

September 17, 2026·5 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

China's antitrust crackdown costs Trip.com $770 million and forces a full overhaul of how hotels compete on its platform, American Airlines puts the industry on notice that high fuel prices mean fewer flights, and Sam's Club makes a move into cruises targeting one of travel's last offline holdouts. On today's Skift Daily Briefing, Tasmin Lockwood, Skift's Climate and Experiences Reporter, breaks down why Trip.com's regulatory hit matters less than the new rules it's writing for hotel partners, how fuel costs rather than demand could slow American Airlines' faster-than-rivals growth, and whether Sam's Club can finally crack cruise booking's stubborn resistance to going digital. This episode is brought to you by ZS Articles Referenced:Connect with Tasmin LockwoodTrip.com Group's Antitrust Reset Could Change How Hotels Compete on Its PlatformAmerican Airlines to Cut Capacity if Fuel Costs Stay HighSam's Club Travel Relaunches With Cruises and Deal With Rocket Travel's Founders Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.

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