Trivago said its third quarter was impacted by foreign exchange challenges, less favorable market conditions and higher levels of competition in performance marketing channels.
The company reported a €26 million decrease to total revenue of €158 million for the quarter versus the same period in 2022.
Referral revenue for the company dipped to €156 million versus €181 million year over year while return on advertising spend was 134% versus 148% year over year.
The Germany-based hotel metasearch made an operating loss of €184 million, more than double its loss of €73 million in Q3 of 2022, and its net loss increased to €183 million compared with €67 million year over year. Adjusted EBITDA for Trivago came in at €16 million, down from €34 million in Q3 2022.
Trivago said its net loss is primarily down to an impairment charge of €196 million “driven by adjustments made to our profitability outlook arising from the announced strategy shift to long-term growth, share price decline during the third quarter of 2023, uncertainty in our operating environment and the continued uncertainty in respect of the overall economic environment. The elevated levels of marketing investments necessary to stimulate long-term growth affected our profitability outlook in the short to midterm.”
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The company, which said in the second quarter that it is increasing brand marketing investments affecting profitability short to midterm, said it believes the investment will positively impact the volume of direct traffic to the platform in the long term.
Sales and marketing costs for Trivago in Q3 decreased to €122 million compared with €129 million year over year.
The company recently announced that Robin Harries will rejoin as chief financial officer by the beginning of April while current CFO Matthias Tillmann is leaving at the end of this year to pursue other interests. Harries first joined the company in 2012 and was involved in the deal that saw Expedia Group acquire a 63% stake in Trivago in 2013.