Trivago

Trivago N.V.
Public (but majority owned by Expedia)
Traded as NASDAQ: TRVG
Industry Travel, Hotel, Information technology, Marketing
Founded January 2005 (2005-01) in Düsseldorf, Germany
Founders Rolf Schrömgens
Stephan Stubner
Peter Vinnemeier
Malte Siewert
Headquarters Düsseldorf, Germany
Areas served
 55 countries worldwide
Key people
 Rolf Schrömgens
Malte Siewert
Peter Vinnemeier
Andrej Lehnert
Johannes Thomas
Axel Hefer
Anna Drüing
Products Metasearch for hotel prices
Trivago Hotel Manager
Revenue Increase€1.035 billion (2017)
Owner Expedia Group
Subsidiaries Base7booking
Rheinfabrik
TripHappy[1]
Website trivago.com
Logo of the hotel search engine

Trivago N.V., marketed with lowercase styling as trivago, is a German transnational technology company specializing in internet-related services and products in the hotel, lodging and meta search fields. The American travel company Expedia Group owns a majority of the company's stock.

Trivago was the first hotel search engine in Germany.[2] It became one of the fastest growing companies in Germany,[3] with profitability doubling from 2008 to 2012.[4]

History

The company was founded in Düsseldorf, Germany, in January 2005. Seeing an opportunity in the hotel search space, the founding team developed Germany's first hotel search engine. Shortly after launch, Stephan Stubner resigned as Managing Director, but the three other founders (Rolf Schrömgens, Peter Vinnemeier and Malte Siewert) remain.[5]

Initially, Trivago received €1 million from investors, including the Samwer brothers, Florian Heinemann, and Christian Vollmann.[5] In 2008, Trivago received US$1.14 million in Series B funding from the British company HOWZAT media LLP.[6] In December 2010, Trivago sold a quarter of the company for US$52.86 million to a US investment fund, Insight Venture Partners.[7]

In December 2012, Expedia, an American travel company, announced that it would acquire a 61.6% stake in Trivago for $632 million.[8][5] The deal was completed in 2013.

In December 2014, Trivago acquired mobile app product and development company Rheinfabrik. After the acquisition, Rheinfabrik remains independent from Trivago in its work.[9]

In 2015, Andrej Lehnert[10] and Johannes Thomas (Hotel Sales, Business) joined Trivago's Managing Director team.[11] In 2015, Trivago reported more than US$500 million in revenue,[12] and said its revenue had doubled every year from 2008 to 2015.[4]

In March 2016, Trivago announced it had acquired 52.3% of Cloud-PMS company Base7booking, after taking majority control of the Switzerland-based company in the third quarter of 2015. Trivago integrated Base7booking's property management system, which enables small and independent hoteliers to manage daily operations, run reports, send invoices and manage digital and email marketing.[13]

In April 2016, Trivago reached 1,000 employees and began building a new campus in Düsseldorf.[14]

On December 16, 2016, Trivago became publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol TRVG.[15][16][17] Expedia retains 64.7% of voting rights and 59.7% of economic rights.[18]

Operations

Trivago is headquartered in Düsseldorf, where the international operations are conducted and 90% of the company's employees work.[5] In 2013, Trivago opened new offices in Leipzig and Palma de Mallorca. There are also offices in Amsterdam and Shanghai.[5]

Business model

As a hotel price comparison website, Trivago makes money from advertising partners primarily using a cost-per-click (CPC) business model. Booking platforms, hoteliers and other providers list rates and advertise on the Trivago site, paying for the clicks received from Trivago users.[5][19]

Trivago also offers free and fee-based versions[11] of its Hotel Manager product, which hoteliers use to market their facilities on the Trivago site.[20] Trivago claims to be the world's largest online hotel search site, comparing rates from over 1 million hotels and more than 250 booking sites worldwide. The site includes over 190 million hotel ratings and 14 million photos, and reports over 120 million visitors per month. Since their majority shareholder is Expedia, the effort is to direct bookings to their sites by way of various "adjustments" to how other sites' rates are perceived. They also offer rates through many sites reselling for travel wholesalers, where rooms may or may not be available at time of booking.

