Integrating generative AI into its Trips travel-planning tool is resulting in positive returns for Tripadvisor, CEO Matt Goldberg said.
Speaking during Tripadvisor's third-quarter earnings call Tuesday, Goldberg called the summer integration a "significant upgrade" for Trips. Using OpenAI technology, users of Trips can create personalized itineraries with generative AI. The technology is being beta tested now.
"We're still early in the journey and iterating continuously, but we're seeing compelling results," Goldberg said. "During the first three months in beta, members who created itineraries returned at a much higher rate within the first seven days than members who hadn't created an itinerary."
That return rate, Goldberg added, continued for the month following the initial visit.
Tripadvisor has also found that those who build an itinerary generate an average of three times more revenue than the average Tripadvisor member. The average member already generates about 10 times more revenue than non-members, according to Goldberg.
"We're on a plan to launch this full trip-planning and itinerary product on our mobile app for iOS and Android this quarter," Goldberg said.
Tripadvisor is also using generative AI and machine learning to create content on its most popular destination pages, like New York and Paris. The content utilizes Tripadvisor reviews and ratings. As a result, users are more frequently saving hotels, restaurants and experiences -- Goldberg said the save rate is up 15%.
Further, pages that have enhanced content from generative AI have double-digit increases in experiences revenue, he said.
Goldberg said Tripadvisor also continues to test generative AI summaries of hotel reviews.
"These examples are just a few of the many encouraging proof points that our teams are driving, which gives us conviction in our strategic direction, prioritization and sequencing," he said. "But we know this only matters if it translates to financial impact over time, and we're also pleased with the leading indicators we're getting on monetization."
Tripadvisor turns a $27 million profit
For the third quarter, Tripadvisor's revenue was up 16%, to $533 million. Net income was $27 million, up 8%.
Experiences led the way in Q3. Viator was Tripadvisor's best-performing segment, with revenue up 41%, to $245 million. TheFork, Tripadvisor's other experience-focused segment, was the next best performer, with revenue up 20%, to $42 million. Its Tripadvisor Core business had revenue of $290 million, up 2%.