HUBS1, a web-based, real-time Central Reservation System provider, sent a public statement to the mass media to blame that Ctrip.com International, Ltd., (Ctrip, NASDAQ：CTRP) a consolidator of hotel accommodations and airline tickets in China, is preventing its rivals and hotels from providing lower price hotel rooms for the visitors to the Shanghai 2010 Expo, the 21st Century Business Herald reports April 7.

Just one day ago, HUBS1 joined hands with 42 hotels to push out a sales promotion plan to provide lower price hotel rooms, which were 20% to 60% lower than the same items on the Ctrip.com, but such promotion plan was forced out immediately by Ctrip.

“We are totally outraged by Ctrip’s monopolization and its intent to manipulate the hotel prices”, said Zhang Dian, CEO of HUBS1.

“Ctrip has taken up 50% of the individual travelers’ hotel booking services in China, which makes it at a monopoly position in this industry”, said Zhang, “Ctrip provides about 20% to 30% customers for a large numbers of hotels, that’s why most of them dare not to offend Ctrip.”

“I’m totally ignorant about this issue”, the report cited Tang Lan, vice president of Ctrip, as saying. “But Ctrip does not permit the cooperative hotels to offer a lower price than the agree prices set by the two parties together”, Tang added.

“Ctrip is a traditional travel agency based on a call center. It has about 7,000 employees, of which 4,000 are receiving or making telephone calls”, Zhang said, “while HUBS1 is a web-based, real-time Central Reservation System, through which customers can view the booking information of any hotels in the system from anywhere in the world and be able to book rooms in a fast and real-time way.”

In 2007, Shanghai World Expo Commission spent six months on searching a solution for hotel booking system for the Expo. Ctrip, China Travel Service Co. Ltd., as well as HUBS1 proposed their solutions respectively. Finally, HUBS1 won the competition surprisingly to be the sole officially designated undertaker of hotel booking services.