trivago Delivers 22% Revenue Growth and Raises Full-Year Guidance
Rhea-AI Summary
trivago reported strong Q1 2025 financial results, with total revenue growing 22% to €124.1 million and Referral Revenue increasing 23% to €123.4 million compared to the previous year.
The company saw double-digit growth across all regions: 18% in Americas, 19% in Developed Europe, and 44% in Rest of World. Net loss improved by 7% to €7.8 million, while Adjusted EBITDA loss decreased by 29% to €6.5 million.
Based on Q1 performance and strong April growth, trivago raised its full-year revenue outlook to mid-teens percent growth year-over-year, with positive Adjusted EBITDA expected to match 2024 levels. The company's success is attributed to strategic brand marketing investments and improved conversion rates.
Management highlighted the company's stable Return on Advertising Spend and emphasized trivago's value proposition in helping travelers find cost savings in the current economic environment.
Positive
- Total revenue grew 22% to €124.1M in Q1 2025
- Referral Revenue increased 23% to €123.4M across all segments
- Strong regional growth: Americas +18%, Developed Europe +19%, Rest of World +44%
- Adjusted EBITDA loss improved by 29% to €6.5M
- Net loss reduced by 7% to €7.8M
- Full-year guidance raised to mid-teens revenue growth
- Strong momentum continues with double-digit growth in April 2025
- Return on Advertising Spend maintained stable at 118.1%
Negative
- Company still operating at a net loss (€7.8M in Q1)
- Negative Adjusted EBITDA of €6.5M
- Slight decline in Return on Advertising Spend (1.1 percentage points YoY)
- Still below pre-pandemic scale levels
News Market Reaction 1 Alert
On the day this news was published, TRVG gained 8.05%, reflecting a notable positive market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Exhibit 99.1
Operating and Financial Review
DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY - April 30, 2025 – trivago N.V. (NASDAQ: TRVG) (the “Company”, “we,” “us,” “our,” or “trivago,”) announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025.
Highlights:
- Total revenue grew
22% to€124.1 million , with Referral Revenue growing23% to€123.4 million during the first quarter, compared to the same prior year period, the second consecutive quarter of growth. - Double-digit Referral Revenue growth was observed across all three reporting segments including
18% in Americas,19% in Developed Europe, and44% in Rest of World. - Net loss reduced by
7% to€7.8 million and Adjusted EBITDA1 loss decreased by29% to€6.5 million during the first quarter, compared to the same prior year period. - Driven by a significantly better-than-expected first quarter and a strong start to the second quarter, where we continue to see double-digit revenue growth in the month of April, we are raising our full-year revenue outlook to mid-teens percent growth year-over-year, along with positive Adjusted EBITDA, similar to 2024.
"We are thrilled to announce that we significantly accelerated our momentum in the first quarter of 2025, exceeding expectations on both the top and bottom lines. In light of this strong performance and the continuing strong double-digit growth trajectory, we are revising our full-year revenue growth guidance upward to the mid-teens percentage range, along with stronger-than-anticipated Adjusted EBITDA profitability. These results reflect the diligent execution of our strategy by our dedicated team over the past two years. We continue to experience strong returns from our strategic brand marketing investments, complemented by ongoing enhancements that are driving significant improvements in conversion rates while using trivago." said Chief Executive Officer Johannes Thomas.
"We delivered yet another strong quarter, and the positive momentum has continued with strong double-digit growth in April. Alongside impressive revenue growth, we maintained stable Return on Advertising Spend and improved our net results. We’re excited by the global potential of trivago’s strong brand and expect this initial success to be only the beginning. Our value proposition remains compelling, especially in the current economic environment where we believe we can deliver significant cost savings to travelers. As a company, we continue to practice cost discipline while we aim to regain scale to pre-pandemic levels. We are optimistic that our strong operational performance can translate into meaningful benefits for shareholders as we execute our strategy.” said Chief Financial Officer Robin Harries.
