Trivago is a Dusseldorf-headquartered hotel metasearch engine founded in 2005. Expedia Group acquired a controlling stake in 2013, and Trivago has since been listed separately on NASDAQ (TRVG) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange while remaining majority-owned by Expedia Group.
Trivago does not sell hotels directly. It compares prices for the same hotel across hundreds of OTAs, hotel chain websites and other booking sites, earning revenue when users click out to a partner. Its business is dominated by cost-per-click advertising bids from major OTAs and hotel chains, making it highly sensitive to bidding behavior from a small number of large customers.
Trivago is one of the four major global hotel metasearch brands alongside Kayak, Skyscanner and Google Travel. It is particularly strong in Europe and Latin America thanks to localized country sites and high consumer brand recognition driven by years of heavy television advertising.
Trivago famously built its brand through ubiquitous television campaigns featuring localized "Trivago Guy" presenters in dozens of countries. The company has at times struggled with revenue concentration risk when its largest OTA bidders pulled back marketing spend, leading to several rounds of strategy and product changes focused on differentiated content and direct hotel relationships.
Trivago has promoted three long-tenured internal executives to C-level roles covering technology, intelligence, and commercial strategy, signalling confidence in homegrown talent as the company builds on its recent revenue growth.
Trivago reported Q4 2025 revenue of €120 million, up 27% year-over-year — the company's strongest quarterly growth in years, suggesting its metasearch repositioning and AI-driven search investments are starting to show in the financials.