Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) Business Model Canvas

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

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You're looking to understand the current engine driving Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP), and let me tell you, the old model is fading fast; the real story is a dramatic pivot that dictates how we should think about valuation today. As someone who spent a decade leading analyst teams, I see a company that has successfully shifted its center of gravity, evidenced by Experiences and Dining revenue-from Viator and TheFork-now making up nearly 60% of total revenue as of Q3 2025. This move from a legacy hotel comparison site to an experiences-led marketplace means the key resources and revenue streams have fundamentally changed, making the old playbook obsolete. Dive into the nine blocks below to see the precise structure of this new, experience-focused business model.

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're looking at the external relationships Tripadvisor, Inc. relies on to power its experiences-led strategy and AI initiatives as of late 2025. These aren't just casual links; they are critical data and distribution conduits.

Global Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) for hotel price comparison

The core Tripadvisor brand still heavily relies on its metasearch function, which partners with Global Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) to drive hotel traffic. While the core brand revenue saw a dip, the hotel segment remains a key component of that segment's performance. For the three months ended June 30, 2025, Branded Hotels revenue was $152 million, reflecting a 1% year-over-year growth.

It's important to note that Viator, the experiences platform, also leverages major OTAs as part of its distribution network. Viator unlocks its power by reaching travelers across more than 4,000 demand partners, which include major names like Booking.com and Expedia.

Microsoft Azure AI Agent Service for data integration (March 2025)

Tripadvisor, Inc. became one of the first external data and intelligence partners for Microsoft Azure AI Agent Service, announced in April 2025, building on earlier AI groundwork. This partnership is about licensing proprietary data to power external enterprise AI agents. It's a strategic move to ensure Tripadvisor's content is surfaced directly where developers are building new tools.

  • Per the agreement, Azure AI Agent Service gains access to Tripadvisor's one billion human-created reviews and contributions.
  • Azure customers can now leverage Tripadvisor-built AI services, such as Review Summaries, directly within their agent applications.
  • This integration provides access to millions of vetted data points for reliable Point of Interest (POI) information.

Local tour and activity operators for Viator's inventory

Viator is the clear growth engine, and its inventory scale is a direct result of deep partnerships with local operators. This is where Tripadvisor, Inc. is placing significant resource prioritization.

For the second quarter of 2025, Viator generated $270 million in revenue, up 11% year-over-year. Experience bookings volumes grew 15% to 6.2 million in that same quarter, with a Gross Bookings Value hitting $1.3 billion.

Here's the scale of the operator base:

Metric Number as of Q2 2025
Bookable Experiences Offered Approximately 400,000
Local Operators Partnered With Over 65,000
Take Rate (Approximate) Mid-20s percentage

Restaurant owners and reservation software providers for TheFork

TheFork, Tripadvisor, Inc.'s dining brand, continues to grow its B2B offering for restaurant owners through TheFork Manager. TheFork reported revenue of $54 million in Q2 2025, a 28% increase year-over-year. Total bookings volume on the B2C side grew 9% overall in Q2 2025.

The partnership model for TheFork involves two main groups: the restaurants using the software and the technology providers it integrates with.

  • TheFork maintains a network of some 55,000 partner restaurants across 12 countries.
  • TheFork Manager software now connects with major tech stack tools, including Oracle, Lightspeed, and Cheerfy.
  • The platform also offers a Revenue Management solution for advanced data analysis to restaurant owners.

Perplexity AI for travel content integration (January 2025)

The collaboration with Perplexity, announced in January 2025, is designed to integrate Tripadvisor's trusted content directly into an AI answer engine format. This is a direct response to shifting user behavior toward AI-driven search.

The initial integration focused on hotels, giving Perplexity direct access to Tripadvisor's database of over one billion reviews and 11 million business listings across 43 global markets. The plan is to expand this over the next three years to include restaurant information and experiences from Viator.

Here's a quick look at the marketplace performance versus the core brand's contribution to revenue in Q2 2025:

Segment Q2 2025 Revenue (Millions USD) YoY Growth (%)
Viator (Experiences) $270 11%
TheFork (Dining) $54 28%
Brand Tripadvisor (Hotels/Media/Ads) $242 (3%)

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

Curating and moderating over 1 billion user-generated reviews

Tripadvisor, Inc. maintains a massive repository of user-generated content, a core asset for its platform credibility.

