Trivago’s Incoming CEO Gets Busy Tweaking Its Advertising Strategy
Photo Credit: In July 2019, Trivago moved into a new headquarters in Dusseldorf, Germany, whose main entrance hall is shown here. Trivago
Skift Take
Trivago's incoming CEO Axel Hefer signaled Thursday that the company would change its auctions to appeal more to advertisers. Most promising is how it will now let Booking.com and other advertisers bid for different types of customers for essentially the first time.
Trivago's incoming CEO Axel Hefer is wasting no time in putting his imprint on the company, outlining changes to relationships with advertisers. It was announced last month that chief financial officer Hefer would replace co-founder and CEO Rolf Schrömgens starting in 2020.
At an investor conference Thursday, Hefer revealed a strategy for the lodging price-comparison search company that detailed changes to Trivago's auctions for advertisers.
"The key learning of 2019 is really our shift to a much more collaborative approach with our large advertisers," said Hefer during a question-and-answer session with analysts at a Morgan Stanley investor conference. "We're going from a rule-based to a more collaborative approach."
Expedia Group-backed Trivago said earlier this month it had replaced a so-called "relevancy assessment" it introduced in 2016 that had upset Booking Holdings so much that it reduced its ad spending with the company. In July, Trivago had hinted it would kill the