Products and features

Trivago's hotel search engine was the first of its kind in Germany[2] and has websites in 50+ countries.[5] Trivago claims to be the world's largest online hotel search site, comparing rates from over 1 million hotels and more than 250 booking sites worldwide. The site includes over 190 million hotel ratings and 14 million photos, and reports over 120 million visitors per month.[12]

Trivago's search tool scans hotel booking sites for prices, availability, images and reviews within seconds. When users choose a hotel, they are redirected to a partner website to complete the booking.[21]

Trivago app

Trivago offers a free app for its Hotel Search product on both iOS and Android.[22] In addition to the hotel search feature, the app provides interactive maps and displays accommodations in close proximity to the user's current location.[23]

The Trivago app has been listed in Mashable's 25 Apps to save you money,[22] USA Today's 10 best apps for booking your stay,[24] Independent.IE in Ireland as an app to save time and money[25] and Australia's News.com.au as one of the top apps to take on holiday.[26]

Trivago Hotel Manager

Hotel Manager is Trivago's B2B platform that allows hoteliers to market their facilities on the Trivago site. The platform gives hotels and chains customer data to attempt to secure more bookings and increase business.[27] Hoteliers can monitor their performance, for example seeing the amount of profile views, clicks and bookings they receive.

Hotel Manager Pro

Hotel Manager Pro is the fee-based version of Trivago's Hotel Manager platform. The Pro version enables hoteliers to update and customize their own listings, as well as access analytics about competitor rates. Trivago says that up-to-date listings, including images and amenity information, help properties increase their rankings on the site.[11]

Rate Connect

Rate Connect is a feature that allows individual hotels to update their current rates and availability directly via the Trivago Hotel Manager tool.[28]

Indexes and rankings

Trivago Rating Index (TRI)

The TRI aggregates all ratings for destinations listed on Trivago and ranks them between 0 and 100.[29] The index includes criteria such as location, price, food, internet, room and facilities,[30] and is used to create annual Trivago rankings and awards such as the Reputation Ranking,[31] Island Ranking,[32] Ski Ranking,[33] the Top Hotel Awards,[34] and the Best Value Destinations (based on an algorithm combining the tRI with price).[35]

Trivago Hotel Price Index (tHPI)

The Trivago Hotel Price Index (tHPI) displays the average overnight accommodation prices for the most popular cities worldwide. Prices are based on the cost of a standard double room, taken from over 2 million daily price inquiries over the past month.[12]

Travel Advice Calendars

Trivago's Travel Advice Calendars show the most affordable and most expensive months to visit top destinations. The calendars feature 45 cities across six continent to provide average monthly hotel prices.[36]

Marketing

Trivago focuses on online marketing (SEM and display advertising), public relations and brand marketing (TV).[37] The company has historically entered new countries using predominantly television advertising.[38]

When Facebook expanded its Dynamic Ads product to cover travel brands, Trivago was one of its two initial launch participants.[39]

The "Trivago guy"

When the company aired its first U.S. TV advertisement in 2012, the ad's spokesman inspired a trending Twitter hashtag, #trivagoguy, based on his unusual look.[40] According to Rolling Stone, Trivago "wanted someone real, approachable and genuine" when it chose actor Tim Williams to star in the ad. The Trivago guy became an unexpected celebrity, with some people noting his unbuttoned shirt and creepy vibe, while others found his scruffy appearance and deep voice "inexplicably sexy".[41]

Trivago responded to the comments by launching a contest that invited people to give the Trivago guy a makeover.[42] The Trivago guy inspired parodies, fan fiction and a large gay following.[43] Many commenters asked why Trivago chose not to have the actor wear a belt. According to the actor, that was an accident. "Unfortunately none of the belts fit the belt loops that I had on," Williams said. "I think that was probably the best break we could have gotten."[40] Following the large response for the U.S. Trivago guy, the company decided to create French and Spanish Trivago guys.[40] From 2016 until June 2017, the French actor Mehdi Nebbou was the German Trivago guy.

