WEBVTT - Trivago CFO Talks Summer Travel

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Look, maybe that pinching in the middle at the moment, Paul,

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<v Speaker 2>is exactly what we might see reflected when you're all

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<v Speaker 2>thinking about a vacation at the moment, where are you putting.

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<v Speaker 3>Your bang for your buck? Is it about experiences?

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<v Speaker 2>Are you still going for the ultry luxury holiday and

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<v Speaker 2>hotel or are you trading down a little bit. We've

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<v Speaker 2>got the perfect person to be asking this at the moment.

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<v Speaker 2>Robin Harris is with us, the CFO of Trevago. Look,

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<v Speaker 2>it is the number one global hotel search platform and

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<v Speaker 2>many people, seventy one million in fact, Americans are meant

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<v Speaker 2>to be hitting the road this Fourth of July weekend, Robin,

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<v Speaker 2>according to Triple A, how many of them are still

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<v Speaker 2>really spoiling themselves on a hotel or are they trading down?

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<v Speaker 1>Hi? Great to be speaking to you. What we see

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<v Speaker 1>on external data is that this year five percent more

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<v Speaker 1>Americans are traveling on the fourth of July, and we

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<v Speaker 1>look at Google there we also see higher travel demand.

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<v Speaker 1>And our internal data shows that the top destinations this

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<v Speaker 1>year are the same top destinations that we saw in

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<v Speaker 1>twenty three. And however, the prices went up, sometimes significantly.

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<v Speaker 1>So the top destinations are Number one is Las Vegas,

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<v Speaker 1>Number two is a Mortle Beach, and the third one

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<v Speaker 1>is New York. And prices in Las Vegas and in

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<v Speaker 1>New York are up quite a lot so and therefore

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<v Speaker 1>it makes a lot of sense to compare prices on Trivago.

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<v Speaker 4>I can tell a lot of people going to the

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<v Speaker 4>Jersey Shore as well, judging by the beach yesterday. Robin

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<v Speaker 4>is globally speaking, is travel these days? Is it mostly

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<v Speaker 4>within one's own country? Or where are we in terms

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<v Speaker 4>of international travels?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so most of the Americans travel within America, so

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<v Speaker 1>and so most of the travel and we also see

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<v Speaker 1>this on other platforms internationally that the domestic travel is strongest.

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<v Speaker 1>But of course you also have many Americans that go

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<v Speaker 1>to Mexico, that go to Italy or to Spain or

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<v Speaker 1>to Turkey also strong, but most of them are travel

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<v Speaker 1>busin the US.

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<v Speaker 2>How much have people been trying to navigate the inflationary

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<v Speaker 2>pressure of Look, as someone who has kids, I started

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<v Speaker 2>to use an Airbnb experience, or at least some sort

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<v Speaker 2>of home that I was going to go and stay

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<v Speaker 2>in rather than a hotel purely because I needed a microwave.

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<v Speaker 2>I needed to be like doing milk, this, that and

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<v Speaker 2>the other. I need to be cooking kids food that

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<v Speaker 2>I didn't want to spend an absolute fortune on.

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<v Speaker 3>But how much has that.

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<v Speaker 2>Factored into what people are looking to and for from

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<v Speaker 2>a hotel experience.

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<v Speaker 3>How much are we starting to see some of the

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<v Speaker 3>cleaning fees you see within an Airbnb fight back and

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<v Speaker 3>people now wanting the hotel experience. What do you see.

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<v Speaker 1>Rom So Tivago is pretty much focused on hotel, So

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<v Speaker 1>we offer over five million hotels and other accommodations which

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<v Speaker 1>I'm also apartments, so, but we are pretty much focused

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<v Speaker 1>on hotel and so we see a huge opportunity even

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<v Speaker 1>in the hotel segment, and we see that the demand

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<v Speaker 1>is strong for people searching for hotels and going to hotels.

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<v Speaker 3>Robin talk to us about business travel.

