TripAdvisor 2014 Annual Report Download - page 18

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will share their own content from their trips. Our marketing channels include SEM and SEO. We also reach consumers across the web
through our online marketing program, and offline through our offline brand campaigns. We also utilize CRM in which we send
relevant and engaging traveler communications to our members via email. We have a robust global public relations program that
yields placements on a constant basis in major print and online publications. We continue to look for new ways to build brand
awareness and expand new channels, which may include traditional media and social media channels including Facebook and Twitter
to deepen customer engagement. We syndicate our content so that other sites can feature TripAdvisor branding and content. Lastly,
marketing and product development initiatives are closely tied. We are constantly creating helpful features and functionality so that
our consumers can discover more relevant travel and review content that they want to talk about and share with their friends.
Operations and Technology
We have assembled a team of highly skilled software engineers, computer scientists, data scientists, network engineers, and
systems engineers whose expertise spans a broad range of technical areas, including a wide variety of open source operating systems,
databases, languages, analytics, networking, scalable web architecture, operations, and warehousing technologies. We make
significant investments in product and feature development, data management, personalization technologies, scalable infrastructures,
networking, data warehousing, and search engine technologies. The TripAdvisor-branded websites are powered primarily using Java
programming language.
Our systems infrastructure, web and database servers for TripAdvisor-branded websites are housed at two geographically
separate facilities and have multiple communication links as well as continuous monitoring and engineering support. Each facility is
fully self-sufficient and operational with its own hardware, networking, software, and content, and is structured in an active/passive,
fully redundant configuration. Substantially all of our software components, data, and content are replicated in multiple datacenters
and development centers, as well as being backed up at offsite locations. Our systems are monitored and protected though multiple
layers of security. Several of our individual subsidiaries and businesses, including our subsidiaries in China, have their own data
infrastructure and technology teams.
Widespread adoption of mobile devices such as iPhone, Android-enabled smart phones and tablets such as the iPad, coupled
with the improved web browsing functionality and development of thousands of useful apps available on these devices, is driving
substantial traffic and commerce activity to mobile platforms. We have seen tremendous growth in the adoption of mobile platforms,
as have our advertising partners. Advertising opportunities may be more limited on mobile devices given their small screen sizes.
Further, given the size and technical limitations of tablets and smartphones, mobile consumers may not be willing to download
multiple apps from multiple travel service providers and instead prefer to use one or a limited number of apps for their mobile travel
activity. As a result, the consumer experience with mobile apps (as well as brand recognition and loyalty) is becoming increasingly
important and we make significant investments in this area.
We believe that mobile bookings are necessary to maintain and grow our business as consumers increasingly turn to mobile
devices and mobile applications. If we are unable to continue to rapidly innovate and create new, user-friendly and differentiated
mobile offerings and efficiently and effectively advertise and distribute on these platforms, or if our mobile apps are not downloaded
and used by travel consumers, we could lose market share to existing or new entrants and our future growth and results of operations
could be adversely effected. As a result, we have made significant progress creating mobile offerings which have received strong
reviews, solid download trends and are driving a material and increasing share of our business. Our smartphone monetization
strategies are still developing, as smartphone monetization remains significantly lower than desktop monetization of hotel shoppers
during the year ended December 31, 2014, while tablets monetize more closely to desktops.
Competition
We face competition for content, users, and advertisers. Our primary competitors include large online portals, social networking
sites and search engines, such as Google, Microsoft’s Bing (including Bing Travel), Yahoo! (including Yahoo! Travel) and Baidu. We
face competition from OTAs (such as Expedia and Priceline and their respective subsidiaries), as well as wholesalers, tour operators
and traditional offline travel agencies. We also compete with a wide range of other companies, including Airbnb, Inc., Ctrip.com
International, Ltd., HolidayCheck AG, HomeAway, Inc., Yelp, Inc. and OpenTable, Inc., a subsidiary of Priceline.
We believe we are the world’s largest global platform for travel-related reviews and opinions and we face competition in the
travel review space from OTAs, such as Expedia and Priceline and their respective subsidiaries, which solicit reviews from travelers
who book travel on their websites. With respect to our restaurant and attractions business, we face competition for reviews from
OpenTable, a subsidiary of Priceline and Yelp, Inc. Moreover, networks with significant installed user bases such as Google (for
example, via Google + Local and Google Hotel Finder) have begun to compete more directly with us by attracting and accumulating
user-generated reviews and opinions or may pursue the acquisition of travel-related content directly from consumers, and other
networks and channels, like Facebook, could choose to do the same.