Between the stubble, the messy hair, and the wrinkled clothes, Tim Williams became an overnight viral sensation. Countless memes were created, a fake Twitter account was launched, and numerous articles tried to dissect his strange sex appeal. As Elle noted in 2015, “You’re not the only one with a crush on Trivago Guy.”
And guess what? It was totally intentional. As Jon Eichelberger, regional manager of Trivago North, told the outlet, his team actually asked women around the Trivago office for their thoughts on Williams and whether or not he was appealing. He was. “The common term is ‘silver fox,'” Eichelberger said. “There’s something about him. We wanted to capture it, and I think we did a good job. People like to talk about him.”
In an interview with The Houston Chronicle, Williams further defended his look, saying, “For the record, a stylist created the Trivago Guy look in a painstaking process. They settled on the scraggly look and no belt after trying out a variety of garb that included suits and belts. They wanted something easy and approachable. One of the differences between the Trivago Guy and me is… I wear a belt.”
Even so, he eventually got a makeover. As CNN reported in November 2014, Trivago Guy got a more polished look, courtesy of Aaron Marino, an “Atlanta-based style consultant” who was the lucky winner of the “Makeover #TrivagoGuy” contest.
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