Business/Technology Editors
NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 2002
Travel Search Engine Bucks The Doom and Gloom of the Internet Market
using Innovative Search Technology and Performance-based Marketing
TripAdvisor (www.TripAdvisor.com), the leader in performance-based marketing for the travel industry, announced today that it reached over 1.3 million unique visitors in the month of August, making it one of the web's top travel sites. Additionally, the company announced that it has reached profitability. While other companies have struggled to identify a viable business model on the web, TripAdvisor has thrived in the burgeoning online travel market by delivering on two unmet needs: travel specific web search results for consumers and performance based marketing services for travel suppliers and agencies.
As a result of its innovative search technology, consumers searching for destination information are presented with the best articles out on the web, as well as commerce links that are highly relevant to that destination. Due to the strong performance of its commerce-linking program, TripAdvisor clients consist of the top travel companies on the Web, including Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Trip.com, Hotels.com and American Airlines, among others.
Smart Revenue Model and Relevance Prove Key Ingredients
Built to address the frustration experienced by travelers using traditional web search engines, TripAdvisor is a dedicated travel search engine that helps consumers research and find the most relevant travel information out on the web. TripAdvisor scours the web to find unbiased articles, guidebook reviews and user comments on cities, specific hotels and activities in a given destination. TripAdvisor's search technology automatically filters out irrelevant results so consumers only receive the most relevant travel information for a given search query. As a result of its innovative technology, consumers no longer have to sift through 14 million search results for a query like "Paris" but instead are presented with links to the 20 most relevant pieces of information available on the web about "Paris" as a vacation destination.
Unlike many Internet companies and content providers that are struggling to find profitable revenue models, TripAdvisor applied a proven performance-based advertising model to the travel industry, currently the largest commerce segment on the Internet. Instead of traditional banner advertising, where advertisers pay for impressions and hope for leads, TripAdvisor's advertisers only pay for the qualified leads they get. More commonly known as Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising, TripAdvisor joins other profitable CPC ad supported search engines like Overture and Google.
Leads generated for TripAdvisor's commerce partners are highly qualified as TripAdvisor matches the product inventories of major travel suppliers to specific consumer travel search queries. When researching travel on TripAdvisor.com and its network of sites, consumers are presented with relevant, contextual commerce links about air, hotel and vacation promotions only when they match the stated search query.
For example, should a traveler be researching Bermuda, in addition to articles and reviews on Bermuda, he/she will only be shown links to commerce promotions about hotels and flights deals specific to Bermuda, not ski trips to Colorado or European vacation packages. The results are average click through rates of 10% for travel promotions on TripAdvisor.com - a 40X improvement over the average response rates of traditional banner advertising.
"TripAdvisor has become such a popular travel site because it offers consumers something they truly need - easy-to-find, extremely relevant travel research on their favorite destinations," said Steve Kaufer, CEO of TripAdvisor. "Additionally, we've been able to reach our revenue goals ahead of plan because of simple, effective text-based commerce programs that deliver highly qualified leads to travel advertisers. When we combined the relevance of our information with a performance-based advertising model, and applied it to the travel industry, we built a solid formula for TripAdvisor's rapid growth and financial success."
About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor, Inc. provides a comprehensive travel search engine and directory that helps consumers research their travel plans via the web. The company also offers travel suppliers a performance-based marketing medium that generates average click-through rates of over 10% per page. TripAdvisor, Inc. is a privately held, venture-backed company that has won dozens of awards including "Best of the Web 2001" from The San Francisco Chronicle and "Incredibly Useful Site of the Day" by Yahoo! Internet Life. TripAdvisor.com is one of the top travel sites on the web, averaging over 1,300,000 unique visitors per month. Partners include leading travel companies such as Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Trip.com, and Hotels.com, and its content is featured on other popular sites including www.lycos.com and www.smarterliving.com. TripAdvisor is based in Needham, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.TripAdvisor.com.
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