Trivago Sees Big Changes Ahead in the Travel Industry

Like the rest of the travel sector, Trivago (NASDAQ: TRVG) saw sales tumble in the first quarter as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the world, impacting markets in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Revenue in the quarter fell 33% to 139.8 million euros, and the company dialed down its marketing expenses by a similar percentage as travel demand collapsed. Overhead costs including salaries still ate into profits, and its Adjusted EBITDA results swung from a 21.4 million euro profit a year ago to a 0.6 million euro loss. It also recorded a 20.7.6 million goodwill impairment charge, leading to an unadjusted net loss of 214.3 million euros. The company warned that second-quarter results would be significantly worse than the first quarter's, and said that revenue loss bottomed out at 95% year-over-year in the last week of March and remained that way through April, though it has seen a modest recovery since then as European countries have begun to reopen.

The company is making a number of significant changes to adapt to the crisis, and it was frank about what it expected in the near future -- which holds implications for Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) and Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE), Trivago's two biggest bidding partners, as well as other players in the industry.

Source Fool.com