Our Story
trivago was conceptualized in 2005 in Düsseldorf, Germany by 3 university friends: Rolf Schrömgens, Peter Vinnemeier and Stephan Stubner. Like most start-ups, the site’s first iteration was deployed from a garage. In 2006 Stephan decided to become a professor, so Malte Siewert joined the founding team. Today, our leadership team consists of CEO Axel Hefer, CFO Matthias Tillmann, CTPO James Carter and CPO Anja Honnefelder.
With just €1.4m initial investment, trivago has grown to one of Europe’s most notable unicorns. What was once a website only available in Germany, built by 3 guys in a garage, now operates in 54 global markets and employs talents from across the globe.
Human Learners
We attribute trivago’s success to our company culture built on human learning and emotional intelligence. This balance continues to attract the best talents from every corner of the globe.
“In the beginning, we were not entirely sure what direction we wanted to drive the business model, but we were very sure what kind of company we would like to run.”
Our team of creative and driven entrepreneurs come together to build a hotel search that is fast, intuitive and unbiased, with the longstanding mission…
To be the traveler’s first and independent source of information for finding the ideal hotel.
We enable all our advertisers, from independent hoteliers to the largest hotel chains, to grow their businesses by accessing our broad audience of monthly users.
Our Product
Our Business Model
We generate revenues primarily on a “cost-per-click,” or CPC, basis: An advertiser is charged when a user clicks on an advertised rate and is referred to that advertiser’s website where the user can complete the booking. The key difference between trivago and an online travel agency, is that while travelers search for and choose their ideal hotel on trivago, they are then redirected to book that hotel with one of our advertisers.
Our Marketing
We believe that building and maintaining the trivago brand and clearly articulating our role in travelers’ hotel and other accommodation discovery journey will continue to drive both travelers and advertisers to our platform to connect in a mutually beneficial way. We use our own tools and processes to measure and improve our performance from start to finish, whether it be pre-testing a creative or optimising spend. To grow brand awareness, we invest in several marketing channels globally, including Brand Marketing where we focus on TV marketing and online video advertising. Starting in 2008, our TV spots have become one of the key factor for attracting travellers.