Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued new accounting guidance that clarifies when changes to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award must be accounted for as modifications, which will reduce diversity in practice. Under the new guidance, an entity will not apply modification accounting to a share-based payment award if the award’s fair value (or calculated value or intrinsic value, if those measurement methods are used), the award’s vesting conditions, and the award’s classification as an equity or liability instrument are the same immediately before and after the change. The guidance also states that an entity is not required to estimate the value of the award immediately before and after the change if the change does not affect any of the inputs to the model used to value the award. The Company adopted this guidance prospectively in the first quarter of 2018. The Company believes the new guidance will likely result in fewer changes to the terms of an award being accounted for as modifications.

In August and November 2016, the FASB issued new accounting standards which add and clarify guidance on the classification of certain cash receipts and payments in the statement of cash flows, and add guidance on the presentation of restricted cash in the statement of cash flows, respectively. This new guidance requires entities to show changes in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash on a combined basis in the statement of cash flows. In addition, this accounting guidance requires a reconciliation of the total cash, cash equivalent and restricted cash in the statement of cash flows to the related captions in the balance sheet if cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash are presented in more than one line item in the balance sheet. The Company adopted this guidance effective January 1, 2018 and applied it retrospectively to all prior periods presented in the financial statements as required under the new guidance. The Company does not currently have material amounts described as restricted cash; however, the Company’s consolidated statement of cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2016 has been recast to present $5 million of restricted cash as beginning of period cash and cash equivalents and $4 million of restricted cash as end of period cash and cash equivalents at March 31, 2017. These amounts were included in other current assets as of December 31, 2016 and March 31, 2017.

In October 2016, the FASB issued new accounting guidance on income tax accounting associated with intra-entity transfers of assets other than inventory. This accounting update, which is part of the FASB's simplification initiative, is intended to reduce diversity in practice and the complexity of tax accounting, particularly for those transfers involving intellectual property. This new guidance requires an entity to recognize the income tax consequences of an intra-entity transfer of an asset other than inventory when the transfer occurs. The Company adopted this new guidance in the first quarter of 2018 on a modified retrospective basis. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

 

In May 2014, the FASB issued new accounting guidance on revenue from contracts with customers, or ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”), which replaced numerous requirements in GAAP, and provides companies with a single model for recognizing revenue from contracts with customers. The core principle of the new standard is that a company should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. This guidance also requires additional disclosures about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from customer contracts, including significant judgments and changes in judgments and assets recognized from costs incurred to obtain or fulfill a contract. In addition, the FASB has also issued several amendments to the standard, which clarifies certain aspects of the guidance, including principal versus agent considerations and identifying performance obligations.

 

In the first quarter of 2018, the Company adopted ASC 606, under the modified retrospective method for all contracts that were not completed as of January 1, 2018. Results for reporting periods beginning after January 1, 2018 are presented under the new revenue guidance, while prior period amounts are not adjusted and continue to be reported in accordance with the previous accounting policies under the historical revenue guidance, or ASC 605, Revenue Recognition.  

 

As a result of adoption of ASC 606, certain revenue streams, such as the instant booking revenue, recorded under the consumption model, which was previously recorded upon completion of the traveler stay, is now recognized upon booking. The amount of the recognized transaction price is recorded as revenue, net of the impact of estimated cancellations. TripAdvisor also recorded an adjustment to capitalize certain costs to obtain contracts for existing arrangements as of the implementation date. TripAdvisor expects the adoption of this new revenue standard will not have a material impact, either on an annual or quarterly basis, to its consolidated financial statements on an ongoing basis. Its systems and internal controls were not significantly impacted as a result of the accounting changes and TripAdvisor has made the necessary changes to its accounting policies and internal processes to support the new revenue recognition standard, including the related disclosures. 

 

TripAdvisor recognized the cumulative effect of initial application of ASC 606 as an adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings. TripAdvisor recorded a net increase in opening retained earnings of $4 million as of January 1, 2018 due to the cumulative impact of adoption of the new revenue guidance, resulting in a $1 million increase in TripCo’s opening retained earnings and $3 million increase in TripCo’s noncontrolling interest in equity of subsidiaries as of January 1, 2018. All other accounts were not materially impacted.

