TripAdvisor Might Tumble But Trend Is Still Friendly

Analysts had been too bullish on Internet travel site TripAdvisor (TRIP) to start off the year.

After the company gave weak guidance, earnings are now projected to grow only in the mid-single digits in 2013. That makes this Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) an expensive play with a forward P/E of 32.6.

TripAdvisor is now one of the world’s largest travel sites, offering traveler reviews of hotels, attractions and restaurants from around the globe. The site operates in 30 countries, including in China under the name Daodao.com.

It also operates 19 other travel brands, including such sites like Cruise Critic,  Family Vacation Critic, FlipKey, SeatGuru and VirtualTourist.

On April 9, TripAdvisor announced it was acquiring Jetsetter.com, an upscale members-only travel booking site. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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Full Year Guidance Light

In February, the company’s full year 2013 guidance was a disappointment as investment spending was expected to increase. Margins are expected to be the lowest in 5 years while the company adjusts to the mobile platform and absorbs acquisitions.

Despite the seemingly good news surrounding the company (don’t we all use TripAdvisor to plan our travel?), the analysts couldn’t ignore the worse-than-expected guidance. Nine estimates have been cut for 2013 over the last 2 months, which has sent the Zacks Consensus down to $1.49 from $1.67.

Earnings are expected to grow just 6.5% in 2013. For investors, you’ll pay a hefty price for little growth as the stock trades with a forward P/E of 32.6.

TRIP has only been public for 3 years, but its current valuation makes it the most expensive of its short public life. Shares are trading near the 52-week high. It is expected to report first quarter earnings on May 7.

While TripAdvisor is a Strong Sell, that doesn’t mean you have to avoid all of the Internet plays that rely on consumer reviews. Consider Angie’s List (ANGI) instead. It is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which is expected to grow earnings 47% this year. The site offers member-generated ratings and reviews of local service providers such as plumbers, mechanics and handymen.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/zacks/2013/04/11/tripadvisor-might-tumble-but-trend-is-still-friendly/

Note:

Delta Ray is experienced web scraping consultant and writes articles on Hotels Data Scraping, Hotel pronto, Expedia, Tripadvisor Data Scraping, Amazon Product Scraping, Linkedin Email Scraping, Screen Scraping Services, Yelp Review Scraping and yellowpages data scraping etc.

Twelve MGM Resorts Las Vegas Properties Cited for Top Environmental Practices by TripAdvisor GreenLeaders

LAS VEGAS, Apr. 25 /CSRwire/ - MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) properties have been awarded a new designation by TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel website, that helps identify the most environmentally friendly hotels.

Twelve MGM Resorts properties on the Las Vegas Strip were accepted into the new TripAdvisor GreenLeaders™ program.  The program considers a property’s holistic approach to “green” practices and ranks them based on four levels of participation - Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum.

ARIA Resort & Casino and Vdara Hotel & Spa each received a Platinum designation – denoting the highest level of environmental responsibility, an achievement earned by less than 10 percent of participants.  Gold designations went to MGM Grand Las Vegas, The Mirage, New York-New York, The Signature at MGM Grand, Bellagio, Monte Carlo and Mandalay Bay. Excalibur and Luxor received Silver designations. Circus Circus Las Vegas earned Bronze. 

“The new TripAdvisor ranking system is a powerful tool for consumers to refer to when they are selecting a hotel,” said MGM Resorts Chief Sustainability Officer Cindy Ortega.  “We know very well that our guests vote with their feet, and, increasingly, guests are placing environmental responsibility high on their priority lists when making important travel decisions.”

TripAdvisor lauded MGM Resorts for its sustainability practices and procedures.

“MGM Resorts has an impressive number of properties that are dedicated to educating their guests and potential guests about the sustainability aspects of Las Vegas,” said Jenny Rushmore, director of responsible travel for TripAdvisor.  “It is clear that MGM Resorts has demonstrated that the company is truly committed to reducing their resorts’ environmental impacts and increasing the transparency of its ‘green’ programs with guests.”

