Trip.com’s Nearly Quarter Century Odyssey as a Can’t Lose Travel Domain, Right?
Photo Credit: In 2016, Silicon Valley startup Gogobot bought the Trip.com domain from Expedia and rebranded. Trip.com
Skift Take
Buying a compelling travel domain like Trip.com and thinking it ensures success is like the people who buy a restaurant and think they can run it because they are foodies. Several major travel companies squandered the Trip.com domain because it was a side hustle. Moral of the story? A brand is only as good as the real-world business behind it.
As Chinese online travel agency Ctrip gets set to change its name to Trip.com Group Ltd. next month, the company — and the world — may not be fully aware of the very hot-and-cold history of the brand under a half dozen or so owners over 23 years.
The hit-or-miss track record of companies using the Trip.com domain, of course, is not a reason in itself to abandon that brand or embrace it because history shows it's the business behind a brand that makes or breaks it. Not just a name — and it's a pretty good name for a travel business.
After all, incompetent executives, unwise business decisions, and half-hearted commitments can screw up the best of brands. Having a great brand name doesn't guarantee a business win. But a short, simple, business-elucidating online brand like Trip.com that's search engine friendly and traffic inducing sure can't hurt, and can be worth millions of dollars.
In the history of the Trip.com domain since it was purchased by the owner of Trip Softwa