 

Revenue Recognition under ASC 606

 

TripAdvisor generates all of its revenue from contracts with customers. It recognizes revenue when it satisfies a performance obligation by transferring control of the promised services to a customer in an amount that reflects the consideration that it expects to receive in exchange for those services. When TripAdvisor acts as an agent in the transaction under ASC 606, it recognizes revenue for only its commission on the arrangement. TripAdvisor determines revenue recognition through the following steps:

 

At contract inception, TripAdvisor assesses the services promised in its contracts with customers and identifies a performance obligation for each promise to transfer to the customer a service (or bundle of services) that is distinct. To identify the performance obligations, TripAdvisor considers all of the services promised in the contract regardless of whether they are explicitly stated or are implied by customary business practices. TripAdvisor has provided qualitative information about its performance obligations for its principal revenue streams discussed below. There was no significant revenue recognized in the three months ended March 31, 2018 related to performance obligations satisfied in prior periods. TripAdvisor has applied a practical expedient and does not disclose the value of unsatisfied performance obligations that have an original expected duration of less than one year, and TripAdvisor does not have any material unsatisfied performance obligations over one year. The value related to TripAdvisor’s remaining or partially satisfied performance obligations relates to subscription services that are satisfied over time or services that are recognized at a point in time, but not yet achieved.  The timing of services, invoicing and payments are discussed in more detail below and do not include a significant financing component. TripAdvisor’s customer invoices are generally due 30 days from the time of invoicing. 

TripAdvisor recognizes an asset for the incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer if it expects the benefit of those costs to be longer than one year. TripAdvisor has determined that certain sales incentive programs meet the requirements to be capitalized. Total capitalized costs to obtain a contract were approximately $1 million as of March 31, 2018. These contract costs are amortized on a straight-line basis over the estimated customer life, which is based on historical data. Amortization expense recorded during the three months ended March 31, 2018 was not material. TripAdvisor assesses such assets for impairment when events or circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable.

The recognition of revenue may require the application of judgment related to the determination of the performance obligations, the timing of when the performance obligations are satisfied and other areas. The determination of TripAdvisor’s performance obligations does not require significant judgment given that it generally does not provide multiple services to a customer in a given transaction, and the point in which control is transferred to the customer is readily determinable. In instances where TripAdvisor recognizes revenue over time, it generally has either a subscription service that is recognized over time on a straight-line basis using the time-elapsed output method, or based on other output measures that provide a faithful depiction of the transfer of TripAdvisor’s services. When an estimate for cancellations is included in the transaction price, the estimate is based on historical data. The estimate is not material. Taxes assessed by a government authority that are both imposed on and concurrent with a specific revenue–producing transaction, that are collected by TripAdvisor from a customer, are reported on a net basis, or in other words, excluded from revenue on its consolidated financial statements, which is consistent with prior periods. The application of TripAdvisor’s revenue recognition policies and a description of the principal activities, organized by segment, from which it generates revenue, are presented below. 

 

Hotels

TripAdvisor-branded Click-based Advertising and Transaction Revenue. TripAdvisor’s largest source of Hotel revenue is generated from click-based advertising on TripAdvisor-branded websites, which is primarily comprised of contextually-relevant booking links to its travel partners’ sites. TripAdvisor’s click-based travel partners are predominantly online travel agencies, or “OTAs,” and direct suppliers in the hotel category. Click-based advertising is generally priced on a cost-per-click, or “CPC,” basis, with payments from advertisers determined by the number of users who click on a link multiplied by the price that partner is willing to pay for that click, or hotel shopper lead. CPC rates that travel partners are willing to pay are determined in a dynamic, competitive auction process, or metasearch auction. TripAdvisor records click-based advertising revenue as the click occurs and traveler leads are sent to the travel partner websites as the performance obligation is fulfilled at that time. Click-based revenue is generally billed to travel partners on a monthly basis consistent with the timing of the service. 

