Booking Holdings says room nights up 20% year-over-year in July

Booking Holdings CFO said on the Q2 call: “In July, we saw year-over-year room night growth of about 20%, up from 9% in Q2. Looking across our major regions in July, we saw Asia up about 45%; rest of World, up over 20%; Europe up mid-teens; and the U.S. up mid-single digits. When comparing versus 2019, July room night growth was in a similar range to the 26% growth in Q2. The U.S. was our most recovered region with growth at over 30% versus 2019. Our comments for the third quarter made the assumption that room night growth will be up low double digits year-on-year, assuming some moderation in growth from July due in part to harder prior year comparables in August and September. You’ll recall from our commentary on the third quarter of 2022, that room night growth versus 2019 was 4% in July 2022 and 10% in August and September 2022. In addition, we expect that due to expanded booking window in the first half of the year stayed in Q3, but there will be fewer last-minute bookings for stays in the rest of Q3. We expect Q3 gross bookings to grow about 7 points faster the room nights on a year-on-year basis due to a few points from continued flight bookings growth and a few points of positive impact from FX movements. We expect accommodation constant currency ADRs to be about in line with Q3 2022, including a couple of points of pressure from the changes in regional mix. We expect Q3 revenue as a percentage of gross bookings to be around 19%, slightly above last year due to a more positive impact from timing in part due to the expanded booking window in the first half of this year, and from increased revenue from payments. We expect we expect these will be partially offset by a higher mix of flights and increased merchandising spend, some of which is related to bookings we received earlier in the year.”