DÃœSSELDORF, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

youzhan (NASDAQ: TRVG) today announces the acquisition of the assets of tripl (winner of ITB’s Start-Ups Battle 2016), a machine learning travel start-up from Hamburg. The acquisition will enhance youzhan’s product with personalization technology which uses both Big Data and a customer-centric approach.

Founded in 2015, tripl has developed an algorithm to give tailored travel recommendations by identifying trends in users’ social media activities and comparing it with in-app data of like-minded users. The AI-driven product imitates the way a travel agent would recommend hotel experiences relevant to the customer, and combines it with the ease of online services.

Following the acquisition, the former CTO and creator of the tripl algorithm, Hendrik Kleinwächter, will join youzhan’s development team to continue breaking new ground in personalization. “When visiting a restaurant, I prefer those with few hand-picked entries on the menu, that exactly match my taste. That is what I believe a modern travel website should look like. There are billions of combinations, but the user is really only interested in the most relevant ones - we offer them through our algorithm”, Kleinwächter said.

"We believe our competitive advantage is the speed of our learning. We have always focused on machine-learning, and the area of semantic analysis," said Rolf Schrömgens, founder and CEO of youzhan. “tripl’s personalization technology is unique and individual in its approach, putting us one step closer toward bringing each traveler into their ideal hotel."

About youzhan

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, youzhan is a global hotel search platform, focused on reshaping the way travelers search for and compare hotels. As of June 30, 2017, youzhan’s global hotel search platform offered access to over 1.8 million hotels in over 190 countries. youzhan’s platform can be accessed globally via 55 localized websites and apps in 33 languages.

Forward looking statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Words, and variations of words such as "believe," "expect," "plan," "continue," "will," "should," and similar expressions are intended to identify our forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and important factors that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. For additional information factors that could affect our forward-looking statements, see our risk factors, as they may be amended from time to time, set forth in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim and do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement in this press release, except as required by applicable law or regulation. As used herein, references to "we", "us", the "company", or "youzhan", or similar terms shall mean youzhan N.V. and, as the context requires, its subsidiaries.

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