Transaction revenue is generated from TripAdvisor’s instant booking feature, which enables hotel shoppers to book directly with a travel partner, or the merchant of record, without leaving TripAdvisor’s website.  TripAdvisor earns a commission from its travel partner for a user that completes a hotel reservation on TripAdvisor’s website. TripAdvisor’s instant booking revenue includes arrangements where commissions are billable on all instant booking hotel reservations and also includes arrangements where the commission is billable only upon the completion of the traveler’s stay resulting from the reservation. TripAdvisor’s performance obligation in both arrangements is complete at the time of the booking and the commission earned is recognized upon booking, as TripAdvisor has no post-booking service obligations. The amount of revenue recognized for commissions which are billable contingent upon a travelers stay requires an estimate of the impact of cancellations using historical cancellation rates. Contract assets are recognized at the time of booking for commissions that are billable at the time of stay. TripAdvisor is the agent in these transactions under ASC 606.

TripAdvisor-branded Display-based Advertising and Subscription Revenue. Travel partners can promote their brands in a contextually-relevant manner through a variety of display-based advertising placements on TripAdvisor websites. TripAdvisor’s display-based advertising clients are predominately direct suppliers of hotels, airlines and cruises, as well as destination marketing organizations. TripAdvisor also sells display-based advertising to OTAs and other travel related businesses, as well as advertisers from non-travel categories. Display-based advertising is sold predominantly on a cost per thousand impressions basis. The performance obligation in TripAdvisor’s display based advertising business is to display a number of advertising impressions on TripAdvisor’s websites and TripAdvisor recognizes revenue for impressions as they are delivered. Services are generally billed monthly. TripAdvisor has applied the practical expedient to measure progress toward completion, as it has the right to invoice the customer in an amount that directly corresponds with the value to the customer of TripAdvisor’s performance to date, which is measured based on impressions delivered.

In addition, TripAdvisor offers subscription-based advertising to hotels, B&Bs and other specialty lodging properties. TripAdvisor’s performance obligation is generally to enable subscribers to advertise their business on TripAdvisor’s website, including such information as a website URL, email address and phone number, as well as other information. Subscription advertising is predominantly sold for a flat fee, for a contracted period of time which is predominately one year or less. Subscription advertising services are generally billed in advance of service.  Subscription advertising revenue is recognized on a straight-line basis over the period of the subscription service as efforts are expended evenly throughout the contract period. When prepayments are received, TripAdvisor recognizes deferred revenue for the amount of prepayment in excess of revenue recognized until the performance obligation is satisfied.

Other Hotel Revenue. TripAdvisor’s other hotel revenue primarily includes revenue from non-TripAdvisor-branded websites, such as www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, and www.onetime.com, which primarily includes click-based advertising and display-based advertising revenue. The performance obligations and timing of customer payments for these brands and methods of recognizing revenue are generally consistent with click-based advertising or display-based advertising revenue, as described above.

Non-Hotel

TripAdvisor provides information and services for users to research, book and experience activities and attractions in popular travel destinations both through Viator, its dedicated Experiences offering, and on its TripAdvisor website and applications. TripAdvisor also powers travel activities and experiences booking capabilities to users for affiliate partners, including some of the world’s top airlines, hotel chains and online and offline travel agencies. TripAdvisor works with local tour or travel activities/experiences operators (“the supplier”) to provide users with access to book tours, activities and experiences (“the activity”) in popular destinations worldwide. TripAdvisor generates commissions for each booking transaction facilitated through its online reservation system. TripAdvisor provides post-booking service to the user until the time of the activity, which is the completion of the performance obligation. Revenue is recognized at the time that the activity occurs. TripAdvisor is an agent in the transaction, under ASC 606, for nearly all of these transactions. TripAdvisor generally collects payment from the user at the time of booking that includes both TripAdvisor’s commission revenue and the amount due to the supplier. TripAdvisor’s commission revenue is recorded as deferred revenue until revenue is recognized, and the amount due to the supplier is recorded to deferred merchant payables on the consolidated balance sheet, until payment is made to the supplier after the completion of the activity. To a lesser extent, TripAdvisor earns commissions from third-party merchant partners, who display and promote TripAdvisor’s supplier activities on their websites to generate bookings. In these transactions, where TripAdvisor is not the merchant of record, TripAdvisor generally invoices and receives commissions directly from the third-party merchant partners. TripAdvisor’s performance obligation is to allow the third-party merchant partners to display and promote its supplier activities on their website and TripAdvisor earns a commission when users book and complete an activity. TripAdvisor’s performance obligation is complete and revenue is recognized at the time of the booking, as TripAdvisor has no post-booking obligations. TripAdvisor recognizes this revenue net of an estimate of the impact of cancellations using historical cancellation rates. Contract assets are recognized for commissions that are billable contingent upon completion of the activity. TripAdvisor is an agent in these transactions, under ASC 606. 

