Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| Statement |
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| I am encouraged that in 2023 at Booking.com, we had strong growth in our base of our peak bookers, demonstrating strong retention, while we’re also pleased with the increase in the number of new users to our platform versus 2022 |
| I like pointing out the things that we have done so far and some of the early signs we see that this is going to be just fantastic for us |
| We delivered record fourth quarter revenue of $4.8 billion and record adjusted EBITDA of $1.5 billion, which were ahead of our expectations |
| Finally, the GAAP and earnings per share in the quarter grew 29% year-over-year, helped by the reduction in our share count versus last year |
| I think we do have an advantage, of course, we will see over time how well and how quickly we can actually translate that into better numbers in terms of margins, in terms of more people coming to us, people increasing loyalty, etcetera |
| As we look to the year ahead, we see strong growth on the books for travel that’s scheduled to take place in 2024, which gives early indications of potentially another record summer travel season |
| Looking back at the full year of 2023, I am proud of our efforts to drive more benefits to our travelers and supply partners while also delivering record-setting industry-leading financial results |
| We reached a significant milestone last year with our customers’ booking an all-time high of over 1 billion room nights on our platform, which was an increase of 17% versus 2022 |
| We expect 2024 to be another strong year for us |
| In 2023, we reached a new revenue record of over $21 billion, which was 25% higher than 2022 |
| We achieved this strong top line result while improving our profitability with record adjusted EBITDA of $7.1 billion, an increase of 34% versus 2022, and our adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by over 2 percentage points year-over-year |
| Our non-GAAP earnings per share of about $152 increased 52% year-over-year and was 48% higher than our prior full year all-time high back in 2019 |
| In closing, we are pleased with our Q4 results, our Q1 outlook and our expectation in 2024 to grow faster than 2019 across gross bookings, revenue, adjusted EBITDA and EPS with exceeding EBITDA margin year-over-year |
| We expect adjusted EBITDA margins to expand year-over-year by a bit less than a percentage point |
| We are confident we will achieve these objectives because we’ve invested in building a stronger business and better product offerings for our travelers and partners that we had back then |
| And of course, we are comping against a very strong start to last year when we saw room nights of the booking window moving from a contracted position to an expanded position in the first quarter that also created some strong results in Q1 last year |
| Our merchant offering brings many benefits to our travelers and partners as well as new strategic benefits to us, including the ability to merchandise |
| We believe we’ll be able to achieve these levels of growth, given the investments we made to build a stronger business and a better offering for our travelers and partners versus what we had 5 years ago |
| We believe the introduction of a dividend will allow us to enhance our capital return program and further expand our base of investors |
| Given our confidence in our earnings power, strong free cash flow profile and our ability to consistently shareholders, we are announcing today that our Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $8.75 per share to complement our existing share repurchase program |
| Our full year EBITDA was more than $7 million and was up 34% year-over-year and up about 37% on a constant currency basis |
| I do believe we have an advantage because of our size and scale and the capabilities of our people to create something in all parts of the business, whether it would be, as I discussed, things that help the traveler, which are the sort of products there or helping us in the back part of our business, the back office and make these more efficient, going throughout |
| When looking at the full year, we are pleased to report that our – 2023 room nights grew 17% year-over-year, and our gross bookings grew 24% and about 25% on a constant currency basis |
| And lastly, we are continuing to strengthen the direct relationship with our travelers as our mobile app room nights and total direct room nights continue to increase in our mix |
| We remain confident in our long-term outlook for the travel industry, which we believe will grow faster than GDP growth across our core markets |
| With that foundation of industry growth and the improvements we’ve made to strengthen our offerings, we are positive about our future and believe we are well positioned to deliver attractive growth across our key metrics in the coming years |
| With our long-term positive outlook, solid financial performance and strong balance sheet, we returned over $10 billion to shareholders during 2023 by repurchasing our shares |
| Adjusted EBITDA of almost $1.5 billion was ahead of our expectation and was up 18% year-over-year and would have been about 22% on a constant currency basis |
| That’s the way I feel about it, and I am pleased the way the team is going out |
| In addition to our strong financial results in 2023, we made meaningful progress against our key strategic priorities, which include: advancing our connected trip vision, further integrating AI technology into our offerings, supporting our supply partners and growing alternative accommodations and building more direct relationships with our traveler customers |
| Statement |
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| This reduced Q4 adjusted EBITDA margin by almost 1% |
| We expect the ongoing war in the Middle East have a negative 1% impact on Q1 room night growth |
| Separately, Q4 adjusted EBITDA was negatively impacted by a $37 million loss recorded in other income related to the devaluation of the Argentinian peso, which is not factored into our prior guidance |
| At recent FX rates, we expect changes in FX will negatively impact our reported growth rate by a little more than 1 percentage point |
| Our average share count in the fourth quarter was 9% below Q4 2022 |
| As we move through the quarter, every room bank growth will benefit from an extra day, our March room night growth will be hurt by Easter being in March |
| More fixed expenses in aggregate were up 21% year-over-year, which was below our expectations primarily due to lower personnel and IT expense as well as due to the DST reclassification |
| For the full year, our marketing plus merchandising at Booking.com as a percentage of gross bookings was 5.6%, down from 5.9% in 2022, driven by marketing efficiencies and direct mix |
| So, that’s perhaps why it’s being a little bit less than you may have expected |
| And we believe the main concerns raised by the Spanish Authority overlap with the DMA |
| And we are saying we are going to do that with the impact of the Middle East on slowing our business down |
| Our Q4 ending cash and investment balance of $13.1 billion was down versus our Q3 ending balance of $14.3 billion due to the $2.4 billion in share repurchases we completed in the quarter partially offset by the $1.3 billion of free cash flow we generated in the fourth quarter |
| And then secondly, on the buybacks in Q3, I think they were a little – in Q4, I think they were a little bit lower than in Q3, was that your intention? Was there a particular reason why you maybe – may have been a little less active than the market in Q4? Thank you very much |
| was flat for the quarter, but bear in mind, it was down in October |
| And as we said, we would expect therefore, February and March to have a lower growth rate, in January, essentially consistent with our prior guidance of expecting deceleration during the quarter |
| As Glenn mentioned, we strongly disagree with the draft decision and unprecedented fine proposed by Spanish Competition Authority, which we plan to appeal if it becomes final |
| Marketing expense as a percentage of gross bookings was about 30 basis points lower than Q4 2022 due to higher ROIs in our paid channels and a higher mix of business |
| Our year-over-year ADR growth was natively impacted by regional mix due to higher mix of room nights from Asia |
| We believe this is important because we know the current travel experience is much more complicated, fragmented and frustrating to travelers than it should be |
| But the guidance, is January growing above the 4% to 6% for room nights? I thought January might have tougher comps |
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