TripAdvisor 2012 Annual Report Download - page 48

Social. Our Wisdom of Friends initiative is a core component of our strategic growth plan; 76% of
respondents to a recent Nielsen study cited “recommendations from people I know” as the information source
that they trust most. We believe that having a strong social presence drives traffic to and engagement on our sites
and improves the sites’ “stickiness” amongst the users. As a result, we continue to deepen our integration with
Facebook. As of December 31, 2012, and according to AppData, an independent application tracking traffic
service, TripAdvisor has averaged more than 40 million monthly Facebook users via it’s TripAdvisor Facebook
application id. We offer these Facebook users a personalized and social travel planning experience that enables
travelers to engage first with their own Facebook friends’ reviews and opinions when planning their perfect trip
on TripAdvisor.
Mobile. Mobile is an investment area that is geared towards creating a more complete user experience by
reinforcing the TripAdvisor brand when users are in-market. In the year ended December 31, 2012, we saw
strong mobile user uptake, as aggregate downloads of our TripAdvisor, City Guides, and SeatGuru apps more
than doubled to 31 million and during the fourth quarter of 2012 we averaged more than 45 million monthly
unique users on mobile devices, as measured by our own log files. We believe that travelers will increasingly use
mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, to conduct travel research and planning.
Vacation Rentals. Our Vacation Rentals product addresses a highly-fragmented $85 billion per-year
vacation rental industry, according to a 2010 Radius Global Market study. Historically, we have built our supply
content through acquisitions, namely our U.S.-based FlipKey and U.K.-based HolidayLettings businesses, but
during the fourth quarter of 2011 we announced partnerships aimed at increasing our supply content. We had
more than 300,000 properties as of December 31, 2012, up more than 50% during the year, and we believe our
highly-engaged and motivated community create a competitive advantage for us in this market.
Business Listings. Created in early 2010, our Business Listings product enables hotel and accommodation
owners to list pertinent property information on TripAdvisor, bringing them closer to potential customers and
thereby increasing direct bookings. In the year ended December 31, 2012, we grew our Business Listings
customer base over 40% to 50,000 subscribers, still representing just over 7% of our current hotel and
accommodation listings on TripAdvisor branded sites. We continue to expand our sales force and improve
features to grow our subscriber base.
Current Trends Affecting Our Business
Increasing Competition. The travel review industry and, more generally, the business of collecting and
aggregating travel-related resources and information, continue to be increasingly competitive. In recent years, an
increasing number of companies, such as search companies Google Inc. and Baidu.com, Inc. and several large
online travel agencies, have begun to collect and aggregate travel information and resources. We plan to continue
to invest in order to remain the leading source of travel reviews as well as continuing to enhance our content and
user experience.
Increasing Use of Internet and Social Media to Access Travel Information. Commerce, information and
advertising continue to migrate to the Internet and away from traditional media outlets. We believe that this trend
will create strategic growth opportunities, allowing us to attract new consumers and develop unique and effective
advertising solutions. Consumers are increasingly using online social media, such as Facebook, as a means to
communicate and exchange information, including travel information and opinions. We have made significant
efforts related to social networking in order to leverage the expanding use of this channel and enhance traffic
diversification and user engagement. We are also continually adapting our user experience in response to a
changing internet environment and usage trends. For example, in 2012 we invested in building a hotel
metasearch product for our smartphone platforms and we currently plan to roll out our hotel metasearch product
on our desktop and tablet platforms during the next three to six months. We expect to continue to develop our
metasearch capabilities, because we believe that by showing users real-time pricing and availability wherever
possible across our global points of sale, we can provide a better user experience while delivering highly
qualified leads to our advertising partners.
38