  • Platform offers over 1 billion reviews and ratings.
  • In 2024, travelers shared nearly 80 million contributions.
  • This included 31.1 million reviews and 38.1 million photos and videos in 2024.
  • In 2024, the Trust and Safety team moderated 4.2 million reviews (13.5% of all reviews).
  • Also in 2024, 214,000 AI-generated reviews were flagged and removed.

Developing and maintaining the Viator and TheFork marketplace platforms

The focus on experiences and dining marketplaces is central to the current operating model, showing significant growth over the legacy Brand Tripadvisor segment.

Metric Viator (Q3 2025) TheFork (Q3 2025)
Revenue $294 million (up 9% YoY) $63 million (up 28% YoY)
Experiences Bookings (Volume) ~6.6 million (up 18% YoY) Total Bookings up 11% YoY
Gross Booking Value (GBV) ~$1.3 billion (up 15% YoY) N/A
Adjusted EBITDA Margin 16.8% 22%

As of the third quarter of 2025, the combined Viator and TheFork marketplace businesses were expected to represent approximately 60% of Group revenue and 30% of total Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2025.

Driving high-intent traffic through search engine optimization (SEO)

The company is actively managing the headwinds associated with search engine performance, which directly impacts the legacy Brand Tripadvisor segment.

Brand Tripadvisor revenue in Q3 2025 was $235 million, reflecting an 8% year-over-year decline. This segment includes hotel meta revenue, where branded hotels revenue was $143 million, a 5% year-over-year decline in Q3 2025.

Selling click-based advertising and media placements

Monetization of the core platform through media placements remains a Key Activity, though it is facing pressure.

In Q3 2025, Brand Tripadvisor media and advertising revenue was $36 million, which was down 11% year-over-year.

Executing the strategic shift to an experiences-led operating model

This shift involves internal realignment and cost management to support the growth segments.

  • Q3 2025 Consolidated Revenue was $553 million (up 4% YoY).
  • Q3 2025 Adjusted EBITDA was $123 million, representing a margin of 22.2% of revenue.
  • The company initiated cost savings actions targeting at least $85 million in annualized gross cost savings by 2027.
  • Restructuring charges of approximately $35-$40 million were expected, primarily in Q4 2025.

The company held approximately $1.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2025.

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

You're looking at the core assets Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) relies on to run its global travel guidance platform. These aren't just abstract concepts; they are hard numbers and established platforms that drive the business.

Massive database of over 1 billion user reviews and contributions

This content moat is central to Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP)'s value. The platform is built on the sheer volume and history of user-generated content. As of the latest reports, the platform holds over 1 billion reviews and contributions, which travelers use to plan trips, discover where to stay, what to do, and where to eat. The 2025 Transparency Report highlighted that travelers shared nearly 80 million contributions in 2024 alone, showing the resource is still actively growing.

The global brand recognition and trust of the Tripadvisor name

The Tripadvisor name itself is a recognized asset, ranking as the number two most visited travel and tourism website worldwide as of June 2023. This brand equity underpins the trust users place in the content, which is critical since around 9 out of 10 users make buying decisions based on an online review.

Proprietary technology platforms (Viator, TheFork, core site)

The technology stack powering the different segments is a key resource, especially given the strategic pivot toward experiences. The performance of these platforms in Q3 2025 illustrates their current financial weight:

Platform Segment Q3 2025 Revenue (USD) Year-over-Year Growth Q3 2025 Adjusted EBITDA (USD)
Viator (Experiences) $294 million 9% $50 million
Brand Tripadvisor (Hotels/Ads) $235 million -8% N/A

The total consolidated revenue for Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) in Q3 2025 was $553 million, with total Adjusted EBITDA reaching $123 million, representing a 22.2% margin.

Network of millions of global travel and dining partners

The breadth of bookable inventory across the ecosystem represents a significant resource. This network includes listings across accommodations, restaurants, and experiences. The platform features listings across these categories, which is a tangible measure of the partner network scale.