Financial Summary & Operating Metrics (€ millions, unless otherwise stated)
| | Three months ended March 31, | ||||
| | 2025 | | 2024 | | Δ Y/Y |
| Total revenue | 124.1 | | 101.4 | | |
| Referral Revenue | 123.4 | | 100.2 | | |
| Return on Advertising Spend | | | | | (1.1) ppts |
| Net loss | (7.8) | | (8.4) | | (7)% |
| Adjusted EBITDA | (6.5) | | (9.2) | | (29)% |
About trivago N.V.
trivago N.V. (NASDAQ: TRVG) is a leading global hotel search and price comparison platform and one of the most recognized travel brands in the world. When price savvy travelers are searching for a hotel, we want trivago to be the obvious choice. We aim to help travelers find the best place to stay and the best time to go. trivago aims to enable them to book with confidence, saving travelers valuable time and money. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, we seek to personalize and simplify the hotel search experience for millions of travelers every month. We provide access to more than 5.0 million hotels and other types of accommodation in over 190 countries.
Discussion of Results
The discussion of results should be considered together with our unaudited financial information included with this review and the periodic reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024. Certain information and disclosures normally included in consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) have been omitted from this review.
Recent Trends
Total revenues in the first quarter grew by
We continued to observe strong branded channel traffic2 growth across all three reporting segments in response to higher branded investments, which were instrumental for the robust first quarter performance. Advertising Spend increased by
Outlook
We continued to see strong year-over-year revenue growth at double-digit rates across all three segments in the first weeks of April. We expect this positive momentum to persist as we gear up for the summer season, enabling us to achieve year-on-year total revenue growth.
We continue to see significant opportunities to further scale our marketing activities and are committed to pursuing promising advertising opportunities that will maintain our positive momentum. We believe this will enable us to reach a larger audience and have a long-term positive impact on overall revenues. trivago continues to be well-positioned, well-capitalized, and ready to fuel its continued growth trajectory.
While Advertising Spend continues to grow year-over-year, we believe there is still significant upside potential to further increase our global marketing efforts since our total Advertising Spend remains lower than historical investment levels. We expect to continue re-investing our profits into our marketing strategy and also further increasing our Advertising Spend to maintain the positive momentum.
For the full year 2025, we now expect the total revenues percent growth to be within the mid-teens percent range year-over-year, achieving double-digit growth earlier than our previously announced outlook. We expect overall higher Advertising Spend as we continue further scaling our marketing efforts, to remain vigilant with our operating expenses excluding Advertising Spend, and to achieve positive full year Adjusted EBITDA similar to 2024. We expect to continue our strategy of prioritizing re-investing profits into our brand over short-term profit maximization.
Revenue, Advertising Spend, and Return of Advertising Spend
Referral Revenue & Other Revenue
We match our users’ searches with large numbers of hotel and other accommodation offers through our auction platform, which we call our marketplace. With our marketplace, we provide advertisers a competitive forum to access user traffic by facilitating a vast quantity of auctions on any particular day. Advertisers submit hotel room and other accommodation rates and participate in our marketplace primarily by making bids for each user click on an advertised rate for a hotel or other accommodation on a cost-per-click, or CPC, basis. We also offer the option for our advertisers to participate in our marketplace on a cost-per-acquisition, or CPA, basis.
We earn substantially all of our revenue when users of our websites and apps click on hotel and accommodation offers or advertisements in our search results and are referred to one of our advertisers, or when a user makes a booking on the advertiser's website ultimately from a referral from our platform. We call this our Referral Revenue.
Management has identified three reportable segments: Americas, Developed Europe and Rest of World (RoW). Our Americas segment is comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, the United States and Uruguay. Our Developed Europe segment is comprised of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Our RoW segment is comprised of all other countries. In the first quarter of 2025, the most significant countries by revenue in that segment were Japan, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, and United Arab Emirates. We have also determined that our equity method investment in Holisto Ltd. has met the criteria for an operating segment, however, it does not meet the quantitative thresholds of a separate reportable segment.
We also earn revenue by offering our advertisers business-to-business (B2B) solutions such as data product offerings and subscription fees earned from advertisers for the trivago Business Studio subscriptions. These revenue streams do not represent a significant portion of our total revenue.
