WEBVTT - Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel Talks Third Quarter Results

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Meanwhile, third quarter results from Booking Holdings as investors saying

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<v Speaker 2>Booking Dot Yeah. Shares of the online travel booking service

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<v Speaker 2>jumping today after the company beat estimates on growth. Bookings

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<v Speaker 2>Booking also a boosted its financial outlook for the year

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<v Speaker 2>as travel demand remains strong across markets. Joining US now

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<v Speaker 2>for more is Glenn Fogel, who is CEO of Bookings Holdings. Glenn,

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<v Speaker 2>thank you so much for joining. You spoke a lot

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<v Speaker 2>about international travel demand. I'm curious as to US travel demand.

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<v Speaker 2>Is it moderating slightly?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, thanks for having me, and we're very pleased with

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<v Speaker 3>our positioning in the US. It's one of those things

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<v Speaker 3>where we can't control demand, we can't control supply. What

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<v Speaker 3>we control is trying to make sure we get more share,

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<v Speaker 3>and we believe in the previous quarter, we believe that

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<v Speaker 3>we increased our share of the business, and that's the

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<v Speaker 3>thing we really are trying to focus on. I can't

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<v Speaker 3>make people travel more or less. We have seen growth. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 3>some of our supplier friends have reported different thoughts on

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<v Speaker 3>how things went and how things are going to go

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<v Speaker 3>in the near term. But from my point, of view.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't worry about the near term so much. We're

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<v Speaker 3>trying to build through the long term.

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<v Speaker 2>Sure, what are you seeing though in the details data?

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<v Speaker 2>Our consumer is trading down on properties? Are they shortening stays?

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<v Speaker 3>No, we haven't seen that at all, and we haven't

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<v Speaker 3>really seen that at all globally. In fact, we're very

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<v Speaker 3>pleased with our growth rate in the US and other

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<v Speaker 3>parts of the world. And it's been something that we

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<v Speaker 3>have seen coming out of pandemic, a moderation after the

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<v Speaker 3>initial incredible burst of people want to travel. Now we're

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<v Speaker 3>in a more normalized situation. But we're still very pleased.

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<v Speaker 3>Like we came in with global numbers eight percent of

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<v Speaker 3>our room nights up a year of a year. That's

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<v Speaker 3>a really good number and it's something that we are

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<v Speaker 3>looking forward to continue. We gave a projection of six

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<v Speaker 3>to eight percent was the guidance for the fourth quarter.

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<v Speaker 4>I'm pleased with that.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>So in terms of outlook, how far in advance are

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<v Speaker 1>people planning their trips away, because, as you say, things

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<v Speaker 1>are starting to normalize, but it's been so long that

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<v Speaker 1>I have a hard time remembering how we used to

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<v Speaker 1>travel pre pandemic.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, It's one of those things you always asking about.

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<v Speaker 4>This thing. It's called the booking window, and essentially it

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<v Speaker 4>is how far.

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<v Speaker 3>In advance so you go on book and right now

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<v Speaker 3>we've been talking a little about expanding right now.

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<v Speaker 4>And there was a time right after the pandemic king

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<v Speaker 4>when we're done with.

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<v Speaker 3>It and inflation was very high, and we saw a

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<v Speaker 3>real increase in that booking window, and I was wondering,

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<v Speaker 3>hard to prove where people trying to lock up the

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<v Speaker 3>price today because they're a concern that was going to

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<v Speaker 3>be much higher further down the road. That of course

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<v Speaker 3>not nearly the problem at all nowadays, but again not

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<v Speaker 3>something I worry too much about. Sometimes can be longer,

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<v Speaker 3>sometimes it can be shorter. At the end of the day,

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<v Speaker 3>it's all going to even out.

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<v Speaker 1>Speaking of locking in prices, I wonder to what extent

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<v Speaker 1>your competition is airline loyalty programs or credit card points,

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<v Speaker 1>because a lot of people will try to use those

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<v Speaker 1>points up before they get devalued, rather than going to

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<v Speaker 1>sites like priceline dot com or booking dot com.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 3>No, it's an interesting point on that is where people

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<v Speaker 3>in place you can be in dollars or it could

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<v Speaker 3>be in points, I suppose, again, not a thing I

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<v Speaker 3>worry too much about. And for us, you know, we

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<v Speaker 3>don't participate those. We have our own loyalty program we

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<v Speaker 3>call Genius, which we think is really superior in the

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<v Speaker 3>sense that people are getting those discounts right away and it's.

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<v Speaker 4>Something that we believe is a different way to do it.

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<v Speaker 3>We don't give out points, but we definitely see it

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<v Speaker 3>our level two and three at booking dot Com. You

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<v Speaker 3>just level of two and three. They produce a tremendous

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<v Speaker 3>amount of our business. In fact, over fifty percent of

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<v Speaker 3>the room nights come from those people.

