Trivago has attributed dips in revenue, referral revenue and return on advertising spend in the second quarter of 2023 to factors including shorter lengths of stay and foreign exchange costs.
The accommodation metasearch platform reported revenue of €124 million for the quarter ended June 30, down from almost €148 million year over year.
Referral revenue decreased from €141 million to almost €123 million while return on advertising spend was 145% versus 166% year over year.
In a statement, the company said: "We observed a seasonal pattern in bidding dynamics in line with periods prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the seasonal uptick in monetization in our auction having occurred later and having been of a lower magnitude than in the same period in 2022, but broadly similar to periods prior to 2020. Lower monetization, shorter length of users’ booked stays and foreign exchange rate effects all negatively impacted our financial performance, more than offsetting the positive impact of increased average booking values, mainly driven by higher average daily hotel rates and increased booking conversion. In addition, we observed increased volatility in the results of our performance marketing campaigns."
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Trivago's net income was reported as €5.8 million versus a loss of €59.8 million year over year, which the company attributed to a one-off impairment charge of €84 million in Q2 2022.
The company added that it "ramped up brand marketing investments as planned," which impacted profit in the quarter, but the company hopes that will lead to "a long-term positive impact on the volume of direct traffic to our platform and our financial performance."
In May, Trivago announced that CEO Axel Hefer was leaving the company after just over three years in the role. Johannes Thomas took over as CEO and managing director.