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<v Speaker 4>Where are we in terms of maybe pre pandemic levels

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<v Speaker 4>in terms of business travel seems to come back. I'm

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<v Speaker 4>just not sure where we are.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh so we are already back, I think. So when

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<v Speaker 1>we look at the seasonality and when we look into

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<v Speaker 1>the demand for this summer's it's high, so and it's

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<v Speaker 1>compared to COVID it's I think even higher. So the

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<v Speaker 1>demand at Selsy when you look into the market at Selsy.

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<v Speaker 1>So this looks all where we stable and solid.

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<v Speaker 2>What's interesting Roman is the US dollar has been doing

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<v Speaker 2>mighty fine versus basically everything else of late. And I

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<v Speaker 2>would have thought that you mentioned Turkey, you mentioned Europe, Spain,

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<v Speaker 2>I know many going to Portugal for example, people looking

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<v Speaker 2>at Japan finally because it seems to be so much

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<v Speaker 2>more economical from an FXS perspective. Has that in any

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<v Speaker 2>way changed the way in which a US traveler is

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<v Speaker 2>looking and opportunities to go globally travel rather than keep

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<v Speaker 2>it domestic.

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<v Speaker 1>So we see that the arm that the Americans that

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<v Speaker 1>they stay more in the US and go less abroad.

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<v Speaker 1>So the domestic trouble has been increasing. And this is

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<v Speaker 1>also a trend that we see that or we observe

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<v Speaker 1>that that people go more for mid star hotels instead

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<v Speaker 1>of high high class hotels.

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<v Speaker 4>Robin, if I wanted to make a last minute decision

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<v Speaker 4>and go over to Parish for the Olympics, can you

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<v Speaker 4>get mer room? And how much do I have to

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<v Speaker 4>pay for it?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah?

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<v Speaker 1>So this might be expensive? Yeah, of course we will.

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<v Speaker 1>We will find a good offer for you. And it

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<v Speaker 1>makes sense probably to go a little bit out of

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<v Speaker 1>the top destinations now because it's what we see. Travel

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<v Speaker 1>trends are that whenever there are sporting events or even concerts,

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<v Speaker 1>big concerts, that prices stow up a lot. So therefore

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<v Speaker 1>it might make sense to go a little bit outside.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, it was cheaper to basically fly over from America,

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<v Speaker 2>take your family to Europe watch Swift there, yes, than

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<v Speaker 2>to watch it in America. Exactly, Robin, I'm really interested

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<v Speaker 2>in Travago in and of itself because you are bringing

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<v Speaker 2>price transparency. There are so many ways in which I

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<v Speaker 2>could buy a hotel, whether I'm going direct to the

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<v Speaker 2>hotel's own website, whether I'm doing it via various agencies,

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<v Speaker 2>and you're trying to honestly get rid of some of

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<v Speaker 2>the arbitrage issues that we currently face and get us

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<v Speaker 2>the best price. How much are we seeing a murky

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<v Speaker 2>price point for hotels? How much clarity are we able

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<v Speaker 2>to get that there's just one true price.

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<v Speaker 1>So when you compare today with and pre COVID, you

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<v Speaker 1>can see that there is more price disparity, and you

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<v Speaker 1>can see that there are more different rates across the

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<v Speaker 1>hotels are out there, so therefore it still makes a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of sense to compare prices, and it makes even

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<v Speaker 1>more sense than pre COVID so and I mean that's

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<v Speaker 1>the market here. You see, there are different prices and

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<v Speaker 1>that makes sense to compare it, and that's what we

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<v Speaker 1>are doing.

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<v Speaker 4>Robert. Are all the hotel chains notable, I mean even

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<v Speaker 4>the high ends ones. Are they open to doing business

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<v Speaker 4>with the Travagos of the world.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, we have. Most of the big global hotel brands

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<v Speaker 1>are integrated and our partners and if you go to

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<v Speaker 1>Trivago you can also see the direct prices from the

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<v Speaker 1>big Koto chains.

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<v Speaker 4>All right, Robin Harris, thank you so much for joining us.

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<v Speaker 4>Robert Harris, Travago c FO, talk to us about that

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<v Speaker 4>travel