EXPE Expedia Group Inc

By Micah Maidenberg 

TripAdvisor Inc. and Expedia Group Inc. are struggling to navigate shifts in how Google delivers information to consumers who use its search engine to plan travel.

Shares of both travel-focused companies fell sharply Thursday after executives at both companies cited how Google handles travel-related searches. TripAdvisor's stock fell 20%, while shares of Expedia dropped 25%.

Shares of Booking Holdings Inc., which operates travel platforms including Kayak, were off 7%. The company is scheduled to report third-quarter results later on Thursday.

Google, part of Alphabet Inc., last year redesigned its hotel search function for mobile devices and desktop computers to make it easier for users to find hotels by price and browse amenities, according to company blog posts. It has also bolstered its own travel-planning desktop and mobile pages.

But executives at TripAdvisor and Expedia say they aren't getting as many free links on Google search pages when consumers look for travel-related services. Both sites allow users to find hotel rooms, rental cars, flights and other needs for trips or vacations.

The top challenge TripAdvisor said it faces is what it described as Google's push to highlight its own lodging offerings in search results, a move that hurt traffic TripAdvisor would have received from free links on Google search-results pages.

TripAdvisor generates revenue in part by selling advertising that is priced based on user clicks. Revenue related to hotels offered through its sites fell 14% from the year earlier to $197 million for the third quarter.

"Google has gotten more aggressive," TripAdvisor Chief Executive Stephen Kaufer said on an investor call Thursday.

The search giant's recent experiments with new products have reduced the space available for what were previously free search results, Expedia Chief Executive Mark Okerstrom told analysts on a call Wednesday.

"The trend is that Google does continue to push for more revenue per visitor, and I think it's just the reality of where the world is in the internet and the importance of Google," he said.

Google didn't immediately have a comment.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2019 13:32 ET (18:32 GMT)

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