Referral Revenue by Segment & Other Revenue (€ millions)
| | Three months ended March 31, | ||||||
| 2025 | | 2024 | | Δ € | | Δ % | |
| Americas | € 44.9 | | € 38.1 | | € 6.8 | | |
| Developed Europe | 52.3 | | 43.9 | | 8.4 | | |
| Rest of World | 26.2 | | 18.2 | | 8.0 | | |
| Total Referral Revenue | € 123.4 | | € 100.2 | | € 23.2 | | |
| Other revenue | 0.7 | | 1.2 | | (0.5) | | (42)% |
| Total revenue | € 124.1 | | € 101.4 | | € 22.7 | | |
Referral Revenue increased by
Other Revenue
Other revenue decreased by
Advertiser Concentration
We generate the majority of our Referral Revenue from online travel agencies, or OTAs. For brands affiliated with Expedia Group, including Brand Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotwire, Wotif, Vrbo and ebookers, the share of our Referral Revenue was
Advertising Spend
Advertising Spend is included in selling and marketing expense and consists of fees that we pay for our various marketing channels like TV, search engine marketing, display and affiliate marketing, email marketing, online video, app marketing, content marketing, and sponsorship and endorsement.
Advertising Spend by Segment (€ millions)
| | Three months ended March 31, | ||||||
| 2025 | | 2024 | | Δ € | | Δ % | |
| Americas | € 43.7 | | € 33.3 | | € 10.4 | | |
| Developed Europe | 39.0 | | 36.3 | | 2.7 | | |
| Rest of World | 21.8 | | 14.5 | | 7.3 | | |
| Total Advertising Spend | € 104.5 | | € 84.1 | | € 20.4 | | |
Total Advertising Spend increased by
Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS)
ROAS Contribution is the difference between Referral Revenue and Advertising Spend. ROAS is the ratio of Referral Revenue to Advertising Spend. We believe that both are indicators of the efficiency of our advertising. ROAS is our primary operating metric.
| | | | |
ROAS Contribution (in € millions) and ROAS (in %) by Segment
| | Three months ended March 31, | ||||||||||
| | ROAS Contribution | | ROAS | ||||||||
| | 2025 | | 2024 | | Δ € | | 2025 | | 2024 | | Δ ppts |
| Americas | € 1.2 | | € 4.8 | | € (3.6) | | | | | | (11.8) ppts |
| Developed Europe | 13.3 | | 7.6 | | 5.7 | | | | | | 13.0 ppts |
| Rest of World | 4.4 | | 3.7 | | 0.7 | | | | | | (4.8) ppts |
| Global | € 18.9 | | € 16.1 | | € 2.8 | | | | | | (1.1) ppts |
Global ROAS decreased by 1.1 ppts during the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, mainly due to continuous increases in brand marketing investments across all segments with the intention of increasing the volume of direct traffic to our platforms in the long term, particularly in Americas. This was partially offset by higher ROAS in Developed Europe, where we observed the strongest response to our previous marketing investments.
Expenses
Expenses by Cost Category (€ millions)
| | Three months ended March 31, | | As a % of Revenue | ||||||||
| | 2025 | | 2024 | | Δ € | | Δ % | | 2025 | | 2024 |
| Cost of revenue | | | € 3.0 | | € (0.3) | | (10) % | | 2 % | | 3 % |
| Selling and marketing | 110.2 | | 88.8 | | 21.4 | | 24 % | | 89 % | | 88 % |
| Advertising Spend | 104.5 | | 84.1 | | 20.4 | | 24 % | | 84 % | | 83 % |
| Other selling and marketing | 5.7 | | 4.7 | | 1.0 | | 21 % | | 5 % | | 5 % |
| Technology and content | 13.4 | | 12.5 | | 0.9 | | 7 % | | 11 % | | 12 % |
| General and administrative | 7.3 | | 8.6 | | (1.3) | | (15) % | | 6 % | | 8 % |
| Amortization of intangible assets | — | | 0.0 | | 0.0 | | 0 % | | 0 % | | 0 % |
| Total costs and expenses | € 133.7 | | € 113.0 | | € 20.7 | | 18 % | | 108 % | | 111 % |
Note: Some figures may not add up due to rounding.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue decreased by
Selling and Marketing
Selling and marketing expense increased by
Other selling and marketing expense increased by
Technology and Content
Technology and content expense increased by
General and Administrative
General and administrative expense decreased by
Income Taxes, Net Loss and Adjusted EBITDA(1) (€ millions)
| | Three months ended March 31, | ||||||
| 2025 | | 2024 | | Δ € | | Δ % | |
| Operating loss | € (9.6) | | € (11.6) | | € 2.0 | | (17) % |
| Other income/(expense) | | | | | | | |
| Interest expense | (0.0) | | (0.0) | | 0.0 | | n.m. |
| Interest income | 0.7 | | 0.9 | | (0.2) | | (22) % |
| Other, net | 0.3 | | (0.0) | | 0.3 | | n.m. |
| Total other income, net | € 1.0 | | € 0.8 | | € 0.2 | | 25 % |
| | | | | | | | |
| Loss before income taxes | (8.6) | | (10.7) | | 2.1 | | (20) % |
| Benefit for income taxes | (2.1) | | (2.4) | | 0.3 | | (13) % |
| Loss before equity method investments | € (6.5) | | € (8.3) | | € 1.8 | | (22) % |
| Loss from equity method investments | (1.3) | | (0.0) | | (1.3) | | n.m. |
| Net loss | € (7.8) | | € (8.4) | | € 0.6 | | (7) % |
| | | | | | | | |
| Adjusted EBITDA(1) | € (6.5) | | € (9.2) | | € 2.7 | | (29) % |
Note: Some figures may not add up due to rounding.
