Cheapflights’ bosses back social site Trivago

Cheapflights chief executive David Soskin and vice-chairman Hugo Burge have thrown their weight behind hotel search and social networking site Trivago. This is the fourth investment from Howzat, the Internet ­investment firm established by the Cheapflights bosses last year. It has also backed travel networking site WAYN, property site Zoomf.com and Trustedplaces.com. German-based company Trivago…

Cheapflights chief executive David Soskin and vice-chairman Hugo Burge have thrown their weight behind hotel search and social networking site Trivago.

This is the fourth investment from Howzat, the Internet ­investment firm established by the Cheapflights bosses last year. It has also backed travel networking site WAYN, property site Zoomf.com and Trustedplaces.com.

German-based company Trivago was founded in 2005 and publishes travellers’ experiences as well as offering a hotel price search function.

Users are offered a share of the site’s booking commissions for tasks they complete as an incentive.The company claims half of all the commission it earns is paid back into its community.

The site encourages loyalty by assigning new users with a mentor who helps them with their first steps in return for a fee, again paid by Trivago.

Trivago has about 40,000 users across Europe who spend an average of 20,000 hours a month online creating travel reports, guides, tips and reviews, and it’s looking to expandits profile in the UK.