TripAdvisor acquires mobile app GateGuru

With the latest acquisition, TripAdvisor will extend its services to enable the traveler on the move with access to user generated content, information

The mergers and acquisition space is heating up in the travel sector. The latest is Trip Advisor acquiring GateGuru, a mobile application for flight and airport information. Last week travel portal Goibibo.com bought online bus ticketing website Redbus.in.

The size of the GateGuru deal has not been disclosed. However, with the latest acquisition, TripAdvisor will extend its services to enable the traveller on the move access user-generated content and information from the airports, see detailed maps and get insights on stores, restaurants and amenities.

The GateGuru team will continue to operate out of New York City, and report to Bryan Saltzburg, general manager New Initiatives and leader of the TripAdvisor Flights product.

“Flying is often an essential part of a trip and we have continually developed our suite of flights products, from the pricing and availability search on TripAdvisor, to our award-winning SeatGuru.com, with seat maps and more,” said Steve Kaufer, co-founder and CEO TripAdvisor, Inc.

“GateGuru nicely complements our existing flights products and we look forward to working with the GateGuru team as they continue to manage the GateGuru app and add great functionality to the TripAdvisor mobile experience.”

In March Trip Advisor Inc bought Beeem Inc which developed Tiny Post, a photo captioning App. In April it went on to acquire New York based Jetsetter.com – a member only private sale site for hotel bookings.

The recent acquisition is also reminiscent of the recent Google-Waze deal earlier this month for over $1 billion.

Not unlike GateGuru, Waze too uses crowd sourcing and user generated content to provide an app for navigation on roads.

TripAdvisor offers advice from travelers and a variety of travel choices and planning features with links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites claim to make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 200 million unique monthly visitors and over 100 million reviews and opinions covering more than 2.5 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions.