improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages a major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . september 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . september 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message trivago industry travel hotel information technology marketing founded january 2005 ; 11 years ago 2005 01 d sseldorf germany founders rolf schr mgens malte siewert and peter vinnemeier headquarters d sseldorf germany areas served 55 countries worldwide key people rolf schr mgens malte siewert peter vinnemeier andrej lehnert johannes thomas products metasearch for hotel prices trivago hotel manager number of employees 1000 subsidiaries base7booking rheinfabrik website www.trivago.com trivago gmbh often referred to as trivago is a german multinational technology company specialized in internet related services and products in the fields of hotels lodging and metasearch . trivago was the first search engine of its kind in germany 1 and is known to be one of the most successful startups in germany . 2 ten years in it is still one of the fastest growing companies in germany 3 with profitability doubling since 2008 . 4 trivago was conceived in 2004 and launched in 2005 3 by the three founders in d sseldorf germany peter vinnemeier malte siewert and rolf schr mgens . 5 together they own about 40 % percent of its shares . in 2012 expedia bought 61 % of trivago for 477 million euro . 6 according to the media 7 trivago had one of the biggest exits in german startup history . despite the sale trivago still operates completely independently and funds its own growth with forty percent of all shares are still held by the founding team . when asked about the exit schr mgens replied for investors who have sold their shares it was great . we founders however still hold almost 40 percent of the company the majority of our shares . this is because we still have a great interest in developing trivago . . 7 between creation and sale to expedia trivago had only received one million euro of investors money including by the samwer brothers florian heinemann and christian vollmann . 7 even with relatively low funding trivago has managed to grow steadily whilst still keeping their growth organic . 7 according to trivago founder and managing director rolf schr mgens we ve always tried to build a company that makes money through its own inertia ... to continuously improve step by step . 8 rapid growth has triggered a chain of new products and acquisitions in addition to its core metasearch engine trivago hotel search which operates on 55 platforms worldwide . 7 according to expedia the trivago team built one of the largest fastest growing and most well known travel sites in europe with a culture focused on developing great products building a strong brand and promoting partners businesses . 4 the philosophy at trivago is to create a healthy & efficient working atmosphere with a focus on personal development . they believe that when you are challenging yourself whilst growing & learning happiness and success come naturally . 9 the company has virtually no hierarchies or titles . 1 in 2016 trivago began building its new campus whilst simultaneously reaching milestones of 1000 employees . 10 contents 1 history 2 growth and revenue 2.1 funding 2.2 acquisitions 2.2.1 rheinfabrik 2.2.2 base7booking 3 business model 4 products and features 4.1 hotel search 4.2 trivago app 4.3 trivago hotel manager 4.3.1 hotel manager pro 4.3.2 direct connect 4.3.3 quality test 4.4 indexes and rankings 4.4.1 trivago rating index tri 4.4.2 trivago hotel price index thpi 4.4.3 travel advice calendars 5 marketing 5.1 the trivago guy 6 company culture 6.1 work environment 6.1.1 employees 6.1.2 working hours 6.1.3 workflow 6.1.4 lack of titles 7 offices 7.1 office design 7.1.1 hq d sseldorf 7.1.2 new campus 7.1.3 working in palma de mallorca 8 employee benefits 8.1 trivago on tour 9 references 10 external links history edit the idea of trivago was born in 2004 by four college friends . 11 the founding team included rolf schr mgens peter vinnemeier stephan stubner and malte siewert . trivago launched in january 2005 shortly after stubner resigned as managing director and was replaced by malte siewert . 7 the initial idea for trivago came about while schr mgens was co founder at ciao.com . realizing how expensive content management was he thought to rather have users manage the content themselves with a monetary incentive for the content community . together schr mgens and vinnemeier began conceptualizing and coding the first version of trivago . 12 once programming began they then realized the most interesting part was not the generation of content but the monetization of it . this was the starting point of trivago . 8 the first employees at trivago were hired through skype interviews from spain italy and canada . still today trivago looks for individuals who exhibit the same willingness to cross borders . 1 with a work culture la silicon valley trivago s recruitment focus is hiring tech and business talent with 90 percent of staff still recruited internationally . 7 trivago headquarters are located in d sseldorf where the international operations are conducted . 7 in 2014 trivago opened new offices in leipzig and palma de mallorca . 8 in 2015 andrej lehnert and johannes thomas became part of the managing director team . lehnert with his main focus on product 13 and thomas on hotel sales business operations and strategy . 14 in 2016 of the top 50 employees trivago hired three years before 49 were still working at the company . additionally many of the employees in management roles began their careers at trivago as interns . 