Trivago files antitrust damages claim against Google in Germany

Hamburg antitrust claim targets Google self-preferencing

Trivago N.V. says it has filed a damages action against Google before the Regional Court of Hamburg, naming Google LLC, Google Ireland Ltd. and Google Germany GmbH. The hotel price comparison platform alleges the search giant has favoured its own hotel metasearch service on general results pages to the detriment of rivals such as Trivago. The claim is brought under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and German competition law. The company seeks compensation covering January 2014 to December 2025, and a declaratory judgment establishing Google’s liability from 2026 onwards.

The company argues it has long warned about Google’s conduct in general search. It points to the European Commission’s 2017 Google Shopping decision, which was upheld by the Court of Justice of the European Union in September 2024, as clarifying the legal basis for damages actions. It also notes the Commission’s ongoing investigation under the Digital Markets Act into potential breaches of the ban on self-preferencing.

“For more than a decade, we have raised concerns about Google using its dominance in general search to systematically steer millions of travelers away from hotel metasearch platforms like trivago and toward its own competing service. We believe this has weakened our competitive position, limited our ability to grow, and ultimately harmed the travelers who rely on fair and open competition. Similar conduct has been confirmed as unlawful by the European Commission and by the European Court of Justice. We are filing this claim to seek full compensation for the damages trivago has suffered. In our view, holding Google accountable is in the best interest of our shareholders, and of a travel ecosystem that deserves competition based on merit, not gatekeeping,” said Johannes Thomas, CEO and Managing Director of trivago.

In November 2020, Trivago joined a coalition of 158 companies and associations calling on the European Commission to enforce the 2017 decision and end self-preferencing. In 2022, its leadership publicly identified Google as the main company implicated by the forthcoming DMA in hotel metasearch. In March 2025, Trivago welcomed the Commission’s preliminary findings that Google had breached the DMA.