TripAdvisor has launched the GreenLeaders program with more than 1,000 properties, comprised of independent hotels to multinational brands.  Web surfers can refine their search on TripAdvisor.com to hotels that hold the “green” designation, and a view of each hotel’s sustainability features.

Prior to launch, a comprehensive range of sustainability aspects at each hotel were analyzed, from linen re-use, recycling, car charging stations, green building materials and more.

TripAdvisor developed the program in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR® Program, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the United Nations Environment Programme.

Recent statistics revealed by TripAdvisor surveys show that 79 percent of travelers place importance on destinations that implement eco-friendly practices, and 86 percent of hoteliers in the United States state that they have green practices in place.

In 2009, CityCenter was awarded six LEED Gold certifications for sustainable design and construction from the U.S. Green Building Council.  In 2012, MGM Resorts was awarded 15 Green Key Hotel rankings for designation of green business operations. Also, in 2012, Green Key Global’s Meetings Program awarded the “5 Green Keys” rating to the meetings and convention spaces within Bellagio, ARIA, Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand Las Vegas. For three consecutive years, MGM Resorts has been listed as the highest ranking company in the casino-resort industry among Newsweek Magazine’s 500 most environmentally responsible companies.

For more information about MGM Resorts International’s commitment to sustainability, please visit: www.mgmresorts.com/csr.

About TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is the world's largest travel site*, enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 200 million unique monthly visitors**, and over 100 million reviews and opinions. The sites operate in 30 countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.

*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, January 2013

**Source: Google Analytics, worldwide data, March 2013

About MGM Resorts International

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is one of the world's leading global hospitality companies, operating destination resort brands including Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage. The Company also owns 51% of MGM China Holdings Limited, which owns the MGM Macau resort and casino and is in the process of developing a gaming resort in Cotai, and 50% of CityCenter in Las Vegas, which features ARIA resort and casino.

Source: http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/35537-Twelve-MGM-Resorts-Las-Vegas-Properties-Cited-for-Top-Environmental-Practices-by-TripAdvisor-GreenLeaders-

Note:

Delta Ray is experienced web scraping consultant and writes articles on Hotels Data Scraping, Hotel pronto, Expedia, Tripadvisor Data Scraping, Amazon Product Scraping, Linkedin Email Scraping, Screen Scraping Services, Yelp Review Scraping and yellowpages data scraping etc.

The Truth Behind Data Mining Outsourcing Service

We have come to this what we call the information era where industries are craving for useful data needed for decision making, product creations - among other vital uses for business. Data mining and converting them to become useful information is part of this trend which makes businesses to grow to their optimum potentials. However, a lot of companies cannot handle by themselves alone the processes data mining involved as they are just overwhelmed by other important tasks. This is where data mining outsourcing comes into play.

There have been a lot of definitions introduced but it can simply be explained as a process that includes sorting through huge amounts of raw data to be able to extract valuable information needed by industries and businesses in various fields. In most cases, this is done by professionals, business organizations, and financial analysts. There has been a rapid growth in the number of sectors or groups who are getting into it though.

There are a number of reasons why there is a rapid growth in data mining outsourcing service subscriptions. Some of these are presented below:

Wide Array of services included

A lot of companies are turning to data mining outsourcing because it caters a lot of services. Such services include, but not limited to congregation data from websites into database applications, collecting contact information from various websites, extracting data from websites using software, sorting stories from news sources, and accumulating business information from competitors.

A lot of companies are benefiting

A lot of industries are benefiting from it because it is quick and feasible. Information extracted by data mining outsourcing service providers are used in crucial decision-making in the area of direct marketing, e-commerce, customer relation management, health care, scientific test and other experimental endeavor, telecommunications, financial services, and a whole lot more.

Have a lot of advantages

Subscribing for data mining outsourcing service offers many advantages because providers ensure clients of rendering services with global standards. They strive to work with improved technology scalability, advanced infrastructure resources, quick turnaround time, cost-effective prices, more secure network system to ensure information safety, and increased market coverage.

