Reservation of funds CEO Glenn Fogel was in a celebratory mood Thursday afternoon. The third quarter of 2023 was the third consecutive quarter that set records for the company across multiple metrics.
“We are pleased to report record quarterly room nights, gross bookings, revenue and net revenue driven by a strong summer travel season,” Fogel said. “We are encouraged by the resilience of leisure travel demand and we remain focused on delivering on our key strategic priorities, which helps position our business well for the long term. »
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The company, which is the parent of subsidiaries including Reservation.com, Agoda, Kayak, Price line, OpenTable, Cheapflights, Rocketmiles, Rentalcars.com and Momondo reported gross travel bookings of $39.8 billion for the quarter. This figure represents an increase of 24% compared to the third quarter of last year, marking an all-time high for the company.
Booking Holdings’ total revenue was $7.3 billion, an increase of 21% compared to the same quarter last year. And adjusted EBITDA was $3.3 billion, an increase of 24% compared to the same quarter of 2022.
The positive results are not a complete surprise. During the second quarter earnings conference call, Fogel predicted that the company would experience “a record summer travel season.”
These new highs follow last quarter’s record for gross travel bookings. During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Booking Holdings shared a vision fueled by leisure travel. record $39.7 billion in gross travel bookings for the period, representing a 15% year-over-year increase and also surpassing Q1’s $39.4 billion, which was the company’s previous high.
Looking ahead, Fogel said Booking Holdings is focused on moving forward with certain initiatives, including further integration artofficial information in its offerings – which he says has already been beneficial in some ways.
“(With) all the new technology, the hype is always great at the very beginning. Everyone thinks it’s going to be the best thing since sliced bread, but then it takes longer than just toasting the slice, to actually ‘have it and eat it.'” Fogel said. “That’s what we’re seeing is it’s really exciting. I absolutely believe it’s going to be transformative, but it’s going to take a long time.”
It’s very early, he said, adding that “some of the things we’re seeing, we’ve done enough that we can have data that shows there will be good benefits.”
He gave a specific example: a customer service agent is now able to use what he called a “co-pilot”, an AI agent, which should be able to allow the customer service agent to respond to a question or act much more quickly. than they could before.
Fogel also highlighted Booking Holdings’ commitment to expanding its flight offerings.
While discussing theft initiatives, he brought up an important topic in the piece: In September, Booking Holdings said it appeal a decision taken by the European Commission to block the acquisition of aeronautical technology company Etraveli.
“While we strongly disagree with EC’s decision to block the deal, our commitment to growing the flights business on Booking.com has not changed,” Fogel said. “In fact, we have extended our partnership with Etraveli until at least the end of 2028, which means we plan to continue working with them improving Booking.com’s flight offerings in the years to come.”
As for the appeal, Fogel said he couldn’t put a timetable on it, but it wouldn’t happen overnight. “I can’t tell you exactly how long it will take, but it’s not going to happen anytime soon.”