  • Listings across accommodations, restaurants, and attractions: 8 million (as of 2023 data).
  • Reviews for experiences, attractions, and activities saw a 45% surge in submissions in 2024.
  • Business owners responded to over 11 million reviews in 2024.

Approximately $1.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents (as of Q3 2025)

Liquidity is a foundational resource for executing strategy and weathering market shifts. As of September 30, 2025, Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) reported holding approximately $1.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents. This figure showed an increase of $154 million from the end of 2024.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at the core value Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) delivers across its different customer groups as of late 2025. It's a mix of massive content scale and targeted transaction platforms.

For Travelers: Trusted, comprehensive user-generated content for planning

The primary value proposition remains the sheer volume and depth of traveler-generated insights. The platform crossed over one billion user reviews and ratings in 2024, which is a massive data moat. In 2024 alone, travelers shared nearly 80 million contributions, which included 31.1 million reviews and 38.1 million photos and videos. This content directly influences decisions; for instance, 79% of travelers read 6-12 reviews before booking a hotel, and 58% do the same for a restaurant choice. Furthermore, 76% of Tripadvisor users stated that traveler-submitted images impacted their booking decision the most. The content base is global, with Europe contributing 51.86% of reviews and North America contributing 25.21%. Still, maintaining trust is key; the estimated percentage of fake reviews in 2023 stood at about 8.8%. The platform supports this content with over eight million listings globally.

Here's a quick look at the content scale:

Metric Value Context/Date
Total User Reviews & Ratings Over 1 billion As of 2024
Total Traveler Contributions (2024) Nearly 80 million Includes reviews, photos, and videos
Reviews Submitted (2024) 31.1 million Part of 2024 contributions
Photos/Videos Submitted (2024) 38.1 million Part of 2024 contributions
Fake Reviews Estimated Percentage 8.8% As of 2023

For Travelers: Seamless booking for experiences via Viator

Tripadvisor is heavily pivoting toward transaction-based revenue, with Viator leading the charge in the experiences category. For the second quarter of 2025, Viator reported revenue of $270 million, marking an 11% increase year-over-year. This growth translated into significant booking activity; experience booking volumes increased 15% in Q2 2025, reaching 6.2 million. The total Gross Bookings Value (GBV) for experiences hit $1.3 billion in the quarter, up 13%. The profitability of this segment is also improving, with Q2 2025 Adjusted EBITDA reaching $32 million, or approximately 12% of revenue, a margin improvement of nearly 800 basis points compared to the prior year period. Experiences and dining, as a combined segment, now represent nearly 60% of group revenue when paired with TheFork.

For Businesses: Targeted advertising and direct customer access

For businesses, the value is in visibility and direct customer connection, though the traditional advertising model faces headwinds. The core Brand Tripadvisor segment generated $242 million in revenue in Q2 2025, despite a 3% year-over-year decline. Within this, the media and advertising revenue component saw a sharp 13% year-over-year decline in Q2 2025, reflecting market dynamics. However, the segment remains a significant profit center, posting an Adjusted EBITDA of $66 million, which is 27% of revenue. Businesses use this platform to gain credibility; for example, properties that respond to 40% to 65% of reviews maintain an average rating of 4.05. Advertising still constitutes about 60% of Tripadvisor's total revenue.

For Restaurants: Reservation software and diner acquisition through TheFork

TheFork provides restaurants with a dedicated channel for diner acquisition and reservation management. In Q2 2025, TheFork delivered strong growth, with revenue rising 28% year-over-year to $54 million. This growth is supported by strong adoption of its B2B subscription plans, which drive about 10% of the group's total revenue from subscriptions. The operational efficiency is clear: TheFork's Adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 900 basis points to reach 16% in Q2 2025, with its Adjusted EBITDA showing a 184% improvement year-over-year. Overall bookings volume for TheFork's branded channel grew 13% in the quarter.

