How to get started with Trivago and Direct Connect

I’m setting up Trivago for one of our customers so I will document the whole process so you can get started also.

Step 1: Login or sign up for your Trivago account

If you haven’t done so yet please go and claim your Trivago account, this gives you the chance to upload photos, change descriptions etc. Trivago have great onboarding that will guide you through filling your profile.

If you have an account already you can log in or press forgot password to reclaim your account.

Step 2: Check your profile details thoroughly

It’s super important you check and correct everything here, descriptions photos etc. Old photos and bad descriptions will kill your chances of bookings. Spend that extra bit of time to make it look as good as possible!!

Hotel name removed so we get accurate data from campaign

Step 3: Check if your able to connect your direct rates

If you click on “Rate Connect” at the bottom of the navigation menu you should get a confirmation that you are connected and you can start the process of setting up your campaign. If you are not connected please let us know asap.

Hotel Name Removed to protect campaign data

Step 4: Set up your campaign

When you click Start Now you will go through a multi step process to get started. The first screen will look like this:

1. Market Selection

This particular hotel I left just UK. You can always change this later to target different countries.

2. Set the Budget

This part is straight forward, Trivago will automate the whole bidding and CPC for you. I set the budget at a decent level so we can get a whole month of data from the campaign. Later we will look to see what the conversions are. I will post updates on this campaign later.

3. Fill your Billing Address

Now it’s time to pay! Remember that you only load money on your account at this point, you will just pay for the clicks you get. They estimate for you but it’s not a guarantee.

Note: Remember to add your VAT number so they don’t charge you VAT! (Non German Customers)

You can see now the total is reduced as VAT is taken off.

Live Campaign

After successful payment you will see this screen that it’s all live and ready to go:

If at any time you wish to pause your campaign it’s a simple process under the campaign tab:

And you can enable other markets easily also:

Now it’s time to check if its all working correctly!

P.S. I waited hours until it was working, I contacted Trivago and they said it will take anywhere from 2 to 8 hours to get working on their website.

Hotel Details protected to get accurate campaign data for future posts

If you have set up the booking engine prices correctly to be cheaper than the OTA you should have a premium spot and shows you are the cheapest place to book.

Next you will want to click on your own listing to check it works ok

Note: This will/might cost you money so please don’t click on it too often!

Please check back with us as we let the Trivago campaigns run for a few weeks and get some reports and ROI.