Trivago watched its revenue forecast plummet from $1 billion to nearly zero—so the company tapped a set of former interns to turn it around

Trivago leaders sit on a couch together (Credit: Courtesy of Trivago)

• Interns are often brushed off for being at the bottom of the totem pole, but at some companies, that role has become a part of the secret recipe for landing a gig in the C-suite. Trivago is part of a list of companies, including Nike, HP, and EY, that have promoted former coffee-fetchers to the top of the corporate ladder.

In the matter of a month during the pandemic, hotel search platform Trivago’s revenue forecast plummeted from $1 billion to virtually zero.