Trivago Thinks It Knows How to Outwit Google
Photo Credit: A photo of all of price-comparison website Trivago’s IT people during a three-day, off-site team meeting in Noordwijk, on the Dutch North Sea coast, in summer 2016. Trivago's CEO argues that such events are one reason why it outmaneuvers bureaucratic Google. Trivago
Skift Take
Trivago's CEO says his company bests Google in hotel search through brand marketing (meaning, Trivago Guy TV ads) and having a decentralized workplace (which speeds up innovation). But maybe Google's lackluster travel effort is actually due to its fear of alienating top advertisers like Priceline.
Last Friday, in the company's first earnings call since going public, Trivago's chief executive officer Rolf Schrömgens answered analyst questions about competition. He said he wasn't worried about rivals TripAdvisor, Priceline’s Kayak (and its new acquisition Momondo Group), or Chinese travel conglomerate Ctrip.com (and its new acquisition Skyscanner).
But the one company he didn't mention was Google.
In a Recode podcast with Kara Swisher released February 15, Schrömgens says he feels that Google is Trivago's only real competitor.
And he thinks Trivago has outwitted the search giant.
Schrömgens recalls that around 2008, Trivago faced a problem. About 90 percent of its traffic came via referrals from Google. In short, the budding price-comparison website
