Trivago Sees Big Opportunity in Direct Hotel Booking – PhocusWire

Trivago Sees Big Opportunity in Direct Hotel Booking

Trivago is now testing hotel direct bookings in eight markets as part of its growth strategy originally announced last year.

The company says it believes direct access to hotels combined with its existing comparison of rates from online travel agencies is its “biggest opportunity.”

In a letter to shareholders alongside its fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings, Trivago says:

“We believe this will benefit travelers by providing them with better rates, more personalized offers and direct communication with the service provider, while hotels will appreciate owning the customer relationship, tailoring their offerings and increasing the revenue they can generate per customer. We are convinced that we are well positioned to pursue this opportunity and are excited about the value we can bring to users and hotels going forward.”

Trivago adds that directly bookable rates are available for properties that “attract 50% of click-outs, an increase from 38% prior to the test. We expect to reach 80% by year-end. With the increase in coverage, our front-end teams have the opportunity to launch new features that leverage the direct access to the hotel and better rates, and we expect to be able to actively promote these features by the beginning of 2024.”

The company also says that the “value of metasearch has increased” in the current environment with consumers looking to compare hotel offers and/or search for cheaper destinations to offset the impact of higher rates.

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