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Trivago’s comeback: Can brand marketing and AI secure long-term growth?
After a period of stagnation, Trivago appears to be entering a new phase of strategic growth, fueled by strong brand marketing investments, AI-driven innovations, and a renewed focus on consumer engagement. The hotel search and price comparison platform posted its first revenue increase since early 2023, marking what CEO Johannes Thomas described as a “turning point toward sustainable growth.” With Q4 revenue up by 3% year-over-year to €94.8 million and referral revenue rising by 5%, Trivago’s resurgence comes at a time when competition in the online travel space is fiercer than ever. A revitalized approach to branding and consumer acquisition—including high-profile marketing campaigns featuring football icon Jürgen Klopp—has helped rebuild its presence and drive more direct traffic to its platform. Brand Investments Are Paying Off Trivago has long been known for its simple yet effective price-comparison model, but with changing consumer behavior, the company has doubled down on brand awareness. Its advertising spend increased to €57.4 million in Q4, a small yet significant rise that appears to be yielding results. CEO Johannes Thomas emphasized that “brand investments are paying off,” citing a strong revenue trajectory and momentum that continued into January 2025, when the company reported double-digit revenue growth. This confidence was echoed by CFO Robin Harries, who highlighted that Trivago’s adjusted EBITDA surged by 52% to €11.1 million in the quarter, exceeding internal expectations. AI and Continuous Optimization Shape the Future Beyond marketing, Trivago is leaning on AI to refine user experience and increase conversions. Thomas revealed that the company is running 50 to 60 different versions of Trivago at any given time, continuously testing features such as AI-powered search and AI-generated highlights to improve usability. While the company remains cautious in rolling out AI at scale, Thomas emphasized that gradual implementation based on user behavior will shape the next phase of Trivago’s evolution. Though he declined to provide details on user engagement metrics, he made it clear that Trivago’s AI strategy is focused on personalization and seamless search capabilities. The Road Ahead: Stability or Continued Challenges? Despite the positive Q4 results, Trivago still faces long-term challenges. Its full-year 2024 revenue stood at €460.8 million, a 5% decline from 2023, while adjusted EBITDA dropped significantly from €54.1 million to €10.2 million. The company’s year-long advertising spend increased by 7%, reflecting a deliberate push to reinvigorate its presence in the highly competitive metasearch space. Still, Trivago remains financially stable, ending the year with a cash balance of over €130 million and no long-term debt—a crucial advantage in navigating an evolving travel market. With brand investments yielding results, AI-driven personalization improving conversions, and revenue on the rise, Trivago appears to be in a stronger position heading into 2025. However, sustaining this momentum will require continued innovation, user retention strategies, and navigating competitive pressures. While its Q4 success marks a much-needed turnaround, whether this signals a new era for Trivago or just a temporary rebound remains to be seen.
Trivago bolsters AI-powered Holisto partnership amidst Q2 economic challenges
Hotel metasearch company Trivago has announced a strategic investment in artificial intelligence-driven hotel rate aggregator and white-label booking engine provider Holisto, marking a significant step forward in their partnership that began in 2022. This move is part of Trivago's efforts to enhance conversion rates and deliver a more seamless booking experience for users. According to Johannes Thomas, CEO of Trivago, the investment in Holisto will allow the company to offer 'Trivago Book & Go' to all its advertising partners. “Holisto's expertise in rate optimization and dynamic pricing is exceptional, and their technology delivers real value to travelers. We are excited about their expansion and the potential to drive higher conversions for our partners,” he said. On the same day, Trivago reported its second-quarter financial results, revealing a total revenue of €118.6 million, a 5% decline from €124.4 million in the same period last year. The company also posted a net loss of €4.9 million, compared to a net income of €5.8 million in Q2 2023. Adjusted EBITDA showed a loss of €5.4 million, down from €12.2 million last year. “The second quarter of 2024 showed an improved year-over-year trajectory, bringing us closer to our goal of returning to top-line growth,” Trivago stated in its earnings report. The company highlighted revenue growth from branded traffic channels, which helped offset losses from performance marketing channels. Trivago’s Q2 losses follow a net loss in the first quarter of 2024, compared to a net profit in the first quarter of 2023. The company continues to rely on its marketing spend to drive future results. Referral revenue for the quarter was €117.2 million, a 4% decline year-over-year. The Americas saw a 5% increase in referral revenue to €47.9 million, but this was offset by a 9.7% decline in "Developed Europe" to €47 million. The "Rest of World" category saw a slight decline of less than 1% to €22.4 million. Advertising spend increased by nearly 11% year-over-year to €95.5 million globally, while return on advertising spend dropped 16%, from €37.8 million last year to €21.7 million for the April-June period. Trivago continues to face challenges in its performance marketing channels, largely due to changes in Google's advertisement format, but expects revenue from branded traffic to bolster its results moving forward. “We remain optimistic about achieving year-over-year top-line growth in the second half of the year by maintaining disciplined and results-oriented marketing investments,” Trivago said.
