Priceline CEO Unimpressed by TripAdvisor Booking and Facebook Advertising
Skift Take
Priceline participates in rivals' hotel metasearch sites such as TripAdvisor and Trivago, but it is tiny compared to what it spends with Google and the $240 million Priceline will spend on TV advertising in 2014. Still, there is plenty of gamesmanship going on behind the scenes as Priceline has opted out of TripAdvisor's new book-on TripAdvisor solution.
Priceline Group companies, including Booking.com and Agoda, are active advertisers in TripAdvisor hotel metasearch around the world, but when it comes to participating in TripAdvisor's new Instant Booking product, Priceline has decided not to play.
Speaking from Amsterdam on the Priceline Group's first quarter earnings call May 8, CEO Darren Huston says Priceline and TripAdvisor have a "healthy" and "symbiotic" relationship, working together on various products, but after mulling the "strategic value" of participating in TripAdvisor's Instant Booking, Priceline has decided not to for now.
"They made their decision," Huston said, referri
