Technology

Optimized Efficiency & Engagement Across Global Offices

With a boom in global travel trends resulting in rapid business growth alongside a societal shift to hybrid work, Tripadvisor embarked on a transformative journey to modernize its workplace environment. The goal was twofold: to create dynamic, collaborative spaces that empowered employees to thrive and to optimize operational efficiency across its real estate portfolio and technology stack.

Tripadvisor’s leadership team, including former VP of Real Estate & Workplace, Matthew Gabree, Director of IT Global Services, Chris Benham, and Director of Workplace Design & Strategy, Nicholaus Lupi, envisioned a workplace that combined a people-first design with a harmonious technology integration. The strategy placed emphasis on activity-based working (ABW), a model that tailored office spaces to specific tasks, fostering collaboration and employee engagement. This shift from traditional office layouts to flexible, purpose-driven environments stemmed from trends in the hospitality and luxury hotel industry which focused on curating exceptional spaces for all its customers. This subsequently led to an integrated real estate strategy using cutting-edge technology solutions.

Cisco deployed a cross-architecture solution, optimized for leveraging AI and proven smart building technologies using Cisco’s wired and wireless network with seamless integration into NetOps’ network management capabilities, enabling intelligent, scalable collaboration across key offices globally. Opex savings paved the way for new technology, specifically 384 Cisco Collaboration Devices were deployed globally within 12 months, which ensured consistency and agility across the organization. Cisco Spaces provided deep visibility into engagement data to strengthen the employee experience. The project has produced transformative results enabling employees that travel between their Needham HQ to global flagship offices in Singapore, Oxford, London, and Milan to effortlessly connect between meeting platforms like Webex, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams without friction. By aligning their real estate strategy with state-of-the-art technology, Tripadvisor created a workplace environment that supports collaboration, scalability, and innovation.

Data-Driven Decision-Making for Smarter Workspaces

At the heart of Tripadvisor’s workplace transformation was a commitment to data-driven decision-making. Rather than designing spaces based on assumptions, Tripadvisor leveraged real-time data to better understand employee behavior, space utilization, and operational efficiency. This approach ensured that every decision—whether related to real estate, facilities, sustainability, or IT infrastructure—was aligned with both employee needs and business goals.

Cisco Spaces supported an opportunistic and savvy real estate management strategy, which sought to renew expiring building leases at 50% less space, substantially reducing their operational costs for real estate. Former VP of Real Estate & Workplace, Matthew Gabree, remarked that “It started with a pilot in Singapore, which turned a 16,000 square foot office into an 8,000 square foot smart office.” Today, it's the cornerstone solution and glue which holds the wider environment together. Over 380 Cisco Collaboration Devices, which often double as sensors, feed data into Cisco Spaces producing rich insights year-round into space utilization, room occupancy, and employee traffic patterns. Tripadvisor can identify underused areas and adapt layouts to maximize their effectiveness. This circular ecosystem continues to inform better decision making, workplace design, and ultimately battle-tested Tripadvisor's strategy to consolidate its real estate portfolio by half. With positive feedback and engagement results from the Singapore pilot, the Oxford ARC office was designed.

This data-driven approach was equally central to Tripadvisor’s sustainability initiatives. Building on the success of Singapore, Cisco Spaces was integrated with Oxford’s building management systems, and combined with Cisco sensor technology, automated lighting management, temperature control, and real-time CO2 monitoring. Even Webex video devices, though primarily used for telephony, drive other use cases such as occupancy and IAQ sensing. These insights have supported a significant reduction in energy costs.

Real estate, IT, and HR teams collaborated to use Cisco Spaces insights with employee satisfaction data to create more agile environments. As Chris Benham remarked, “Choosing Cisco and the Spaces solution became clear as they allowed us to show end users how the building reacts around them, driving more sustainable choices.” As a result of such cross-functional synergy between its departments, Tripadvisor delivered workplaces that addressed a complex challenge, the balance of technology, sustainability, and employee well-being.

Enabling Seamless Hybrid Work: a Flexible & Integrated Infrastructure

The hybrid work phenomenon was a catalyst to Tripadvisor’s approach to workplace design. Rather than competing with the convenience of home offices, the company leaned into a complementary attitude. Tripadvisor’s offices were reimagined as hubs for collaboration, innovation, and high-value activities best suited for in-person interaction, based on the model of Activity-Based Working. This shift required a flexible technology infrastructure that could adapt to these demands.

This flexibility was particularly critical, where Cisco Webex ensured compatibility and ease of use across the organization. As Chris Benham highlights, “The Cisco hardware and thought process takes minutes to set up a room. That’s a game changer.” The Webex platform streamlines meeting setups, allowing rooms to be operational within minutes of installation. They also enable end-users, now that it's an intuitive process so that when you step into a conference room, one would not have to learn a whole new logic. From a commercial perspective, Chris remarked that they have “managed to save a well over a 6-figure sum within four years of the decision to move devices, management, and telephony over to Webex.”

Tripadvisor’s IT teams were also alleviated, and more empowered to focus on critical business initiatives rather than the burden of troubleshooting. At the Oxford office, for example, day-one operations recorded zero support tickets, a testament to the intuitive and reliable nature of Cisco’s technology and Tripadvisor’s vision.

The integration of Webex, Cisco Endpoints, and Cisco Spaces, produced great efficiencies across the board; from automated systems for lighting, temperature, and CO2 monitoring to complete oversight of its endpoint management, streamlined telephony capabilities, and collaborative options across its global offices. Benham noted Cisco’s collaborative role in the project: “We’ve got a fantastic team at Cisco that are second to none... We could not have done this without them.”

This ecosystem of integrated solutions created a scalable, future-proofed infrastructure that supports Tripadvisor’s hybrid work strategy. By prioritizing both functionality and user experience, Tripadvisor created a workplace that empowered employees, reduced operational complexity, and aligned with the company’s sustainability goals.