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trivago Achieves Fourth Consecutive Quarter of Improved Top-line Momentum
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trivago Achieves Fourth Consecutive Quarter of Improved Top-line Momentum
- Positive branded growth boosts confidence for a return to double-digit top-line growth in the medium term
- Despite headwinds, we remain optimistic about our financial trajectory and the effectiveness of our brand investments
- We remained focused in, and made progress against our four strategic priorities.
- Our investment in Holisto allows us to make “trivago Book & Go” available for all advertising partners to enhance conversion rates and user consistency in the booking experience.
This week, we released our second-quarter financial results for 2024 highlighting our fourth consecutive quarter with an improved top-line trajectory. trivago achieved total revenues of 118.6 million Euros, representing a 5% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Despite this year-over-year decline, which was less pronounced than in previous quarters, we remain optimistic about our financial trajectory and the effectiveness of our brand investments.
We are pleased to see positive branded revenue growth in all three geographic segments and observe that our investments in our brand are producing encouraging outcomes, which we believe will foster sustainable growth and enhance long-term monetization. However, we continue to face headwinds particularly from Google, whose changes to advertising formats increased our exposure to less favourable formats. We remain committed to a disciplined opportunity-driven investment strategy in performance marketing and will not compensate for volume losses at the expense of our long-term brand investments.
On July 30, we completed our strategic investment in our long-term partner, Holisto, an AI-driven travel tech platform that serves as a hotel rate aggregator and white-label booking engine. This strengthened partnership will allow us to extend “trivago Book & Go” to all our advertising partners, thereby enhancing conversion rates and ensuring a consistent booking experience, while minimizing friction. We are optimistic that this collaboration will significantly contribute to our growth in the upcoming months.
Following is a summary update on our strategic focus areas as presented by CEO and Managing Director, Johannes Thomas, during the Earnings Conference Call on July 31, 2024.
Branded Growth
As one of the most recognized travel brands globally, we continue to focus on our branded growth. In Q2, our marketing teams continued to push boundaries alongside our in-house creative production team that developed six new master TV spots. The team utilized AI and produced over 100 tailored ads, showcasing trivago’s unique capabilities across our segments. In the past quarter, we went live in 26 markets, with two more potential launches expected in Q3. As for search engine marketing, we launched two new markets and tested new ad formats, investing opportunistically to scale while also remaining disciplined with our profitability targets.
Best Hotel Search Experience
trivago has been at the forefront of using AI and machine learning to improve advertising efficiency, operations and user experience. We strive to improve our hotel search experience, aiming to assist travelers in finding their ideal hotel. In Q2, we expanded our AI-powered Hotel Highlights to mobile and app platforms which improved user engagement and satisfaction. This has grown to approximately 125,000 hotels now available in seven languages across 26 markets and has improved user experience and engagement, so we’re continuing to invest in this feature. We expect it to increase booking intent, as well as high-quality traffic, to our partners.
Best Deal Discovery Experience
As part of our strategic focus area, we worked to offer the best deal discovery experience. We improved the visibility and quality of deals in our search results and experimented with new formats, while also increasing the coverage of member-only rates from our advertising partners. Because discounts and deals are the most important factors when travelers book a hotel, we continue to increase the visibility of great deals and highlight them on our website.
Creating Value for our Advertising Partners
In the last quarter, we continued to create value for our advertising partners. Compared to 2023, we saw improved booking conversion rates delivering more effective traffic to partners. The improved marketplace dynamics across all segments suggest that our branded and higher converting traffic is valued by our advertisers. We also completed the global rollout of our new second-price auction model. This model simplifies bidding and reduces economic risks for our partners. This complex project brought together a collaboration of more than 100 partners and was effectively executed thanks to our excellent partnership and marketplace teams.
Deepening our Partnership with Holisto
We are also pleased to have concluded our investment in Holisto. The company is an AI-driven travel tech platform and hotel rate aggregator. In 2022, we partnered with them on “trivago Book & Go,” a co-branded booking funnel developed and hosted by Holisto. This initiative proved successful, increasing their conversion rates and growing their market share. In the US they have become a Top 5 advertiser and globally rank among the Top 10 on our platform.
The investment and stronger partnership will allow us to offer “trivago Book & Go” to all our advertising partners. Our goal is to provide a more consistent booking experience for our users and help our advertising partners to drive conversions. Holistos’ footprint in rate optimization and price accuracy is best in class. Their team is leveraging AI to optimize rate exposure and dynamic pricing, delivering tangible value to travelers. We are impressed by their tech teams and expansion in recent years.
For more information on this partnership, please read our blog
Looking Ahead
As the busy summer season gets underway, we see continued strong travel demand, driven by unique events and the desire for new experiences. We will maintain our profitability targets and remain optimistic about the rest of the year and our ability to deliver double-digit revenue growth over the medium term. Achieving sustainable growth and creating long-term value for our shareholders remains our priority. We thank our team for their tireless efforts and our partners and users for their trust and commitment. Here’s to a future of continued progress and success in the travel industry.
For more detailed information on our first quarter results, please visit our Investor Relations page: ir.trivago.com.
