NEWTON, Mass., April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TripAdvisor(®), the world's largest travel site, today announced the appointment of Brian Schmidt to the position of vice president, global CPC sales. In the newly-created role, he will oversee the global sales and account management team for TripAdvisor's cost per click (CPC) business. Schmidt will report to Robin Ingle, the company's senior vice president of sales.

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"Brian brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our growing sales team," said Ingle. "We look forward to his leadership as we continue to define and re-define the marketing opportunities available for the hospitality industry to engage our community of 200 million unique monthly visitors from around the world."

Schmidt joins TripAdvisor from Google, where he held various leadership roles focused on scalable sales acquisition and growth. Prior to that, Schmidt held several senior positions roles at iProspect, a leading search marketing agency, and iPhrase Technologies, a venture-backed software start-up.

"It's an honor to join the TripAdvisor team in this new role and develop comprehensive initiatives to build our partner base," said Schmidt. "As the world's largest travel site, we help connect hospitality and leisure businesses at the budding stage of a traveler's vacation, when they are actively researching to plan and book the perfect trip."

Schmidt is a graduate of Middlebury College and has an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He will be based in TripAdvisor's headquarters in Newton, Massachusetts. For more information on TripAdvisor, visit www.tripadvisor.com.

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.

TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) manages and operates websites under 20 other travel media brands: www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.onetime.com, www.seatguru.com, www.sniqueaway.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travel-library.com, www.travelpod.com, www.virtualtourist.com, www.whereivebeen.com, and www.kuxun.cn.

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

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

©2013 TripAdvisor, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE TripAdvisor

SOURCE: TripAdvisor