TripAdvisor reported second-quarter net income of $27 million, down 21% from the $34 million reported for second quarter 2016.
Total revenue grew 8%, to $424 million.
One of the gratifying figures for TripAdvisor was the 31% hike in revenue from “on-hotel,” the company’s term for its attractions business. Chief executive officer Stephen Kaufer said the company is managing that sector of its business “not for profit, but for growth.”
The company acquired Viator in 2014 and developed a three- to five-year growth strategy, and “now we’re getting to where we see some scale,” Ernst Teunissen, chief financial officer, said.
Kaufer added that “attractions has the biggest short, medium and long-term upside for us. We can argue that we are the current leader in the space.”
He noted that TripAdvisor customers don’t generally book attractions as part of a hotel booking. “They’re on our site because they are looking for attractions,” he said.
During the second quarter, TripAdvisor put the finishing touches on its new user interface, which Kaufer said offers a more streamlined hotel shopping experience.
“The marketing team deserves a lot of credit for the improved experience,” he said. “It’s now easier to get to the hotel you want.”
One of TripAdvisor’s goals for the second quarter was “educating our traveler audience that TripAdvisor is the best site not only for reviews, but also for the best price when you are booking a hotel,” Kaufer said.
He said the company has made “great progress” toward achieving that goal:
“As more users visit TripAdvisor to find the best prices before they book their travel experiences, the more transformational it will be to our long-term revenue growth, marketing efficiency and profit growth.”
The redesign and improved shopping experience also contributes to “upticks in user confidence that TripAdvisor is a site that helps them find the lowest prices,” he said.