Needham, Massachusetts – 21 December 2016
TripAdvisor signed an agreement to let customers book some hotels from Expedia’s websites directly on TripAdvisor, a key development in the company’s transition from a review site to full-fledged hotel booker.
The deal follows a similar one TripAdvisor signed with Priceline last year, Bloomberg reported.
TripAdvisor is struggling to shift its revenue model from one where it gets paid a fee for referring its customers to other hotel-booking websites, to one where users can reserve directly on TripAdvisor.
The move should eventually net the company higher profit margins but so far has eaten into revenue because consumers haven’t yet gotten used to booking with TripAdvisor, chief executive officer Stephen Kaufer said last month.
A spokesman for TripAdvisor declined to comment on how many of Expedia’s hotels the deal would initially include. TripAdvisor was spun off from Expedia in 2011.