Trivago Courts Booking’s Wrath in Move to Boost Repeat Customers
Photo Credit: A still from a TV commercial in Singapore. Trivago has counterpart actors worldwide that substitute for the Trivago Guy who is famous in the U.S. and Western Europe. The hotel search company reported its earnings on Wednesday. Trivago
Skift Take
Uh-oh. Trivago changed its user interface again. Last time it did this, it referred fewer customers to some advertisers and prompted Booking Holdings to pull back from advertising on it. Trivago is betting that Booking won't retaliate for this new effort. Daring!
Once again, Trivago is playing a game of chicken with Booking Holdings.
In September 2018, the hotel price-comparison search company launched "significant changes" worldwide to its user interface without offering details. Executives revealed that effort during a call with investors Wednesday when discussing the company's fourth-quarter results.
The company, majority owned by Expedia Group, aimed to keep users on its site and mobile app for longer. It debuted incremental changes that exposed visitors to more content, wooing customers to click around its site more.
The tests delay the moment when Trivago sends people over to an advertiser's site, said CEO Rolf Schrömgens. For a big Trivago advertiser like Booking Holdings, that can be problematic.
The move underscores the delicate balance metasearch sites like Trivago must play between their own interests, and those of their advertisers.
The latest Trivago experiment reverses a longstanding policy. Until now, the general