Trivago decision highlights importance of booking direct or using Australian travel businesses
Peak industry body the Accommodation Association says today’s Federal Court decision in relation to Trivago highlights the value for Australian consumers in booking accommodation directly or through Australian travel businesses. Travel booking company Trivago, which is part of American online travel shopping company Expedia Group Inc., was today fined $44.7 million for misleading consumers about hotel rates. Federal Court Justice Mark Moshinsky said Trivago’s conduct has cost Australian consumers $30 million. Quotes attributable to Accommodation Association CEO Richard Munro “On behalf of our members, the Accommodation Association welcomes today’s commonsense decision from the Federal Court on Trivago, however, for Australian hotels and motels the writing’s been on the wall for some time.” “After surviving COVID-19 and closed borders, the harsh reality is that many of our members rely on a portion of their bookings generated through these platforms, and can find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place.” “The Association are continually alerting the ACCC to exploitative practices and we want the ACCC to now to cast their net wider and review price parity rules where similar large, overseas-based multinational corporations threaten Australian accommodation providers with exclusion if the accommodation provider offers a better rate online.” “Australian travel consumers deserve access to the best available rates, and the only way to guarantee that outcome is to book directly with Australian accommodation operators or through your local travel business.”
People ready to give up sex, savings and job to travel again: Trivago survey
Global accommodations search platform trivago recently conducted a survey to see how consumers are planning, dreaming and considering travel in 2021. After a year that changed everything, it’s clear that modern travel has been profoundly altered, perhaps forever. As the vaccine rollout continues and restrictions begin to lift in parts of the globe, eager travellers everywhere wait patiently for the clear signal to be able to getaway and adventure once again. The consumer omnibus survey, conducted from 3-9 January, polled more than 2,000 adults in the US and UK. The results reveal significant desires to travel, including what consumers would give up, what they’d like to do and where they’d like to go, as well as why they’d like to get back on the road. We’d give up lot to travel again Thinking about their first trip after the pandemic, majorities say it makes them feel excited (US, 56%; UK, 54%) and/or happy (US, 53%; UK, 52%). In fact, we’re so desperate to travel, 25% of both Britons and Americans say they would give up all their savings to do it now, and around two-fifths (US, 38%; UK, 40%) say they’d give up sex for a year to get on the road right away. One in five said they would give up their partner to travel now, and even more telling, nearly half would give up their job (US, 48%; UK, 41%). It’s clear that travel plays a massive role in our lives and overall happiness. 2020 made us focus on self-care, but how does travel fit in More than 80% of those surveyed somewhat or strongly agree that travel is a part of a well-rounded life. The concept of travel as a form of selfcare/wellness and to expand one’s perspective is one that continues to grow. In both countries substantial majorities say that being prevented from traveling freely is one of the worst aspects of the pandemic (US, 81%; UK, 82%) and that because of the pandemic this is the most they’ve ever felt like traveling (US, 58%; UK, 61%). Increasingly, we see emotional wellbeing as another driver for travel and the need to get away. When they do travel, respondents appear likely to incorporate new interests – more than half (US, 57%; UK, 56%) say they’ve picked up a new hobby since the start of the pandemic, with most who’ve done so expressing surprise at their newfound passion. The vast majority of those (US, 68%; UK, 64%) think it’s at least somewhat likely they’ll pick a vacation connected to the new hobby once the pandemic ends. Given all this, a travel boom post-pandemic appears likely as consumers strive to make up for lost time. Definition of dream vacation has changed The typical idea of a big trip or vacation – planned ahead and saved for – is becoming obsolete with travel restrictions and the ability to plan ahead all but impossible. In addition, the isolation and distance of lockdowns has changed the dynamic of dream vacations as we think of them. The #1 choice for Americans and Britons for their “dream vacation” was a chance to spend “time with the family and friends I’ve missed” (US, 26%; UK, 34%), with this particularly high with seniors in each country (US, 35%; UK, 47%). Overall, traveling again is inevitable. More than 4 in 5 of the respondents (US, 84%; UK, 87%) see travel as fundamental to a good life and two-thirds or more (US, 72%; UK, 66%) say they plan to travel even more than they have in the past once the pandemic ends.