(1) “Adjusted EBITDA” is a non-GAAP measure. Please see “Definitions of Non-GAAP Measures” and “Tabular Reconciliations for Non-GAAP Measures” on pages 8 to 9 herein for explanations and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures used.
Income Taxes
Income tax benefit was
The difference between the weighted average tax rate and the effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2025 primarily relates to the non-tax-deductible share-based compensation expense, which is not deductible for tax purposes.
The uncertain tax position for unrecognized tax benefits relating to the deductibility of expenses was
Net Loss and Adjusted EBITDA
Net loss was
Balance Sheet and Cash Flows
Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash were
Consistent with our seasonal fluctuations, higher revenues during the three months ended March 31, 2025 compared to the three months ended December 31, 2024 resulted in higher accounts receivable as of March 31, 2025 compared to December 31, 2024. Additionally, accounts payable were higher as of March 31, 2025 compared to December 31, 2024 resulting from higher Advertising Spend. As the magnitude of the increase in current assets mainly driven by accounts receivable was higher than the increase in current liabilities mainly driven by accounts payable, there was an overall positive net working capital of
Cash used in investing activities during the three months ended March 31, 2025, was primarily driven by cash outflows of
Notes & Definitions:
Definitions of Non-GAAP Measures
Adjusted EBITDA:
We report Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP").
We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income/(loss) adjusted for:
- income/(loss) from equity method investment,
- expense/(benefit) for income taxes,
- total other (income)/expense, net,
- depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of intangible assets,
- impairment of, and gains and losses on disposals of, property and equipment,
- impairment of intangible assets and goodwill,
- share-based compensation, and
- certain other items, including restructuring, ADS cancellation fees, and significant legal settlements and court-ordered penalties.
From time to time, we may exclude from Adjusted EBITDA the impact of certain items that affect the period-to-period comparability of our operating performance.
Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. A “non-GAAP financial measure” refers to a numerical measure of a company’s historical or future financial performance, financial position, or cash flows that excludes (or includes) amounts that are included in (or excluded from) the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP in such company’s financial statements. We present these non-GAAP financial measures because they are used by management to evaluate our operating performance, formulate business plans, and make strategic decisions on capital allocation. We also believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating performance and consolidated results of operations in the same manner as our management, and the exclusion of certain expenses in calculating Adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure in comparing financial results between periods as these costs may vary independent of core business performance.
Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results reported in accordance with U.S. GAAP, including net income/loss. Some of these limitations are:
- Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect our cash expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
- Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;
- Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect expenses, such as restructuring and other related reorganization costs;
- Although depreciation, amortization and impairments are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated, amortized or impaired may have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash capital expenditure requirements for such replacements or for new capital expenditure requirements; and
- Other companies, including companies in our own industry, may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently than we do, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures.
