Booking Holdings Inc at Citi TMT Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : So with that, Ewout, a question we often get is -- and this is sort of a high-level question, and I'm sure, but -- when we think about the team of booking at Booking, we think about hotel supply, we think about execution, we think about, of course, connected trip and all the different drivers. But I would love to hear just in your thoughts, what makes a hotel come to Booking, like the services you provide to hotels that they really benefit from that they say this is the one thing or the five things that keep us on the platform?

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : I was going to ask a little bit later on about the demand and marketing side, just given the news today with Google or whatever. And one of the things that I think Booking has done a very good job of is delivering that demand and figuring out the marketing behind the supply that you have. And so I think you've said in the past, demand is changing, or the marketing is shifting a little bit with social being a bigger part of this. We would

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : And when we think about what's working in the measurement side, from an advertising perspective, is it more working on the social side? Is it working with influencers? Is it something that Booking does on their own?

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. And I mean that's in everybody's usage of social. I think that is in line with what we do. And so maybe sort of those five key things are key. And one of the key metrics that we've been tracking is the connected trip. And connected trip, I think, is now, what, low double digit of total transactions, I think was the last that we heard.

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : And so I believe the benefits are transactions, greater frequency, maybe greater repeat rates. We just talked about payments being maybe the number five thing of everything. So we'd love to hear more about the merchandising so that connected trip is going from that zero to low double digits over the last five-ish years maybe to where it can go. So we would love to hear your thoughts on merchandising around the connected trip. And what is it that's making this so great for the user?

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : Is that live today --? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 03, 2025 / 1:30PM, BKNG.OQ - Booking Holdings Inc at Citi TMT Conference

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : Sure. And now that we're talking about GenAI, like we're seeing more natural language-type search functions across the site. And we talked a little bit about this after earnings and during earnings. And so I wanted to hear your thoughts on just how a more natural language simplified experience might be just changing or improving the booking experience from a user perspective. And of course, I've got asked any change in conversion rate to natural language, but if you want to --

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : And we'll see this short, medium, long term, more natural language experiences coming soon, coming medium term? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 03, 2025 / 1:30PM, BKNG.OQ - Booking Holdings Inc at Citi TMT Conference

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : Great. And we'll get into all that stuff. Sticking with the GenAI topic for now. I think Booking has a few partnerships with some of the major companies out there. We would love to hear just the -- is the opportunity with those companies on both the customer service side and the natural language side, improving the experience on booking? Or is it -- and/or is it something else working with those companies helping with providing content or something along those lines?

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : Yeah. That's great. I wanted to maybe one more on the five key points for why hotels or supply works with you. And this is on the payment side. And I think that was maybe the fifth thing that you talked about. And so when we think about the capabilities that Booking provides these hotels and the supply, I would love to hear your thoughts on what do you think Booking does to set it apart that drives hotels to say we need to work with Booking because the payment capabilities are X? Why are payments so important is the real question?

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : That's great. Yeah. No, we get a lot of questions on payments. Let's maybe switch to topics a little bit to more current trends and a follow-up from 2Q. I think Asia was highlighted as a key market where room nights reaccelerated to low double digits if I have my numbers right. We saw expanding flights and attractions. And just I would love to hear your thoughts on what's driving the strength in APAC. I know it's a multi-brand approach, maybe with Agoda and Booking. Just more insights on the Asia callouts and what's --

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : It's very helpful. So maybe taking the current trends and let's go to different regions around the world, if you will. Let's talk about the US side. Lots of debate on the US travel market with inbound and outbound. And I think I feel like in our conversations, we've used a word Booking as maybe a challenger brand here in the States. And so I just -- I wanted to understand your thoughts on Booking's approach and Priceline's approach to the US market. I think we saw growth reaccelerate in 2Q and would love to hear your thoughts on like what's working there, what we can do better, where the focus is, is the question.

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : And from a branding perspective, how do you feel about the Booking brand here, Booking.yeah, Booking.com, like all the great here in the States, so it's been pretty effective, a huge investment for the company.

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : We're watching traffic every month as I look at the team and the data comes out. That's great. And maybe last one on current trends, just alternative accommodations. It's been pretty impressive growth over the past couple of years with both supply and room night growth and percentage of total room nights growth. And so I wanted to ask specifically about US supply here in -- for alternative accommodation, something that I think Glenn and maybe you talked a little bit about years ago and were investing here in supply. So any insights on US supply and as it relates to alternative accommodations?

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : Got it. Very helpful. So we have about eight minutes left. I think we might take some questions at some point. Maybe I'll -- we'll do that in a minute or two. I got to get some finance questions here given your role. So it's been 1.5 years in the CFO role. And what I wanted to -- I would love your thoughts on how the role itself has evolved since you joined the company.

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : We appreciate that very much. So particularly, as we hear conversion rates improving, and we see that in the numbers because the numbers you just talked about were pretty impressive for a company as big as you are and to see the growth rates and flights and newer attractions and newer things. So maybe one of the questions we often get is just balancing investments with profitability. And so I think last December, we talked about a three-year strategic change, maybe longer term, $400 million, $450 million in costs coming out this year, $150 million cost savings, $175 million investments. So I think I have those numbers right, but talk to us about the balance between the two, and then, we'll open up for questions maybe after that one.

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : So much to jump off of. We could talk for hours. Any questions in the audience? Well, I can go on here. So I'll continue here. Let's see. I had so many other questions. Maybe in the 1.5 minutes left, we've talked so much and maybe we'll get some more of the fun stuff, so to speak. Let's talk capital allocation. So capital allocation, we have a repurchase authorization that's quite meaningful, and we would love to understand your thoughts there. And everyone would love to understand cadence, but just your thoughts bigger picture on this.

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : On sizable numbers. So as we wrap up here, any other trips planned? We started the conversation about Japan. Any trips planned for winter that you've coming up? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 03, 2025 / 1:30PM, BKNG.OQ - Booking Holdings Inc at Citi TMT Conference

Question: Ronald Josey - Citibank Cameroon SA - Analyst : Wonderful. Ewout, thank you very much for the time here.