Doubao Starts Charging Merchants Commissions—Can Its AI Recommendations Remain Objective?

On August 20, Doubao’s long-discussed commission policy—where it charges hotels a fee for successful recommendations—finally took effect. Reporters from Qianlong Wang Discovery New Business School confirmed with Douyin Laike customer service that Doubao started collecting channel service fees for multi-category orders at 0:00 that day.

For hotel bookings, the combined fee is 12%: an 11.4% group-buy service fee plus a 0.6% fixed payment processing fee, as seen in merchant backend screenshots. Other categories like lifestyle services (including maternity care), education and training, home improvement, entertainment, and fitness face fees ranging from 8% to 18%.

This move marks China’s first large-scale transaction commission model for an AI chat interface, but it raises a key question: can Doubao keep its recommendations objective when it profits from them? To verify, reporters tested Doubao as ordinary guests and visited three top-ranked Beijing hotels.

None of the three hotels had partnerships with Doubao. A chain hotel front desk noted Doubao doesn’t support direct bookings, suggesting Meituan, Ctrip, or Huazhu’s app. Another staff member was unaware of the fee policy and hadn’t received cooperation notices. The third hotel said Doubao’s links redirect to Huazhu Club, but it’s unclear if commissions are being charged.

Doubao’s PR负责人 Liu Xing stated there’s no paid promotion—merchants can’t influence recommendations via payments, and commissions are only charged post-transaction. However, third-party data shows Doubao relies heavily on ByteDance’s ecosystem: QuestMobile’s Duan Linfeng revealed in June 2026 that 97.7% of its destination content comes from Douyin and 84.5% from Toutiao, forming a closed loop. This ties recommendations to ByteDance’s commercial interests.

Social media users doubt neutrality. One Weibo user asked: "If Doubao takes commissions, will it prioritize high-commission hotels over reputable ones?" Economist Pan Helin, an MIIT expert, warned the model could erode trust as users may see AI as "working for money."

Whether Doubao can balance commercialization and user trust remains to be seen.

Sources

• Qianlong Wang Discovery New Business School Report via Baidu Baijiahao (https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?for=pc&id=1874139919979113672&wfr=spider)