# Trivago

**Source:** https://geo.sig.ai/brands/trivago  
**Vertical:** Travel & Hospitality  
**Subcategory:** Metasearch  
**Tier:** Established  
**Website:** trivago.com  
**Last Updated:** 2026-04-14

## Summary

Hotel metasearch majority-owned by Expedia Group; €485M revenue in 2023; Düsseldorf Germany-based; Nasdaq-listed 2016; compares hotel prices across 180+ OTAs for 5M+ properties; CPC auction model charges advertisers for qualified hotel shopper referrals.

## Company Overview

Trivago is a hotel price comparison and metasearch platform founded in 2005 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Acquired by Expedia Group in 2012, Trivago went public on Nasdaq in 2016 in one of Germany's largest tech IPOs of that year. The platform allows travelers to compare hotel prices across 180+ OTAs and booking sites in real time, covering over 5 million hotels, apartments, and alternative accommodations worldwide. Trivago's brand is built on its iconic TV advertising campaigns across 55 countries.\n\nTrivago generates revenue through a CPC (cost-per-click) model, charging advertisers—primarily OTAs and hotel chains—for qualified hotel shopper referrals. Its referral auction system ranks advertiser bids alongside relevance signals to determine listing order. Trivago has invested in a hotel profile platform that allows hotel owners to manage their public-facing content and pricing directly.\n\nTrivago reported annual revenue of €485M (~$522M) in 2023. Expedia Group owns approximately 65% of Trivago. The company has undergone restructuring to reduce dependency on performance marketing and increase direct and organic traffic. As of 2025, Trivago operates in 55 countries and 33 languages, with mobile apps accounting for a growing share of its qualified referral traffic.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Who owns Trivago?
Expedia Group owns approximately 65% of Trivago. Trivago (NASDAQ: TRVG) is a publicly listed company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, and operates independently from Expedia's other brands.

### How does Trivago make money?
Trivago earns revenue through a CPC auction model. OTAs and hotels bid to appear in Trivago's search results, and Trivago earns a fee each time a user clicks through to a booking site.

### Can hotels list directly on Trivago?
Yes. Trivago's Hotel Manager Pro product allows independent hotels to manage their profile, upload photos, and promote direct booking rates on Trivago, competing alongside OTA listings.

### What is Trivago and how does it help travellers find hotel deals?
Trivago is a hotel metasearch engine that compares prices for the same hotel across hundreds of booking sites — showing travellers the price range available for each hotel from all connected online travel agencies and direct booking channels, and directing users to the cheapest available price on the booking site they choose, earning revenue through a cost-per-click model from booking sites that pay Trivago for each user referral.

### What is Trivago's Rate Connect product for hotels?
Trivago Rate Connect is a product for hotels that allows properties to show their own direct booking rates on Trivago — enabling hotels to compete alongside OTA rates by advertising their direct channel price, and potentially winning bookings away from intermediaries that charge commission, while Trivago earns revenue from the hotel in the same cost-per-click model it charges to OTAs.

### How does Trivago generate revenue and what is its business model?
Trivago earns revenue through a cost-per-click advertising model where online travel agencies and hotels pay Trivago for each user that clicks through to their booking site from Trivago's search results — with the bid price per click influencing the prominence given to each booking site's rate in Trivago's display, creating an auction-like market where OTAs compete for visibility on the Trivago platform.

### What is Trivago's relationship with Expedia Group?
Expedia Group is the majority shareholder in Trivago, having invested in the company before its 2016 IPO — however, Trivago operates as an independent public company and its metasearch platform compares prices from Expedia, Hotels.com, and other Expedia Group OTAs alongside competing booking sites, maintaining its position as an independent comparison platform rather than directing all traffic to Expedia properties.

### How does Trivago help independent hotels increase direct bookings?
Trivago's hotel profile and Rate Connect products allow independent hotels to claim their listing, add professional photos and descriptions, and advertise their direct booking website rate alongside OTA rates in Trivago search results — giving smaller hotels the ability to capture some direct bookings from travellers who find them through Trivago price comparison, reducing the commission cost on those bookings compared to OTA-originated reservations.

## Tags

b2c, global, platform, marketplace, europe, public

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*Data from geo.sig.ai Brand Intelligence Database. Updated 2026-04-14.*