Trivago Tests How to Give Independent Hotels More Direct Bookings
Photo Credit: Trivago is testing the free links model in the U.S. initially. Trivago
Skift Take
The search platform is displaying free links to independent hotels to push more direct bookings their way, but how will it ultimately claw back revenue from them when the likes of Hilton and Marriott have far bigger marketing budgets?
Hotel price-comparison website Trivago is giving more prominence to independent hotels in a bid to boost their share of direct bookings.
Offering direct links in its search results isn't necessarily a new thing, as it already displays rates for properties belonging to bigger chains like Hilton and Marriott, alongside results from Expedia or Booking.com, which also provide their hotel inventory. But in a letter to shareholders published Nov. 2 it revealed it was now trialing how to maximize their exposure.
“We have launched first tests to significantly improve our coverage of directly bookable hotel rates across our platform,” it said as it reported its third-quarter results.
This marks the second step in a three-phase experiment, involving free links, that it hopes will ultimately start generating more revenue specifically from independent hotels.
The development confirms an earlier Skift report that revealed Trivago was looking at adding free links in a similar way to Google. You'll only see these free links in the U.S. for now, CEO Axel Hefer told Skift in an interview on