The "Trivago girl"

In the UK, Trivago's advertisements are fronted by Australian actress and musician Gabrielle Miller.[44] In Germany, the Trivago girl is German actress and model Anna Puck (since June 2017). In Japan, Trivago is represented in their TV commercials by singer/songwriter Natalie Emmons, who uses the psuedonym "Strae" in the United States.[45] In Malaysia, actress and TV host Dahlia Shazwan has starred in Trivago's advertisements.[46]

Work environment

Trivago states that it attempts to recruit tech and business employees that are "willing to cross borders".[2] Trivago's first employees were hired via Skype interview from Spain, Italy and Canada, and today 90% of its staff is recruited internationally.[5]

The company operates with virtually no hierarchies or titles,[2] instead using a model called swarm intelligence. It also does not have fixed working hours, and offers employees a four-day surprise holiday each year and one month working in Mallorca.[47] At some point in time, Trivago said that it was receiving around 50,000 applicants per year.[2]

Employees

The average age of a Trivago employee is 28 years old[2] and it has 63 nationalities working in its main office. It is not unusual to see flags dotting the office space above the desks of employees who have ties with the nation represented.[48]

New campus

On February 2, 2016, Trivago announced its plans to build a global campus in Düsseldorf, designed to accommodate over 2,000 people. Construction was completed in early June of 2018, and on June 18th, 2018, the last of trivago's c. 1500 employees were moved to the new Campus.[12] The six-story building was designed by SOP Architekten in Düsseldorf. The new campus is located on the docks of Kesselstraße in the Düsseldorf "Media Harbour", close to the Neuer Zollhof buildings designed by Frank Gehry.[12]


In August 2016, Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn, LLC filed a class-action lawsuit in California accusing the company and its partners of "brazen deceit" by coordinating with internet search engines and social media institutions to return false results on lodging entities in favor of those affiliated with their websites, in violation of the Lanham Act. As of January 2017, the case remained pending.[49][50]

In August 2018, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleged in a court case brought against Trivago in the High Court of Australia that the company has misled consumers on their website and in their television advertising. It was alleged that search results were ordered in preference to the highest paying "cost per click" advertisers, rather that outright cheapest prices. It was also alleged that the company's television advertising misled consumers by purporting to be "impartial and objective", when it fact it wasn't. [51] The penalties for engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct, under the Australian Consumer Law, can be up to $1.1 million per breach. As of August 2018, the case is still on-going.