7 trivago has grown 222 % in employees 15 and now employs over 1000 people . 10 growth and revenue edit with less than 1m as an initial investment trivago has organically grown over the past nine years to nearly 500m 2015 turnover and more than 4b 2015 in market place revenue . 15 additionally trivago s profitably has doubled in revenue every year since 2008 onward . 4 trivago s core european markets grew 33 % in revenue on a euro denominated basis an acceleration of 20 % compared to 2015 . the top line for the rest of the world grew 69 % . 16 trivago s team continues to refine and improve its marketing methods and products in a way that not only benefits advertisers but should also improve trivago monetization margins over the long term . 16 in a recent article for expedia s 2015 q1 earnings they mention trivago as a highlight . stating that expedia s expe 632 million bet on trivago paid off again . the online travel agency announced first quarter 2016 results that topped estimates due in part to the german subsidiary s 48 % year over year growth . trivago s revenue jumped 48 % to 176 million and accounted for their second largest chunk of revenue . benchmark analyst daniel kurnos wrote trivago again achieved profitability as aggressive spending drove 48 % revenue growth while still achieving 25 % contribution margins in europe and 10 % contribution margins across all geographies outside of europe kurnos wrote . 17 funding edit trivago began looking for investors before they completed their first round of financing in 2006 . between creation and expedia trivago had only received one million euro of investors money including the samwer brothers florian heinemann and christian vollmann . schr mgens explains on the one hand we wanted to bring in the expertise of experienced founders on board without relying too early on the dependence of investors . 7 as the company continued to develop in a positive direction the relatively low funding was apparently enough 7 and the balance of power reversed investors and companies expressed interest in rows to buy trivago . 18 in 2008 trivago received 1.14 million in series b funding from the british company howzat media llp . 19 at one point siewert stated all should know . we are looking for a buyer . in 2010 they sold a quarter of the company for 52.86 m to a us investment fund insight venture partners on december 1 . 20 on december 21 2012 expedia bought 61.6 % of trivago in a combined cash and stock deal worth 477 million approximately 630 million . despite the sale trivago still operates completely independently and funds its own growth with forty percent of all shares still held by the founding team . 7 we run the business the same way we did prior to the expedia deal . that is actually part of the agreement . says malte siewert . 21 acquisitions edit rheinfabrik edit trivago acquired app product and development company rheinfabrik in december 2014 . strategies align with trivago in that rheinfabrik does everything on site and does not outsource any of their work . their expertise cover quality and development of native mobile apps for ios and android . since 2012 rheinfabrik has doubled in profits every year . prior to the acquisition the rhein factory developed tested and produced apps for clients such as mercedes yello strom the hsv and borussia dortmund . despite their appeared exit rheinfabrik remains independent in their work from trivago . 22 base7booking edit trivago announced in march 2016 that it had acquired 52.3 % of cloud pms company base7booking . founded in 2008 base7booking has about 35 employees who joined trivago in 2015 . trivago took majority control of the switzerland based company in the third quarter of 2015 but announced the move on march 1 2016 . trivago integrated base7booking s property management system enabling hoteliers to manage daily operations run reports send invoices and enhance their digital and email marketing . johannes thomas the trivago managing director in charge of hotel relations says only a minority of small and independent hotels use a property management system and that the integration of base7booking s pms with trivago s own hotel offerings will become an affordable solution for these hotels . thomas says trivago and base7booking with offices in switzerland spain and germany will be working on plans to incentivize base7booking property management system customers to distribute through trivago . 23 business model edit trivago makes money from advertising partners . you can not book with us . we are an independent information resource for travelers . we work with a wide range of industry suppliers and booking agents . says siewert . 24 money is rather earned by forwarding users to booking platforms such as booking.com or hrs . 7 as a hotel price comparison website trivago has a cost per click business model . booking sites pay trivago for the clicks that trivago users make when selecting the offers listed . hoteliers can also connect their rates and advertise their official website on trivago directly through a crs provider also using the cpc model . 25 though the business is primarily a cost per click revenue model for the hotel price comparison site 4 trivago also offers free and fee based versions 14 of their trivago hotel manager product for hoteliers to manage their online presence and visibility . 26 products and features edit hotel search edit the hotel search engine was the first of its kind in germany 1 and is now represented in 50