Trivago's Turnaround Is Kicking In as Growth Accelerates

Trivago's growth is has been boosted by its global brand marketing campaign, and it plans to ramp up ad spend.

Trivago is acquiring the 70% of Holisto that it didn't already own for $26 million in cash, but that isn't why the Düsseldorf-based hotel metasearch firm's growth is outpacing much of the rest of the travel industry.

The major reason is that its global brand marketing campaign, as well as local ones in places like Japan and Brazil, are proving effective, and it plans to ramp up that advertising spend throughout the year.

The plan started two years ago when Trivago brought back several former executives, including Johannes Thomas as CEO. It ran into headwinds because of Google advertising format changes, but the impact of those are stable for now, Thomas told Skift Wednesday after the company's first-quarter earnings call.

Trivago posted 22% revenue growth to 124.