TripAdvisor Rethinks Marketing as It Tries to Solve Instant Booking Problems
Photo Credit: A 2015 TripAdvisor TV ad. The company may return to TV in 2017 after sitting out last year. TripAdvisor
Skift Take
TripAdvisor became the largest travel site in the world based on its high profile in free search results. But Google has become a hyper-monetized marketplace and TripAdvisor's competitors have the resources to grossly outspend it in digital marketing.
TripAdvisor hasn't yet been able to create enough consumer awareness that it is a one-stop shop for planning and booking a hotel so it is considering returning to TV advertising this year after skipping it in 2016, the company stated.
The user review and hotel search and booking site reported what many would consider to be disappointing fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 earnings Wednesday with revenue and GAAP net income declining two percent and 67 percent, respectively, in the fourth quarter, and one percent and 39 percent for the entire year.
"While such volatility was largely expected, we saw a dampened back-half recovery and we were perhaps too optimistic about how quickly our product changes would raise awareness of TripAdvisor as a great place to book," the company stated in prepared remarks released with its earnings report.
There are also additional headwinds from big-spending compe
