Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) Goldman Sachs 2023 Communacopia & Technology Conference (Transcript)

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Goldman Sachs 2023 Communacopia & Technology Conference September 6, 2023 4:05 PM ET

Company Participants

David Goulden - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Eric Sheridan - Goldman Sachs

Eric Sheridan

Okay. I think we're going to get going with the next session here. So, it's my pleasure to introduce David Goulden, CFO of Booking Holdings. David, thanks so much for being part of the conference.

David Goulden

My pleasure. Good to talk to you, Eric. Thanks.

Question-and-Answer Session

Q - Eric Sheridan

Okay. So, I think just starting with the current environment, I know we're going to get into a lot of big-picture questions as well. But you guys talked very specifically in the last earnings call about what you're seeing from a demand environment standpoint. It's obviously been a very strong travel summer season that we just wrapped up in the last week or so, as everyone is coming off their summer vacations and starting in with this conference this week. But just revisit some of the comments you made on the last earnings call, just to level set what you guys are actually seeing from the demand environment for travel overall.

David Goulden

Yes. Thanks, Eric. As you say, we're seeing a strong environment. What we said is that, in July, we saw year-over-year growth in demand of 20% on room nights. That was up from 9% in Q2. But perhaps the easiest way to compare is with 2019 because obviously, you get COVID compares when you go back to last year. So, we said that in Q2 we saw our room nights up 26% versus 2019, so, well ahead of the marketplace. And that stayed strong at about the same rate into July. So, we're seeing a strong environment out there right now.