Is it for the sixth time you are canceling your Goa plan? The feeling is mutual my friend. All of us make a huge bucket list, but most of the plans aren’t executed. There is so much to explore, yet we are either too busy or too scared to step out. Every time we scroll down an Instagram profile of a traveler, we are highly tempted and intrigued. And, in our mind, we have already made a plan which ends up like ‘I wish I could, but TripAdvisor makes it easier to turn that in reality.
What are you scared of? With so many online travel companies coming up, traveling has honestly become way easier today. All you need is a week off from your job and some cash. Traveling is expensive but not all the time. And, once you do some thorough research about a place, there isn’t much to think about it.
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is the largest and the first ‘social travel website’ in the entire world. One of the best things about TripAdvisor is the contents are user-generated. So, you get completing honest reviews about any place you want to visit. The famous restaurants, the pocket-friendly hotels, the best trekking spots, water sports, and the best shopping sites, one gets to know everything.
Founded by Stephen Kaufer, the company was established in February 2000. The headquarters of TripAdvisor is based on Massachusetts, the U.S. The parent company of TripAdvisor is Tripadvisor Media Group which runs twenty-five travel brands. Some of them are BookingBuddy, Citymaps, TravelPod, etc.
Stephen Kaufer
Kaufer received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Harvard College. After graduating in 1984, Kaufer joined CDS Ltd as its President. Before co-founding TripAdvisor, Kaufer also co-founded Centerline Software.
Kaufer is a Board Member of Glassdoor, Cargurus, TripAdvisor and Caring for Carcinoid Foundation. Kaufer, in 2005 became Entrepreneur of the Year.
Why the Best?
The best feature of a travel website can have is user-generated content. TripAdvisor helps people to find the best accommodations suited for them and their reviews, in turn, helps out many more. The users are the ones making TripAdvisor get better and bigger every day.
Moreover, it doesn’t only help the users but also the hotels to improve themselves. Because one negative comment can easily turn a business upside down. The power lies in the hands of the customers.
Be it an appreciation, a criticism or a piece of advice, one can share everything in the platform of TripAdvisor.
How did it start?
The company was set up in early 2000 with a funding of $3 million only. TripAdvisor was determined to post fully original reviews of the customers and not go for crowd-sourced content. Though it was considered not a good enough idea by some critics, the company went for it.
The website was free for every kind of user. But in 2001, Kaufer brought a little change and started charging small fees for per click. Every time a user clicked in the link of a specific hotel, charges summed up.
This strategy of Kuafer resulted in a huge profit. By 2004, the company witnessed 5 million active monthly visitors. In this same year, TripAdvisor was acquired by InterActiveCorp for $210 million. Nobody saw it coming and Kaufer regretted the decision later.
Growing Bigger
After the acquisition, Kaufer was still the CEO of the company. Within the next few years, TripAdvisor hired more employees as it expanded. The company also built offices in India by 2008. After a couple of years, the company had 26 unique monthly visitors. It became the largest company in the world related to tours and travels making a yearly profit of $129 million.
In 2010, TripAdvisor acquired holidaylettings.co.uk which was the biggest independent rental website in the U.K. By the next year, TripAdvisor had 50 million monthly visitors and the company’s IPO was filed for $4 billion. When it became an independent business, TripAdvisor realized it lacked skilled leadership. But, the company managed itself well and now it has offices worldwide with more than 3,000 employees.
Acquisitions
After the acquisition of the U.K’s rental website in 2010, TripAdvisor bought Where I’ve Been (a Chicago-based app) in 2011. In the next couple of years, the company acquired Wanderfly, Jatesetter, GateGuru, Oyster.com, etc. The latest acquisition of TripAdvisor was in April 2018, Bokun, a travel management software.
Criticism
TripAdvisor faced many difficulties and criticism in these span of almost two decades. It has been charged a few times for violating laws and lawsuits were also filed against it. But, every business goes through a downward spiral at some point. Its rigid pillars and strong foundation that has managed to keep it the best even now.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more