TheFork's Q2 2025 performance metrics:

  • Revenue: $54 million (28% growth YoY)
  • Adjusted EBITDA Margin: 16% (900 bps improvement)
  • B2B Subscription Revenue: Contributes to about 10% of total group revenue

For Investors: A simplified capital structure post-Liberty merger (April 2025)

For investors, the value proposition centers on corporate simplification and enhanced strategic flexibility. Tripadvisor finalized its merger with Liberty TripAdvisor on April 29, 2025. This transaction simplified the capital structure into a single class of shares outstanding with no controlling stockholder. The deal resulted in a net reduction of its share count outstanding of approximately 23.8 million shares. The total transaction value was approximately $430 million based on the April 28, 2025 closing price. Preferred shareholders received a mix of approximately $42.5 million in cash and 3,037,959 common shares, while Series A and B common stockholders received about $20 million in cash in aggregate. Approximately $326 million of Exchangeable Senior Debentures were repaid. Operationally, the group posted consolidated Q2 2025 revenue of $529 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $107 million (a 20% margin). Free Cash Flow for Q2 2025 reached $177 million, and total Cash and Cash Equivalents stood at $1.21 billion as of June 30, 2025. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're looking at how Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) manages its interactions with the millions of travelers and thousands of partners that form its ecosystem as of late 2025. The relationships are increasingly bifurcated, moving away from the legacy self-service model toward managed, high-growth marketplaces.

Self-service platform for travelers (reviews, price comparison)

The core Tripadvisor platform remains a massive self-service resource, though its revenue contribution is shrinking relative to experiences. The platform's sheer scale defines the relationship here; it's a destination for research, not just booking. For instance, Tripadvisor.com saw approximately 120 million visits in February 2025, cementing its place as a top-tier travel site. The relationship is built on trust in user-generated content, where travelers rely heavily on peer feedback before committing funds. To illustrate this reliance, 79% of travelers report reading between 6 to 12 reviews before choosing a hotel. Furthermore, properties that actively engage by responding to reviews see better outcomes; those responding to 40% to 65% of reviews maintain an average rating of 4.05. However, maintaining trust is an ongoing battle, as the percentage of fake reviews carried out in 2023 rose to 8.8% of all reviews that year. This segment's direct financial relationship with the traveler, primarily through hotel price comparison referrals, saw its revenue decline in the third quarter of 2025, reporting $235 million, an 8% year-over-year drop.

Automated, digital relationship management for Viator/TheFork partners

For Viator and TheFork, the relationship shifts to a more managed, transactional one, leveraging digital automation for scale. Viator, the experiences marketplace, maintains direct relationships with over 65,000 operators. This platform is expanding its offerings, now featuring approximately 400,000 bookable experiences. The digital management is reflected in the strong growth of these segments; Viator's revenue in the third quarter of 2025 reached $295 million, marking a 9% increase year-over-year, with bookings up approximately 15%. The profitability of this relationship is improving significantly, as Viator's adjusted EBITDA for Q3 2025 hit $50 million, a 63% jump from the prior year. TheFork, focusing on restaurant reservations, showed even more explosive growth, with Q2 2025 revenue increasing 28.6% to $54 million. These two marketplaces are now central to the company's financial health, generating around 60% of Tripadvisor's total revenue in the year leading up to Q3 2025. TheFork is expected to continue achieving mid-teens revenue growth going forward.

Here's a quick look at the marketplace performance as of the third quarter of 2025:

Segment Q3 2025 Revenue (Millions USD) Year-over-Year Revenue Change Q3 2025 Adjusted EBITDA (Millions USD)
Viator $295 +9% $50
Brand Tripadvisor $235 -8% -$59 (Loss)

Dedicated sales teams for large hotel and media advertisers

While the self-service model dominates the traveler side, direct sales engagement is necessary for large-scale advertising partners, particularly within the Brand Tripadvisor segment. This relationship focuses on monetizing the platform's traffic through media placements. For context, the full-year media and advertising revenue for the Brand Tripadvisor segment in 2024 reached $150 million. The value proposition for these advertisers is clear: restaurants using TripAdvisor Ads historically captured 5 points higher % incremental revenue compared to those without.

