Recently, Tripadvisor fired more than 150 employees and contractors and reshuffled top management in an attempt to President Kristen Dalton announced internally that its chief technology officer and general manager of e-commerce will be leaving the company, according to a staff email obtained by Skift.
President Kristen Dalton announced “We are evolving our organizational structure to enable faster decision-making and deeper collaboration throughout the organization.”
For the first three quarters of 2024, all reported revenue sources for Brand Tripadvisor (Tripadvisor-branded Hotels, Tripadvisor Experiences and Dining) were down year-over-year, except for Media and Advertising.
The only light at the end of the proverbial tunnel comes from TripAdvisor’s experience brand, Viator. After been tucked for many years – underfunded and under-appreciated – in a dark corporate corner by Tripadvisor after its acquisition in 2014, Viator has enjoyed a steady growth since the pandemic, unlike the rest of Tripadvisor’s product lines.
I do not believe that the latest reorganizations – I lost track how many of those over the past 10 years – will be able to improve in any significant manner the company’s revenue and industry status, not to mention shareholder value.
The reason is very simple. Tripadvisor is … 20 years too late to realize that it is … a MEDIA COMPANY! With half a billion unique monthly visitors, over a billion reviews and opinions on accommodations, restaurants, and activities, and billions of eyeballs, Tripadvisor should have become the #1 travel advertising platform and taken a sizable chunk of Google’s market share.
Instead, we witnessed two decades of corporate strategy zigzagging: from social media and metasearch site to quasi-OTA and curated content depository, B2B Business Intelligence provider, Membership Subscription Club, etc., but never behaving like a true media company.
The travel and hospitality industry desperately needs an alternative to Google and TripAdvisor should have done it a long time ago: building or acquiring a travel ad network (acquiring Sojern or Adara or both), targeting and retargeting display advertising, similar audiences marketing, geo targeting and feeder markets marketing, online sponsorships, content marketing, destination marketing initiatives, 21st century ad tech like better analytics, conversion tracking and advertiser dashboards, the list goes on and on and on!
How to make Tripadvisor relevant again?
Asset spin-offs, sales and acquisitions:
To maximize shareholder value, Viator should be spun into a separate company. Let it flourish and compete with GetYourGuide, Klook, etc.
TripAdvisor should sell TheFork, its restaurant reservation platform.
TripAdvisor should acquire Sojern, the last remaining private travel ad network and integrate its adtech into its tech stack
Brand Tripadvisor:
The remainder of Tripadvisor should focus on becoming the preeminent global travel media platform, able to:
Expand and enhance customer reviews for everything travel: destinations, hotels, vacation rentals, restaurants, airlines, experiences, cruise lines, car rentals, travel merchandise, golf, tennis, spas, etc.
Add a serious social media twist to its platform: discussion boards and expert and peer travel advice about everything travel: destinations, cruises, lodging, experiences, golf, tennis, etc.
Offer all advertising formats: metasearch, sponsored listings, search marketing, AI marketing, multi screen marketing, programmatic banner advertising, targeting and retargeting, destination marketing, content marketing, email marketing, etc.
Significantly upgrade and enhance its ad tech stack.
Expand and enhance its offerings to CVBs, DMAs and other destination organizations, hotels, cruise lines, experience operators, etc.
Online Reputation Management (ORM) analytics and technologies
Business intelligence analytics and services.
