What LY.com does

LY.com (同程旅行 / Tongcheng Travel) is a Chinese online travel agency (OTA) platform operated by Tongcheng Network Technology Co., Ltd. (同程网络科技股份有限公司), founded in 2002 and headquartered in Suzhou. The platform serves individual consumers and enterprise clients with a one-stop booking super-app spanning hotels (domestic and international), flights (domestic, international, Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan), train tickets, car rentals, bus and ferry tickets, attraction tickets, domestic and outbound tour packages, cruises, and visa services. It self-reports over 200 million users and 14.5 million active merchants, positioning itself as one of China's two major OTA platforms alongside Ctrip.

The platform's underlying technology consists of a unified booking engine with integrated payment and customer service systems, supplemented by DeepTrip (程心AI), a 2023-launched conversational AI assistant that generates personalized itineraries in approximately 60 seconds. A user-generated 攻略社区 (Strategy Community) provides travelogues and destination content. Backed by more than 20 wholly-owned subsidiaries spanning OTA operations, international travel services, IT, car rental, hotel management, and an in-house insurance agency (Tongcheng Insurance Agency), LY.com operates a vertically integrated travel services stack.

LY.com's revenue model is primarily transaction-based, generating commissions on hotel bookings, transportation ticketing (flights, trains, car rentals, buses/ferries), attraction and activity bookings, vacation packages, and cruise sales, with additional fees from visa services, insurance affiliate commissions, and B2B corporate travel management. Distribution combines direct-to-consumer channels (ly.com website and mobile app), a dedicated corporate travel portal (tmc.ly.com), and partner/channel relationships with destination marketing organizations, hotels, and scenic areas. The company has expanded operations to 23+ countries and raised approximately $1.72 billion in disclosed funding across rounds from 2008-2018, with strategic backers including Tencent, Trip.com, WANDA Group, and Overseas Chinese Town Holdings.

Name

LY.com

Legal name

同程网络科技股份有限公司

Website

http://ly.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

LY.com (Tongcheng Travel) is a Chinese online travel agency platform serving 200M+ individual consumers and enterprise clients with one-stop booking for hotels, flights, trains, attractions, vacation packages, cruises, and visas, supplemented by the DeepTrip AI itinerary planner.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Travel Agency

NAICS

Travel Agencies (561510), Tour Operators (561520), Travel Arrangement and Reservation Services (5615)

SIC

Transportation Services (4700)

akta.pro primary industry

Full-Service OTAs (Flights/Hotels/Packages) (THAKAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Accommodation-Focused OTAs (Hotels & Alternative Stays) (THAKAAAB), Rail/Bus/Multimodal Booking OTAs (THAKAAAI), Cruise Booking Platforms & OTAs (THAEAFAA), Online/Hybrid Corporate Travel Agencies (Self-Booking + Support) (THAKACAB)

Keywords

• Online travel agency
• Hotel booking platform
• Flight ticket booking
• Travel package tours
• Corporate travel management

Headquarters

HQ city

Suzhou

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Accommodation booking commissions: Commission revenue from hotel bookings through the platform, both domestic and international properties, with rates varying by hotel tier and booking volume.
2. Transportation ticketing: Commission from airline tickets (domestic and international/Hong Kong/Macau), train tickets, car rental, and bus/ferry bookings.
3. Attractions and activity bookings: Revenue from ticket sales for scenic areas, theme parks, and local tour packages with per-ticket or per-booking fees.
4. Vacation package sales: Revenue from packaged travel products including domestic tours, outbound tours, custom travel, and cruise bookings.
5. Visa services: Fee-based visa application assistance and processing services for outbound travel.
6. Corporate travel management: B2B revenue from enterprise travel management services including booking platforms, reporting tools, and account management.
7. Insurance products: Commission from travel insurance products sold through partner insurance companies on the platform.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

LY.com (同程旅行) operates a comprehensive online travel agency (OTA) platform providing one-stop booking for hotels (domestic and international), flights, train tickets, car rentals, bus and ferry tickets, attraction tickets, domestic and outbound tour packages, cruises, and visa services to individual consumers. It also runs a separate B2B corporate travel management service (Tongcheng Corporate Travel) and offers travel insurance through Tongcheng Insurance Agency. Its proprietary DeepTrip (程心AI) assistant generates personalized multi-day itineraries in about 60 seconds via natural language conversation.

