Booking Holdings Inc Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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

Question: Justin Post - BofA Securities, Inc. - Analyst : Thanks. I guess, since you talked a lot about AI in your prepared remarks, maybe you could talk about how you expect that to translate to financials. Do you think AI could bring more direct traffic because of all your tools, better attach rates when people come to your site, maybe lower expenses? Just how do we see that translate to financials? And then when went on bookings, it looks like -- can you talk about some of the factors in Q4 that could affect bookings, either the hurricanes or maybe the Middle East comps? How you're thinking about some of the 4Q factors? Thank you. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 30, 2024 / 8:30PM, BKNG.OQ - Q3 2024 Booking Holdings Inc Earnings Call

Question: Mark Mahaney - Evercore Group L.L.C. - Analyst : Two questions, please. On the Asia callout, Glenn, was the first time that Asia as, I think, a percentage of your mix was higher than it was pre-COVID? I assume so. That's why you called it out. But anything in particular in the region that you've done or is that just the region finally recovering back to full outbound travel mode? So how much of that success for you was what you did versus just the market there finally recovering? And then AA in the mix, this I think 35% number. The question I have for you is -- I'm trying to figure out where that mix is long term. In markets where you have full sufficient inventory, both traditional and AA, is the usual mix in those markets around that average of 35% or is it materially higher? Therefore, we could expect the overall mix to go up because you still have a lot of regions where you don't have enough AA inventory. Thanks a lot.

Question: Kevin Kopelman - TD Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. Thanks so much. I had a question on marketing. Could you give us an update on what you're seeing? You mentioned higher ROIs in the third quarter. How much of that is underlying improvement in ROIs versus Europe being stronger? And can you update us on how you expect the full year now to look in terms of marketing and merchandizing as percentage of GBP? Thanks. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 30, 2024 / 8:30PM, BKNG.OQ - Q3 2024 Booking Holdings Inc Earnings Call

Question: Eric Sheridan - Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC - Analyst : Thanks so much for taking the question. I want to come back to the theme on fixed investments. First looking backwards, maybe highlight some of where you've made investments around fixed costs and what you're most proud of in turning a return profile on those fixed investments that you're seeing an impact the business today. And not about 2025 but just longer term, how do you think about coming out of that fixed investment cycle and think about the return profile or incremental margin that could be produced in the business as fixed investments start to grow slower than revenue over the longer term? Thank you.

Question: Lee Horowitz - Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. - Analyst : Great. Thanks. Maybe Glenn another one on alternative accommodations. You give a lot of color on the booking challenges you're seeing on the platform as relates to cross shopping hotels in alternative accommodations. But can you comment at all what you're seeing in terms of incrementality of this volume? Do you think your growing presence here is bringing in new cohorts of travelers who are coming to booking for this vertical specifically? Or is a large piece of this volume coming from consumers that you would have likely booked a hotel on your platform otherwise?

Question: Lee Horowitz - Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. - Analyst : Great. Thanks. And then maybe, Ewout, one follow-up on fixed OpEx. So given a lot of conversation around your passion for driving fixed OpEx, going forward, I guess, given where you guys are in your investment cycle, your motivation to free up resources to invest in a lot of your growth drivers, and a lot of the conversation on the potential for GenAI to help the P&L, do you think that the business is in a place where it can drive fix OpEx leverage, not just next year, but for many years out into the future and it should be part of the way we think about you guys going forward?

Question: Tom White - D.A. Davidson & Co. - Analyst : Great. Thanks for taking my question. Just one if I could on social. Seems like in recent months, we've heard you guys mention having better success accessing travel demand and social media channels, which I guess for a long time didn't really seem to be the case. There's obviously a ton of engagement there. But it didn't seem like it was necessarily efficient demand source for you. Can you maybe talk a bit about why that's changing or it seems to be changing? And curious like how big a vector of growth social maybe could be for you guys over the next several years. And how do you think about the incrementality, I guess, of that channel? Thanks. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 30, 2024 / 8:30PM, BKNG.OQ - Q3 2024 Booking Holdings Inc Earnings Call

Question: Jed Kelly - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. - Analyst : Hey, great. Thanks for taking my question. Just going back to the US, you're getting some nice branding here with the baseball playoffs having record ratings. You called out room night maybe growing low single digits. So can you talk about where you think your brand is in the US? And then just on the single units in the US, talking to some property managers, they still think you're a little more complex to work with versus some of the other platforms. Can you talk about where you are in terms of maybe simplifying it for them? Thank you.

Question: Naved Khan - B. Riley Securities, Inc. - Analyst : Yeah. Hi. Thanks a lot. Couple of questions. Glenn, it's great to hear the updates on GenAI. Maybe give us thoughts on if you think Gen AI can drive more shift in bookings that can happen through online marketplaces like Booking.com versus those that happen directly on a hotel website. And then, with respect to connected trip, I remember you guys had a partnership with some super apps in Asia like Grab, which is the ride-hailing app. Any updates you can share on those partnerships would be great. Thanks.

Question: John Colantuoni - Jefferies LLC - Analyst : Great. Thanks for taking my questions. A quick one on booking window. Maybe you could just help us size the benefit of the third quarter in terms