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/trivago-nv-to-further-personalize-hotel-search-trivago-acquires-travel-ai-startup-triphappy-20180509-00215
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Anania, Paolo (February 16, 2016). "Arbeiten bei Trivago: Keine Hierarchien und 15 Biersorten gratis". Lead Digital. Archived from the original on February 19, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Grunderszene Ranking". Archived from the original on 2016-06-21.
  4. 1 2 "Expedia Announces Agreement To Acquire Majority Of trivago (Expedia company press release)". Expedia, Inc. December 21, 2012. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Neuhaus, Elisabeth. "Trivago, auf leisen Sohlen". Grunderszene. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  6. ↑ "HOWZAT media invests in trivago, the German-based travel website focused on hotels, reviews & community". Stellant Partners. January 14, 2008. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  7. ↑ Wimmer, Justin (April 5, 2011). "Insight steigt zu 160-Millionen-Bewertung bei Trivago ein". Grunderszene. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  8. ↑ Jacobs, Karen (December 12, 2016). "Expedia to acquire stake in German hotel site". Reuters. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  9. ↑ Vom Rhein, Macher (October 2, 2015). "Mit 29 Jahren den 'Exit' geschafft". RP Online. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  10. ↑ Lehnert, Anrej. "Anrej Lehnert profile". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  11. 1 2 3 Schaal, Dennis (September 29, 2015). "Interview: Trivago Building Big Team in Shift Toward Direct-Hotel Relationships". Skift. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "trivago Unveils Plans for New Global Campus". HospitalityNet. February 2, 2016. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  13. ↑ Schaal, Dennis (March 1, 2016). "Trivago Acquisition of Hotel-Tech Startup Highlights Evolution of Booking Sites". Skift. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  14. ↑ "Mit Altbier zu neuen Startup-Visionen". Grunderszene. Archived from the original on 2016-07-15.
  15. ↑ "trivago N.V. American Depositary Shares Quote & Summary Data". NASDAQ. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  16. ↑ "Expedia's Hotel Search Service Trivago Plans IPO". Fortune. Reuters. November 14, 2016. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  17. ↑ Roof, Katie (December 16, 2016). "Trivago closes up 8% in public debut". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  18. ↑ "trivago". Expedia official website. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  19. ↑ "How much does Trivago charge hotels per provision". Quora.
  20. ↑ "trivago helps hotels manage online presence". Hotel Marketing.
  21. ↑ "Trivago desembarca en Argentina". Pulsoturistico.
  22. 1 2 "25 Apps to Save You Money". Mashable.
  23. ↑ "trivago – The Hotel Search for Android". CNET.
  24. ↑ "HomeExchange.com Wins Best App/Website for Booking Your Stay!". USA Today.
  25. ↑ "Save time and money when booking your holiday with these handy apps". Independent.IE.
  26. ↑ "The 10 top apps to take on holiday". News.com.au.
  27. ↑ "Trivago inaugura oficinas en España". Mercado Continuo.
  28. ↑ "Trivago startet Direct Connect für Hotels". AHGZ.
  29. ↑ "Edmonton hotels fail to make online list of country's best". Edmonton Journal.
  30. ↑ "La Angostura y San Martín se destacan por su hotelería". Imneuquen.
  31. ↑ "trivago releases global hotel reputation ranking 2015". Hotel News Resource.
  32. ↑ "European Islands trivago Reputation Ranking 2016". Travel Daily News.
  33. ↑ "6 Greek destinations among best winter skiing resorts in the world". Torno News.
  34. ↑ "Seven Bath hotels listed in trivago's inaugural Top Hotel Awards". Bath Echo.
  35. ↑ Trivago (December 6, 2017). "The 25 Best Value Cities in the World". Huffington Post: The Blog. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  36. ↑ "trivago launches new Travel Advice Calendars". HospitalityNet.
  37. ↑ "Trivago es uno de los comparadores de precios de hoteles más grandes del mundo - Entrevista". Revista Tourismo & Tehnologia.
  38. ↑ Kelly, Martin (July 26, 2013). "Trivago Boosts Australian, NZ, US and Canadian Spend". Travel Trends. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  39. ↑ Clampet, Jason (May 10, 2016). "Marriott and Trivago Sign on to New Ad Product for Facebook and Instagram". Skift. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  40. 1 2 3 Harold, Kelly (October 22, 2015). "The Trivago Guy As You've Never Seen Him Before". ABC News. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  41. ↑ "What's the Deal With the Trivago Guy? Meet TV's Sloppy, Sexy Pitchman". Rolling Stone.
  42. ↑ Krashinsky, Susan (August 28, 2014). "Trivago spokesman to undergo 'celebrity' makeover". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2018-03-13. (updated March 25, 2017)
  43. ↑ "You're Not the Only One With a Crush on Trivago Guy". Elle.
  44. ↑ "Who is the trivago girl? 12 things you didn't know about Gabrielle Miller". Trivago Australia official website.
  45. ↑ "Natalie Emmons プロフィール (Japanese)". Natalie Emmons official website.
  46. ↑ http://www.astroawani.com/berita-hiburan/gadis-trivago-dahlia-shazwan-dapat-anak-perempuan-168808
  47. ↑ "Feiern für die Firma". Handelsblatt.
  48. ↑ "trivago baut neues hauptquarter entsteht im medienhafen". Business On.
  49. ↑ Elliot, John (September 9, 2016). "Buckeye Tree Lodge files lawsuit against Expedia". The Kaweah Commonwealth. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  50. ↑ "Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn, LLC v. Expedia, Inc. et al". Justia. August 17, 2016. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  51. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-23/accc-sues-trivago-for-misleading-advertising/10156152
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