TripAdvisor also provides information and services for users to research and book restaurants in popular travel destinations through its dedicated restaurant reservations offering, TheFork, and on TripAdvisor’s website and applications. TheFork is an online restaurant booking platform operating on a number of websites (including www.lafourchette.com, www.eltenedor.com, www.iens.nl and www.dimmi.com.au), with a network of restaurant partners located primarily across Europe and Australia. TripAdvisor’s bookable restaurants are available on www.thefork.com and on TripAdvisor-branded websites and mobile applications. TripAdvisor primarily generates transaction fees (or per seated diner fees) that are paid by restaurants for diners seated primarily from bookings through TheFork’s online reservation system.  The transaction fee is recognized in revenue after the reservation is fulfilled, or as diners are seated by restaurant customers. Revenue is billed monthly when the transaction fees are payable, which is at the time the diner is seated. To a lesser extent, TripAdvisor also generates subscription fees for access to certain online reservation management services and marketing analytic tools provided by TheFork and TripAdvisor. As the performance obligation is to provide restaurants with access to these services over the subscription period, subscription fee revenue is recognized over the period of the subscription service on a straight-line basis as efforts are expended evenly throughout the contract period. Subscription fees are generally billable in advance of service. When prepayments are received, TripAdvisor recognizes deferred revenue for the amount of prepayment in excess of revenue recognized until the performance obligation is satisfied.

 

In addition, TripAdvisor provides information and services for users to research and book vacation and short-term rental properties, including full home rentals, condominiums, villas, beach rentals, cabins and cottages. Rentals generates revenue primarily by offering individual property owners and managers the ability to list their properties on TripAdvisor’s websites and mobile applications thereby connecting homeowners with travelers through a free-to-list, commission-based option or, to a lesser extent, by an annual subscription-based fee structure. These properties are listed on www.flipkey.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.housetrip.com, www.niumba.com, and www.vacationhomerentals.com, and on TripAdvisor-branded websites and mobile applications. TripAdvisor earns commissions associated with rental transactions through its free-to-list model from both the traveler and the property owner or manager. TripAdvisor provides post-booking service to the traveler and property owners and managers until the time the rental commences, which is the time the performance obligation is completed. Revenue from transaction fees is recognized at the time that the rental commences. TripAdvisor is an agent in these transactions, under ASC 606. TripAdvisor generally collects payment from the traveler at the time of booking that includes TripAdvisor’s commissions, which is recorded as deferred revenue until revenue is recognized, and the amount due to the property owner, which is recorded in deferred merchant payables on the consolidated balance sheet, until payment is made to the property owner after the completion of the rental. Payments for term-based subscription fees related to online advertising services for the listing of rental properties, are generally due in advance.  As the performance obligation is the listing service provided to the property owner or manager over the subscription period, revenue is recognized over the period of the subscription service on a straight-line basis as efforts are expended evenly throughout the contract period. TripAdvisor recognizes deferred revenue for the amount of prepayment in excess of revenue recognized until the performance obligation is satisfied. 

 

Practical Expedients and Exemptions

 

TripAdvisor expenses costs to obtain a contract as incurred, such as sales commissions, when the amortization period would have been one year or less.

