Tripadvisor Takes a $369.5 Million Hit From Search. Its CFO Says the Drag Lasts Into 2027.

Tripadvisor wrote off $369.5 million of goodwill in its Hotels and Other business, its third-quarter results show, as marketing climbed to 48.8% of revenue from 43.3% a year earlier.

The two numbers are one cost seen from both sides. Traffic that once arrived free from search now has to be bought, so a business built on that traffic is worth less while the price of replacing it rises. Any customer acquisition budget that assumes search stays free carries the same exposure.

What did the write-off cover?

The charge is non-cash and sits in Hotels and Other, which includes hotel metasearch and media advertising. Tripadvisor said search changes cut the segment’s traffic, and the losses sped up over several periods. That drop lowered the segment’s forecast profit, and the goodwill no longer matched it. Segment revenue fell 23% to $151.6 million, and the charge pushed the company to a net loss of $316.9 million for the quarter.

What did the CFO say about 2027?

CFO Mike Noonan told analysts, according to a published report, that search engine optimization (SEO) will still hold back growth in 2027, although he expects the drag to start easing on current trends. He put Tripadvisor’s SEO exposure in the “mid to high teens,” down meaningfully from a year earlier, and did not say what the teens measure.

For the Experiences segment, which includes Viator, Noonan estimated the drag at about 3 percentage points of bookings growth, down from about 5 in August. Viator bookings rose 4%, while bookings through Tripadvisor’s own site fell by a low-teens percentage. The product that depends least on search is the one growing.

Where did the marketing money go, and does AI fill the gap?

Marketing spending was flat in dollars, at $213.0 million against $212.4 million, while revenue fell 11% to $436.4 million. That arithmetic alone lifts the ratio. Noonan tied the rise to a continuing shift from free to paid channels, and CEO Matt Goldberg said search auctions “have certainly become more competitive.”

Not yet, by Goldberg’s own estimate. He said AI is probably under 1% of Tripadvisor’s overall traffic but ramping, and that he thinks it converts at close to five times the average on Viator and about twice the average on Tripadvisor.

Who is leaving?

The CFO who gave the 2027 view will not be there for it. Noonan leaves at the end of the year, and Kristen Dalton, head of strategy and operations, becomes interim CFO on Jan. 1, 2027. Goldberg stays as CEO until mid-February while the board searches for a successor.

Noonan said it was too early to give 2027 guidance, so the headwind he described is the only signal the next team inherits. Does the company’s own 2027 acquisition cost assume free search traffic returns, or that the drag continues?