Insights from the Booking Holdings CEO on Q2 Performance
Booking holding stocks falling right now earnings speat estimates uh but the company’s forecasting slower growth uh in room nights booked for the current quarter join us now Glenn Fogle booking holding CEO and a CNBC CEO uh council member things are I mean this is what I gleaned from the report Glenn things are still pretty darn good just maybe not as much as that initial Snapback we saw after the pandemic but uh everything there were mostly positive numbers like the 7% number I kept seeing in terms of uh you know the most important metrics for the company up seven not down seven at least yeah thanks for having me Joe and I totally agree I was pretty impressed with how we did last quarter like the numbers came in above almost all the estimates we had given in the last call the one thing that we came in in line with our estimate was due to the decrease in airline ticket prices because that brought back down our gross bookings but everything else really good and we did talk a little bit of mild moderation in Europe for example but overall we’re very happy with things and we talked we’re reaffirming our whole year and even increased our EPS for the year so uh we’re pleased but the what do you you mentioned it in in passing what may have been you know not as good as you’d really like because there to account for our 7% D it’s been a good uh performal performer obviously but you’re now you’re back to levels that you know you took a long took 3 four months to get up there to uh you know to over 4,000 then one one Fell Swoop here we are back down 3,400 again what was it with that make that puts it in a lot better uh perspective there but there is some disappointment being expressed today what is it go into it and what happened think it’s really hard to get into the short-term Traders mindset you know what it is you know what it is yeah I know this I know that in the long run more people are going to want to travel they’re going to do more travel we’re going to get more share we’re going to continue to do what we’ve done over the 20 24 years I’ve been at this company I remember back when the stock was you you mentioned going about 4,000 I remember we were $6 a share when I was first part of this company so I’m pleased with the long-term and that’s the way I look at it and sure they’re going to be short-term volatility and people are going to come up all sorts of reasons why things may not be good this quarter or next quarter whatever I always stress to the investors you got to think for the look but you you actually mentioned it you and that’s all I’m asking you to tell us is what did you say that that there were some slower airplane I mean here’s the thing is look uh there’s no doubt that the prices for flights have gone down in certain parts of the world which of course some consumers are very very happy about but that definitely impacts what the total dollar value of our gross bookings is but what’s important of course not the total dollar value of the travel it’s how much money do we make on it and that didn’t impact the revenue at all because we don’t get a lot of money depending on how much the the price of the airline ticket is we make most of our money in other areas and certainly not on we don’t have commissions on the flights so the flights go up or down that’s not going to be a big factor for the performance of the company right but you do you do see the number and it it maybe gives people pause will that be uh Evan in in the the next quarter in your outlook will will those same factors be uh be present you know again uh hopefully the investors are not focusing on something that doesn’t impact the total amount of cash flow that comes into the company so I’m not sure how much that really mattered but I will say look we did say mild moderation and there’s no doubt look we got a great uh benefit out of the uh Revenge travel phenomena where we came out of pandemic and there could be a little bit of a pause in some people’s mind or not or there could be some concern about certain parts of the world the economies Etc again that short-term thinking and I really have to keep stressing the same thing over and over again is in the long run we have a lot of great Tailwinds in the long run how’s AI going to we talked about that last time you were on that probably would help in certain areas just to oh absolutely I mean we’re getting all sorts of benefits AI whether it goes to productivity in terms of making customer service more efficient or it’s coming up with new ways for travelers to be able to more efficiently be able to choose what they want to do how they want to do it all sorts of parts of our business are going to be better and it certainly helps us in terms of the internal productivity because one of the things we talked about last night is making sure that we keep our fixed opcs in control and that’s something we emphasized last night that something that we were looking at and AI is very helpful to that we’ve seen across the board uh certain sectors of the economy may be more uh vulnerable to a a consumer that’s not feeling you know that flush apparently and it it’s somewhat recent say in the last 6 weeks or so now you know we had a sell off in the overall stock market uh yesterday we we’re looking at things today the the 10year uh suddenly the 10e notes below 4% so there are some signs can you see anything at all in in either luxury you know the high end or or the low end of your business they confirms this and we’re going to get a jobs number later today too are we in a a Slowdown well we we definitely heard people talking about a two-speed economy in the US where people saying at the lower part of the economy people who are you know not doing as well maybe being more impacted but from our own data we’re not seeing a lot of that and again we’re very Global so we definitely look at it on a Global Perspective and we’re really not seeing globally a pullback in terms of either star ratings or in terms of length of stay which are the ones that usually are the canaries in the coal mine when you start seeing a pullback and travel yeah there’s some parts of the world where maybe at the lower end there’s a little bit of a pullback but again we’re very Global so I’m not taking too much into that
Hot Take: Booking Holdings CEO’s Optimism for Future Growth
Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogle remains optimistic about the company’s future growth prospects despite short-term fluctuations. Fogle emphasizes the long-term strategy and the benefits of AI technology in improving efficiency and customer service. While acknowledging potential challenges such as fluctuations in airline ticket prices, Fogle reiterates the company’s commitment to continuous growth and adaptation to market dynamics. With a global perspective on travel trends, Booking Holdings is positioned to navigate through potential economic uncertainties and capitalize on emerging opportunities in the travel industry.
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