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TripAdvisor cuts hundreds of jobs after Google competition bites

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Re: TripAdvisor cuts hundreds of jobs after Google competition bites

#31

Post by conradfr »

rapnie wrote: post #11
Rebelgecko wrote: post #3

That's a bummer. I've found that TripAdvisor reviews tend to have a higher signal to noise ratio than some other sites (including Google's own reviews, where you can tell a lot of the reviews are just being cranked out so that power users can get points and "level up")

They are no angels either, or at least their daughter company. Two weeks ago TheFork featured in Dutch TV program Rambam where they proved that they boost restaurant ratings. They listed their own fake restaurant (possible, no problem) and gave their own reviews, trying to become lowest rated in the ranking. Giving rebates on couverts may boost your ranking too. Restaurant owners interviewed are not too happy as well…

I used to work on the search team at TheFork years ago (we were already a TripAdvisor subsidiary) and don't know about the current practices but back then there was no foul play about the ratings, which is not even the default sorting on the site.

Also, not specifically related to TheFork (because I don't remember...), do all ratings should always have the same weight? Are old ratings as relevant as newer?

If you want to book a romantic dinner are ratings from groups as relevant as the ones from other couples?

Is a new restaurant with two reviews at 7/10 average the same as another one with 200 reviews at 7/10 average ?

There's more to it than first apparent.

Example: http://www.evanmiller.org/how-not-to-sort-by-average-rating....

Re: TripAdvisor cuts hundreds of jobs after Google competition bites

#32

Post by the_reformation »

mfer wrote: post #2

Google controls search. Google launches a competitor to a web service presented through search. Competitor takes enough of a hit layoffs are needed. This screams of a problem. Especially for consumers and a competitive market. The kind of thing that traditionally caused governments to step in.

Google launched a service consumers preferred. What's the issue? That they have a sustained competitive advantage?

Re: TripAdvisor cuts hundreds of jobs after Google competition bites

#33

Post by [deleted] »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #23
mattmanser wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been going on a long time, Google's been killing off aggregators by cannibalising their market for almost a decade now. I do wonder how sustainable it is, previously these aggregators did lots of things at Google's request, cleaning the noise out and laying everything out in nice data-annotations. More fool them, it turns out. Google cross-references them all, builds their 'own' data and drives them all out of b…

Cannibalising publishers is a separate issue from showing too many ads, and I don't follow which of these you think nationalizing a search engine will solve.

[deleted]

Re: TripAdvisor cuts hundreds of jobs after Google competition bites

#34

Post by ProAm »

ronilan wrote: post #16

Reposting myself on the subject[1]: For anyone not aware (or confused by Silicon Valley tradition on constantly rewriting origin stories), TripAdvisor started in the dot com bubble as a B2B site. They clearly stated their business model was to provide reviews to other sites. Only that after the bubble burst, TripAdvisor had none left. They then basically invented modern SEO: long descriptive URLs, pages pulled out of…

The truth is most companies tend to last ~20 years (from mom and pop to larger ones) if they are successful. You're lucky if you make it further. This is one of those that isn't going to last much further.

Re: TripAdvisor cuts hundreds of jobs after Google competition bites

#36

Post by thrower123 »

CodeSheikh wrote: post #6

"...The company had just over 3,800 staff at the end of September.." I am surprised why they need such high number of staff when the functionality of the website is limited to content, reviews, search itineraries. Unless they hire field agents and ask them go inquire and write about a new place.

Most tech companies are similarly overstaffed. For whatever reason, people think they can do more with more people, as though things scaled linearly like they did in traditional industries, but it's a different paradigm, and it's at best a logistic curve, if not sigmoid.

Re: TripAdvisor cuts hundreds of jobs after Google competition bites

#38

Post by bordercases »

astrodust wrote: post #27
h2odragon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Nationalised search service" ... interesting thought. Legions of Librarians, finally compensated justly and lauded for their heroism. Wonder if they'd get uniforms and "be all you can be" recruiting campaigns too.

You've got a space force with their own wacky uniforms, so anything is possible.

Fun fact: civilians and the Air Force competed for the money used in United States' initial bout in space. But NASA won.

Re: TripAdvisor cuts hundreds of jobs after Google competition bites

#39

Post by Applethief »

ym705 wrote: post #21
rblatz wrote: post #10

Trip Advisor has been fairly hit and miss for me. The star ratings especially for hotels have a weird value judgement in them that isn't at all congruent with mine. I'll see run down crappy hotels with 5 stars while much much nicer hotels with better amenities and locations are rated with 3 stars. Some way to specify the profile of the rater's you care about would be a huge improvement. Things like traveling with chi…

check out what i'm making at https://dokomaps.com a simple travel recommender based on lists of what people shared previously. Just find someone that matches your interest and follow their recommandations

Very nice site!

Re: TripAdvisor cuts hundreds of jobs after Google competition bites

#40

Post by pradn »

jbverschoor wrote: post #35

The problem is not google. It’s trip advisor itself. It’s simply not helpful anymore. Fake reviews, and they’re pushing paid events etc using dark patterns.. it wasn’t like that some years ago Love the lonely planet

Whenever I want to look up the highlights of a place, I look up it's Lonely Planet page. They are written well and have good pictures. The way to compete against a million random reviewers is by upping quality and forming a brand. In some places, Lonely Planet is the only company providing accurate and complete information. It's marvelous.
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