TripAdvisor Places Big Bets on Experience Bookers Rather Than Hotel Shoppers


Skift Take

TripAdvisor is leveraging its strengths — tours and activities, and restaurants — where it has leadership positions rather than choosing to devote the bulk of its energies in the crowded field of hotels and alternative accommodations. It is a wise choice to differentiate rather than be a mere clone of its competitors.

The bulk of TripAdvisor's business, despite outsized growth in experiences and restaurants, is still in hotel search, but the company's heart, if corporations can have a heart, might be in the tours and activities crowd. CEO Steve Kaufer, in answering questions from analysts Wednesday, said consumers who buy experiences from TripAdvisor book right on TripAdvisor sites, and often become members while travelers shopping for hotels tend not to do so. That's because, with the demise of the company's push for instant booking for hotels on TripAdvisor sites, travelers complete their bookings on online travel agency and hotel websites. Kaufer said the lifetime value of