TripAdvisor does not disclose the value of unsatisfied performance obligations for (i) contracts with an original expected length of one year or less and (ii) contracts for which it recognizes revenue at the amount to which it has the right to invoice for services performed.

Impact of Adoption of ASC 606

 

The impact of this new revenue recognition guidance on TripAdvisor’s unaudited condensed consolidated statement of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2018 was as follows:

 

 

The impact of the new guidance was not meaningful as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2018 for the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet and unaudited condensed consolidated statement of cash flows, respectively.

 

Disaggregation of Revenue

 

TripAdvisor disaggregates revenue from contracts with customers into major products/revenue sources. TripAdvisor has determined that disaggregating revenue into these categories achieves the disclosure objective to depict how the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows are affected by economic factors. A reconciliation of disaggregated revenue to total hotel and non-hotel revenue is also included below. 

 

 

 

Contract balances

 

The following table provides information about the opening and closing balances of accounts receivables and contract assets from contracts with customers (in millions):

 

 

Accounts receivable are recognized when the right to consideration becomes unconditional. Contract assets are rights to consideration in exchange for services that TripAdvisor has transferred to a customer when that right is conditional on something other than the passage of time, such as commission payments that are contingent upon the completion of the service by the principal in the transaction. Contract liabilities generally include payments received in advance of performance under the contract, and are realized as revenue as the performance obligation to the customer is satisfied, which TripAdvisor presents as deferred revenue on its unaudited consolidated balance sheet. During the three months ended March 31, 2018, $41 million was recognized as revenue which was included in the deferred revenue balance at the beginning of the period. The difference between the opening and closing balances of TripAdvisor’s contract assets and deferred revenue primarily results from the timing differences between TripAdvisor’s performance and the customer’s payment. There were no significant changes in contract assets or liabilities during the three months ended March 31, 2018 related to business combinations, impairments, cumulative catch-up or other material adjustments.

Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

In February 2016, the FASB issued new guidance related to accounting for leases. The new standard requires the recognition of assets (right-of-use-assets) and liabilities arising from lease transactions on the balance sheet and the disclosure of key information about leasing arrangements. Accordingly, a lessee will recognize a lease asset for its right to use the underlying asset and a lease liability for the corresponding lease obligation. Both the asset and liability will initially be measured at the present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term. The new guidance will classify leases as either finance or operating leases, with classification determining the presentation of expenses and cash flows on the consolidated financial statements. Initial costs directly attributable to negotiating and arranging the lease will be included in the asset. For leases with a term of 12 months or less, a lessee can make an accounting policy election by class of underlying asset to not recognize an asset and corresponding liability. The transition guidance also provides specific guidance for sale and leaseback transactions, build-to-suit leases and amounts previously recognized in accordance with the business combinations guidance for leases. TripAdvisor will also be required to provide additional qualitative and quantitative disclosures regarding the amount, timing and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases which include, among other things, the computation and disclosure of its weighted average remaining lease term and discount rate, cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities, and supplemental non-cash information on lease liabilities arising from obtaining the right-of-use assets. These disclosures are intended to provide supplemental information to the amounts recorded in the financial statements so that users can better understand the nature of an entity’s leasing activities. This guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted, which will require the recognition and measurement of leases at the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented in the financial statements using a modified retrospective approach. The Company anticipates adopting this new guidance in the first quarter of 2019.

TripAdvisor will continue to evaluate the new lease guidance and is in the process of updating accounting policies, accounting position memos, and evaluating its existing population of contracts to ensure all contracts that meet the definition of a lease contract under the new standard are identified. TripAdvisor is also in the process of implementing additional lease software to support its accounting and reporting process, including the new quantitative and qualitative financial disclosure requirements. In addition, TripAdvisor is evaluating the impact of the system implementation and new accounting guidance on its internal controls. TripAdvisor will continue to provide updates on its assessment of the effect that this new lease guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements, disclosures, systems and related internal controls, and will disclose material effects, if any, when known.