Product overview

LY.com (同程旅行) operates as a comprehensive online travel agency (OTA) platform offering a full-spectrum of travel services. The platform functions as a unified super-app ecosystem encompassing core booking services including hotel reservations, flight ticketing, train tickets, car rentals, bus and ferry tickets, scenic spot tickets, domestic travel packages, outbound tour packages, cruise bookings, visa services, and installment travel options. The platform also features DeepTrip (程心AI), an AI-powered itinerary planning assistant that generates personalized travel plans via natural language conversation in approximately 60 seconds. Additional services include corporate travel management (同程商旅), travel insurance (through Tongcheng Insurance Agency), and a user-generated travel guide community. The architecture follows a platform-plus-modules model where the core booking engine is supplemented by AI planning tools, a content community, and B2B partnership portals for destination management organizations (DMOs) and travel suppliers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 同程艺龙: The merged brand combining Tongcheng and Yilong, serving as the primary operating brand for the online travel platform.

Products and services

• DeepTrip (程心AI) AI Travel Planner Conversational AI travel planning assistant that produces personalized itineraries covering accommodations, transportation, attractions, and activities based on user preferences such as destination, duration, budget, and travel style.
• Hotel Booking (酒店预订) Reservation service for domestic and international hotels featuring real-time price comparison, genuine hotel photos, and user reviews for individual travelers.
• Flight Booking (机票预订) Airline ticket booking service covering domestic, international, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan routes with one-way, round-trip, and multi-leg options across economy, premium economy, business, and first class cabins.
• Train Ticket Booking (火车票预订) High-speed rail and conventional train ticket booking service for domestic China routes, with filter for high-speed/动车 trains only.
• Scenic Spot Tickets (景点门票) Attraction ticket booking service covering domestic and international scenic spots with real-time availability, pricing, themed categories (theme parks, natural scenery, cultural heritage), and one-day or multi-day options.
• Domestic Travel Packages (境内游) Domestic travel packages and group tour products covering destinations across China, including themed itineraries and one-day to multi-day tours.
• Outbound Travel Packages (出境游) Overseas travel packages, group tours, and customized travel services for international destinations across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Middle East, and Africa.
• Cruise Booking (邮轮) Cruise booking service covering international and domestic cruise routes, including team/group cruise customization, through partnerships with Royal Caribbean and Costa Cruises.
• Visa Services (签证服务) Visa application assistance service providing professional consultant one-on-one support for outbound travel destinations, with a stated 99.8% success rate.
• Bus & Ferry Ticket Booking (汽车·船票) Intercity bus ticket booking service and cross-water ferry booking service for domestic routes.
• Car Rental (租车服务) Car rental service providing vehicles for travel transportation needs across China.
• Custom Travel (定制游) Customized travel planning and booking service that allows users to tailor their own travel itineraries according to personal preferences, including outbound customization.
• Installment Travel (分期游) Travel booking service offering installment payment options, allowing consumers to spread the cost of trips over multiple payments.
• Corporate Travel Management (同程商旅 / 企业商旅) Dedicated B2B corporate travel management service providing flight and hotel booking, dedicated account management, expense reporting integration, and travel policy compliance for enterprise clients and their employees.
• Travel Insurance (保险服务)

