TripAdvisor’s new threat: Google

February 14, 2012 | Online Travel

Its stock pummeled after reporting disappointing profit numbers, its reputation for the truth under attack, the travel review site TripAdvisor Inc. has had a tough first two months as a public company. And now Google is ramping up the competition.

As TripAdvisor grows, so does Google Inc., the giant Internet service that in preparation for entering the online travel sector purchased ITA Software Inc., of Cambridge, for $700 million in 2010.

Google recently launched a flight tool that uses airline search technology it acquired from ITA. In a challenge to TripAdvisor, it also launched a hotel search engine and has more of its users writing travel reviews on its Google Places site.

“Google is certainly not going to make life easier for [TripAdvisor],’’ said Henry Harteveldt , a travel analyst with Atmosphere Research Group in San Francisco. “Google is entering into more and more travel places, but Google is approaching it from the standpoint of technology, and hoping people use it.’’

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