Tripadvisor’s Executive Shake-Up and 14 Other Top Digital Stories This Week
Photo Credit: Tripadvisor is restructuring in an effort to remain competitive in an increasingly crowded field. Shutterstock
Skift Take
Tripadvisor — in a fight to maintain its share of the travel market — is beefing up Viator and will start treating the tours-and-activities booking agency as its own brand. Plus, after years of criticism for prioritizing its own travel products above others, Google is changing the way it monetizes its flight search.
Digital Travel News Weekly Roundup
Throughout the week we post dozens of original stories, connecting the dots across the travel industry, and every weekend we sum it all up. This weekend roundup examines digital trends. For all of our weekend roundups, go here.
Tripadvisor Reorganization Brings Exec Departures and New Life for Viator: Flush with SoftBank and other venture capital money, GetYourGuide and Klook, as well as Airbnb and Booking.com, are nipping at Tripadvisor’s heels in tours and activities. Tripadvisor will try to leverage its brand, Viator, which already had a following before Tripadvisor absorbed it, to keep the insurgents at bay.
Google Flights Ends Booking Charges for Airlines That Paid: With potential pressure from U.S. regulatory authorities and perhaps displeasure from airlines, Google is making the biggest change to the way it monetizes flight search since it launched Google Flights in 2011. Perhaps free search engine optimization for flights isn’t dead after all.
Tripadvisor to Lay Off 200 Workers With Experiences Business in Line of Fire: Along with its dining reservations business, Tripadvisor’s tours and activities unit had been a bright spot. But well-funded competitors su
