Tripadvisor Seeks Credit Card Partners to Boost Subscription Sales
Photo Credit: The Royal Purnama Bali, an exclusive boutique retreat in Bali, Indonesia. Tripadvisor’s annual Travelers’ Choice Awards picked Bali as the top destination for 2021. On Tripadvisor's first quarter 2021 earnings call on Friday, CEO Stephen Kaufer said consumer signals improved month-over-month. The Royal Purnama
Skift Take
A Friday earnings call helped analysts quantify the potential of Tripadvisor's new direct-to-consumer subscription product. New numbers for the company as a whole were also hopeful. But wary hotel chains, resentful online travel agencies, and raging virus variants still pose risks.
Tripadvisor is courting partnerships with the issuers of credit cards to help boost awareness and usage of its new subscription product Tripadvisor Plus.
The Plus subscription product offers hotel discounts and other benefits to travelers, as first reported by Skift.
The travel company based in Needham, Massachusetts, said on an earnings call on Friday it is looking at a couple of ways to work with credit card companies.
Issuers of higher-end credit cards that already offer travel benefits might add a Plus subscription as a fresh reward to paying cardholders.
"That type of model would generally have the financial institution paying Tripadvisor [the subscription cost, at a discount to the list price] on behalf of the customer," said Stephen Kaufer, president and CEO. "Those deals take a little while to put together."
This model is similar to what an Amsterdam-based startup Bidroom negotiated with Visa for cardholders in Europe for its similar subscription service. Higher
