Trivago has filed an antitrust damages lawsuit against Google LLC, Google Ireland Ltd., and Google Germany GmbH before the Regional Court of Hamburg, alleging that Google abused its dominant position in general search by systematically favoring its own hotel metasearch service over rival platforms. The German travel comparison company seeks compensation for damages it claims to have suffered in the hotel metasearch market between January 2014 and December 2025.(Investing.com)
According to trivago, Google’s conduct diverted traffic away from competing hotel comparison services and toward Google’s own offering, harming rivals that rely on visibility in search results to attract users. The claim is based on Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and corresponding provisions of German competition law, both of which prohibit abuses of market dominance.
In addition to monetary compensation calculated on the basis of independent expert analysis, trivago is requesting disclosure of Google’s traffic and revenue data relevant to the alleged conduct. The company is also seeking a declaratory judgment establishing Google’s liability for damages arising from January 2026 onward.
Trivago says its claim builds on the European Commission’s 2017 decision in Case AT.39740, in which Google was fined for unlawfully favoring its own comparison-shopping service in search results. That decision was upheld by the Court of Justice of the European Union in September 2024, strengthening the legal foundation for follow-on damages claims across Europe.
The company noted that similar damages actions relying on the Commission’s decision have already advanced through European courts, including two first-instance awards issued by the Regional Court of Berlin II in November 2025.
“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,” said Johannes Thomas, trivago’s CEO and Managing Director.
Trivago acknowledged that the litigation’s outcome remains uncertain and that it expects to incur significant legal costs in pursuing the claim. The case nevertheless represents one of the most important attempts by a digital platform to seek follow-on antitrust damages from Google in Europe and could further shape the evolving landscape of private antitrust enforcement in the region.