We periodically provide an Adjusted EBITDA outlook. We are, however, unable to provide a reconciliation of our Adjusted EBITDA outlook to net income/(loss), the comparable GAAP measure, because certain items that are excluded from Adjusted EBITDA cannot be reasonably or reliably predicted or are not in our control, including, in particular, the timing or magnitude of share-based compensation, interest, taxes, impairments, restructuring related costs and/or significant legal settlements and court-ordered penalties without unreasonable efforts, and these items could significantly impact, either individually or in the aggregate, net income/(loss) in the future.
Tabular Reconciliations for Non-GAAP Measures
Adjusted EBITDA (€ millions)
| | Three months ended March 31, | ||
| | 2025 | | 2024 |
| Net loss | € (7.8) | | € (8.4) |
| Loss from equity method investments | (1.3) | | (0.0) |
| Loss before equity method investments | € (6.5) | | € (8.3) |
| Benefit for income taxes | (2.1) | | (2.4) |
| Loss before income taxes | € (8.6) | | € (10.7) |
| Add/(less): | | | |
| Interest expense | 0.0 | | 0.0 |
| Interest income | (0.7) | | (0.9) |
| Other, net | (0.3) | | 0.0 |
| Operating loss | € (9.6) | | € (11.6) |
| Depreciation of property and equipment and amortization of intangible assets | 1.0 | | 1.1 |
| Impairment of, and gains and losses on disposals of, property and equipment | 0.0 | | — |
| Share-based compensation | 2.0 | | 1.3 |
| Adjusted EBITDA | € (6.5) | | € (9.2) |
Note: Some figures may not add up due to rounding.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This review contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future performance. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations as of the date of this review and assumptions which are inherently subject to uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. The use of words such as "will," “intend” and “expect,” among others, generally identify forward-looking statements. However, these words are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements and may include statements relating to future revenue, expenses, margins, profitability, net income / (loss), earnings per share and other measures of results of operations and the prospects for future growth of trivago N.V.’s business. Actual results and the timing and outcome of events may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons, including, among others:
- the extent to which our strategy of increasing brand marketing investments positively impacts the volume of direct traffic to our platform and grows our revenue in future periods without reducing our profits or incurring losses;
- the continuing negative impact of having almost completely ceased television advertising in 2020 and only having resumed such advertising at reduced levels in recent years on our ability to grow our revenue;
- our reliance on search engines, particularly Google, whose search results can be affected by a number of factors, many of which are not in our control;
- the promotion by Google of its own product and services that compete directly with our hotel and accommodation search;
- our continued dependence on a small number of advertisers for our revenue and adverse impacts that could result from their reduced spending or changes in their cost-per-click, or (CPC), bidding or cost-per-acquisition (CPA) strategy;
- our ability to generate referrals, customers, bookings or revenue and profit for our advertisers on a basis they deem to be cost-effective;
- factors that contribute to our period-over-period volatility in our financial condition and result of operations;
- the potential negative impact of a worsening of the economic outlook and inflation on consumer discretionary spending;
- any further impairment of intangible assets;
- geopolitical and diplomatic tensions, instabilities and conflicts, including war, civil unrest, terrorist activity, sanctions or other geopolitical events or escalations of hostilities, such as the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the ongoing conflict affecting the Middle Eastern region, potential changes in U.S. tariff policy and other countries' responses thereto, or other developments resulting in heightened cross-border controls;
- increasing competition in our industry;
- our ability to innovate, integrate, and provide tools and services that are useful to our users and advertisers;
- our business model's dependence on consumer preferences for traditional hotel-based accommodation;
- our dependence on relationships with third parties to provide us with content;
- changes to and our compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations;
- the impact of any legal and regulatory proceedings to which we are or may become subject; and
- potential disruptions in the operation of our systems, security breaches and data protection,
as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed in our public filings with the SEC, including trivago's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, as such risks and uncertainties may be updated from time to time. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking or other statements in this review, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
(1) “Adjusted EBITDA” is a non-GAAP measure. Please see “Definitions of Non-GAAP Measures” and “Tabular Reconciliations for Non-GAAP Measures” on pages 8 to 9 herein for explanations and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures used.
2 Branded channel traffic refers to traffic to our platform through: one of our localized platform websites, one of our downloadable mobile applications, branded search engine optimization marketing channels (or "branded free traffic") for keyword searches that are inclusive of the trivago brand name, and/or paid keyword searches that include the trivago brand name, such as "trivago" or "trivago hotel".
FAQ
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