Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Consumer sentiment has been
Speaker 1: dour for several months, and we got an update on
Speaker 1: the University of Michigan's numbers. They are sinking now to
Speaker 1: a two year low. This has the Fed's preferred measure
Speaker 1: of inflation starts to tick up, consumer spending coming in
Speaker 1: weaker than expected in that same report. For more insights
Speaker 1: into how the consumer is holding up, specifically through the
Speaker 1: lens of travel, let's bring Matt Goldberg into the conversation.
Speaker 1: He's the CEO of the travel platform trip Advisor, which, well,
Speaker 1: you can book a hotel, you can book airflight, you
Speaker 1: can book a restaurant, and so far from what I've
Speaker 1: heard from other companies, those bookings have actually held up
Speaker 1: pretty well. Are they holding up on your site?
Speaker 2: Well, the travel consumer wants to continue to travel, and
Speaker 2: the discretionary category is one that they're protecting, particularly around experiences,
Speaker 2: because they want to have the next experience and not
Speaker 2: necessarily buy the next thing. So the travel consumer's been strong,
Speaker 2: and we've seen post pandemic, there's always going to be something,
Speaker 2: and the consumer is going to continue to travel.
Speaker 1: What are they Where are they going? I guess are
Speaker 1: they taking like these big sort of bucket list trips
Speaker 1: to you know, some far from places of the earth,
Speaker 1: or are they just saying, you know, I'm just going
Speaker 1: to you know, drive a couple of states over and
Speaker 1: you know, go to the state park.
Speaker 3: Well, it's everywhere. Now.
Speaker 2: There may be some bifurcation between the upper end and
Speaker 2: the mid and lower ends, and you might make different choices.
Speaker 2: But clearly internationals holding up well, we see long haul
Speaker 2: holding up well, We've heard that from some of the airlines.
Speaker 3: But also if you're.
Speaker 2: Somebody whose pocketbook might get pinched with some of the uncertainty,
Speaker 2: you may travel, but you may think about where am
Speaker 2: I going to go?
Speaker 3: Make closer to home a few fewer days.
Speaker 2: You may think about how much you want to spend,
Speaker 2: but you're still going to prioritize, preserve, and defend the
Speaker 2: ability to have that experience.
Speaker 1: Is there an argument to be made that during bad
Speaker 1: economic times sometimes people still make sure they have enough
Speaker 1: money to travel because it ends up being maybe one
Speaker 1: of the few things that you know makes them happy
Speaker 1: during bad times. Is there credence to that?
Speaker 2: I think that's true. I want to be I want
Speaker 2: to be logical about this. Our industry is not immune
Speaker 2: to the macrol at all, and the consumer, when their
Speaker 2: personal balance sheet is impacted, may make different choices.
Speaker 3: But I think you're right.
Speaker 2: They are defending experiences, travel, things to do, things that
Speaker 2: make them feel like they can get out and have
Speaker 2: fun and learn something and see the world.
Speaker 3: That's something they want to defend.
Speaker 1: But a few weeks ago we got some warnings out
Speaker 1: of the airlines, and we're going to get another update
Speaker 1: next week as one of the major airlines. As an
Speaker 1: investor day, they've lowered their expectations for the year, specifically
Speaker 1: when it comes to leisure travel.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you saw the same things that I saw.
Speaker 2: They talked about Q one, but they were more confident
Speaker 2: about the end of the year and they showed some
Speaker 2: bifurcation perhaps talked about long haul and premium and some
Speaker 2: of the things that are happening there. You know, one
Speaker 2: of the things that we do is we built our
Speaker 2: business around experiences, and we are focused on making sure
Speaker 2: that no matter what somebody wants to do, whether it's
Speaker 2: close to home or far away, we can serve them.
Speaker 2: Because you don't have to get on an airplane to
Speaker 2: have an experience. You can get in the car. You
Speaker 2: can do it down the road and you can experience
Speaker 2: the world, whether it's we're something to do, we're you know,
Speaker 2: doing a cultural immersion in your own town.
Speaker 1: Have you had any discussions with your team or some
Speaker 1: of your colleagues in the industry about a potential shift
Speaker 1: and behavior because of what's going on in Washington. There's
Speaker 1: been anecdotal stories we should point out of people either
Speaker 1: postponing overseas travel or overseas travelers postponing trips to the
Speaker 1: US because of concerns about the geopolitical relationships going on
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: Well, obviously uncertainty in these things can can factor into
Speaker 2: all kinds of choices. But you know, I think that
Speaker 2: the traveler still wants to travel, and we'll serve them
Speaker 2: wherever they want to go, whether it's an iconic place
Speaker 2: in a famous country or closer to home, something to
Speaker 2: do that's immersive and experience, like a farm to table experience.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they will go and do that.
Speaker 2: And that's how we're trying to connect to that traveler
Speaker 2: and serve them wherever they want to go.
Speaker 1: So how do you keep trip advisor itself competitive? I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a very competitive business with what you do.
Speaker 1: I saw you actually had a deal that I just
Speaker 1: read about with perplexity on the AI front, the idea
Speaker 1: of making it easier for people to plan out things,
Speaker 1: and we've seen a lot of people start to plan
Speaker 1: out their vacations using various AI tools.
Speaker 3: Absolutely well.
Speaker 2: Our vision is to be the most trusted source for
Speaker 2: travel and experiences. And as people start to experiment with
Speaker 2: technology and use AI, they want to find better experiences.
Speaker 2: So in discovery, they want to plan more effectively, so
Speaker 2: seamlessly and quicker and not have to go to lots
Speaker 2: of different places. They want trusted content and information, and
Speaker 2: we think AI will be a tailwind for us because
Speaker 2: we've got a trusted brand, we've got content and data,
Speaker 2: and we sit in the ecosystem in a place where
Speaker 2: we want to guide you and then connect you to
Speaker 2: marketplaces where as you said, you can book a restaurant
Speaker 2: and experience a hotel and have that moment that is transformative.
Speaker 3: If people are looking.
Speaker 1: If times are hard and people are looking for more
Speaker 1: discounts or deals, can they find that there yet?
Speaker 3: Absolutely well.
Speaker 2: The history of trip Advisor is clearly we've been a
Speaker 2: place you can go to compare pricing and We think
Speaker 2: that that's very interesting. It's also a place where we
Speaker 2: want to reward members who come to us.
Speaker 3: And book one of these things.
Speaker 2: We're going to put a membership together to reward you,
Speaker 2: so when you book, you get rewards in a wallet
Speaker 2: that you can use across categories. So we actually think
Speaker 2: that that will be very attractive and get many more
Speaker 2: people coming to us direct.
Speaker 1: Matt, appreciate you stopping by. Matt Goldberg is the CEO
Speaker 1: of trip Advisor.