Booking Holdings Builds on European and Asian Strength, While U.S. Lags
Booking Holdings' gross bookings and revenue in the second quarter exceeded management's earlier forecasts, but the performance highlighted a tale of two markets: strong international demand versus continued weakness in U.S. leisure travel.
CEO Glenn Fogel said that the U.S. proved to be the company's slowest-growing region, though executives said conditions improved slightly from the first quarter.
"We see generally the top end of the U.S. consumer market will be a little stronger, spending more in the 5-star hotel category, spending more on international travel, including Europe," CFO Ewout Steenbergen said. Meanwhile, "at the lower end, more careful behavior of U.S. consumers" persisted.
Overall room nights for hotels and alternative accommodations grew 8%, year-over-year.
The works out well for Booking Holdings, which has less exposure to the U.S. market than competitors like Expedia and Airbnb.
While inbound travel to the U.S. declined year-over-year, particularly from Canadian and European visitors, strong growth for routes like Canada to Mexico and Europe to Asia offset those declines.
"Europe is holding up quite well," Steenbergen said. "We see Europeans booking earlier and booking at higher prices than a
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