Articles tagged “trivago”

New tools from Google Hotel Ads, Cendyn, DerbySoft, Triptease, SiteMinder, and others are making it easier for smaller hotel companies to woo travelers from metasearch brands.

Can Trivago really emerge from the coronavirus crisis in a stronger position? It appears to be making similar bets to what others are doing, but perhaps its speed can be an advantage. On the other hand, Google Travel will still be encroaching — with more than ample firepower.

Both Trivago and Tripadvisor vow their new secret sauce will be returning customers and increased user engagement. But while Trivago will go big on TV, that likely won’t be in Tripadvisor’s playbook.

It's hard to see how Trivago survives the pandemic without an asset sale or private equity taking it private perhaps.

Google has a huge travel advertising business. If Google's advertising partners had to hand out tons of refunds to consumers for coronavirus-tinged trips that never happened, shouldn't Google, with its deep pockets, share in the pain?

Trivago CEO Axel Hefer said the company will focus on those things it can control. But the issue for Trivago and some competitors is that there is so much they can't control, including Google's incursions, the rise of Airbnb, and the whims of major online travel agency advertisers when they cut their metasearch spend.

Online travel companies have faced intense regulatory scrutiny almost since the first days of internet bookings. But "you've got mail" these days is less likely to be a cheery email notification than a demand for court appearances and audits.

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.

Behind the scenes, the reorganization within Expedia Group must be ugly. Otherwise the CEO wouldn't have cited it near the beginning of his prepared remarks during the earnings call. The last time Expedia cited a distraction like this was in 2016 when it stumbled after acquiring Orbitz Worldwide the previous year.

The so-called relevancy assessment, which had Trivago punishing big advertisers for landing pages that didn't perform well, and other factors, proved to be a multiyear disaster for the metasearch company. The company has ditched the policy — and now its CEO.