TripAdvisor To Take Direct Hotel Bookings on Mobile Apps In 2014
Photo Credit: TripAdvisor's iOS app as seen on the iPhone. PlaceIt by Breezi
Skift Take
TripAdvisor is finding out that transitioning to hotel metasearch is very heavy lifting, and quite a gamble.
Seeking to minimize traveler pain and its own hurt, TripAdvisor announced that it would begin to take direct bookings for hotels through its mobile apps for the first time in 2014, although it doesn't intend to become an online travel agency.
CEO Stephen Kaufer, speaking during the company's third quarter earnings call October 23, called mobile bookings the current "pain point" because travelers using TripAdvisor smartphone apps for hotel metasearch must navigate to an online travel agency or hotel site to complete a booking, and then they get frustrated if they want to return to the app to check another hotel rate.
"You are kind of lost a bit," Kaufer said of the user experience. "When we watch our users, they struggle