Social media engagement and community building around travel

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) continues to foster community engagement across social channels to support its brand and drive traffic, especially to its experiences platforms. The strategy involves prioritizing resources to support experiences and data strategies, which inherently relies on digital community interaction. While specific 2025 engagement metrics like follower growth or interaction rates aren't detailed in the latest reports, the overall platform scale suggests a massive underlying community:

  • Tripadvisor is nearing 900 million registered users.
  • The platform aims to be the world's most trusted source for travel and experiences.
  • The company is actively integrating AI-driven tools to enhance personalization, a key element in modern digital relationship management.

Subscription service (Tripadvisor Plus) for premium traveler benefits

The Tripadvisor Plus subscription service is designed to deepen the relationship with high-value, loyal travelers by offering exclusive benefits. This aims to create a stickier customer base, moving them away from purely transactional, comparison-based interactions. While the strategic importance of this premium offering is recognized in the overall pivot toward direct customer relationships, specific 2025 financial metrics, such as subscriber count or revenue contribution from Tripadvisor Plus, are not explicitly detailed in the recent earnings summaries available.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) gets its product-travel planning, reviews, and bookings-into the hands of travelers as of late 2025. The channel strategy is clearly bifurcated between the legacy content/meta-search business and the high-growth marketplace businesses.

Core Tripadvisor website and mobile application (primary channel)

The main Tripadvisor website and its associated mobile application still serve as a massive top-of-funnel destination, though its direct revenue contribution is shifting. In October 2025, tripadvisor.com received 98.28 million visits, with users spending an average of 07:04 on the site. Mobile traffic accounted for 62.56% of total website traffic, while desktop accounted for 37.44%. For context, in February 2025, the site saw approximately 120 million visits. The Brand Tripadvisor segment, which encompasses this core platform's hotel meta-search and media revenue, reported revenue of $235 million in Q3 2025, representing an 8% decline year-over-year. Still, the Brand Tripadvisor Adjusted EBITDA margin remained strong at 25% of revenue in Q3 2025, showing profitability focus over growth in this channel.

The platform's reach is substantial:

  • Total unique users across app and website in 2024 was 150.2 million.
  • The platform hosts over 1 billion reviews.
  • Europe contributed 51.86% of user-generated content, with North America at 25.21%.

Viator.com and TheFork.com dedicated marketplace platforms

These two dedicated marketplaces are the primary growth engines for Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP). In the last twelve months leading up to Q3 2025, Viator and TheFork together accounted for almost 60% of Group revenue. TheFork, the restaurant booking platform, showed the strongest recent growth, delivering Q3 2025 revenue of $63 million, a 28% increase year-over-year. Viator, the experiences booking platform, generated Q3 2025 revenue of $294 million, up 9% year-over-year, driven by an 18% rise in experience bookings. Gross Booking Value (GBV) for the group was $1.3 billion in Q2 2025.

Here's how the revenue split looked in Q3 2025:

Channel Segment Q3 2025 Revenue (USD) Year-over-Year Growth Rate
Viator $294 million 9%
TheFork $63 million 28%
Brand Tripadvisor (Meta/Media) $235 million -8%

Direct search engine traffic (SEO) and paid marketing channels

Direct traffic, heavily influenced by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid search (SEM), remains a critical component, though the company is actively managing its reliance on it due to structural headwinds. In October 2025, Search Engines accounted for 13.97% of referral web traffic to tripadvisor.com. The Brand Tripadvisor segment experienced revenue decline partly due to traffic volume headwinds affecting both free and paid channels. Marketing costs for the consolidated group were 41% of revenue in Q3 2025. The shift is evident as Viator saw modest leverage from a more efficient marketing channel mix, while Brand Tripadvisor saw deleverage due to traffic pressures.

Affiliate marketing networks and third-party travel blogs

Traffic from third-party sources, including affiliates and blogs, contributes significantly to the overall ecosystem. In October 2025, Referral Web Traffic categorized as Travel and Tourism - Other made up 40.31% of referrals to tripadvisor.com. Furthermore, growth in third-party points of sale for experiences continued to outpace the overall segment growth in Q3 2025.

