Skift Take
Could Trivago be looking to supplement its traditional metasearch revenue with that generated by a hotel booking site? Or is it just interested in Holisto’s tech?
Trivago announced Tuesday that it acquired a 30% equity interest in Holisto, which uses “split and match” technology to create novel hotel deals, for $10 million. Trivago said it has the option to buy the remaining 70% of the company within 15 months.
The maximum price for the remaining 70% would be $60 million, Trivago stated. The company would be able to pay it in cash and stock, although the shares can’t represent more than 50% of the purchase price.
Trivago described Holisto Ltd., based in Rishon LeZion, Israel, as “an artificial intelligence driven travel technology platform that serves as a hotel rate aggregator and white-label booking engine provider.”
Holisto, which has been in development for at least a half-dozen years, says it uses machine learning to combine several hotel bookings for travelers at various rates for the duration of a stay to “create all kinds of amazingly attractive hotel deals.”
It claims to also provide a value add for hotels, enabling them to offer new deals “that are listed as âsold outâ on other websites.
Trivago will likely provide more details about the deal in its second quarter earnings call on Wednesday.
For Trivago, a Germany-based hotel price comparison site majority owned by Expedia Group, the Holisto deal represents its second foray into hotel bookings â and beyond merely referring customers to third party websites â since 2021 when it acquired Weekend.com.
The 30% investment in Holisto closed today, Trivago stated in a financial filing.