Outsourcing allows companies to concentrate in their core business operations and therefore can improve overall productivity. No wonder why data mining outsourcing has been a prime choice of many businesses - it propels business towards greater profits.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Truth-Behind-Data-Mining-Outsourcing-Service&id=3595955


Note:

Delta Ray is experienced web scraping consultant and writes articles on Hotels Data Scraping, Hotel pronto, Expedia, Tripadvisor Data Scraping, Amazon Product Scraping, Linkedin Email Scraping, Screen Scraping Services, Yelp Review Scraping and yellowpages data scraping etc.

How Data Mining Can Help in Customer Relationship Management Or CRM?

Customer relationship management (CRM) is critical activity of improvising customer interactions while at the same time making the interactions more amicable through individualization. Data mining utilizes various data analysis and modeling methods to detect specific patterns and relationships in data. This helps in understanding what a customer wants and forecasting what they will do.

Using Data mining you can find out right prospects and offer them right products. This results in improved revenue because you can respond to each customer in best way using fewer resources.

Basic process of CRM data mining includes:
1. Define business objective
2. Construct marketing database
3. Analyze data
4. Visualize a model
5. Explore model
6. Set up model & start monitoring

Let me explain above steps in detail.

Define the business objective:
Every CRM process has one or more business objective for which you need to construct the suitable model. This model varies depending on your specific goal. The more precise your statement for defining the problem is the more successful is your CRM project.

Construct a marketing database:
This step involves creation of constructive marketing database since your operational data often don't contain the information in the form you want it. The first step in building your database is to clean it up so that you can construct clean models with accurate data.

The data you need may be scattered across different databases such as the client database, operational database and sales databases. This means you have to integrate the data into a single marketing database. Inaccurately reconciled data is a major source of quality issues.

Analyze the data:
Prior to building a correct predictive model, you must analyze your data. Collect a variety of numerical summaries (such as averages, standard deviations and so forth). You may want to generate a cross-section of multi-dimensional data such as pivot tables.

Graphing and visualization tools are a vital aid in data analysis. Data visualization most often provides better insight that leads to innovative ideas and success.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Data-Mining-Can-Help-in-Customer-Relationship-Management-Or-CRM?&id=4572272

Note:

Delta Ray is experienced web scraping consultant and writes articles on Hotels Data Scraping, Hotel pronto, Expedia, Tripadvisor Data Scraping, Amazon Product Scraping, Linkedin Email Scraping, Screen Scraping Services, Yelp Review Scraping and yellowpages data scraping etc.

TripAdvisor into Vacation rental through purchase of FlipKey

Another play by TripAdvisor. This time they have acquired vacation rental player FlipKey. Hotelmarking.com has the press release here. Even though FlipKey is an accommodation provider don't confuse them with an intermediary like the Expedia owned Hotels.com. If I understand the FlipKey model correctly they are a listing service. They charge either or both of a listing fee and per email referral fee. In other words it is an online version of a yellow pages or pay for listing directly. I don't mean that to be a negative or derogatory, rather to highlight that it is an advertising business (like the rest of the TripAdvisor Media Network) not a retail business (like the Expedia business).

I am continuing my updated list of their acquisitions.

    Flipkey
    Airfarewatchdog.com
    OneTime.com
    Virtual Tourist
    HolidayWatchdog
    smartertravel.com
    bookingbuddy.com;
    TravelPod.com;
    Travel-Library.com;
    SeatGuru.com; and
    Cruisecritic.com.

I always close these stories with the reminder that Expedia owns TripAdvisor as you'd be surprised how much search traffic I get asking the question "who owns TripAdvisor"

Source: http://tims-boot.blogspot.in/2008/08/tripadvisor-into-vacation-rental.html

Note:

Delta Ray is experienced web scraping consultant and writes articles on Hotels Data Scraping, Hotelpronto, Expedia, Tripadvisor Data Scraping, Amazon Product Scraping, Linkedin Email Scraping, Screen Scraping Services, Yelp Review Scraping and yellowpages data scraping etc.