Trivago acquires weekend.com
Online travel company Trivago has acquired weekengo and weekend.com, a start-up focused on finding travellers inspirational getaway packages. The company is based in Dusseldorf, Germany. Under the terms of the deal, trivago acquired 100% of the shares in weekengo. The acquisition supports a shared mission to bring travellers inspirational content, helping turn travel intent into exciting getaways. The combination will allow trivago to apply its marketing and product expertise to the weekend.com brand while leveraging synergies with existing products. “As we focus on building out our offerings to not only provide travellers with great deals on accommodations, but also great ideas and inspiration to help them experience the world, partnering with weekend.com was a no-brainer. weekend.com has created terrific content which is reflected in their high customer satisfaction. We are looking forward to working with the incredibly talented team and grow this together,” said Axel Hefer, chief executive of Trivago. No financial details of the deal have been released.
Trivago could pay millions for duping consumers
Hotel price aggregator Trivago is facing potentially a multi-million dollar fine after it was found that it breached Australian Consumer Law by misleading consumers with its ads. The Federal Court in Melbourne passed down a 91-page judgement finding Trivago guilty of using a digital algorithm on its online hotel listings and favoured hotel partners that pay a higher commission to Trivago. The Court also found out that the discounted prices displayed on the platform were actual room prices and the original prices were of upper-tiered room categories instead of like-for-like. Trivago’s “strike-through” price comparisons were misleading, as the strike-through price was often for a more expensive luxury room compared with a standard room. According to consumer watchdog Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which brought Trivago to court, Trivago was giving consumers a false impression of savings and not “comparing apples with apples when it came to room type”. This activity was found to have been taking place from “at least December 2016” until at least 2 July 2018”. On December 2018, TD reported that Trivago came clean of its misconduct and said, “By displaying the strike-through price next to the top position offer in the form it was displayed either on its own or in conjunction with the percentage savings box.” The company has since updated its website to tell customers that hotels are ranked by “compensation paid by the booking site.” The decision sent a strong message to aggregators and metasearch websites should be upfront with customers whether the ranking is based on results or is influenced on advertising. The hearing for penalties for Trivago will be set at a later date. The ACCC seeks ACCC has sought penalties for declarations, injunctions and costs.
Trivago confesses to false advertising in Australia
In a startling streak of honesty, Trivago has admitted that it led customers into believing that the results page shows the lowest prices in the “more deals” section. In August, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took Trivago to court saying that the site violated Australian Consumer Law by showing misleading hotel prices through its TV and online advertisements from December 2013 to April 2018. Moreover, Trivago compared luxury rooms with standard rooms making consumers believe that they are buying the best deal, even if it is not the case. In the end, the consumers are led into availing hotels that paid the company more commission than others or “prioritized advertisers who were willing to pay the highest cost per click fee,” said the ACCC in a statement. The ACCC also alleged Trivago's "strike-through" price comparisons were misleading, as the strike-through price was often for a more expensive luxury room compared with a standard room. Trivago comes clean of its misconduct and said, “By displaying the strike-through price next to the top position offer in the form it was displayed either on its own or in conjunction with the percentage savings box.” “Trivago may have caused some consumers to form an erroneous belief that the top position offer and the strike-through price were offers for rooms in the same room category.” Trivago has since updated their website to tell customers that hotels are ranked by “compensation paid by the booking site.” The case is still being heard in court and another deliberation is set for 14 December 2018 in Melbourne. Trivago may face a hefty fine for this, expected to be up to USD 10 million. However, this settlement of the fine may not be the end of Trivago’s legal troubles. The New Zealand Commerce Commission said while it did not have a current investigation into Trivago it was following court proceedings in Australia and chances of another one following are floating on.
