Travel Website Trivago Sparks Debate After Asking Customers For A Tip At Checkout

Traveling is much more expensive than it used to be, and it's also become increasingly hard to plan out with more delayed and canceled flights and excessive tourism in destinations popularized by social media.

That makes websites that make travel planning and booking easier practically invaluable—but what's the best way for users to show their appreciation beyond utilizing these sites and recommending them to fellow travelers?

In the "EndTipping" subReddit, Redditor AdFamiliar5357 shared their experience of booking their travel plans with Trivago, specifically the checkout page on which the company offers users the opportunity to tip them for making saving them money on their travel needs.

The Redditor was spitefully tickled by this:

" Hotel booking site Trivago asking for a tip, LMAO."

In the image, the Redditor shared, it gives the option for users to give two percent, three percent, seven percent, or no tip.

u/AdFamiliar5357/Reddit

Fellow Redditors were offended by the idea of tipping a service website.

"Wow. This one is particularly offensive. The multi-million or probably billion-dollar hotel industry wants a tip for you using their website to book their hotels?"

"Show your support! Give us free money! After all, you didn't use our website to get the best and most affordable rate, did you? You want to spend extra money for no reason, right?" - Suckyourdry00

"I don’t believe it was Trivago but when I booked a hotel room last year, I was also asked to tip 'because of the money the site saved us.'"

"What the f**k?!" - LuckyInfluence5988

"They're like, 'Here's a coupon! And since we helped you save SO MUCH MONEY by paying the hotel less, can you now give that money to us?!'"

"God, I hate these companies so much." - eefje127

"Expedia owns a 61 percent stake in Trivago. This screen makes it seem like it is some kind of not-for-profit seeking to recoup some costs; it's so misleading."

"Also, the reason people use sites like Trivago is to save money. Now they want you to give it back via a 'tip' so you can pay what you would have paid if you booked somewhere else? Wrong on so many levels." - Pickles-1989

"Looks like Triviago is worth about $224 million, according to Finance."

"Won’t you think of their poor, starving executives? How will they be able to afford new yachts without your generosity?" - lightning__

Others pointed out how exhausting tip culture was getting.

"I guess if you don't ask, you don't get, so why not try? They'll get f**k-all, I hope." - fldksjaae

"This is why you get people and machines begging you for a tip at every corner/interaction. It gets so exhausting that you don't even want to leave the house anymore..."

"It's creeping up in Europe, but it looks like the USA has already reached peak levels of panhandling..." - AvidReader123456

"They are not at all shy about this being corporate welfare. Not even claiming that it (somehow) goes directly to the person handling your order. Everyone demanding tips from me, at least let me know where my money is going!" - darkroot_gardener

"Mark my words… those tip percentage options will be triple that within a year." - IcyClassroom268

"At what point will society as a whole finally realize that tipping 'culture' has gone too far?" - Dry-Ad7432

It's a common practice for service websites, like travel booking sites, to offer easy and quick ways for users to rate their services or leave a review. It's also very common, especially in America, to tip service workers and delivery drivers.

But is it time for these two worlds to come together? Or is an already profitable company looking for a new way to get ahead in 2026?