Skift Take
The regime under CEO Matt Goldberg is testing a bunch of stuff, including Tripadvisor Instant Book, and a new form of the previous subscription plan, Tripadvisor Plus. The idea is to not throw out the baby with the bath water, and to see what works now.
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This story began with a promotion featured in an email from my credit card company, Capital One, and it took me aback: "Save up to 30% off on your Instant Book hotel with Tripadvisor."
WHAT?
If you aren't an online travel nerd, or don't work in the industry, you may not understand my shock, but many of you who read this column will "get it" right away.
Capital One cardholders can earn 10% cash back on this offer when booking an Instant Book hotel on Tripadvisor. That means they can book the hotel right on Tripadvisor.com or its apps. Source: Capital One
Although it may have appeared sporadically over the years, Tripadvisor largely abandoned Instant Book in 2017, and the strategy reversal was a big deal at the time.
Why?
When Tripadvisor markets hotels, it largely does so as a metasearch site. In metasearch, online travel agencies and hotels bid to list their hotel rates on Tripadvisor, and have to pay a pre-determined cost per click when consumers select them and