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• 山东省文化和旅游厅 (Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerShandong Culture and Tourism flagship store on LY.com featuring destination marketing, travel guides, and booking services for Shandong province attractions and hotels. Joint promotion of '好客山东' (Hospitable Shandong) tourism brand.
• 大连市文化和旅游局 (Dalian Culture and Tourism Bureau)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDalian flagship store featuring destination guides, hotel and attraction bookings, and travel packages for Dalian and surrounding Liaoning coastal areas.
• 内蒙古自治区文化和旅游厅 (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Culture and Tourism Department)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInner Mongolia tourism flagship store promoting destinations including Chifeng, Hulunbuir, Xilin Gol, and other attractions with specialized travel content and booking services.
• 赤峰市文化和旅游局 (Chifeng Culture and Tourism Bureau)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerChifeng destination page featuring attractions like Wulan Butong, Yarlung Zangbu Grand Canyon, and local cultural content.
• 中国平安 (Ping An Insurance)minorOthersInsurance product partner providing travel insurance offerings through LY.com platform.
• 中国人保 (People's Insurance Company of China)minorOthersTravel insurance partner offering coverage options integrated with booking flow.
• 华泰保险 (Huatai Insurance)minorOthersTravel insurance partner providing coverage products through LY.com.
• 皇家加勒比邮轮 (Royal Caribbean Cruises)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCruise line partner offering Royal Caribbean cruise packages and bookings through LY.com platform.
• 歌诗达邮轮 (Costa Cruises)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCruise partner providing Costa cruise products through LY.com booking platform.
• 同程保险代理有限公司 (Tongcheng Insurance Agency)coreOthersIn-house insurance agency entity managing travel insurance partnerships and product distribution.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Klook: Asia-Pacific attractions and activities booking platform. Klook is comparable to LY.com's 景点 (scenic spot) and 周边跟团游 product lines, and competes with LY.com for inbound Chinese tourist bookings into SEA destinations and outbound packages.
• Mafengwo: China's leading travel content and UGC community that has expanded into OTA-style booking for independent travel. Highly comparable to LY.com's combination of travel content community plus booking engine, especially relevant given LY.com's own 攻略社区 content moat.

Regional players

• Traveloka: Leading Southeast Asian OTA offering flights, hotels, attractions and lifestyle products across Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. Comparable as a multi-product consumer OTA, but serving a different geography than LY.com's China-centric base.
• MakeMyTrip: India's largest online travel company covering flights, hotels, holidays and rail. Comparable as a full-service OTA serving a single large emerging market with similar product breadth, though operating in a different geography than LY.com.

Direct peers

• Qunar: Trip.com Group-owned metasearch and OTA focused on price comparison and ticketing. Qunar competes with LY.com in flight and hotel search/booking, particularly on price-sensitive domestic routes where LY.com's own train and bus ticketing also competes.
• Meituan: Although best known for food delivery, Meituan operates a sizable hotel and attraction booking business that overlaps directly with LY.com's domestic hotel and scenic-spot ticketing lines, and competes for the same lower-tier-city Chinese travelers.
• Trip.com Group (Ctrip): China's largest OTA, offering the same full-spectrum suite (hotels, flights, trains, packages, attractions, corporate travel) with stronger international inventory and brand recognition. LY.com is most directly comparable as a Chinese full-service OTA competing head-to-head for the same user base and supplier contracts.
• Fliggy (Alibaba): Alibaba's consumer travel platform embedded in the Alipay/TAobao ecosystem, covering flights, hotels, vacation packages and attractions. Fliggy is LY.com's most direct large-scale competitor, with the added advantage of Alibaba's payments, logistics and merchant data infrastructure.

Broad incumbents

• Airbnb: Global alternative-accommodation marketplace competing with LY.com's international and domestic hotel offerings, particularly for Chinese outbound travelers seeking vacation rental inventory abroad. Broader overlap on the accommodations vertical rather than on full-package travel.
• Booking Holdings (Booking.com): Global incumbent whose Booking.com brand is the dominant international hotel OTA. Comparable on the accommodation and global distribution side, and a competitor for any outbound Chinese traveler booking international hotels directly.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries22 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors7 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments11 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about LY.com