Tripadvisor spends more to sell experiences. Revenue is falling.

Tripadvisor's Experiences division, which sells tours and activities through Viator, Tripadvisor and other partners, increased third-quarter marketing spending 7% to $170.5 million. Revenue fell 3% to $284.8 million. A year earlier, the division spent $159.7 million on marketing and generated $294.3 million in revenue.

Research by Ticker Byline shows that marketing absorbed 59.9% of Experiences revenue in the third quarter of 2026, up from 54.3% a year earlier. That is nearly 60 cents of every revenue dollar, compared with about 54 cents. We calculated the shares from the division's reported marketing expenses and revenue.

The growth business is feeling the traffic squeeze

The direction has changed since the second quarter, when Experiences revenue grew 3% from a year earlier. Management now points to weaker traffic from unpaid search results on Tripadvisor, softer demand and cancellations. Bookings through Viator and third-party partners still grew.

The business recorded 6.8 million bookings, up 2%, while gross booking value was roughly flat at $1.3 billion. Bookings count orders when they are made; revenue is recognized when travelers take the experience, after cancellations. More orders therefore do not automatically produce more revenue in the same quarter.

The immediate cost shows up in profit. Experiences adjusted EBITDA, a profit measure that excludes interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and certain other costs, fell 27% to $38.2 million. Its margin narrowed to 13.4% from 17.8%. Higher paid-marketing costs and lower revenue outweighed savings on personnel.

The hotel write-down is only part of the problem

Hotels and Other revenue fell 23% to $151.6 million. Tripadvisor says changes in search results are making it harder to attract free traffic. It also wrote down $369.5 million of goodwill in that division, an accounting reduction in the value assigned to the business that did not itself consume cash.

That charge drove a $316.9 million loss from continuing operations. But removing selected costs does not remove the earnings decline: company-wide adjusted EBITDA fell 34% to $71.1 million, on revenue down 11% to $436.4 million. These comparisons already exclude TheFork in both years.

The sale brings cash. The next step is debt.

As we reported in our analysis of the completed TheFork sale, Tripadvisor is now a smaller company. The newly filed closing figures show it received $741 million on November 1 after closing adjustments and fees paid at completion, subject to customary final adjustments. Management now says it expects to prioritize paying down long-term debt.

Before that sale, at September 30, continuing operations held $706.8 million in cash against $833.9 million of debt principal. The sale proceeds and those quarter-end balances belong to different dates; a post-sale debt repayment has not yet been reported.

Tripadvisor also announced a restructuring targeting $40 million in annualized gross savings, with $15 million to $20 million in expected pretax charges. It plans to shift resources toward Experiences. CEO Matt Goldberg is due to leave on February 16, 2027, while CFO Michael Noonan plans to depart on December 31, 2026.

The updated Tripadvisor company page tracks the cash, debt and leadership changes. For the next operating test, watch whether Experiences can grow revenue without marketing taking another larger share. Selling TheFork has supplied cash; it has not yet solved that problem.