Direct integrations with partner sites (e.g., hotel booking engines)

Direct integrations, often related to the hotel meta-search business within the Brand Tripadvisor segment, are a key part of the legacy channel. In Q1 2025, the Brand Supervisor point of sale was noted as being very profitable, with well over half of its revenue coming through direct channels. The company is also leveraging AI integrations, as seen by the testing of conversational AI at TheFork and the integration of Tripadvisor/TheFork into ChatGPT apps. AI Chatbots and Tools accounted for 17.62% of referral web traffic to tripadvisor.com in October 2025.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're looking at the customer base of Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) as of late 2025, which is clearly bifurcated between the massive, established user base driving the core platform and the high-growth marketplace customers on Viator and TheFork. The platform attracts nearly 400M monthly travelers globally, built upon close to 900 million registered users.

The composition of this massive audience shows a strong mobile preference, with mobile device traffic representing 62.56% of total website traffic. Geographically, the user-generated content is heavily weighted toward Europe, which contributed 51.86% of reviews, followed by North America at 25.21%. For these travelers, trust is paramount; 79% of them report reading between 6 to 12 reviews before choosing a hotel, and 76% say traveler-submitted photos influence their booking decision.

The customer segments can be broken down by how they interact with the platform's revenue-generating arms:

  • Global, independent travelers seeking planning and booking tools: This is the core audience for the Brand Tripadvisor segment, which generated $235 million in revenue in Q3 2025, marking an 8% year-over-year decline.
  • Hotels, airlines, and large travel advertisers (legacy B2B segment): These businesses pay for visibility, primarily through the Brand Tripadvisor segment. Media and advertising revenue specifically declined by 11% in Q3 2025.
  • Local tour operators and activity providers (Viator supply side): This segment is the growth engine, with Viator revenue hitting $294 million in Q3 2025, a 9% year-over-year increase. This platform supports over 400,000+ bookable experiences worldwide.
  • Restaurants and dining establishments (TheFork supply side): TheFork is showing the fastest growth, with Q3 2025 revenue of $63 million, up 28% year-over-year. It serves over 55,000 bookable restaurants across 11 countries in Europe.
  • Cost-conscious travelers using the price comparison meta-search: These users primarily interact with the hotel meta-search function within the Brand Tripadvisor segment, which is facing SEO headwinds.

The strategic shift is evident in the revenue mix, where Viator and TheFork now represent nearly 60% of the consolidated group revenue as of Q3 2025.

Here's a quick look at the Q3 2025 revenue contribution from the primary operating segments:

Customer Segment Driver Q3 2025 Revenue ($M) Year-over-Year Change Segment Adjusted EBITDA ($M)
Brand Tripadvisor (Hotels/Meta-Search/Ads) 235 -8% 59
Viator (Experiences) 294 +9% 50
TheFork (Restaurants) 63 +28% 14
Consolidated Total 553 +4% 123

The legacy Brand Tripadvisor segment still contributes the largest share of profit, with an Adjusted EBITDA of $59 million (or 25% margin), but Viator's profitability is accelerating, posting $50 million in Adjusted EBITDA with a margin improvement of 550 basis points. TheFork delivered a 22% margin on its $14 million Adjusted EBITDA.

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

The Cost Structure for Tripadvisor, Inc. is heavily weighted toward driving traffic and maintaining its global technology platform. You see a clear pattern of significant investment in customer acquisition, which is a hallmark of a high-volume, ad-supported and marketplace business.

Significant marketing and advertising spend to acquire traffic remains a top cost driver. For the full year ended December 31, 2024, marketing costs totaled $729 million, representing 40% of consolidated revenue. This spend covers traffic acquisition costs like paid online channels, social media, and brand advertising. To be fair, even in the first quarter of 2025, marketing costs rose to $172 million, up 6% year-over-year, showing continued investment despite the strategic pivot.

Technology development and infrastructure costs are substantial, supporting the platform maintenance and the push toward AI integration. For the full year 2024, technology expenses were $91 million, which was 5% of consolidated revenue, marking a 14% increase from the prior year. This spend includes data center costs, cloud-based solutions, and content localization, all critical for the planned AI-native MVP launch.

