Social Media Fuels Innovation Opportunity in Travel, Trivago CEO Says
*By Chloe Aiello*
Social media has helped fuel massive opportunity in the travel industry, but with opportunity, comes cutthroat competition, Trivago CEO Rolf Schrömgens said Wednesday.
"People are really traveling in general more. They want to experience stuff, they don't want to buy stuff anymore," Schrömgens told Cheddar. "They want to go where their friends have been, everybody shares stuff on social media and everybody wants to have this unifying experience of being at the same places."
And since only about 40 percent of bookings are made online, Schrömgens said, that's a huge untapped market for companies, like Trivago ($TRVG).
"I am very positive regarding the overall industry dynamics," he added.
Despite the opportunity, the travel technology sector is virtually a graveyard of failed startups that fell short in their fight against industry incumbents. Schrömgens knows ー Trivago was once one of those challengers. He said the travel bookings site keeps nimble in the competitive field by functioning like a startup.
"The industry is very very competitive and the more competitive the industry is, the harder it gets for new players to go in. Still I think it's important to have innovation, and we are trying to innovate constantly, so we have the culture of a startup," Schrömgens said.
But the nearly 15-year-old company is hardly a startup anymore. It debuted on the Nasdaq in 2016, and reported its second quarter of double-digit net income growth on Wednesday. Trivago stock was last down 4.5 percent in intraday trading, following the report.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/trivago-ceo-rolf-schromgens-talks-earnings).
Joe Pompliano, author of the Huddle Up newsletter, breaks down the biggest moments from Super Bowl LVIII, from potentially record-breaking viewership to Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated appearance.
David Wright, President and owner of Wright Financial Group, shares his thoughts on why the Federal Reserve seems hesitant to cut rates, and why regional bank stocks could help move the needle.
Disney and Fortnite-maker Epic Games will collab on making new video games with Disney characters. Hopefully it will be more than Mickey Mouse hitting the Griddy.
Hershey is cautioning on its 2024 profit growth as the company contends with rising cocoa costs, leading to increased prices for chocolate. The company anticipates its full-year earnings per share being relatively flat, partly due to higher cocoa and sugar costs.
Prince Harry has reached an out-of-court settlement with a tabloid newspaper publisher that invaded his privacy with phone hacking and other illegal snooping. Attorney David Sherborne said that Mirror Group Newspapers had agreed to pay Harry’ “substantial” costs and damages.
An attorney representing passengers of an Alaska Airlines flight that lost a door plug in midair says a “whistling sound” was heard on a previous flight of the same Boeing 737 Max 9.
