Direct Reservations Boost TripAdvisor

Travel review website operator TripAdvisor reported net income up 27 percent in the fourth quarter as more users reserved hotels directly from its website.

Net income for Q4 2015 was USD$66 million. Q4 revenue rose 7.3 percent to USD$309 million, with full year 2015 revenue USD$1.49 billion, up 20 percent.

The results follow a strong showing by online travel company Expedia and indicate that travel demand in key markets such as the United States and Europe was resilient despite concerns of slowing global economic growth.

TripAdvisor, which owns websites such as tripadvisor.com and yyster.com, expanded its instant booking feature to nine more countries during the fourth quarter and said it would be available around the world in the first half of 2016.

The feature, introduced in 2014 in the United States and UK, allows users to book a hotel directly from the company's website instead of being directed to third-party booking sites.

TripAdvisor's display ad revenue rose 17 percent in the fourth quarter ended December 31, but click-based advertising revenue, its largest, fell 1 percent due to a strong dollar.

Subscription revenue rose 23 percent.

"We are seeing positive early signs of repeat usage. Hotel shoppers are increasingly returning to TripAdvisor to complete a booking that was previously attempted but abandoned," chief financial officer Ernst Teunissen said.

TripAdvisor said it expects 2017 margins to expand as revenue growth recovers due to a global rollout of instant booking in 2016.