Sarawak Tourism Board secures win at TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards 2024 – Malaysia
Statutory body Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) was recognised at the coveted TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards 2024 - Malaysia for its successful hosting of the 2024 edition of the iconic annual Rainforest World Music Festival, which brings together local and international performers to put on a three-day music extravaganza. The festival not only features concerts and performances, but also showcases various culture, art, crafts, and food of the 34 different ethnicities of Sarawak to the visitors, making it a highly anticipated event for both locals and international tourists. STB has taken on the challenge to make this edition the largest show to date, as it has just returned to a full physical format in the previous year amidst the impacts brought by the recent global pandemic. This year’s event headlines Japanese recording artist, composer, record producer, and arranger Kitaro. To successfully promote the event, the agency has taken advantage of digital media to engage younger crowds—a new target market for the festival—whilst traditional media presence is further strengthened to engage older audiences who are more familiar with "World Music." At the same time, STB has also partnered with online travel agents and online travel guides such as Traveloka, Klook, Tripzilla and Tripadvisor, to promote the event. As conversions are the key metric to the integrated marketing campaigns, the agency has partnered with data partners with first party data from Agoda, Singapore Airlines, and Trivago to retarget travellers who may be in the region during the time of the festival. It has also leveraged on traditional online, press and broadcast mediums throughout the marketing phases of the event to ensure maximum reach and visibility to target markets such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. STB has engaged over 170 media to cover the event, as well as post promotions by informing their audiences of the dates for the 2025 festival. The agency has also partnered with Malaysia Airlines, leading hotels and travel agents to provide packages at a discounted rate and additional incentives for international visitors joining the festival. During the festival, attendees have been encouraged to utilise User Generated Content, wherein they have been urged to share their experiences online via highly Instagrammable locations and activities. The sustainable aspect of the event has also been given centre stage to further reinforce the importance of the festival as a vehicle for sustainability and responsible tourism. STB has managed to record 30.3 million impressions on digital platforms, in addition to 10.6 million audiences on traditional media platforms, leading to a total of more than 26,000 festival goers for 2024. For its 2025 edition, the festival will be held from 20 to 22 June 2025 at the Sarawak Cultural Village in Kuching, Sarawak. The inaugural TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards - Malaysia honours top travel companies that have consistently pushed boundaries within the industry and elevated customer experiences through innovative technologies, sustainable practices, and unparalleled services. The TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards 2024 – Malaysia is presented by Travel Daily Media. To view the full list of winners, click here. For more details, please contact Jane Patiag at +(65) 3158 1386 ext. 217 or awards@traveldailymedia.com.
Guestline unlocks new revenue streams with fully integrated distribution hub
Guestline - one of the world’s hospitality technology companies, and part of The Access Group - has unveiled its fully integrated Distribution Hub designed to unlock new revenue streams for hoteliers. Available with over 400 channel connections, Guestline’s Distribution Hub enables hoteliers to optimise the distribution mix of travel booking websites, third party sales partners, and direct business. With automation, hotels can take advantage of both traditional channels and alternative partners including Metasearch, Airbnb and rental platforms. Fully integrated into Guestline’s product suite including market-leading PMS, hotels can maximise operational efficiencies and reduce errors with real-time updates ensuring accurate availability across all channels at all times to avoid overbooking and lost revenue. By utilising the valuable insights from integrated data, hotels have the ability to optimise distribution strategies in order to maximise revenue from the most valuable channels. “Hotel staff need more time for value-based tasks. Our Distribution Hub reduces manual updates allowing hotel teams to focus on strategic distribution to improve the cost of sale, while potentially attracting higher-value guests with lower acquisition costs. Guests are increasingly researching and booking hotels across various channels including metasearch sites like Trivago and Google, therefore hotels need to take an omnichannel approach to distribution. By diversifying their channel matrix, hotels can create competitive offerings in their third-party commission structures,” said Katharina Lunenburg, Senior Product Manager, Guestline. Through the single user-friendly platform, hotels can manage all online sales channels with the ability to switch them on and off when required. The seamless connectivity delivers incoming reservations directory and securely into the PMS with PCI compliant payment handling and tokenisation, eliminating data silos. With greater control over distribution, hotels can geographically target markets, improve visibility in front of niche audiences or engage with channels offering lower commissions. Guestline Distribution Hub offers a scalable, robust, reliable, and secure platform with full customer support, along with reporting and analytics capabilities to support revenue management strategies. It gives hoteliers the ability to customise distribution including MinLOS, closed channel functionality, and integrated niche channels in a user-friendly and intuitive interface. The Guestline Distribution Hub supports the development of new revenue streams, enhanced pricing strategies, and operational and resource efficiencies, and is suitable for properties with 30 or more rooms.
