Trivago has signalled activity “slowly moving back to normal” as it reports earnings for the third quarter of 2021.
While the company acknowledges the pandemic is not over, it has seen gains in net income, total revenue and EBITDA as a result of a recovery in referral revenue and qualified referrals in Europe and the Americas.
Germany-based Trivago reported Q3 net income of €5.5 million, compared with a net loss of €2.3 million in Q3, 2020.
Total revenue increased by 129% to €139 million and adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was €15.5 million, up about €9 million year-on-year.
Income from each qualified referral was also boosted in the quarter with an increase of 85% to €1.31 year-on-year.
Selling and marketing investment in the quarter increased 185% to €104 million with advertizing spend accounting for 94% of the total.
Trivago says it anticipates investing again in television advertising going forward to “rebuild its pre-pandemic direct traffic baseline” but does not necessarily expect to benefit from it in 2022.
In terms of product development the company says it has been working on its Weekend product with rail packages added in Germany and activities added in the U.K.
The developments follow Trivago’s acquisition of Germany-based weekend.com in January.
The company says its “excited about the scale-up of this business” but says city trips are not yet back to pre-pandemic levels.
The company’s B2B meta offering is also taking shape and is now “moved into a live stage” with some partners following testing in previous quarters
Trivago adds that while it’s difficult to call when recovery might be it feels some time in spring 2022 is when it could see normal travel behavior in its major markets.
In a letter to shareholders the company says it does not expect a “full rebound in travel over winter as there continues to be some uncertainty about the development of the pandemic in the Northern hemisphere over the coming months. However, for spring and early summer 2022, we expect travel demand and behavior to approach pre-pandemic levels in Americas and Europe, with a strong rebound of city and international travel in those regions.”
Going forward, the company says it expects EBITDA to remain positive in the fourth quarter but likely to be lower than Q3’s figure.