Exclusive: TripAdvisor Reorganizes Business Units in Attempt to Revive Its Prospects
Skift Take
It is widely acknowledged that TripAdvisor needed to reinvigorate its business and product lines after a difficult transition to hotel metasearch and instant booking. The company believes the new internal structure will give its units that enhanced focus.
TripAdvisor has undertaken a fundamental reorganization of its business units, and there will be several executive departures, including chief marketing officer Barbara Messing and Robin Ingle, senior vice president of sales, Skift has learned exclusively.
Both executives — two high-profile female executives at the company — will stay on through April to take part in the transition. Ingle is said to be retiring.
The sweeping changes to TripAdvisor's internal setup, from cross-functional teams to independent business units, is not expected to lead to layoffs. [See the TripAdvisor internal email, which the company provided to Skift, announcing the changes below.]
Among the changes, TripAdvisor's core hotel business will be reorganized and will get its own profit and loss structure; members of TripAdvisor's product, engineering, sales and marketing teams who previously supported hotels from across the company will now report directly to the head of the hotels business unit.
The hotel business unit is conducting an external search for a president, as is another new business unit, TripAdvisor Core Experience, which will run brand marketing, search engine marketing, public relations, and other shared companywide services.
TripAdvisor