Hotels under pressure to respond as OTA competition for guests lead gen explodes: SHR Group’s Hotel Industry Trends Report 2024
The battle for direct bookings has entered a new phase as online travel agents (OTAs) ramp up efforts to establish ownership of hotel guests and their booking journeys, a new report from hospitality technology specialist SHR Group reveals. While OTAs and hotels have a mutually beneficial relationship, the Hotel Industry Trends Report 2024 exposes for the first time the way a recent influx of marketing spend from OTAs is fast reducing hotels’ share of direct bookings. The share of reservations represented by direct bookings fell from 39% to 38%1 in 2023, having been stable for two years following a post-pandemic return to normal. This is the equivalent of approximately 7.8million global reservations in 2023 when applied to the worldwide hotel market2. The 'share of’ figures cited will be higher than industry averages because they don’t include group, wholesale or other contract bookings made through PMS platforms but the trend they betray is highly significant. In fact, the extra investment driving this change is making itself felt in other ways too. Increased bidding on key search terms, including ‘brand searches’ that identify particular hotels, has sparked a sudden increase in cost-per-click, with Google Ads rising 62.5% from $0.16 to $0.26. The impact on Metasearch is even more stark, more than doubling from $0.21 to $0.48 (up 128.6%). In the travel arena, a metasearch engine pulls in data from lots of other websites to produce its own results for consumer queries. It organizes all the information they need — whether it's flights, accommodation, car rentals or vacation packages — on a single results page. Kayak and Trivago are both examples of metasearch engines. A knock-on effect of this is that the revenues associated with organic search have fallen 15.3% YoY, almost exactly matching the increase won by paid search — 15.5%. This, in turn, is forcing hoteliers to invest more heavily in PPC to compete with the OTAs and prevent them from claiming all of the high-intent traffic, which was historically the domain of organic search. A consequence of OTA strategies is that indirect bookings are also attracting guests looking for longer stays. This has meant that the change in indirect bookings’ share of room nights is even more significant, climbing from 53% to 56%1 in 2023 — a change equivalent to approximately 65.6million room nights worldwide2. The report’s findings substantiate the fact that the guest journey, lead generation and guest profile are the pivotal issues that will determine the future shape and scale of the role that OTAs play on the hospitality landscape. SHR Group warns that hotels are in danger of becoming too reliant on OTA lead generation, to the point that it becomes financially impossible to recover their current share of bookings and return on advertising spend (ROAS). As the report makes clear, AI-powered personalization of the guest journey, greater leverage of loyalty schemes and the use of predictive analytics to reduce cancellation rates and unnecessary discounting do offer hoteliers a technological solution to the challenges they face. However, the effective window of opportunity to deploy these tools is shrinking. Rod Jimenez, CEO of SHR Group, said: “This is a turning point for the hospitality industry. Hotel technology is leveling the playing field for hoteliers and their ability to compete for leads but that return on investment won’t remain the same forever. The race to bring guests into loyalty programs and win greater influence over how and where they shop for travel, possibly for the rest of their lives, is becoming much more intense. Personalization and ownership of the guest profile are top of the agenda for the OTA and hotel operators alike.” Frank Reeves, SHR Groups, Rod Jimenez, CEO of SHR Group, said:“This is a turning point for the hospitality industry. Hotel technology is leveling the playing field for hoteliers and their ability to compete for leads but that return on investment won’t remain the same forever. The race to bring guests into loyalty programs and win greater influence over how and where they shop for travel, possibly for the rest of their lives, is becoming much more intense. Personalization and ownership of the guest profile are top of the agenda for the OTA and hotel operators alike.”
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