Sounding Off: Tripadvisor has lots to consider, much out of its control

Tripadvisor

"At this stage in the pandemic we think now is the time to play offense with Viator and TheFork."

Quote from Tripadvisor in a story regarding its Q4 2021 earnings in a story on PhocusWire this week.

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered by PhocusWire that week.

Tripadvisor is at a fascinating moment in its history.

Reporting its quarterly earnings this week, online travel's pioneer of user generated content and much else since posted total revenue for 2021 at $902 million, down 42% compared to 2019 but up 49% compared to 2020.

These are inevitably the kind of financial trends that many travel brands will be posting as the full-year 2021 results comes through - up on 2020, down on 2019.

Nothing overly concerning on the top line there, with every company still attempting to ride the small waves of recovery and position themselves for better things during 2022.

But why 2022 in particular will be a critical year for the company is becoming pretty clear.

The company still needs to appoint a replacement for the outgoing Steve Kaufer, who batted off questions from analysts this week about a successor with relative and inevitable ease - although the clock has been ticking since November last year.

More concerning right now, perhaps, will be the fate of its Tripadvisor Plus program - a member service that was launched with a fair amount of fanfare in early 2021 but revamped last September.

The company admits the service has not grown as anticipated, with conversions failing to get to the levels they expected for full roll-out.

It may be that Tripadvisor decides not to place as much attention on the Plus program and it quietly disappears over the course of 2022, although officially the plan is to continue to invest.

The decision, confirmed this week with a private filing to the SEC, to spin-off activities brand Viator and restaurant booking service The Fork is another move that is already splitting opinion.

The official line is that the time is right to "to increase our geographic reach, improve and expand our product offerings and drive loyalty of our customer base with these investments."

But sceptics - activity providers appear to be quite the experts, if LinkedIn is anything to go by - are suggesting that the company is, instead, doubling down on what works and what doesn't, with experiences and restaurants a bit further down the pecking order of priorities.

All of the challenges (opportunities, too, of course) will come amid still a fair amount of uncertainty around how quickly the markets will pick up again, and how travelers will choose to search, book and experience their trips. 

The new CEO, whoever she or he may end up being, has a big job on their hands.

They will need to consider whether the current strategy is one to continue with or if the wider seismic changes that many are predicting (Web 3, for example) coming down the pipe are worth facing head-on.