Personnel expenses (salaries) for product development and moderation form another major fixed cost base. Full-year 2024 personnel costs were $595 million, or 32% of consolidated revenue. This figure includes stock-based compensation. Following a strategic realignment announced in late 2025, the company is enacting a workforce reduction of about 20%, or approximately 450 people, to create a leaner organization.

Costs of revenue, primarily transaction processing fees for marketplaces, scale directly with the growth of the booking segments like Viator and TheFork. For the full year 2024, Cost of Sales was $131 million, accounting for 7% of consolidated revenue. More recently, in the third quarter of 2025, Cost of Sales was $41 million, or 7.4% of that quarter's consolidated revenue.

The company is actively working to optimize this structure. Tripadvisor, Inc. has confirmed planned annualized gross cost savings of at least $85 million, which is expected to be realized throughout 2026, stemming from the operational realignment and headcount reduction.

Here's a quick math look at the major cost components based on the latest full-year figures:

Cost Category Full Year 2024 Amount (in millions USD) Percentage of 2024 Consolidated Revenue
Marketing Costs $729 40%
Personnel Expenses $595 32%
Cost of Sales $131 7%
Technology Costs $91 5%

You can see the breakdown of the major operating expenses below:

  • Full Year 2024 General and Administrative expenses: $91 million.
  • Full Year 2024 Depreciation and Amortization: $85 million.
  • Q1 2025 Personnel Costs: $144 million.
  • Q3 2025 Total Costs and Expenses: $483 million.

Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at the core ways Tripadvisor, Inc. makes money as of late 2025. The company is clearly pivoting, with its marketplace businesses driving the bulk of the top line. Honestly, the numbers show a significant shift away from the legacy media model.

Experiences and Dining revenue, primarily from the Viator and TheFork segments, now represent nearly 60% of total revenue over the last twelve months, anchoring the new strategy. For the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, these two segments generated $357 million in revenue ($294 million from Viator and $63 million from TheFork), which was approximately 64.5% of the consolidated quarterly revenue of $553 million.

Here's a quick look at the revenue components we can quantify from the Q3 2025 results, mapping them to the business model elements:

Revenue Stream Component Segment/Category Q3 2025 Revenue Amount
Experiences and Dining Marketplaces (Viator/TheFork) Viator Segment Revenue $294 million
Experiences and Dining Marketplaces (Viator/TheFork) TheFork Revenue $63 million
Click-based Advertising / Hotel Meta-Search (Portion of Brand) Branded Hotels Revenue (Q2 2025 context) $152 million (Q2 2025)
Display-based Advertising / Media Solutions (Portion of Brand) Media and Advertising Revenue (Q3 2025) Data not isolated from Brand decline

The revenue derived from the core marketplace transactions-which is essentially the commission on bookings through Viator and TheFork marketplaces-is the dominant factor here. Viator revenue grew 9% year-over-year in Q3 2025 to $294 million, while TheFork saw a strong 28% growth to $63 million for the same period. This marketplace focus is where the company is directing its primary investment.

For the legacy Brand Tripadvisor segment, which houses the advertising revenue streams, the performance was more challenging in Q3 2025:

  • Click-based advertising revenue from hotel meta-search partners, represented by Branded Hotels revenue, declined 5% year-over-year in Q3 2025.
  • Display-based advertising and media solutions for travel brands, represented by Media and advertising revenue, saw a decline of 11% in Q3 2025.

The total Brand Tripadvisor revenue for Q3 2025 was $235 million, reflecting an 8% year-over-year decline. This decline is what management is addressing by narrowing focus and simplifying the portfolio.

Regarding subscription fees from Tripadvisor Plus and TheFork restaurant software, specific 2025 financial amounts aren't explicitly itemized in the latest reports, but the strategy points to their importance. TheFork's growth was partly driven by the adoption of premium reservation software, suggesting this software revenue stream is growing. Tripadvisor Plus is a key part of the strategy to enhance Brand Tripadvisor profitability, but its standalone revenue contribution for 2025 is not detailed separately from the other Brand revenue lines.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.


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