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<v Speaker 2>You have an AI trip planner right now, and I'm

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<v Speaker 2>curious as to how that's impacting how people are booking.

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<v Speaker 2>Are they booking different kinds of trips than they might normally,

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<v Speaker 2>or are they, you know, making decisions faster than they

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<v Speaker 2>normally would.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, a couple of things on that first. I'm really

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<v Speaker 3>happy We've had it out for quite a while now.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm continuing to iterate and improve it and the idea

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<v Speaker 3>again is to try and make it easier for people

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<v Speaker 3>to get what they want. Now in terms of the data,

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<v Speaker 3>are people doing it faster or not it's really small

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<v Speaker 3>numbers compared to the overall size of our business.

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<v Speaker 4>We talked last night a bit about it.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, we have what someone they say, a lot

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<v Speaker 3>of people are looking at it if you look at

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<v Speaker 3>an absolute number, but there's a share of our total

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<v Speaker 3>number of customers.

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<v Speaker 4>It's relatively low, and it's something that's still early.

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<v Speaker 3>I believe that this, though, is going to be something

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<v Speaker 3>that's really going to be transformational over time and in

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<v Speaker 3>the future, people will be using different types of generate

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<v Speaker 3>AI trip planners to put together their entire trip.

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<v Speaker 4>We're glad we think we're going to lead in this area.

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<v Speaker 2>Jan I have to ask you about the election. Are

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<v Speaker 2>you planning out different scenarios in terms of corporate tax

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<v Speaker 2>rates and so on, and what you should be preparing

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<v Speaker 2>for depending on who wins.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, you know, it's interesting you say the elections, so immediately,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, I'll assume you mean the US elections.

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<v Speaker 4>We're a very global company.

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<v Speaker 3>They are elections happening all over the world, different times

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<v Speaker 3>and stuff. We don't particularly choose how we're going to

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<v Speaker 3>try and change our business based on one particular political

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<v Speaker 3>event or not. We're always looking at all the elements

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<v Speaker 3>that could influence our business.

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<v Speaker 4>Always to have a good planning.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, now, preparation is a great play in terms

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<v Speaker 3>of anything that can happen, but in terms of actually

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<v Speaker 3>coming out and saying what we're going to do differently

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<v Speaker 3>or et cetera, we'll wait until we actually see a

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<v Speaker 3>closer in of what law changes may or may not happen.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, Vonnie started by asking about the strength in

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<v Speaker 1>Europe and Asia and kind of asking you to contrast

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<v Speaker 1>that with what you're seeing in North America. I'd like

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<v Speaker 1>you to talk a little bit more about what you

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<v Speaker 1>are seeing in Europe in Asia, given that China has

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<v Speaker 1>been trying to stimulate its economy, but so far consumers

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<v Speaker 1>still seem unconvinced that now is the time to spend,

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<v Speaker 1>and of course that resonates throughout the rest of the

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<v Speaker 1>region as well. In addition, you know, we're seeing Europe

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<v Speaker 1>slow down. They're not in recession, they're not heading into

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<v Speaker 1>recession necessarily, but inflation has definitely taken a bite out

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<v Speaker 1>of the consumer.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, it's interesting because we talked last night about

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<v Speaker 3>the different reason how we did in the third quarter,

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<v Speaker 3>and we were very pleased with Asia. It was our

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<v Speaker 3>leader with a low double digit growth rate, and Europe

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<v Speaker 3>was a high single digit growth rate.

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<v Speaker 4>So Europe still doing okay, even though we do see

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<v Speaker 4>some of the GDP numbers a little lower than you

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<v Speaker 4>would want them to be.

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<v Speaker 3>That being said, we believe again different parts of the

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<v Speaker 3>world are going to perform at different times. It's great

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<v Speaker 3>to be so global that one area that does slower

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<v Speaker 3>not going to affect so much in other areas are

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<v Speaker 3>able to pick up the slack. In terms of China, yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>it certainly have been some issues there, and in terms

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<v Speaker 3>of international outbound business, which is the area where we're

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<v Speaker 3>more where we do more business there, it's still not

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<v Speaker 3>up to where it was in terms of for the industry.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm not talking about specifically, I'm saying for the industry

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<v Speaker 3>in terms of outbound Chinese business, not quite where it

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<v Speaker 3>was pre pandemic yet, but it is still coming back,

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<v Speaker 3>and obviously the government there is working to try and

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<v Speaker 3>figure out how they're going to stimulate the demand there

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<v Speaker 3>for their total economy. We'll see what happens again, one

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<v Speaker 3>small part of our overall business.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, good stuff, Glenn, really appreciate your joining us today.

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<v Speaker 1>Glenn follow a CEO of Booking Holdings,