Booking revenue beats estimates, sees record summer travel

The Booking Holdings website on a laptop arranged in New York, US, on Monday, July 31, 2023. Booking Holdings Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on August 3.

Booking Holdings Inc. reported second-quarter revenue that beat analysts’ estimates, reflecting strong demand for travel despite higher prices for flights and accommodations.

The online travel company said revenue increased 27% to $5.46 billion, surpassing analysts’ average prediction of $5.17 billion. Total gross bookings for the second quarter, which includes all travel services booked by customers net of cancellations, increased 15% to $39.7 billion, above analysts’ expectations of $38.1 billion.

“We continued to see robust leisure travel demand,” Chief Executive Officer Glenn Fogel said in a statement. “We have seen these strong trends continue into July, and we are currently preparing for what we expect to be a record summer travel season in the third quarter.”

Booking operates across six sites, giving it a comprehensive view of the global travel market. Its namesake brand offers online reservation services at hotels, resorts and apartments around the world in addition to a growing alternative accommodations platform to rival Airbnb Inc. and Expedia Group Inc.’s Vrbo. The parent company also owns Priceline, which provides discount bookings for hotels, cruises, cars and vacation packages. Other brands include flight aggregator Kayak and restaurant reservation portal OpenTable.

International travel has surged this year, as Americans take advantage of a stronger dollar, while domestic trips in the US have generally slowed. Norwalk, Connecticut-based Booking gets about 90% of its sales from international markets.

Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. recently raised their annual profit forecasts on continued strength in international bookings and a record number of passengers are expected industrywide this summer. Hotel groups such as Marriott International Inc. and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. are also seeing sustained demand, particularly in international markets.

Earlier Thursday, Expedia gave a more muted view of the travel industry, reporting revenue that missed analysts’ estimates, sending its shares down 16%.