Skift Take
Another day, another Tripadvisor acquisition of a failed startup. At some point, hopefully these add up, but doesn't seem so far.
Tripadvisor is the Yahoo of travel, continuing on its quest to buy up all failed travel startups as acqhires.
Now it has bought London-based Tripbod, which connected travelers with local expert guides. No terms were disclosed, but likely little in cash, if anything. Tripbod employees will operate out of the TripAdvisor London office.
Tripbod raised some seed money couple of years ago, and brought on Rough Guides co-founder Martin Dunford on its board. But with an offering that every second non-transactional consumer travel startups has promised over the last few years — connecting travelers with locals — it has had a tough time breaking through.
It has made some deals syndicating its listings to larger travel brands such as lastminute.com, citizenM hotels and Skyscanner, and that’s probably what made Tripadvisor interested.
More about the acqhire, on Tripbod’s blog, here.
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Tags: tripadvisor