Summary: TripAdvisor is the undisputed leader in travel, but it’s not for lack of competition. Kayak was a contemporary company that never encroached on TA’s core business. Airbnb competes with TripAdvisor, but only on a subset of properties. However, upstarts like Trivago have taken aim squarely at TripAdvisor’s core business. Trivago’s product is comparable, but lacks the engaged community, decade and a half of user generated content, and many of TA’s features. However, their traffic and market share has grown steadily on the back of television commercials. Kaufer had dismissed the concept of TripAdvisor doing TV advertising for the better part of a decade, but in the face of a competitor’s success with the advertising medium, he was willing to reconsider his prior beliefs. “I’m stubborn," he says. "But I’m not stupid.” Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/1P8VXeP
