Hopper's 'Rise in Travel' Comes Without Playing the Search Engine Marketing Game

As we have written about in our deep dive on "Hopper's Rise in Travel," much of the company's growth can be attributed to its expansion into fintech products, which has not only helped boost take rates and revenue gains, but has also allowed Hopper to be differentiated from the legacy players. Another way Hopper is distinct is its unique strategy around marketing and user acquisition – namely, how it avoids spending marketing dollars on Search Engine Marketing and instead focuses on product-led growth.

Along with Hopper's ambitions of becoming a social-commerce platform, these are all means to increase lifetime value and retention of consumers, rather than spending marketing budget on acquiring each booking, as is largely the model used by Booking and Expedia. We do note that despite Hopper's rapid growth and its differentiated business strategies, it is still unprofitable, with its focus on market share gains rather t